Monday, January 16 is Martin Luther King Day. Most schools recognize the day — as they should. But will they teach students about Dr. King’s Christian faith, which motivated and guided his campaign for civil rights?
During his Birmingham civil rights campaign, Dr. King required every participant to sign a pledge committing to do ten things. The first was to “mediate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.” Others included the expectation that all participants would “walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love;” and “pray daily to be used by God in order that all men might be free.”
To truly understand Martin Luther King, students must learn about his Christian faith. It was at the heart of what he did.
This year, something else worth celebrating happens to fall on the same day as Martin Luther King Day, and it’s a perfect fit. Every year since 1993, the president proclaims January 16 to be Religious Freedom Day and asks the nation to celebrate its religious liberty. It is the anniversary of the passage in 1786 of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was drafted by Thomas Jefferson.
The men who drafted the Constitution leaned heavily on Jefferson’s statute in establishing the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom. Today, it is more important than ever that we remind ourselves of that protection.
Since Martin Luther King Day and Religious Freedom Day fall on the same day this year, it is a perfect time for schools to help students connect the dots between Martin Luther King’s fight for civil rights and the freedom of religious expression in America. Dr. King’s call for justice was guided by his religious convictions and the liberty to act on those convictions.
You’ve heard me say often on BreakPoint that religious freedom is coming under increasing assault in this country. It’s one reason I and others drafted and signed the Manhattan Declaration, which has been signed by half a million people. The Declaration specifically cites Dr. King’s magnificent “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” in which he taught that “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God.” An unjust law, however, “is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law,” and therefore has no binding power over human conscience.
It’s vital that every church defend freedom of religion, the bulwark of all of our freedoms. Here’s something you can do right now: Tell your church leaders about the Manhattan Declaration and about Religious Freedom Day coming up on the 16th. Ask them talk to your congregation the day before — on Sunday, January 15 — about the importance of religious liberty. In fact, devote a sermon to it!
You can also help clear up some of the confusion over religious liberty in our public schools. Students can pray in school. They can read the Bible. That makes Sunday the 15th a great time for Sunday school teachers to talk to their students about the freedoms they have to express their religious faith — even at school.
Please, come to BreakPoint.org and click on this commentary. We’ll have links to great resources and information on what your church and school can do for Religious Freedom Day. You can even read the pledge that Dr. King had his followers take.
Be sure your church celebrates Religious Freedom Day — there’s no better way to honor the legacy of Dr. King.
Chuck Colson's daily BreakPoint commentary airs each weekday on more than one thousand outlets with an estimated listening audience of one million people. BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends via radio, interactive media and print.
Publication date: January 6, 2012