First Published in Renew America
We must never forget: everything Hitler did in Germany to persecute the Jews was “legal,” and everything the Partisans and Individuals of Conscience did in any of the enslaved Greater Reich, was “illegal.” Those caught were subject to torture and death. Pure and simple: it was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany, or in the Greater Reich, and those caught doing so were sent to a Concentration Camp, and certain death, or killed outright. Because of my moral convictions, I am sure had I lived in Germany during that time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal and I might lose my life doing so. That being said,
“…If I lived in a communist country today where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would openly advocate disobeying these anti-religious laws…”
The above words were expressed in Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous essay, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” It was written to eight prominent obviously liberal Alabama clergy who were all white. The letter was King’s response to their request that the battle for Integration should continue in the local and federal courts, not in the free and open marketplace of ideas, the streets and before the nation on television. Their fear was these nonviolent demonstrations would incite civil disturbances. Dr. King wanted these ministers to know that the demonstrators’ efforts demonstratively produced the core truths of Christianity, and to respond any differently, would be antithetical to the message of the Gospel. The Civil Rights Movement is what history has since ascribed to it. More accurately, the Civil Rights Movement was an act of the Holy Spirit advancing much needed social justice, because in the fullness of time, it was born in the “Protesting Church” of the south and moved north. And it was Dr. King who equated the suppression of Christian faith as a tenant or attribute of communism and commented that if he lived in a nation that did such, he would openly advocate disobeying these anti-religious laws. Yet despite continued racial and intellectual discrimination, Dr. King kept his charge and lived by the creed he proclaimed America had broken and forgotten to keep…
“…We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…”
And because Martin believed and fought for that creed to apply for all of its citizens, you and I live in a better America today. But we have forgotten…
We have forgotten the commitment of Dr. Martin Luther King and the faith of one – if not the greatest – prophetical voices of our time. Dr. King saw legalized segregation as a suppression of the Christian faith and a direct violation of the Declaration of Independence. Dr. King and thousands of courageous clergy and citizens of faith – along with others of conscience holding those same values – protested and demonstrated against what he articulated in this letter as “unjust laws.” And in order to express his point unequivocally, Dr. King quoted from St. Thomas Aquinas with these words,
“…A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust…”
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We must never forget yet it appears, too many have forgotten… And due to our lapse in memory, we are now living in a time Dr. King stated can be equated with communism: “The Christian Faith is being suppressed.” For just as it was in Martin’s day, so it is today: One of the greatest hindrances is the liberal clergy, and the deafening silence of the mainline established church which has seemingly been bought off. They have forgotten that …
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America…”
… begins the Preamble to the Constitution, but I must ask this salient question: How is it that the church must appeal to the Supreme Court so that it isn’t directly forced into paying for abortions it does not believe in, when the church was here long before the court, and, the court derives its position from us, ‘We the people’? We are the people! Why must the church in America be coerced by its government to ignore Eternal and Natural Law? The Eternal Law, or the Scriptures, plainly and unequivocally commands its citizens, “thou shall not kill.” The sanctity of life runs thematically from Genesis to Revelation. There are repeated warnings in scripture against the seduction of child sacrifice, the destruction of those who are fearfully and wonderfully made. Abortion is Un-Natural and therefore cannot comply with Natural Law. Miscarriages comply with Natural Law. The women’s body knows when there has been a miscarriage and immediately shuts the process of birth down without harm to the women. Not so with abortion. The natural process has been humanly interrupted by the brutal extraction of the child and the body continues the natural process. This is the cause of the epidemic rise of breast cancer especially in the Afro-American community. Yet, the Obama Administration is forcing by human law – unjust law – Christians to finance the reprehensible killing of innocent babies in the womb against their will, while the mainline established church, via their deafening silence and obsequious manner, turn a blind-eye on the madness. The church cannot afford to act in such a manner as this, for as Dr. King said, it is a “suppression of their faith.”
Same Sex marriage… Once again the Eternal Law or the Scriptures plainly and unequivocally commands its citizens not to engage therein. I am amused when I hear “Liberal Clergy” attempt to justify their practice of silence on this issue by stating, “Jesus never mentioned Homosexuality.” Well Jesus never mentioned Crack Cocaine, Heroin, Crystal Meth, or IPads either but this statement is merely an exercise in fraudulent deception. Jesus didn’t leave it up for discussion! When Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Mary’s Baby, makes the comment, “Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city…” it must have struck fear into the hearers – they knew where this place was, and might have even known people for there. If you examine the word ‘tolerable,’ it is referring to the degree of punishment in Hell, not ‘whether or not’! I am sure you understand that Jesus directly mentions the people of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. As you well know from the account we have in Genesis, the practice of homosexuality was epidemic. It is so well defined in human history that we adopted the word “sodomy” describing the act which is derived from the name of the city of Sodom. Jesus states that the citizens of these two cities were going to hell because of this iniquity. In the age of “Political Correctness” this is why Christians might be considered homophobic: Because they are scared of hell (maybe ‘as’) and heed the scriptural warnings. Do you think anyone came up to Jesus later and asked him, “Hey Jesus, how do you feel about Homosexuality?” You would have to have been Geraldo Rivera… No, because Jesus made them homophobic about even discussing it due to his reference to the outcome of the judgment awaiting those who practice it. Jesus also knew the Apostle Paul would be explicate later on in his letter to the Romans but would also give an open invitation to homosexuals to be free from the practice and come to salvation.
Natural Law… My body is not designed to be penetrated anywhere for sexual pleasure. There is not a biologist or physician on the planet that can make the case that homosexual or lesbian sex is natural. I wrote about this in detail in my article, “Why Homosexuality Is Wrong.” The Apostle Paul makes quite clearly the same case in his letter to the Church of Rome. See Romans 1: 18–32. So to create curriculum to teach this to children in public schools as early as 1st grade homosexuality is a healthy and viable means of expression is physiologically, sociologically, theologically, and morally wrong. For let us again not forget what Dr. King said…
“…If I lived in a communist country today where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would openly advocate disobeying these anti-religious laws…”
Have you forgotten?
© Clenard Childress
Rev. Dr. Clenard H. Childress, Jr., is the senior pastor of The New Calvary Baptist Church in Montclair, NJ. He is the founder of the website Blackgenocide.org and president of Life Education And Resource Network, Northeast. LEARN is the largest African-American pro-life group in the US. Rev. Childress is a leader in social activism and partners with the Center For Bioethical Reform, taking the Genocide Awareness Projects to college campuses around the country.
