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PDF versionThe taming of Martin Luther King
by Tom Roberts on Aug. 28, 2010
In this Orwellian era, when a TV entertainer like Glenn Beck is able, if only for a day, to somehow claim to advance the vision of Martin Luther King Jr. while urging listeners to flee from churches that preach social justice, a major reality check is in order.
Beck isn’t the only one, however bizarre his interpretation, who sees the King legacy wrapped up in his dream speech, which Beck says he is out to “restore and finish” with his rally at the Lincoln Memorial today. Most of the culture refuses to get near the most powerful lines of King’s prophetic life.
From previous pieces in NCR:
King’s is a challenging and complex legacy, one that continues to confront the conscience of this country, particularly as we continue to deal with matters of racism and discrimination. Unfortunately, what doesn’t get talked about much is the absolute centrality of nonviolence to his approach to social reform and how that conviction influenced his view of the conduct of the United States in the wider world.
A year to the day before he died, April 4, 1967, King gave an address at Riverside Church in New York, his fullest to that date, on his opposition to the Vietnam War. Some of the speech is especially poignant today. King called for a revolution of national values “that will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
“A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: ‘This is not just.’ It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say: ‘This is not just.’ The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.”
As NCR columnist Colman McCarthy once wrote, our national celebrations of King have “pushed aside … the troublesome and troublemaking King whose commitment to nonviolence and pacifism meant that he was much, much more than a civil rights leader. He was a fiercely uncompromising critic of American militarism who said in New York on April 4, 1967 -- a year to the day before his assassination -- that “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today (is) my own government.”
Don’t expect Beck or others to be feeding such insights to the Tea Party activists and others out to reclaim the safe King, a King who is tamed enough for those who think churches shouldn’t preach social justice.
While maybe not "evil" in his
While maybe not "evil" in his albeit jaded self, people like Beck are a clear demonstration that evil is about in our world, disguised as principle. Evil is not just the cackeling satin figure of our nightmares, nor the draculean tyrrants who enchain, torture and kill. Evil is also the poor left poor, the suffering left to suffer and, in this instance, the willful application of rhetorical skill and intelligence of the huckster, as in Beck and his ilk. They will mine people's ignorance and fear. Rather than respect their need for truth and guidance, they twist it into hate, suspician potential for harm.
It is a never-ending source
It is a never-ending source of amusement to me, the superior attitude of the left. They assume that only a person filled with "ignorance and fear", "hate and suspician" (sic) can believe differently from them. They do not recognize that reasonable people, people of good will, having thought seriously and taken time to educate themselves on the issues, can disagree with them. The only people that disagree with the ideals of the left are those who are ignorant or hatful, stupid or evil. It is an amusing hypocrisy that those who are so hypercritical of elitism when it comes to wealth or class, practice it regularly when it comes to intelligence and education.
I suppose they must derive some small comfort from their self-delusion.
I'm blown away by segments of
I'm blown away by segments of this piece, especially how prescient Dr. King was in that 1967 Riverside Church speech and even more especially the paragraph above beginning "A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily...." It's as if he had fast-forward in vision to this century where REALLY huge sums of $ are being invested in Asia, Africa & South America with no concern for social betterment. What he failed to note, however, is that the no-social-betterment-concern is more dynamic and brutal in reality than what is denoted. Not only has there been nor is "no concern" for social betterment; in fact, the very conditions for investment were and are predicated on quashing plans, policies, programs of social betterment.
I read this piece after having read two items describing the actual rally and from that perspective I feel Mr. Roberts went right to the core of the issue. It was unreal for sure. The tone was pandering rather than prophetic; militarism was praised rather than non-violence; Keynoters upheld a return to religion after having urged people to run from "churches that preach social justice." The event was portrayed as non-political but was officially described as a "rally". It flew under the banner of restoring honor but "honor" wore a mask of violence, patriotism and triumphalism. Thanks for the reality check; it was appreciated.
I find this article biased.
I find this article biased. Glenn Beck is a celebrity, that is for sure. What he promotes however, is love of country and God. What more can you ask for?
Mr Beck does not realize that
Mr Beck does not realize that many of us "church people" spend most of our days doing "Social Justice" because we love God and our Neighbor!!!From what I gather from Mr Beck is everything is OK as long as we follow his "preaching
politics talk". I was amazed that he had Sarah Palin along to show love of God & Neighbor!!
I totally agree with your
I totally agree with your essay. My cousins, friends from school days and where I used to work are Tea Party Republicans. They consider themselves orthodox Catholics yet reject the social justice teachings of the church as socialism, as Glen Beck does. The bishops and pastors have chosen not to teach the social justice doctrines. It seems Benedict will not go back to an earlier church without the explicit social justice doctrine, he has only added to it with his encyclical Veritas in Caritate. Since Benedict deals with economic issues, my Tea Party Catholic friends and cousins reject his teaching on economic justice because they consider Benedict not competent in the field of economics. My professor friend at a Catholic girls college brought in a sister theologian to teach the meaning of Caritas in Veritate to her general education class. Some of the business majors then went around calling my friend a socialist for bringing in the theologian. I was so upset by this, even though I am now agnostic after leaving the church in the mid 80's, that I found the NCR on the Internet.
It is no wonder a demagogue
It is no wonder a demagogue like Beck wants his followers to desert any church that stands for social justice. Beck makes money by preaching fear and hate. A community of theists devoted to social justice would eliminate, in so far as it is possible, hatred and fear. It might put him out of work.
The accent on non-violence is
The accent on non-violence is important in any analysis of King. No matter what you thought of his politics, this was a positive point. He was of the same social genre as Ghandi. Another positive of King was his request that people be judged by the content of their character & not by the color of their skin. Certainly no fair minded person could disagree with that.
But the question of race & religion is not so black & white. What is the Christian position on race beyond loving the neighbor & fairness in society really? The Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa was a pillar of apartheid at least in principle. Was this Church non-Christian? Was MLK's view on integration the Christian view? I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. People are entitled to their prudential judgment on racial issues.
You scoff at Gen Beck for
You scoff at Gen Beck for urging listeners into leaving churchs that preach social justice. The social justice that Mr. Beck is refering to is the liberation theology type, which our church (Roman Catholic) has roundly condemned as non-christian. As a matter of course, NCR hoists the flag of liberation theology in the face of the very church is claims to support.
The Church condemns
The Church condemns liberation theology? Or is that just Glenn Beck talk?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-james-martin-sj/glenn-beck-vs-christ-t...
No. You can actualy look it
No. You can actualy look it up. When Pope, John Paul II roundly condemed Liberation Theology in thw 1990's as being anti-christian. He urged his priests and bishops to shun those who encourage it.
Sorry, wrong decade. Check
Sorry, wrong decade. Check John Paul ll's condemnation of Libereation Theology in 1984 and again in 1986.
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