Within a red binder, each of its typewritten pages encased in plastic sleeves, sits an early draft of the famous letter written by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as he was held in a jail in Birmingham, Alabama.
Another letter from Birmingham
Our nation’s current campaign of intimidation against our immigrant neighbors has called to mind Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, written in April 1963 by King from a prison cell not far from where I am writing this morning…
Court prophets and the crisis of the prophetic
We are living in a moment of widespread moral confusion, and yet we have no shortage of people claiming to speak with moral and even prophetic authority. Everyone seems certain. Everyone seems outraged. Everyone seems convinced God is on their…
When Bill met Mike: An unlikely duo
Most people know him as Martin Luther King Jr., but he was born Michael King Jr. — “Mike” to his friends for the rest of his life. His father, the influential Atlanta pastor Martin Luther “Daddy” King Sr., renamed them…
The Baptist roots of Martin Luther King Jr.
“In the quiet recesses of my heart, I am fundamentally a clergyman, a Baptist preacher.” Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. That dream, however, has no hope of being understood apart from King’s Baptist identity. The son of…
Can mainline liberals get their story back?
In my most recent column I drew attention to the certainty gap between American evangelicals and mainline Protestants. While 85% of evangelicals and 82% of Black Protestants believe in God without a shadow of a doubt, the same can only…
Imagine this great cloud of Baptist witnesses around the Resolute Desk
Two images crowd into my mind. One is of President Donald Trump sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, surrounded by a group of evangelical leaders. The other image is the cover artwork of Margaret M. Mitchell’s The…
Silence is a dangerous thing
The year was 1967. The United States was in the middle of the Vietnam War. Many citizens wondered why troops were sent there and exactly why they were fighting. In this year, many Black and brown individuals raised their voices,…
Beyond ‘I Have a Dream’: Meditations on Martin Luther King Jr.’s hard words for white Christians
I rarely crosspost old columns, but this year, I’m re-upping a relevant column I penned two years ago, which contains with one plea for white Christians: If we want to honor Rev. Dr. King and think honestly about ourselves, white…
Biden’s appearance at Mother Emmanuel Church belies his hypocritical stand on Israel
President Joe Biden’s successful campaign for the presidency in 2020 was resuscitated from near intensive care desperation thanks to Black voters in South Carolina and the endorsement of South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn. South Carolina is the first Democratic Party…
Interfaith leaders influenced MLK’s Christian outlook, biographer says
While deeply committed to his Christian faith, Martin Luther King Jr. was influenced by Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish ideas in formulating and leading the Civil Rights movement, said Jonathan Eig, author of the new biography, King: A Life. Input from…
The importance of remembering the March on Washington in 2023
On Aug. 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech that touched millions of people around the world. King is painted as the main character of this event because of his speech, but what…