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Martin Luther King

Christianity

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Learning outcomes

What we will learn in this presentation:

Who was Martin Luther King?

What did justice mean to Martin Luther King?

How did Martin Luther King show justice?

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Martin Luther King was a black Baptist minister who wanted to end the oppression of black people in the USA in the 1950s and 60s. He felt the time had come to take a stand against the racial injustice he saw all around him.

Who was Martin Luther King?

What kinds of oppression and injustice existed in the USA in the 1950s and 60s?

What is oppression? What is injustice?

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The life of Martin Luther King

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Non-violent protest

Martin Luther King believed that it was important to only use non-violent methods of protest, for several reasons:

Impractical

It humiliates your opponent.

It doesn’t help people understand you.

It leads to more destruction.

It thrives on hatred.

Immoral

Hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful... – MLK

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Martin Luther King on justice

Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of

God's children.

We will not be satisfied until justice

rolls down like waters and righteousness

like a mighty stream.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

How do these quotations and his belief in non-violence reflect Martin Luther King’s Christian faith?

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How Martin Luther King showed justice