i)
Martin Luther King fought for a worthy cause. At the same time, evangelicals
should resist the impulse to canonize the man. King was a great man, but not a
good man. His moral deficiencies (adultery, plagiarism) and theological
deficiencies (liberalism) are conspicuous. He championed a cause greater than
himself.
ii)
Although Jim Crow had to go (good riddance!), it’s better to suffer here and
now, but be free in the hereafter–than to be free here and now, but suffer in
the hereafter. Life is fleeting. Eternity is forever.
iii) The
reelection of Barak Obama vividly illustrates the moral limitations of a legal
liberation movement. Likewise,
naming schools, streets, bridges, and holidays after King’s memory does nothing
to solve social problems which beset segments of the black community. That’s
bread and circuses.
iv) I
also don’t see the duty to commemorate the civil rights movement every year. We
don’t need to be constantly reminded of something we’ve heard over and over
again. Not something we must endlessly relive. The past is past. And as far as that goes, there are many other, often
neglected, events in American history, not to mention world history or–most of
all–Bible history.
v) John
Piper wrote a book (Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian) about race
relations. As a Southerner in his sixties who came of age in the shadow of Bob
Jones University, it’s only natural that Piper wanted to get that off his
chest. But the generation for whom that’s resonant or relevant is rapidly
dwindling.
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