Thoughts after reading Martin Luther King's "Stride Toward Freedom"

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day having just passed, I decided I should read more of King's writings. I read his first book, Stride Toward Freedom, which is the story of the struggle to integrate the buses in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 and 1956. Black people were at that time required to sit at the rear of the bus, and were also required to give up their seat to a white person if told to do so. For more than a year, the black people of Montgomery boycotted the bus system, organizing car pools and ride sharing, and walking miles to work rather than riding the buses. I won't tell the whole story here, but I do recommend that you read the book.

Several things struck me about the struggle for integration. The first is that King taught that the black people must always be nonviolent, even if they were insulted or attacked. What amazes me is that the black people did manage to remain nonviolent, even when the homes of black leaders and several black churches were bombed. I can easily imagine this violence being returned with violence, but they didn't do it. King must have been an amazing man to have this kind of influence on the black population of an entire city.

The second thing that struck me is that so many of the leaders of the movement were church leaders. Of the 45 members of the Executive Board of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization founded to lead the movement, twenty-four of them carried the title, “Reverend.” Many of the meetings were held in churches, and churches provided office space and other resources to the movement.

I have recently seen many churches refuse to get involved in struggles for justice (or to end wars, or to rid ourselves of weapons of mass destruction, or to stop our government from torturing people, or to stop changing the global climate), often saying that it is “too political.” I believe that God calls us to work for justice for all his children, and while some may see this as a political issue, I believe it is a moral issue. Church leaders and congregation members would do well to read Martin Luther King's books and speeches. Or simply consider this, also from Dr. King: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” That doesn't just apply to individuals, it also applies to churches. When the church fails to speak out about things that matter, it's as good as dead. Pastors, churches, Christian congregations, take a lesson from Dr. King: get active, do something, make things happen.