"I Don't Believe in Martin Luther King"

A Sermon by
The Reverend Bill Clark

I don't believe in Martin Luther King!

What was I thinking when I wrote this sermon title? What does such a statement mean, I don't believe in Martin Luther King? I can tell you where it came from. It came from a phrase I often hear as a minister. A phrase I often hear as a Unitarian Universalist minister. The phrase is, "I don't believe in Jesus." I hear that again and again. I don't believe in Jesus. As if Jesus is some imaginary figure like the tooth fairy or Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny. I don't believe in him. A man named Jesus existed. This is an historical fact. Whether the place of prominence he is given in history one "believes in" may be another matter. It is like my meditation teacher says in one of his dhamma talks. You say you are devotee of Jesus Christ, wonderful, such a saintly person, full of love and compassion. They say he was the Son of God, so what? As if he needs a testimony from us that says he was the Son of God. For what is God? Truth is God. Love is God. And certainly he was a by-product of this. He was the son the god. And truth be told, for me it is of least importance if one "believes in Jesus or not. So what? What is of most importance is not the man Jesus Christ. What is of utmost importance are the virtues, and qualities, the method and message by which he lived his life. One says they are a follower of Jesus Christ, a Christian. And yet they demonstrate no qualities of love, acceptance, forgiveness and compassion for others. To me it makes no sense. It makes no sense at all. The man has become more important than what he stood for and the qualities with which he lived his life.

Such is true for Martin Luther King as well. We have become so caught up on the man. We have become so caught up in the historical life and the legacy of the man Martin Luther King, that we have lost sight of the qualities and the characteristics that made up the man, Martin Luther King. We have become so caught up in acknowledging the holiday and the heroism of the man, that we have lost sight of the means and methods of how he lived his life. In celebrating the man, I am fearful, dreadfully fearful that we have lost sight of his message, his dream. What has happened to the dream of Martin Luther King?

Some of these points are beautifully and painfully illustrated in Jonathan Kozol's book Savage Inequalities. The book is looking at Children in America's Schools. America's schools, the place where the very heart of hope should be nourished and nurtured. In this one chapter Kozol is interviewing a seventh grade social studies class and asked the question, what have they learned of the civil rights campaign of recent decades?

He writes; "A 14 year-old girl with short black curly hair says this: Every year in February we are told to read the same old speech of Martin Luther King. We read it every year. 'I have a dream...' It does begin to seem...what is the word?" She hesitates and then she finds the word: "perfunctory." I ask her what she means. "We have a school in East St. Louis named for Dr. King." She says. "The school is full of sewer water and the doors are locked with chains. Every student in that school is black. It's like a terrible joke on history."

Another student named Christopher approaches me. "Write this down. You asked questions about Martin Luther King. I'm going to say something. All that stuff about 'the dream' means nothing to the kids I know in East St. Louis. So far as they're concerned, he died in vain. He was famous and he lived and gave his speeches and he died and now he is gone. But we're still here. Don't tell students in this school about 'the dream' Go and look into a toilet here if you would like to know what life is like for students in this city."

Before I leave, the author writes, "I do as Christopher asked and enter a boy's bathroom. Four of the six toilets do not work. The toilet stalls, which are eaten away by red and brown corrosion, have no doors. The toilets have no seats. There are no paper towels and no soap. This, says Sister Julia, is the best school that we have in East Louis." (Savage Inequalities: 1991)

To add insult to injury at the Martin Luther King School, in East St. Louis a history teacher has 110 students in four classes. Yet she only has 26 books. Many of these 26 books are missing the first hundred pages.

Maybe the young fourteen year old is right. It is like a terrible joke on history.

Now historically Martin Luther King has done well. His birthday is finally a national holiday. We have named Boulevards after him in many major US cities. Schools, and recreation centers bear his name. The man has taken his rightful place in our history books. Yet, I ask again, have we been so bent on remembering the man that we have lost sight of his qualities and failed and forgotten to live his dream and his message?

To me the very core quality at the heart of Dr. Martin Luther King was his undeniable capacity for love. King, the person, the pastor, the preacher, the teacher spoke only and often of the power and possibility of love. "We must evolve," he wrote, "we must evolve, for all human conflict a method, which rejects; revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

In today's complicated and complex age of terrorism and terror alerts. In today's world of car bombings and suicide bombings. In today's world of weapons of mass destruction or lack thereof, and American aggression, have we as a people and a nation so lost sight of this ideal that revenge, aggression and retaliation is all we are capable of doing? In today's world of racial profiling and the patriot act. In today's world where economic disparity grows wider and deeper. In today's world where liberty and justice remains color coded, have we become so "perfunctory" in our cries for social and political change that it takes the Supreme Court to settle our elections and a miracle for many to trust the democratic process once again?

I do not believe Dr. King would have thought so. He understood this country. He understood this country because he had witnessed the beast within it. And he loved this country. He loved this country for that which it might become....America...this monument to genius of ordinary men and women, this place where hope becomes capacity, this halting turn of the no....No you can't vote here. No you can't have equal rights. No you can't live in this neighborhood. No you can't get a fair trial....Into the YES! Yes, political, social and economic change is possible. Yes, we can stop the spread of hatred and violence. Yes, we can have equality and over come our institutional powers of racism, Yes we can re-imagine and remake this country and this world. Yes we can, but we must remain engaged with it and we must do it with the power of love.

"Power is the strength," Dr. King wrote, "required to bring about social, political and economic change. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. And justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love."

Living in poverty is standing against love. Providing inadequate education is standing against love. Warring nations in the name of justice is standing against love. Spreading violence and hatred through warfare is standing against love. Justice is love correcting all these things.

Providing economic, social and educational justice for those living at the edge of our society. Finding new and alternative methods to international conflicts besides the overused militaristic ones. Ceasing to meet every act of hatred and violence with further retaliatory acts of hatred and violence are all acts of standing up for justice. They are acts of standing up for love. This was the simple, yet profound, message of Dr. Martin Luther King. Yes, I know I can hear you thinking, but times are different nowadays. The world is more dangerous. The weapons are more destructive. The fears are far greater. And I would answer this may be true which makes the stakes even higher. And I would remind us, of the life and the times of Dr. Martin Luther King. He was beaten, bruised and bombed. He was arrested and jailed numerous times. He was ridiculed and rejected by some of his own clergymen. His family was threatened. His home was bombed. He was shot and killed! And never, never did anyone in his family or faith retreat or retract from his message of non-violence, justice and love. Never!! Let this be the message we remember on this day. Let this be the message written in the history books and the message taught in the schools. Not that he gave one great speech on a hot August day. But that he lived his faith and practiced his faith, which has at its center the unrelenting power of love.

I began this sermon with the obscure statement, I don't believe in Martin Luther King. What I mean is I don't believe in the position history has placed him; on street signs and schoolyards, Boulevards and museums. If history is to serve Dr. King than his legacy must be a living, breathing commitment to justice, non-violence and unconditional love. If his legacy is be a lasting one then we, too, must believe that war can never be the answer, that racism and prejudice must be dismantled and that, in his words, "right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant."

In December of 1964, Dr. King, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. The words of his acceptance speech ring true especially in today's climate. "I refuse," he stated, to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men.

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will, will proclaim the rule of the land." I believe in the message, the heart, song and spirit of Martin Luther King. I believe in America...my country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty...America this monument to the genius of ordinary men and women. I believe in this place where hope becomes capacity.

And I believe in you. I believe in you, gathered here are the ones who love this country enough to re-imagine it and remake it so that dreams become reality. May it be so.

Blessed Be.