Exploring Catholic Social Teaching

B Ask the class to put this quote in their own words. Then, using leading questions, help them see that King is
carefully distinguishing here between “a law” (or man-made law) and “law,” by which he means something else
entirely. (Underline the last word of the quotation to emphasize this point.) What might he mean by this? By
“law” King means a higher law — God’s law. Man-made law that contradicts God’s law only purports to be law;
it is not in fact law and is not binding on our conscience.
C Transition to the activity by asking the class what they already know about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Keep
a list on the board of facts and biographical information.
D Ask specifically what they may know about King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” He wrote this letter in 1963
from his jail cell, where he had been incarcerated for his role in organizing nonviolent protests against segregationist
policies in Birmingham, Alabama.
E
F
Distribute and have students refer to Handout E: Excerpt from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Then have them visit SophiaOnline.org/MLKLetter and skim over “Letter from a
Birmingham Jail” and answer the questions on the worksheet. They should carefully read from the paragraph beginning
“Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation
in the public schools” to the paragraph ending “If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles
dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s antireligious laws.”
Review answers and discuss when students have finished the assignment.
Answer Key
Accept reasoned answers such as the suggested answers below:
1 Laws requiring segregation are “politically, economically, and sociologically unsound” and “morally wrong and
sinful.” Segregation “distorts the soul and damages the personality,” and it brings to life in a terrible way the
alienation and separation that occurs through sin. He urges disobedience to segregation laws because they
are intrinsically morally wrong.
2 He quotes St. Augustine: “an unjust law is no law at all” (De Libero Arbitrio i, 5). This reflects the idea that laws
that are inherently opposed to justice are not truly laws. He also paraphrases St. Thomas Aquinas: “an unjust
law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law” (paraphrased from Summa Theologica,
I-II, Q. 91, art. 2–3). In other words, man-made laws are unjust when they contradict God’s laws.
3 He says that someone who breaks an unjust law must do so with a willingness to suffer the consequences. His nonviolent
approach to civil disobedience parallels the Church teachings that a resistance to unjust laws must not be
tainted by recourse to violence. Civil laws that directly contradict God’s moral law demand disobedience. Serving God’s
law sometimes demands disobedience to man-made law when man-made law is contrary to God’s will. Resistance to
unjust law and authority should never lead to lawlessness or anarchy but should rather illustrate the moral failings of
the law — something that innocent people submitting to unjust penalties demonstrates to the world. This is one reason
King also emphasizes the importance of willingly accepting the consequences for civil disobedience.
4 Dr. King uses the example of Nazi Germany as a demonstration that legality is not a measure for morality. War
and atrocity under the Nazi regime demanded resistance. Additionally, the Hungarian resistance was itself
illegal disobedience to unjust rule. Unjust laws allow one group’s immoral views to be forced onto another.
Accept reasoned responses: unjust war, legal abortion, legal slavery, socialism, crony capitalism, etc. can all
reflect ways that unjust laws allow some to profit at the expense of others.
5 Accept thoughtful answers.
170 Exploring Catholic Social Teaching
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