Remembering the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Chip Berlet explores the contrast between "those who preach about their narrow definition of justice on Sunday; and those who teach about liberty and justice for all, not just on Sunday, but every day of the week."
In the year before his assassination, King published a prophetic book: Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? The theme was justice for all, but there was a warning that unless we all worked together to ensure justice for all, then we beckon chaos rather than building community. King often spoke of the beloved community. He sought to unite rather than to divide.Division, discord, and demonization are the themes from the Christian Right, which has tried to drive a wedge between black people and gay people, and to stigmatize women who favor reproductive rights. A government role in crafting economic justice is decried by Christian Right ideologues as coddling the poor who they suggest just need a broom and a Bible. Peace and tolerance are denounced as giving succor to evil enemies. Justice primarily consists of handing out stiff jail terms.
What's most amazing is how people like James Dobson and Jerry Falwell manage to hijack the language of civil rights and universal justice -- "Justice and Liberty for ALL" is their new mantra -- to lend legitimacy to their attempts to control the judiciary in service of a narrow, theocratic political agenda that is anything but just, libertarian or civil. And how those judges who don't fall into lockstep with this nasty, mean-spirited theocratic agenda and who dare to defend religious liberty against the tyranny of establishmentarianism are themselves accused of 'judicial tyranny'.
'Just-Us' Sunday anybody? Or justice everyday?
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