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Martin Luther King's Argumentative Analysis

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At twenty-five years of age, Martin Luther King became a pastor for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, located in Montgomery Alabama (Fuller, 314). His faith in God and Jesus only grew stronger as he witnessed the injustices shown towards African Americans. He often quoted passages from the Bible in his sermons and even in his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail. In this letter, he explains that he is a "love extremist" (King, 297). He viewed religion as a method of bringing out the best in people. It is a refuge for the oppressed. Religion, in King's mind, gives people hope (Cone, 126). It allows them to go back into the world knowing that they will be oppressed but will have hope of better times ahead. King believed that without religion, life would be dark. Yet, religion allows people to have purpose and self-worth (Cone, 144). With the knowledge of a hopeful future, …show more content…

He blatantly opposed war and argued that if a dispute should occur, war is not an option for a solution. King believed that war accomplishes nothing, that it is not as useful as many presume it to be (Lucks, 91). As can be seen throughout history, even to this day war does not solve problems, it only creates them. There have been wars in the past that were believed to end all wars, but as history shows, that belief was truly unsubstantiated. King thought that nonviolence is the answer to conflict. He saw nonviolence as a potent weapon (Baldwin & Burrow, 192). This weapon seeks to destroy evil and injustice, not the people who practise them. It involves a social demonstration of love. Furthermore, in relation to his spiritual inclination, King believed that all human life belongs to God (Baldwin & Burrow, 196, 197). Humans have no right to decide who lives and who dies. This implies that no one is permit to kill another human being. This decision is up to God, for he is the judge over

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