MLK

Question 1

How does King justify breaking the law?

Answer 1

He believes that one should, if the law is against his moral conscience, break the law openly, lovingly, and willing to accept the punishment.

Question 2

What are the two types of law King talks about?

Answer 2

Just laws and unjust laws.

Question 3

What does St. Augustine say about law?

Answer 3

Because natural law ought to be the basis for manmade laws, the unjust law has no real authority.

Question 4

How does King define a just law and an unjust law?

Answer 4

JUST LAW: complies with moral law.
UNJUST LAW: is out of harmony with the moral law.

Question 5

How does King quote Thomas Aquinas?

Answer 5

He used St. Thomas Aquinas’s ideas law.

Question 6

What is the difference between negative peace and positive peace?

Answer 6

Negative peace is the absence of tension, while positive peace is the presence of justice.

Question 7

What does King say about the church?

Answer 7

In the time of MLK, the church submitted to horribly unjust laws, despite previously playing a part in the fostering of new, radical ideas

Question 8

What is King’s view of the founding documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?

Answer 8

Martin Luther King believed the foundational belief systems of the Declaration and Consitution supported the ideas he fought for in the present.