Is Martin Luther King's Association With The Southern Baptist Church

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Martin Luther King Jr. was a well-known and inspirational figure in all cultures around the world. King was and continues to be one of history's most important figures. King's ideas and beliefs helped African Americans gain the rights and privileges that were rightfully theirs in the 1950s and 1960s. On his path, King encountered numerous challenges, including incarceration and assassination attempts. He was primarily known for deeply impactful oration and leading the way for Civil Rights for African Americans. Along with many things, King was a minister and was deeply connected to the Southern Baptist Church throughout his life. Dr. Martin Luther King's association with the Southern Baptist Church shaped his personal development, religious …show more content…

The Southern Baptist denomination is the largest protestant denomination in the United States. This denomination separated from its northern counterpart in the mid-19th century to oppose the anti-slavery effort. Southern church leaders felt if they were affiliated, the Northern ideology would infiltrate their churches and convince the Southern people to resist slavery. In the Civil War times, enslaved members of the church had their own congregations but were mostly forced to have a white minister. During the postwar Reconstruction period, the white Southern Baptist Convention leaders opposed political representation for African-Americans and explicitly advocated white supremacy. With both the Jim Crow laws and the desire for independence, freedmen established separate Black Churches. These churches became a subdivision of the Southern Baptist church and held the same but additional beliefs of the “white” churches. Evidently, the Southern Baptist church has an ambiguous and deeply complex history when it comes to Civil Rights and racial …show more content…

As a devout Christian, King Jr. followed the Bible's commands, which formed the basis of his unwavering anti-violent protest. King wished for happier and more peaceful days not only for himself and his family but also for future African American generations. He would accomplish this through peaceful, restrained, and nonviolent protests. He frequently avoided the more violent protestors and encouraged all protesters to behave similarly to him, conducting in his I Have a Dream speech that “‘We [protestors] must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence’”. This nonviolent sense was firmly embedded in Dr. King's ideology and was a major factor in his success in civil rights. Many people found him appealing and approachable because of his understanding of and devotion to forgiveness and