“Letter from Birmingham City Jail" - 2009 Edition

The Birmingham Letter Project
Washington D.C.
January 21st-24th
2009

“injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… ”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

A national call to come to Washington, D.C. to be a prayerful and prophetic witness for life.

On January 21-24, 2009, a prayerful and prophetic witness for life will be taking place in Washington, D.C. called “The Birmingham Letter Project.” Christians from all across America will be coming to our nation’s capitol to call for an end to abortion and boldly be a voice for those who have no voice.
“The Birmingham Letter Project” in Washington, D.C. will be the start of a major national pro-life witness in which the people of God will be challenging the Obama Administration to embrace human rights and social justice and bring an end to the brutality of abortion.
The name of the project is taken from Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic “Letter from Birmingham City Jail.” The principles from this letter will provide guidance and a foundation for all our activities and inspire us to stand against abortion as Christians a generation ago stood against segregation and racism.
Below are some principles and quotes from the letter:
The “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” was addressed to “My dear Fellow Clergymen.” Dr. King was reminding everyone that the problem of segregation was created initially by the failure of the church and her leaders to be courageous and prophetic on the issue of racial injustice. In other words, Christians who remained silent on the issue of segregation were more responsible for it then white supremacists and racists.
The same is true today with abortion. It is the apathy and indifference of Christians and their failure to speak out against abortion that has created this grave injustice. The church must stop pointing fingers and take responsibility for the horror of abortion. In the words of Rev. Joseph Foreman, “…every abortion clinic should have a sign posted in front it saying open by permission of the church.”
“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor of the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order than to justice;’ who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice;”
“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of bad people, but for the appalling silence of good people.”
“So here we are moving toward the exit of the twentieth century with a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo, standing as a taillight behind other community agencies rather than a headlight leading men to higher levels of justice.”
“Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection”.
“There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. It those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.”
“The Contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”