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Unjust Laws According To Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Unjust Laws According To Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail
Yadata Osman
Dr. Robinson
Survey of Philosophy of Thought
11/30/2015
Paper 2
Throughout history, there have been many unjust laws. Many people obey laws just because they are laws. People often disagree with certain laws, but they follow it because it's socially and normally acceptable or because it's just the law. I believe that King wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail to make his readers question and interpret whether or not a law is just. In this essay I will make the distinction between just and unjust laws according to Martin Luther King Jr' s Letter from Birmingham Jail. If a law is unjust, it is the responsibility of the people to get it overturned. A society should not live with an unjust law.
King addresses the church’s failure to step into the breach and teach its members the evil segregation laws and disobeying them is an act of justice. Segregation was a major issue that King explains the church refused to recognize. In addition, with the church not supporting him as he believed they should he addresses them as to why he was disappointed. By pointing out their failures he was teaching its members the evil segregation laws and that disobeying them is an act of justice.
The Patriot Act is one of the …show more content…
In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King talks about the difference between unjust and just laws. He tells us that everyone has a moral code to adhere to with accordance the laws that are just. Yet, the laws that are seen as unjust, should be unfollowed by the people. According to King, just law is a moral law or the law of God, whereas unjust law is made up by humans and does not have anything common with eternal and natural law. MLK would advise the people to disobey this act in any way possible, an unjust law is not one that should be followed. MLK was very adamant about this, the laws that are unfair to the people are meant to be disobeyed in order to hopefully change
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