The longer that America goes without passing and enforcing laws protecting animals from abusers, and wilderness areas from developers, many citizens are going to become anarchists. Anarchy is made less difficult by their appealing to a higher law. What Martin Luther King, Jr. said holds:
Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, it is rather strange and paradoxical to find us consciously breaking laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: There are just and there are unjust laws. I would agree with Saint Augustine that “An unjust law is no law at all.” Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.
(Quoted from page 70 of “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr., published in Why We Can’t Wait. Penguin, 2000.)
For a brief biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., click here. For images of and relating to Martin Luther King, Jr., click here.
Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, it is rather strange and paradoxical to find us consciously breaking laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: There are just and there are unjust laws. I would agree with Saint Augustine that “An unjust law is no law at all.” Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.
(Quoted from page 70 of “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr., published in Why We Can’t Wait. Penguin, 2000.)
For a brief biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., click here. For images of and relating to Martin Luther King, Jr., click here.
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