This sanctity of life video employs a powerful message delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his stand against the Vietnam war. Dr. King was adamantly against abortion and denounced it as a form of genocide on numerous occasions.
“Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
April 4, 1967
Given at Riverside Church, New York City, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s address as delivered to the Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam. The short excerpt used in this video:
“I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together, Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam. The recent statements of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart, and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: ‘A time comes when silence is betrayal.’ That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.
“The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexing as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty. But we must move on.
“Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.”
References
Rev. Martin Luther King, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html, retrieved November 10, 2011.
Image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Martin_Luther_King%2C_Jr_-_NARA_-_559202.jpg
(Originally posted at prosanctityoflife.com on November 10, 2011.)
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Pro-Choice Argument: A Woman Should Have Control Over Her Own Body
This is not about abortion. Nice try though!
Frank,
I understand and agree. I think the creators of the video were also taking into account King’s point of view regarding abortion and applying them to his vocal disdain for the killing in Vietnam.
“In his 1967 Christmas sermon, he pointed out the foundation of this vision: ‘The next thing we must be concerned about if we are to have peace on earth and good will toward men is the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life. …Man is a child of God, made in His image, and therefore must be respected as such… And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won’t exploit people, we won’t trample over people with the iron feet of oppression, we won’t kill anybody.'”
(Fr. Frank Pavone, Three relatives of Martin Luther King Jr. release statement opposing abortion, http://www.lifesitenews.com/blog/three-relatives-of-martin-luther-king-jr-release-statement-opposing-aborti/, retrieved January 12, 2012.)