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"Can a Christian be a Communist?" - Sermon by Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Papers Project ^ | September 30, 1962 | Martin Luther King Jr.

Posted on 01/12/2018 3:39:25 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose

Now, let us begin by answering the question which our sermon topic raises: Can a Christian be a communist? I answer that question with an emphatic “no.”

These two philosophies are diametrically opposed. The basic philosophy of Christianity is unalterably opposed to the basic philosophy of communism, and all of the dialectics of the logician cannot make them lie down together. They are contrary philosophies.

Now, there are at least three reasons why I feel obligated as a Christian minister to talk to you about communism. The first reason grows out of the fact that communism is having widespread influence in the contemporary world. Like a mighty tidal wave, it has moved through China, Russia, eastern Europe, and now has rolled within ninety miles of the borders of our nation. More than a billion of the peoples of the world believe in communism. And many of these people have accepted it as a new religion, and they are willing to surrender their total being to this system. A force so potent cannot be ignored.

A second reason that I feel compelled to talk about communism this morning is that it is the only serious rival of Christianity. The other historic and great religions of the world such as Judaism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, and Hinduism may stand as alternatives to Christianity. But for the most formidable competitor that Christianity faces in the world today, we must look to communism..Communism is Christianity's most serious rival.

The third reason that I feel compelled to talk about communism this morning is that it is unfair and certainly unscientific to condemn a system of thought without knowing what that system of thought says and without knowing why it is wrong and why it is evil...

(Excerpt) Read more at kinginstitute.stanford.edu ...


TOPICS: History; Religion; Society
KEYWORDS: china; coldwar; communism; davidgarrow; hegel; king; lenin; martinlutherking; martinlutherkingjr; marxism; mlk; mlkjr; paultillich; philosophy; russia; socialism; sovietunion; stalin; theology; tillich; ussr
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To: GoldenState_Rose

Communists claim in private that King is “one of us”.

But you would rather believe their public denials ?


21 posted on 01/12/2018 4:21:39 PM PST by Reverend Wright (The CBC: Deceiving Canadians since 1936.)
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To: GoldenState_Rose

Thanks for the great post! His dissection of the evils of communism is shockingly applicable to the socialist/progressive ideologies that we’re confronting today. I’m not quite as enamored with the second section’s call to “social justice”, but reading it, it’s clear that it’s a call to personal action, not governmental action.


22 posted on 01/12/2018 4:22:53 PM PST by Behind the Blue Wall
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To: Reverend Wright

And Charleston Heston marched with King, does the make him a communist too?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrkqD7JKDcA


23 posted on 01/12/2018 4:24:15 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
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To: GoldenState_Rose

Hmm ... Pity they didn’t make the audio of this available.

This was well before my time, and I’m not convinced of the man’s sainthood or deviltry, but ... I find myself thinking that if he had lived, the world might have ended up a slightly better place.

His ‘followers’ certainly haven’t helped matters any.


24 posted on 01/12/2018 4:24:40 PM PST by Kommodor (Terrorist, Journalist or Democrat? I can't tell the difference.)
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To: dfwgator

Satan?


25 posted on 01/12/2018 4:29:46 PM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: SkyDancer

26 posted on 01/12/2018 4:30:44 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: Behind the Blue Wall; Kommodor

“Thanks for the great post! His dissection of the evils of communism is shockingly applicable to the socialist/progressive ideologies that we’re confronting today. I’m not quite as enamored with the second section’s call to “social justice”, but reading it, it’s clear that it’s a call to personal action, not governmental action.”

Well put Behind The Blue Wall!

And I agree Kommodor, I’m sure the recording is accessible somewhere actually: if one digs hard enough. It should be required listening for any US History course as far as I’m concerned.


27 posted on 01/12/2018 4:39:50 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
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To: GoldenState_Rose
I have unwittingly found myself surrendered to the notion that King was, is now, and ever shall be an enigma. Someone who we will never fully understand.

That is not necessarily a bad thing.

28 posted on 01/12/2018 4:50:41 PM PST by Ciaphas Cain (Liberalism, as with all else evil, can never create. It can only corrupt.)
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To: Ciaphas Cain

He was a human being first and foremost - and flawed. As was King David and many figures in the Bible and otherwise, who were great men of God.

(I dont doubt that MLK may have been unfaithful in his marriage nor that Marxists were part of the Civil Rights movement...but some of the FBI stuff on him is no different than the hoax-like “files” Mueller and his team have on Trump and Russia “collusion.”)

Secondly, MLK was the REVEREND Martin Luther King Jr. A Christian. A Baptist. And a preacher.

Thirdly, he had plenty of reasons to decry the social ills and abuses defining post-Civil War American society a century onward. Racism is a very real sin.

Fourth, he was a pacifist - weary of any violence including the Vietnam War.

But Fifth, he was a Patriot and he was not ashamed to lay the words and principles of our founders as the bedrock to his value system - including the words penned by former slaveowners.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...”

” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood...”


29 posted on 01/12/2018 4:58:45 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
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To: GoldenState_Rose

“And Charleston Heston marched with King, does the make him a communist too?”

not unless Heston surrounded himself with communists, was dependent on communist advisors, and Party members claimed he was a secret communist.


30 posted on 01/12/2018 4:59:06 PM PST by Reverend Wright (The CBC: Deceiving Canadians since 1936.)
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To: GoldenState_Rose

Heston still considered himself a Demlib at that point.


31 posted on 01/12/2018 5:00:19 PM PST by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
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To: Reverend Wright

Well he was most certainly close to them, as Hollywood was filled with communists.

The great Reverend Billy Graham was another Martin Luther King co-conspirator! Oh the horror!

https://billygraham.org/story/remembering-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/


32 posted on 01/12/2018 5:04:54 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
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To: GoldenState_Rose
These FBI records are hearsay not unlike Mueller’s Trump-Russia collusion case, not actual record of what King actually wrote or spoke before his congregation as the sermon I posted above is

Am I the only one here (for a long time, now) that "was there" in the King era?

I was a street TV reporter from 66-70 for the CBS affiliate in Columbus, Ohio. I attended and reported on Kings activities during that "wild" time.

He was a paid union organizer for the AFSCME. That's how he advertised himself to the media and the politicians. I was there, folks, with camera crew and microphone. He was not any kind of Christian! He was not any kind of patriot!

33 posted on 01/12/2018 5:13:15 PM PST by Ace's Dad (BTW, "Ace" is now Captain Ace. But only when I'm bragging about my airline pilot son!)
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To: GoldenState_Rose

“Great conservative men along the likes of Charlton Heston marched alongside Martin Luther King.”

Even the best of us make mistakes.


34 posted on 01/12/2018 5:14:01 PM PST by Bonemaker
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To: Bonemaker

It was about the Cause not the man leading it.


35 posted on 01/12/2018 5:14:56 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: Kommodor

“×This was well before my time, ,,”

Not mine. I knew it was a fraud even then.


36 posted on 01/12/2018 5:17:14 PM PST by Bonemaker
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To: Migraine

You might recall that King got booed by leftists when he addressed the notorious “New Politics” convention in 1967.


37 posted on 01/12/2018 5:42:29 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: Freelance Warrior
Кто выиграл холодную войну?


Бог.


Бог всегда побеждает.


"No Christian can be a communist because communism leaves out God. It regards religion psychologically as wishful thinking, regards religion intellectually as the product of fear and ignorance. And it regards religion historically as an instrument serving the ends of exploiters. This is what communism teaches about religion. And so, in a real sense, we disagree with this because we believe that history is moved not by economic forces but by spiritual forces. We believe that there is a God in this universe, a God who loves his children, and a God who works through history for the salvation of man. Consequently, we can’t accept communism at that point."

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

38 posted on 01/12/2018 6:17:53 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
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To: dfwgator
Yeah, speaking out clearly and effectively against communism is a way to ver-r-r-r-y, very cleverly advance communism.

(((sigh))))

39 posted on 01/12/2018 6:17:55 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Department of Redundancy Department.)
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To: GoldenState_Rose
I'm not a Communist, GoldenState_Rose.

Though your preacher failed to address the Acts of the Apostles 4:32-37 and 5:1-10. He should have done speaking on this topic.

Some Russian Christians want the Socialism back but with the Church in charge this time.

It's amazing how different ideas people manage to find in the Bible. In some Western churches rich men were regarded as those to be saved and the poor to be damned to hell. The rationale was that any success is a God's blessing and any failure is outcome of sinning. I kinda like this.

40 posted on 01/13/2018 12:22:55 AM PST by Freelance Warrior (A Russian.)
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