#436: “Somewhere I Read ...”

All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper."
If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there.
But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly.
Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech.
Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press.
Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.
And so just as I say, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.*

------------------------------------------------------------/
*https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr. (Bold emphasis added.)

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the son of early civil rights activist Martin Luther King Sr.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

#435: “Somewhere Somebody Must Have Some Sense.”

“Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.”*

-----------------------------------------------/
*https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the son of early civil rights activist Martin Luther King Sr. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

#434: A Plea for Religious Liberty

... God requireth not a uniformity of religion to be enacted and enforced in any civil state; which enforced uniformity (sooner or later) is the greatest occasion of civil war, ravishing of conscience, persecution of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of the hypocrisy and destruction of millions of souls.

... in holding an enforced uniformity of religion in a civil state, we must necessarily disclaim our desires and hopes of the Jew's conversion to Christ.

-------------------------------------------/
*Williams, Roger. A Plea for Religious Liberty (1644) (p. 2). . Kindle Edition.

Roger Williams (c. 1603 – March 1683) ... was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with the American Indians.[2] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams

#433: A Plea for Religious Liberty

“... that the blood of so many hundred thousand souls of Protestants and Papists, spilt in the wars of present and former ages, for their respective consciences, is not required nor accepted by Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace.

“... the doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience is proved guilty of all the blood of the souls crying for vengeance under the altar.”*

------------------------------------------/
*Williams, Roger. A Plea for Religious Liberty (1644) (p. 1). . Kindle Edition.

Roger Williams (c. 1603 – March 1683) ... was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with the American Indians.[2] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams

#432: The Duty of Christians

“To let their light shine, not to force on them their interpretations of God’s designs, is the duty of Christians towards their fellows. If you, who set yourselves to explain the theory of Christianity, had set yourselves instead to do the will of the Master, the one object for which the Gospel was preached to you, how different would now be the condition of that portion of the world with which you come in contact!

“Had you given yourselves to the understanding of his word that you might do it, and not to the quarrying from it of material wherewith to buttress your systems, in many a heart by this time would the name of the Lord be loved where now it remains unknown. The word of life would then by you have been held out indeed. Men, undeterred by your explanations of Christianity---for you would not be forcing them of their acceptance---and attracted by your behavior, would be saying to each other, as Moses said to himself when he saw the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight!”  They would be drawing nigh to behold how these Christians loved one another, and how just and fair they were to every one that had to do with them!  To note that their goods were the best, their prices most reasonable, their word most certain!  That in their families was neither jealousy nor emulation!  That mammon was not there worshiped!  That in their homes selfishness was neither the hidden nor the openly ruling principle!  That their children were as diligently taught to share, as some are to save, or to lay out only upon self!  Their mothers more anxious lest a child should hoard than lest he should squander!  That in no house of theirs was religion one thing, and the daily life another!   That the ecclesiastic did not think first of his church, nor the peer of his privileges! Refusing to obey him in your life, how can you trust him for your life?”*

--------------------------------------------/
*Quoted from Hein, Rolland. Through the Year with George MacDonald: 366 Daily Readings (Kindle Locations 5146-5160). Winged Lion Press. Kindle Edition.

George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons. / ...
C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later", said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald