Thinking Back...

I celebrate that we officially celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am glad to see streets named in his honor in cities all across the country. Schools and parks and projects carry his name.

People who have been born since Dr. King's death could easily look around and get the idea that Dr. King was a popular, well-received, beloved figure in American history. Those of us who were living when Dr. King was alive know better. We remember how much he was villified, constantly attacked and denounced. We remember that he was called a trouble-maker--by both black and white people. We remember that he was called a radical and unpatriotic and a communist. We remember that he was reviled and rejected. No matter how many streets and schools are named after him, no matter that a national holiday has been named for him, nobody who was alive when Dr. King was living would think that Dr. King rode a great tide of acceptance and popularity. All this adulation has largely come since his death.

When I look back across the decades, I know I am not the only one who is grateful for the progress against prejudice. I look back and am appalled at the segregationist world that existed in the United States -- a country based on freedom and democracy--a country so often called a "Christian nation". And our reactions to the patently unfair, unchristian and sometimes inhumane system of inequality were denial, complacency and even defensiveness. It is mind-boggling to me the prejudice that we tolerated.

As we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday this year, I wonder if the best honor to him would be to look at the vehement prejudices that we tolerate today. Who do we denounce? What is the area that arouses our deepest prejudices?

Someone asked me recently how to distinguish between principles and prejudices. It's a question that deserves careful, prayerful consideration from every Christian. Many citizens and churchmen decried Dr. King based on appeals to Christian principle. Appeals to the Bible have been used to justify all kinds of prejudice and unchristlike behavior. Claiming that a position is Christian alone does not tell the truth about whether a position is Christin or not.

I believe there is a sure-fire distinction for anyone who is searching for difference between prejudice and principle. You can tell if there is prejudice in your appeal to principle if your words and actions violate the Christian foundation of love for one another. Whenever your principles cause you to mistreat others or to support the mistreatment of others, that's a sure sign of prejudice, not principle. People who are following Christian principles will live by the Golden Rule and Great Commandment. People who make an appeal to Christian principle but, in their actions, ridicule, humiliate or support mistreatment against others are operating out of prejudice no matter how many Bible verses they quote.

I grew up in Kentucky in the era when legendary UK coach Adoph Rupp refused to have a black player on the team. I grew up in a church that was segregated and black United Methodist churches belonged to different conferences in a separate, though overlapping jurisdiction. I grew up in a world where racial prejudice set the social norms and all was defended in the name of Christian principles. I am appalled at prejudice past and present--and horrified by the ways that prejudice has been buttressed by appeals with the label "Christian".

Before the MLKing holiday this year gets away from us, let us look at the deeply entrenched, emotional prejudices that still plague our nation and compromise our Christian witness. Let's have the courage to base our lives on principle -- not matter how unpopular that is with the present culture. Every Martin Luther King celebration should remind us that popularity with our prejudice-prone culture is not the path to lasting, Christlike influence.