I've Been to the Mountaintop Theme of Religion

Throughout his civil rights career, Dr. King was a practicing Baptist minister. He considered it his highest calling:

But before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the gospel. This was my first calling and it still remains my greatest commitment. You know, actually all that I do in civil rights I do because I consider it a part of my ministry. I have no other ambitions in life but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry. (Source)

MLK considered his politics to be inseparable from his religious beliefs. In "Mountaintop," Dr. K repeatedly invokes Jesus, urging his audience to avoid violence and to follow the example of the Good Samaritan. He also alludes to the "Creator" of the Declaration of Independence, that big Geppetto in the sky who, we're told, creates everyone equal.

Dr. King uses these various forms of religious belief in "Mountaintop" to explain and justify social-justice activism and to assure his audience that their efforts will succeed. After all, Jesus is on the side of justice, and he can put the points up on the scoreboard.

1. Do you need to be a believing Christian to appreciate the religious basis of King's principles of nonviolence? Can an atheist be as committed to nonviolence as a religious person?
2. Nowadays, some people like to debate whether or not the Bible offers any political guidance at all, or if it's strictly about interpersonal morality. If you're familiar with the Bible, what do you think? Does it have anything to say about the role of modern government or the legal treatment of different people? Does the Bible seem to endorse the "truths" stated in the Declaration?
3. How did their religious beliefs help King's audience cope with the discrimination and violence they'd been subjected to for most of their lives?

Unwavering commitment to nonviolent resistance requires the belief that a higher power will use that resistance to make things right.

Even if there is no God or universal order as King understands it, nonviolent resistance will still work. Most human beings are decent people who don't want each other to suffer and will always come around eventually. And the Cleveland Browns will win the Super Bowl next year.