A Review of The UnChristian-Christian: A Challenge From A Civil Rights Icon

This article has been updated 10/17/2017

Originally published 2/8/2014

First published as a special issue of Ebony magazine in August 1965, Martin Luther King’s “The Un-Christian Christian” could not have gone over well. It is no wonder that this essay has been buried by the more popular “I Have A Dream” and “Letters From A Birmingham Jail”. Here Martin delves into the ugly truth of American Christianity, sadly, still true to some degree. Martin Luther King, Jr. was not just a great orator, but he had a message that began with the CHURCH’S attitude toward race and racial divide. The dream was cut off but he left a legacy inspiring many other Leaders to address, not ignore the racial divides and tensions in our country. Here is my critique of the original article with excerpts.- Shantae Charles 

MLK begins his article by expressing his concerns for the Church. He says, "The Church is my life and I have given my life to the Church, but in spite of this fact, I am greatly disturbed by the Church, and I am confused by the so-called un-Christian Christian in our midst."

MLK recognizes that the struggle for Civil Rights was not one-sided. They had allies, both Believers and Unbelievers from all religious streams and world wide who were committed to the cause of justice. He refers to them as "true sons of faith". 

 "These are the true sons of faith. They come from all walks of life. Some are church members, but many are not. Some were clergy of all faiths- Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish. Some were Negro, some white and some from foreign countries. " 

MLK realized in spite of this, there was a DISCONNECT from the global movement to the actions of the LOCAL churches. He writes: 

"But what about the people who fill the churches Sunday after Sunday? These are the persons whom one expects to take up the cross and march beside their oppressed brethren. Instead, they are the big stumbling blocks, the Great Question Marks in our society. Who can explain their silence, their apathy, their indifference, and even their participation in acts of brutality and evil against their brothers."

Indeed, they ARE and continue to BE the "Great Question Marks" in our society. Today, leading voices that should ring out in clarity are now condoning open bigotry and hatred in a way that hearkens back to the Civil Rights Era. Many Believers are walking away from a Church that will not speak out and remains apathetic, indifferent, and even violent towards those who would call for racial justice. MLK sounds like today's Believer who questions whether the Church has lost it's salt when he asks: 

"How can Christians be so blind? How can they not see that the very Word of God has called for the “Oneness of the Church” and that in Christ there is “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female” but all are one."

MLK makes the case in his article that it is the PROPHETIC NATURE of the Church to be at the forefront of revolution and not taking a backseat. He noted the dichotomy that exists between what the Church has become and what it was created to be, as an Ecclesia.

King says, 

"Like many other human institutions, the Church exists in two forms: the powerful, prophetic, and dynamic spiritual form, which has appeared in many great movements in history, and the staid, conservative, institutional form, which is characterized by our buildings and denominational structures. True, Sunday morning at eleven o’clock is the most segregated hour of our nation’s life, but it is also true that Christians are responsible for much of the power of the present revolution." 

What is at the root of this dichotomy? King believes it has to do with emotionalism being placed above moralism, with idealism divorcing itself from the present day realities faced by people of color worldwide. After we get done singing Hallelujah, we must move to bringing the presence of God into the ways we treat people. We cannot close our eyes to injustice and sing louder, drowning out the cries of the oppressed.

King asks, 

"What has happened too often is that men have responded to Christ emotionally, but they have not responded to His teachings morally. The notion of a Personal Savior who has died for us has a great deal of appeal, but too often Christians see the Resurrected Christ and ignore the man Jesus, turning his face to Jerusalem and deliberately accepting crucifixion rather than deny God’s will and give in to the pressures of the Scribes and Pharisees to take back much of what he had taught concerning all men as sons of God."

Here's where King and I disagree. America was established by Deists for white male land owners with everyone else falling into a lower social class or labeled as property (slaves and women). King does note that Christianity of the American brand was responsible for validating the inhumanity of slavery. He writes: 

"America was established as a Christian nation which strongly believed in religious and political freedom for all mankind. The early Protestants who made up the thirteen original colonies were strongly influenced by the teaching of John Calvin and soon distorted the notions of predestination to justify the presence of slavery. This distortion of faith aids and abets sinfulness of man and society. This is the theological key to our dilemma."

King goes on to note something that hasn't changed, even in 2017. 

"The really tragic thing about the un-Christian Christian is that he has really convinced himself that he is right in his sin and heresy. He thinks of the Church as his own private country club and not the Body of Christ with two thousand years of history and doctrine. The Church for him is little more than an irrelevant social club with a thin veneer of religiosity, where his daughters can meet and marry the right kind of person, where the eighteenth century heritage of his forefathers can be preserved against the onslaught of modern technology and social forces."

In 2017, men still seek to preserve a "heritage" that dehumanized other citizens. They are still putting their prejudice over doctrine, and the veneer of religiosity is clear to all who will look with honest scrutiny. To be clear, religiosity is not exclusive to left or right, but to anyone who tries to politicize FAITH for a self serving agenda. While using religion, those who refuse to let go of their bigotry are using it as a last stand as America browns and they become a minority. These kinds of people are not interested in sharing power, only maintaining it at the cost of the Republic.

.MLK is right on target when he says: 

"This development is further complicated by the fact that many segregationists are now retreating to Church as a last refuge for their possible control and influence. They are becoming resigned to the fact that the public sector of life will be integrated by the order of the courts and Congress. This leaves the Church as one area that cannot come under court order, where they might still perpetuate their sickness and bitterness against the Negro."

In 2017, while rights of citizens are being rolled back, there is a call for calm. for prayer, for waiting, for being more polite, for protesting "the right way" which many have come to realize means "not at all." MLK ran into this same conundrum of those who call for patience when the suffering and oppression does not directly affect them. 

He says, 

"Another trait of the un-Christian Christian is that he has forgotten the earthly relevance of the faith. He is so concerned about the hereafter that he ignores the here and now. The faith must have some relevance here; where the precious lives of men are still sadly disfigured by poverty and hatred; where millions of God’s children are being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression; where millions are consigned to degradation and injustice, and where the habitations of men are filled with agony and anguish. To be concerned about the future good “over yonder” and not concerned about good among men on earth is to adhere to a dead religion only waiting to be buried.'

MLK makes a great point in noting that while the world moves on, oftentimes the American Church lags behind. While we should be leading the charge, MLK laments that we lack direction. He offers encouragement when he says, 

"There is much that the Church can do to save herself from this plight. This is a moral problem and the Church can save the un-Christian Christian if she will begin to give direction to the mind and soul of her followers and point out the superstitions which lead the racist to fear encounter with Negroes. No one can deal with the ideational roots of racism and prejudice as the Church can." 

Dean Listen Pope of Yale Divinity School has said in his book Kingdom Beyond Caste, “The Church is the most segregated major institution in American Society. It has lagged behind the Supreme Court as the conscience of a nation on the questions of race, and it has fallen far behind trade unions, factories, schools, department stores, athletic gatherings, and most major arenas of human association as far as the achievement of integration in its own life is concerned.”

He lets know finally that this is not enough. We must begin locally, friend to friend, brother to brother to confront the ugliness of racism, bigotry, prejudice, and the laws that keep the wheels turning. He says that the CHURCH standing up would quell the brutality. Indeed, the silence of the CHURCH in 2017 is allowing it to strengthen. Some of the recent violence has been committed by those who say they are Christians. It is incumbent on those who lead to bring the message of a bloody cross, not a burning one. 

MLK says, 

"But all of this (activism)is away from home. The key issue must be resolved in the local congregations... If the Church in the South would stand up for the rights of Negroes, there would be no murder and brutality. The awful fact about the South is that the Southerners are making the Marxist analysis of history more accurate than the Christian hope that men can be persuaded through teaching and preaching to live a new and better life."

As MLK closes his critique, he issues some stern warnings to our generation. Sadly, we are not heeding them. Reading these words seem like they were written just yesterday: 

"The wedding of Christ with the culture of the South may prove to be the end of Christianity as a world religion. For these churches by some trick of fate, were the ones that did much of the missionary work in Africa and Asia. It is no coincidence that missionaries are no longer welcome in many of these countries as they attain their freedom. Though missionaries did contribute to the health and education of the people of these countries, the Bread of Life was baked with the bitter leaven of racism within and is now being spewed out of the mouths of new African leaders who see it as part of a conspiracy to enslave God’s black children.

If the Church would deal with these problems, she must do it quickly. We Christians of color may well have to be the salvation of Christ’s Church, as indeed we already are. This is not to imply that we are the perfect Christians. We only say that God has placed us in a unique place in the history of the world! That through our suffering, we have come to know of His way. 

We will face the cross, but we must, in order to survive and make it possible for our children to live in a world not beleaguered by the cancerous wounds of race and class.

So, we will not relent in our struggle for rights; and we will compel our white brothers of all faiths to join us in this struggle, for we cannot win it alone. As Frederick Douglass said many years ago, “This is a struggle to save black men’s bodies and white mens' souls.” Today’s activity in the civil rights movement is bearing out that prophecy and will continue to do so.

In this day and time, when all the forces of history are in tremendous flux, the Church can speak out with clarity and vision, pointing the way far beyond the law to a Kingdom where all men are brothers and where each person, no matter how rich or poor, how educated or illiterate, how black or white can contribute to his society in love and confidence that his worth is insured by the fact that he is God’s child and that God has breathed into him the breath of life, placed him in a certain spot in history and society and challenged him to live as an heir and partner to the Kingdom of God.

If the Church takes this challenge and opportunity, the whole world will shout for joy, and the sons of God will weep no more; but if we fail, some future Toynbee, writing the annals of the history of our civilization, will say that, in the hour of trial, the Church and the Christian were weighed in the balance and found wanting, and this was the beginning of the end of an age."

May we reclaim what King was trying to convey to a Church out of sync with justice, mercy, and humility. We take on the challenge, asking those who will to join us to continue to ask God to awaken our Nation to repent of our ways. Now more than ever we need to heed this prophetic message.

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