It’s just to break unjust laws
Introduction
Martin Luther King.Jr was imprisoned as a participant in non-violent demonstrations against segregation. In this letter, he called on all Americans peacefully oppose laws that were morally wrong. However, he urged them to be peaceful. According to Luther, there are just and unjust laws. A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. On the other hand, an unjust law is a law that is out of harmony with the moral law; it is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. It is a code that a majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself.
Socrates, on the other hand, was on trial for breaking trials that he did not believe in and was willing to die by those same laws. Upon conviction, Socrates took his sentence because he had lived on the land and by these laws his whole life. He said that while the law was wrong, by choosing to live in Athens he was subject to the law of the land. He went against the status quo and believed that only philosophers were fit to lead.
Both Socrates’ and Luther’s ideologies lead to the same point. They brought a new idea and thought to the people. They showed facts to fuel the fire in an attempt to change the way things were. Both were for the ideas that if you do not believe in the laws, try to change them. They showed the society how little it knows.
I totally believe in Luther’s ideology. His willingness and devotion to a better society is not to be taken for granted. More so, calling for non-violent protests not for personal benefit but for the sake of the whole society.
