Why We Can't Wait

Although the United States enshrined the separation between religion and politics in its foundational documents, religion has always been a powerful force in society. King, a Baptist minister with an advanced degree in theology, uses his faith as the foundation for his politics.

King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail," which was directed at both a local audience of ministers and a national audience, explains in explicit detail that his politics are in the tradition of the early Christians. For example, he describes the protestors who sat in at lunch counters as "disinherited children of God" who "were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage"(111).

King articulates this connection between religion and politics in his discussions of what he calls "the social gospel": "Negro ministers, with a growing awareness that the true witness of a Christian life is the projection of a social gospel, had accepted leadership in the fight for racial justice" by the 1950s (28). His position as spokesperson and organizer reflected a larger trend in the African-American community, namely the role of the black church as a space for political organization in the absence of public, legally-sanctioned political participation for African-Americans.