Saturday, February 04, 2017
Friday, February 03, 2017
"...one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws..."
One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.
~ The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
in Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Posted by listener at 1:00:00 AM
Thursday, February 02, 2017
Well, it's Groundhog Day, again! (And listener is dipping candles!)
Posted by listener at 1:00:00 AM