Martin Luther King Jr Day and Civil Religion: MLK Jr. Day at St. Peter's Episcopal Church

The only federal holiday that is explicitly religious is Christmas. The only federal holiday celebrated by all states dedicated to a single person is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. (Columbus Day is no longer celebrated by every state). It just so happens that we typically celebrate Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for mostly secular reasons, namely his contributions to the Civil Right's movement.

He was not a perfect man. He plagiarized his dissertation and he was a serial adulterer.

We sometimes forget a person's failures when we give someone a holiday or when we make someone a part of the country's civil religion.

Civil religion is a theory that in America there is a non-sectarian quasi-religious faith that exists alongside of traditional religion. We hear it when politicians make vague claims to God, and when the country "America" is invoked with an almost undue reverence.

Civil religion and church religion sometimes merge, and the commemoration and remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr. at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Cambridge, MA was one example.

It was emphasized at this event that we often sanitize MLK Jr; that we fit MLK Jr. into our ready made conception. The emphasis of this civilly religious service was a lesser read, more controversial speech: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence or Riverside Church Speech. You can listen here or read here.

This speech was given April 4, 1967, one year before his assassination. It caused him to lose many friends and some of the political influence that he had accumulated over the years. Mostly because he spoke against the Vietnam War, even encouraging young people to be conscientious objectors.

The centerpiece of this event was a quote from Beyond Vietnam:

When machines and computers profit motives, and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and extreme militarism are incapable of being conquered. -- MLK Jr. 

This service was mostly a set piece that is organized every year with community leaders reading excerpts from the speech on the topics of militarism, materialism, and racism. The songs and the main speech are different each year.

The first song "My Name is Peace" was sung directly before reading excerpts about militarism, the first of the three triplets. The second song was "Lift Every Voice and Sing," often referred to as the black American national anthem. This song has much in common with civil religion. It is about liberty and does not reference any particular theology or even religion; but, it does reference God.

The last song was a beautifully arranged version of Psalm 89. This was the most explicit reference to church religion in the service. This psalm expresses a faithfulness in God, despite the horror that Israel was going through.

The talk was given by Juliette Kayyem, a security expert in the Homeland Security department. Yes, that's right Homeland Security.

She also noted this apparent conflict, but she argued that MLK Jr. would be an excellent security adviser.

One of the main evidences of this was that MLK Jr's plan for withdrawal from Vietnam was eventually enacted and completed in 1973.

But more importantly, Kayyem argued against the critics of his speech that came in two forms. 1) He was naive and 2) he was angry.

Though her time was limited she argued that MLK Jr had an immense understanding of the situation in Vietnam:

The peasants watched and cringed and Diem ruthlessly rooted out all opposition, supported their extortionist landlords, and refused even to discuss reunification with the North. The peasants watched as all of this was presided over by United States influence and then by increasing numbers of United States troops who came to help quell the insurgency that Diem’s methods had aroused. When Diem was overthrown they may have been happy, but the long line of military dictators seemed to offer no real change, especially in terms of their need for land and peace. -- Beyond Vietnam, MLK Jr. 

Prior to our military involvement in Vietnam, America supported Diem's leadership of Vietnam, and at least apparently delayed the development of democracy in Vietnam. We helped him with his enemies and his election was obviously rigged. In short, America undemocratically prevented Vietnam from becoming Communistic.

Instead of similar courses of action or continued military involvement, he advocated the following:

We must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity, and injustice, which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops. -- Beyond Vietnam, MLK Jr.  

This does not seem to be naive.

According to Kayyem, other critics claimed that this speech was angry. If you listen to the speech, there is no way you can come to this conclusion. He speaks in a very calm and collected mannter. Kayyem brings attention to the last portions of the speech which reference love and the cost of love, as well as hate, and that his speaking about love is the exact opposite of anger. 

We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As Arnold Toynbee says: “Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.” Unquote. -- Beyond Vietnam, MLK Jr.

Finally, Kayyem makes the point that there are similar responses to the Black Lives Matter Movement and MLK Jr's civil rights. Specifically critics of Black Lives Matter often make the same two claims either that they are angry or naive.

Bottom Line:

I agree with Kayyem's analysis. And religion, at least African American religion, had a huge part in the Civil Right's movement. 

But this is also interesting from a sociological angle. When Robert Bellah developed the concept of civil religion, he contrasted it with church religion. In this instance civil and church religion literally merged. 

The service was held at a church, the choir sang from Psalms, and the welcome was given by Rev. Dr. Christian Brocato, the rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. 

However, the service was still mostly non-religious. The main speaker was a government employee with an extensive resume, most of the rest of the time was dedicated to the reading of MLK Jr's words, and many figures from the local government participated. 

Martin Luther King Jr. has entered the 'sainthood' of civil religion as its most religious member.