Monday, January 16, 2006

M.L. King: Say "No" to Unjust Laws

MassResistance advocates removal of the judges who ruled that homosexual "marriage" is protected by our state constitution, that it should be the "law" of the land. For the sake of argument, let's say it is now "law" in Massachusetts (which of course it isn't). Then the question arises, should we acknowledge and obey this "law"? Is it a just law?

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" (1963):

"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."

And to recognize "marriages" based on sodomy and other unnatural sexual acts is degrading to all of us in the end. Homosexual "marriage" is clearly contrary to God's law and natural law.

King also called on the religious leaders of Birmingham to act as moral leaders in the political community. He was deeply disappointed with their lack of courage. While some came forward, "too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows."