Religion Matters: Martin Luther King Day Reminder

These are tough and divisive times. We’ve lived through a pandemic, riots, social unrest, and an often-toxic winner-takes-all political culture. There are those who seek to divide us by race, religion, political tribe, or even vaccination status. Civil disagreement — the quaint notion of viewing ideological opponents as decent neighbors who happen to disagree in good faith — is in short supply. No one seems to extend grace or the presumption of good intentions to the other side, and certainly not to one’s own critics.

Martin Luther King Day brings us a timely reminder that we have made it through much darker days. The fruits of that historic moment prove that there are better paths to overcoming our differences. And King’s writings remind us that religion — and religious liberty — are central to that story.

MR

About the Author

Mark Rienzi

Mark Rienzi is the president and CEO of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and a law professor at the Catholic University of America.

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Martin Luther King Jr

These are tough and divisive times. We’ve lived through a pandemic, riots, social unrest, and an often-toxic winner-takes-all political culture. There are those who seek to divide us by race, religion, political tribe, or even vaccination status. Civil disagreement — the quaint notion of viewing ideological opponents as decent neighbors who happen to disagree in good faith — is in short supply. No one seems to extend grace or the presumption of good intentions to the other side, and certainly not to one’s own critics.

Martin Luther King Day brings us a timely reminder that we have made it through much darker days. The fruits of that historic moment prove that there are better paths to overcoming our differences. And King’s writings remind us that religion — and religious liberty — are central to that story.