Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King JR’s Letter from Birmingham Jail

Reviewed by Richard Dodd

1963 was one of the most defining years of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. Peaceful demonstrations
and a boycott of merchants were launched in Birmingham, Alabama to protest racial segregation and injustice. The ensuing violence and arrests changed our country forever. Jonathan Rieder’s fi book, “Gospel of Freedom” (2013) describes in detail the events and the aftermath.

After being jailed for leading an unlawful assembly, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous rebuttal “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” in response to a newspaper’s publication of a statement from eight moderate white clergymen who asserted that “. . . outside agitators are the problem . . . the boycott was unwise and untimely . . . illegal, extreme, and might precipitate violence.” The mindset of overzealous Birmingham authorities resulted in police brutalities that were soon front-page news around the nation. It was a tipping point toward awakening the masses about racial injustice. King’s letter from the Birmingham jail articulated the plight and added momentum that ultimately led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

King’s writings teach us everyone has a duty to rally against injustice. He wrote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” His words resonate to this day, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

Dr. King felt a great disappointment with the church. In a sermon, during the same period, he said “We as Christians are commanded to live differently. We are called to be people of conviction and not conformity …” In his letter from jail, he implored the church to abandon the status quo and stand against injustice, writing “if the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring. . . and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning.”

Rieder’s book has had a tremendous impact on my life. I knew little about Martin Luther King Jr. or the civil rights struggle. His logic and rationale based on biblical principles struck a chord with me to become involved, hopefully, to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. It is for this reason that I highly recommend reading the “Gospel of Freedom” or at least read Dr. King’s letter.