Recalling Martin Luther King Jr.

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“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.

A 30-foot sculpture of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is the memorial on the National Mall in Washington. CNS/Bob Roller

“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. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
— Letter from a Birmingham Jail