Today is an historic day. The inauguration of Barack Obama will mark another step towards the fulfilment of the most famously articulated dream of the 20th Century. On the obvious public, contemporary, global media level, the day belongs to Barack Obama – but in terms of history, human significance, Christian witness and political theology, the day belongs to the Baptist pastor whose dream, nearly fifty years ago, inspired others to dream.
So on this inauguration day, instead of quoting from Obama's autobiography, quoted below are important words with which he is required to engage if he is to be anywhere near true to the vision of Martin Luther King. The extract comes late on from a remarkable sermon in which MLK tackled politically embedded racism, world poverty and the tragic stupidity of the Vietnam war. I've inserted italics at a sentence which is not only quintessential MLK – it states the grounds of a Christian political ethic as a stance of Christian witness. The sermon is called
Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution
This is why I felt the need of raising my voice against that war
and working wherever I can to arouse the conscience of our nation
on it. I remember so well when I first took a stand against the
war in Vietnam. The critics took me on and they had their say in
the most negative and sometimes most vicious way.
One day a newsman came to me and said, "Dr. King, don’t
you think you’re going to have to stop, now, opposing the war
and move more in line with the administration’s policy? As
I understand it, it has hurt the budget of your organization, and
people who once respected you have lost respect for you. Don’t
you feel that you’ve really got to change your position?"
I looked at him and I had to say, "Sir, I’m sorry you
don’t know me. I’m not a consensus leader. I do not determine
what is right and wrong by looking at the budget of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference. I’ve not taken a sort of Gallup
Poll of the majority opinion." Ultimately a genuine leader
is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.
On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient?
And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic?
Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question,
is it right?
There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither
safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience
tells him it is right. I believe today that there is a need for
all people of goodwill to come with a massive act of conscience
and say in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "We ain’t
goin’ study war no more." This is the challenge facing
modern man.
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In a world where hope comes hard, expectations of this Presidency are understandbly but unreasonably high. But lovers of peace and makers of peace, dreamers of hope and makers of hope, those who hunger and thirst for that righteousness of acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God, will today pray God that the newly inaugurated President will live up to his own rootedness in those ideals and values determined to use rather than abuse power.
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