Martin Luther King: Advocate for Nonviolence

Dear Friends and Readers,

As we celebrate Martin Luther King Day on Monday, January 19, 2026, I offer this essay to strengthen and guide our ongoing efforts to preserve our democracy from political violence.

Peace,
Fr. Jim Bacik

As we celebrate the national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, our nation is dealing with the death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. This is the latest of a long list of acts of political violence including the January 6, 2021 insurrection in the Capital and the July 13, 2024 attempted assassination of then former President Trump. A recent Marist poll found that 30% of Americans believe that violence is acceptable to get the country moving in the right direction. In this perilous situation we turn to Dr. Martin Luther King for guidance.

While completing his doctoral studies in theology at Boston University, Martin Luther King made the fateful decision to pursue a career as a pastor rather than as a professor of theology. In May 1954, he accepted the call to serve as pastor of the Dexter Ave., Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Within a year, he was deeply involved in the Montgomery bus boycott occasioned by the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give her seat to a white man. During that long, bitter struggle against racist customs, Martin was viciously attacked, including the fire-bombing of his house. On one occasion, he felt so overwhelmed that he seriously considered resigning his leadership position. Late in the night, he went to his kitchen to pray for guidance and he heard an inner voice saying: “Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo I will be with you until the end of the world.“

In his first major public speech in December, 1955 at the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott, he argued that if their struggle to abolish Jim Crow laws was wrong, then “the constitution is wrong and Jesus of Nazareth was merely a utopian dreamer.“ Throughout his brief life as a public figure, King constructed many of his addresses around this fundamental strategy of corelating American ideals and relevant scripture themes. This dialectical approach to his country and his Church allowed him to criticize them vigorously and honestly for not living up to their ideals, but at the same time to draw on their resources and symbols in the struggle for human liberation. For example, in a spirit of patriotism he asked how we could tolerate 40 million poor people in our affluent country. At the same time, he demanded that America live out the true meaning of its creed that all people are created equal. In a spirit of fidelity, he castigated the Christian Churches for their silence in the face of human suffering and for their tacit support of unjust social and economic systems. At the same time, he challenged the Churches to return to the sacrificial spirit of the early Christian community which enabled it to resist evil and to transform society.

Dr. King often emphasized the importance of practicing Christian love in the political arena. He insisted “love is the most durable power in the world.” He did not wish to defeat or to humiliate the oppressors but to liberate them from the enslavement generated by their privilege and their prejudices. For him, compassionate love is “more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it understands that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.“ He recognized that status and social location influence our perception of the truth, sometimes leading to a kind of moral and intellectual blindness. He insisted that the practice of Christian charity can reveal new perspectives and hidden contradictions. Furthermore, King claimed: “we must love our enemies because only by loving them can we know God and experience the beauty of his holiness.“

On MLK Day 2026, Dr. King reminds all of us that we have a moral obligation to do our part to prevent the proliferation of political violence. We can imagine some ways of meeting this important responsibility. As part of our daily prayer routine, thank God for the blessings we enjoy as citizens of United States and ask the Lord for the gift of greater peace and harmony in our country. In private political conversations, constrain our desire to win an argument, and do a better job of listening respectfully and looking for common ground. In voting, support candidates who have spoken out against political violence. In the partisan discussion of the Renee Good tragedy, stay open to new perspectives arising from the ongoing investigation. Encourage parish preachers and teachers to consider King’s teaching on the power of nonviolent love. In Catholic schools teach the role that he played in getting civil and voting rights legislation passed by Congress. In our prayer include a petition for perpetrators as well as victims. In contentious partisan arguments on the causes of political violence reflect on his admonition not to defeat or humiliate enemies but respect and love them. When we are discouraged by the proliferation of violence, recall his conviction that the “arc of the moral universe is long, but bends towards justice.” Form small groups of dedicated Christians to develop practical strategies to resist specific advances of authoritarian violence. As Christians dedicated to halting the spread of political violence rely on the divine power of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace who calls us to the practice of nonviolent love, the most enduring and effective force for good in the world.