Yesterday, during my radio program, Conversation with the Cardinal, that is broadcast on The Catholic Channel on Sirius XM, I talked about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the great impact his faith had on his life. Here’s a little of what I had to say:
“Where would we be without his enlightened leadership? But once again, would you find that today those who would extol, rightly, the Reverend Martin Luther King’s leadership would also very often might not be on our side with religious values being in the public square? In other words, today it is kind of a secularist mindset that religion, morality, the Bible, teachings that we have from our religion, our churches, those are best kept private. And I’m thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I’m sure glad Martin Luther King didn’t believe that.’ I’m sure glad that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King did not believe that what he prayed on Sunday morning was not to be implemented on Monday morning. For him, politics was shot through with religious values and for him there was no apologizing for the fact that the Bible, that Jesus, that the Old Testament prophets, they were definitive in culture, in life, in our nation….So, I’m proud of him as a religious leader, as a clergyman, as a minister, as a preacher, that he’s the one that led us in this great act of freedom and emancipation.”
I’m also happy that I got to participate in NBC-TV’s celebration of Dr. King’s speech, in what they’re calling #DreamDay. You can find my video here.