Athlete Jeremy Lin…A MODEL OF SUCCESS

Prior to February 4, Jeremy Lin was unknown to sports fans around the world. Three weeks later he is a household name and a tremendous asset to the New York Knicks for which he plays basketball. The undrafted Harvard graduate rose to prominence with a fantastic game against the New Jersey Nets.

Since that game, Lin has led the New York Knicks to unbelievable records. He has also become the eighth ranked player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in Player Efficiency Rating, which attempts to determine a player’s value to his team. Lin lifted the Knicks back into the playoff hunt and has also put them back on television.

Since January 1, New Yorkers were unable to view the Knicks play basketball. A heated dispute over fees between the owners of the team and a cable company kept the Knicks in the dark. Then Jeremy Lin came on the scene. New Yorkers demanded a resolution. NBA Commissioner David Stern joined the chorus. Even New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called executives in the dispute to bring about some resolution. According to the Associated Press, “Lin’s phenomenal run forced the deal.”

Stocks for the Madison Square Garden Company, the firm which owns the Knicks, increased more than 11% since Lin scored 25 points in that February 4 game. Marketing giant Nike has had tremendous success selling Linsanity (Jeremy Lin) T-shirts. Within 72 hours, an ebook on Linsanity was on sale. According to the Wall Street Journal, Adidas, one of Nike’s biggest competitors, is planning to produce Lin-themed jerseys for a network of more than 6,000 stores in China.

Lin jerseys have been the top-selling jerseys at NBAStore.com since that early February game. Jerseys have been shipped to at least 23 countries, including China. Lin is the first US-born player in the NBA of Taiwanese and Chinese heritage. The growing interest in Lin among Asian-Americans and millions around the world has resulted in a 550% increase in traffic to the Knicks website between February 5 and February 12.

LIN CLAIMS TO BE A CHRISTIAN

My real interest in the Jeremy Lin story is simple – he claims to be a born-again believer. One reporter got it right when he said, “In addition to his success on the court, Lin has become famous for being both an Asian-American and a devout Christian.” As a Christian, Lin has often credited his success in the NBA to God. While a student at Harvard University, Lin actually led a Bible study among his fellow students and frequently gave interviews to campus Christian publications.

Some have noticed the bright orange bracelet Lin wears during his games. The words “In Jesus’ Name I Play” are printed clearly on each bracelet. According to Active Faith, the Texas company which makes the band, “thousands of orders from all over the world have come in overnight – our web server crashed a couple of times, it just couldn’t handle the amount of traffic.”

The importance of Jeremy Lin’s faith has attracted much press. One CNN headline reads: “Jeremy Lin Emerges as Emblem of Burgeoning Asian-American Christianity.” In this article, Lin, in response to this sudden popularity, said “It’s a tough environment and if you don’t have appropriate boundaries, you’ll compromise your faith.”

LIN APPEALS FOR HELP

When Lin reached out to his pastor for counsel, he was advised to spend at least an hour a day with God. According to his pastor, Stephen Chen of the Church in Christ at Mountain View, California, Lin now memorizes a few Bible verses consistently. Recently, Lin memorized Romans 5:3-4 (“We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope”).

Lin, who has said he may become a pastor someday, credits his rise as a professional athlete to understanding the way God was working in his life and developing a trust in God’s plan. Recently he told the San Jose Mercury News, “I’ve surrendered that to God. I’m not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore.”

Jeremy Lin is one of the more recent basketball players to make his commitment to Jesus very clear. Among other basketball heroes are David Robinson (San Antonio Spurs), A.C. Green and Kevin Johnson (Phoenix Suns). In each case, it was the athlete’s excellence on the field that provided opportunities for ministry.

Lin, an admirer of Tim Tebow (who we featured a few weeks ago), admitted to a reporter that faith and fame often fight – “but it’s one I’m going to keep fighting.”

Like Jeremy Lin, it is only when we set “appropriate boundaries” in our pursuit of excellence; we avoid the temptations to compromise our faith.

Whitney Houston: A VICTIM OF SUCCESS?

Whitney Houston was an attractive woman blessed with an extraordinary singing voice. Imagine selling more than 170 million music albums and commanding six figure incomes to deliver a ninety minute concert. However, despite her corporate successes, Whitney succumbed to major personal challenges. 

In a recent Good Morning America interview, Whitney’s friend Celine Dion talked freely about the consequences of success. Celine, also an extraordinary singer, believed Whitney allowed herself to become a victim of “the dark side to success.” This dark side of show business includes drugs, casual sex and a variety of vices that do not contribute to the profession. In reflecting on the destructive outcomes of these practices, Celine Dion concluded, “I’m so scared…I’m scared of show business…I’m scared of drugs…I’m scared of hanging out.”

But how could Whitney get so messed-up in this lifestyle; wasn’t she raised in the church? At the age of eleven, she was already singing in the church choir, under the watchful eyes of her parents, and especially her mother, who directed the music. How could a church-girl get into drugs like other entertainers? How could young church-influenced performing artistes succumb to behaviors so opposed to their upbringing? Agreed, the drift is subtle, but it is very common.

My wife and I had one memorable exposure to this drift in the mid-eighties. We went to see the play, Mama I Want to Sing in New York City. From a theatrical and business point of view, the play was a phenomenal success. The story line was simple: Doris Winter took her talent from church to Hollywood, just like Whitney Houston did.

The movie Church Girl took a similar story line – from church to Hollywood. The trend leaves critics asking, “why would our young people compromise their bodies and barter their souls?” One film critic was rather blunt in analyzing Church Girl and asked, “What would make a well-rooted church girl trade in her choir robe for a g-string?”

I shudder when I think of upcoming luminaries like Katy Perry. Raised by Christian pastor parents, Katy grew-up listening to gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. As of 2012, Perry has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards. However, as she climbs the entertainment ladder, her personal life has begun to fall apart. I pray, the same would not be said of last year’s America’s Idol winner, Scotty McCreery.

These talented musicians were raised in environments that encouraged giving glory to God, not to self. They were taught that the message of their music should be uplifting to their audiences. Our youth were taught to be both performers and role models to their audiences. Their early exposure to music was often set in a context of reflection and humility – they were appreciated but never glorified by their audience.

However, as our young people take advantage of the opportunities to go secular with their talent, do they naively anticipate audiences like those in church? Some believe they are leaving the church as ambassadors of Christian values. However, when confronted with attractive prospects, our young people are often unable to deal with the strings attached and challenges to compromise. Suddenly, opportunities become entrapments. Priorities change to please producers, managers and audiences, who do not share Christian values. Before long, performers are condoning and not analyzing negative behaviors.

Like in any industry, performers hang together. In the process, personal boundaries begin to blur and the corporate image would seem to be all that matters. In addition, that culture of affluence, fame and celebrity status is personally stressful. In order to relieve that stress, many artistes naively enter what Celine Dion refers to as “the dark side in the entertainment world.”

Thankfully, some of our young people have survived the entrapments in the industry and should be applauded and viewed as role-models. The journey of Michael W. Smith is rarely referenced as we enjoy his worshipful songs. Early in his quest for opportunities, he traveled the Nashville route performing at gigs and whatever else was available. Before long, he was participating in the lifestyle of his audiences. He cried out to God for help, not merely to therapists. Like the Prodigal Son, he returned home and the rest is history. He experienced God’s amazing grace.

As I was preparing this commentary, I came across today’s airing of Haven Today. In the program, Give Up Your Glory, Charles Morris interviewed Michael W. Smith and Brian Welsh. Both musicians agreed that superstars in any arena have a problem…other people want to worship them. (Like me, you too can order a CD at HavenToday.org.) However, the Christian artiste must never forget, only God should be worshipped. Anything else is idolatry.

THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN Hope and Hope~so

Within a week, two of my friends died. Interestingly, both worshiped at the same church, at different times, in Old Harbor, Jamaica. Both deaths brought much grief and challenged friends and family members to consider their own mortality.  

At both funeral services, mourners were invited to consider how the deceased lived their lives – that’s not unusual at funerals. However, what was unusual was the element of hope alluded to at both events.

To introduce the subject of hope as an afterlife reality is to introduce the metaphysical in a culture that is growing in its disbelief of the afterlife. In 1948, only 2% of Americans did not identify with a religion. Today that Gallup Poll number is more than 13% claiming no religious identity. Disbelief in the afterlife is integral to this group.                  

Disbelief in the afterlife is a growing trend, not only because of the growth in humanistic movements, but also because of religions that share that worldview as well as Christians whose theology cannot handle non-scientific phenomena.  

Is the Christian understanding of hope in the afterlife a reality or a hoax? In the first place, we need to establish that the Christian understanding of hope is not an issue of luck or chance. Neither is it an aspiration or desire without substance.
 

In the New Testament, hope is a favorable and confident expectation. It has to do with the unseen and the future. Hope is characteristically a Christian virtue which enables the Christian to regard death with serenity and composure.

 

The Christian does not see death as the final chapter. In referring to the death of the Christian the apostle Paul uses the metaphor sleep, implying that death is mere rest. However, the focus is not so much on the nature of the rest as much as on what happens when the Christian is awaken from that rest. Imagine this discussion with Christians from Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

 

A NON-CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING

The Thessalonians were from a Greek background where they formerly supposed the dead went down into a dark underworld from which there was no return. The Greeks believed that a person’s hope was uncertain and consequently dangerous – that invited feelings of disappointment. Stoicism had no place for hope in its system of thought. The Roman stoic Seneca defined hope as “an uncertain good.”

 

In his commentary on first century Greeks, William Barclay notes that on their tomb-stones, grim epitaphs were carved with words like: “I was not; I became; I am not; I care not.” In the face of death the pagan world stood in despair. They met it with grim resignation but with bleak hopelessness.

A CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING

In light of this Paul contends, “…we do not want you to sorrow as the rest of people do, because they have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Have you every wondered what hopeful sorrow looks like? It is a sorrow that is mindful of the limited impact of death. Paul borrows the language of the Old Testament prophet Hosea and expresses hopeful sorrow in this way:

                “Where, O death, is your victory?

                  Where, O death, is your sting?”

“… but thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55-57).

 

The crux of this view is rooted in the historical Jesus. As though Paul anticipated the Thessalonians asking, and how do we know if this is true? He responds, “… just as Jesus died and came back to life, so too will all those Christians who died, they will come back to life.” In essence, Paul is contending that what happens after death is not rooted in some novel Christian philosophy. Rather, the view is rooted in something that actually happened – Jesus died and Jesus rose again.

This is how Paul develops the argument in his letter to the Corinthians: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). In other words, just as it happened to Jesus, it would happen to Jesus-followers.

I run the risk of being repetitive, but it is necessary: For the Christian, hope is not “ah hope so…” Hope is “ah know so…” How come? Our understanding of hope is rooted in history – just as Jesus died and rose again, similarly, Christians who die, will rise again – that is hope…that is confidence!

Man can live about forty days without food,
About three days without water;

About eight minutes without air,
…but only for one second without hope.

~Anonymous

I’M PLANNING TO HAVE A Happy Birthday

In a few hours I’ll be celebrating another birthday. One would think that after celebrating more than sixty of these all evangelical Christians would want to celebrate with me. However, that is not the case.  

Agreed, there is no hint in the Bible or early Christian writings that Jesus, the apostles, or any of the Christians celebrated birthdays. Actually, there are at least two instances of birthdays in the Bible. Both represented pagan situations and were related to the killing of people. Some Christians believe these instances provide reason to forbid birthday celebrations.

Such conclusions are not compelling, considering the method of interpretation used. It would be just as wrong to conclude that because the Bible does not condemn the practice, the practice is therefore right. The Bible’s silence or implied condemnation must be seen in the context of the culture in which the biblical texts were written.

Originally, the idea of celebrating birthdays was rooted in magic. In Persian Wars, Herodotus contended that the Egyptians associated gods with months and days. Herodotus believed horoscopes were used very early in Egypt’s history. In his writings, Cicero spoke of the Egyptians and Chaldees predicting…a man’s destiny at his birth. It is therefore safe to conclude that birthdays had their origin in mythology and magic, with horoscopes also probably playing a role.

Jews were strongly cautioned to avoid pagan practices. As stated in The Encyclopedia Judaica, “The celebration of birthdays is unknown in traditional Jewish ritual.” Similar avoidance was expected from Christians in the New Testament. Like in the Old Testament, New Testament believers lived in a culture that linked birthday celebrations with astrology, mythology and magic.

Among Christians today, birthday celebrations have nothing to do with astrology. Astrology attempts to find meaning or influence in the planetary system. Here is Isaiah’s opinion of astrology: “All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you” (Isaiah 47:13). For Christians, a birthday is a time to celebrate life. It is a joyous moment, a moment to reflect on God’s favors.

 

A birthday provides a wonderful opportunity to read Psalm 139:             

                  For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

                I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made… (Psalm 139:13-14).

Social Scientists tell us that there are at least five benefits about celebrations like birthdays:
1) Celebrations help us to feel as part of a common group. As we celebrate with others we feel a sense of community; a sense of belonging.
2) Celebrations provide opportunities for recommitment to each other. On such occasions some renew vows and re-establish friendships.
3) Celebrations provide stability and continuity. It’s true – healthy social gatherings provide strength. Common interests are discovered and cherished.
4) Celebrations are more important for the results they yield than the occasion being celebrated. The spontaneous laughter often reduces stress and tension.
5) Celebrations provide a storehouse of precious memories. These memories often contribute to good mental health (Proverbs 17:22).

In order to avoid behavior like their pagan neighbors, the Jews were never encouraged to celebrate birthdays, however, they were encouraged to celebrate. They celebrated weekly and annually. They celebrated feast days, varying festivals, civic ceremonies and military victories. The frequency of their celebrations united them as a people.

Following the invasion of the Assyrians in 722 BCE, the Jews were deprived of nationhood for almost 2,700 years. Although scattered, they maintained their celebrations wherever they lived. In 1948, when the Jews regrouped as a nation, they simply continued the celebrations they practiced while away from each other. Their celebrations helped them to maintain their identity.

In our culture of death, I intend to take some time to celebrate life. When you find yourself attending more funerals than weddings, you know that you need to make more time to celebrate life. When your culture spends so much time talking about abortion and euthanasia, you know you need to make more time to celebrate and cherish life.

When Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it to the full,” He was referring to life with quality. So different from “the thief who has come to steal and kill and destroy…” (John 10:10). I don’t know about you, but in the will of the Lord, I am planning to have a Happy Birthday!

TIM TEBOW: My Most Valuable Player

Although Tim Tebow is not expected to be named among MVP candidates in the 2011 National Football League, he is my MVP (Most Valuable Player). As a quarterback for the Denver Broncos, he could not compare statistically with other quarterbacks in the league. However during the season, Tebow was named America’s favorite active pro athlete in an ESPN fan-based poll. Interestingly, that poll included the likes of Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Tiger Woods.  

In analyzing Tebow’s contribution to football, one should not limit one’s analysis to his two seasons with the Broncos. In his final year at Nease High School in Florida, he was ranked among the top quarterback prospects in the nation as a high school senior. He attended the University of Florida and was responsible for helping the football team to national championships. During the 2007 season, Tebow became the first college sophomore to win the prized Heisman Trophy. At the end of his college career, he was rated as one of the most accomplished players in college football history.

Despite his achievements on the field, many disliked Tim Tebow. Some claim his style of play and throwing accuracy would not get him anywhere in professional football. His first season with the Broncos was not impressive. Out of five games in the second season, his team had won one, when he was invited to play as a starting quarterback. His presence was responsible for a remarkable turn around for the team. A survey of more than 1,000 persons by Atlanta-based Poll Position, found that 43% of those who said they were aware of Tebow’s success, believe it was at least partly the result of divine intervention.

Tebow’s habit of kneeling in prayer on the sideline of the field, during games, allowed his faith to become a public display. In post-game meetings with the media, Tebow unashamedly expressed his thanks to God for affording him the opportunity to be an ambassador for Christ on the field. Although a novelty to many in professional football, Tebow was known for public displays of his faith in high school and throughout his college career.

His public kneeling, now known globally as ‘Tebowing’, along with other displays of faith on and off the field have impressed and disturbed many. Some commentators have used some of the most vitriolic and venomous language to describe him. The viciousness in the media has led many to believe that the problem is more about Tebow’s lifestyle choices than about football.

Tebow has just begun his career as a professional footballer. Other beginners have been given time to develop and excel as professionals, why can’t similar treatment be extended to Tebow?

Some dislike Tebow because of envy. In his short stint as a professional, his marketability has soared. For a while his jerseys were the number one seller in the National Football League. The Davie-Brown Index, an independent marketing research tool, found Tebow to be more appealing and more of a trendsetter than some 2011 NFL-MVP candidates. 

His philanthropy combined with his national awards make him an easy choice for companies. At an event in Nashville (2010), Tebow confirmed that multiple companies told him before his pro-life Super Bowl advertisement for Focus on the Family, that they could not let him represent their products. According to Tebow, “losing such sponsors was a small price to pay for the ability to spread the message about family and faith.” He told his Nashville audience, “be willing to stand alone and to stand for something; to live life with passion; and to finish strong.”

Just before each football game, when most pro-athletes are tense and ignore team-mates and family members, Tebow makes it a point to visit with some who are less fortunate. At his own expense, he pays airfares for some less fortunate fans and their families to meet with him. He pays for their hotel and meals, gets them pre-game passes and visits with them before and after games.

Raised by Christian missionary parents, Tebow has for years said that football is simply “a platform” for bigger things. One of those bigger things is the Tim Tebow Foundation. According to the Foundation’s president, Erik Dellenback, “before the Broncos’ first playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Foundation had 100 members, within two days after Tebow’s team won, the membership grew to 4,000 members.” Dellenback further disclosed to The Huffington Post, that “Tebow pays all of the foundation staff and administrative costs, so that all donations go to the outreach efforts.”

According to The Christian Science Monitor, “charity appears to be central to Tebow’s character and his life, not an extra or an activity incidental to his football career.” It is for these and other reasons (like the hospital he is building in the Philippines); Tim Tebow is My Most Valuable Player.

AN ANNIVERSARY OF Ethnic Slaughter

The abortion industry has had a greater impact on African-Americans than any other ethnic group in America. According to Dr. Clenard Childress, “Blacks represent the only ethnic group in the country whose numbers are declining.” 

According to the current issue of Christianity Today, the disproportionate number of abortions among African Americans has spurred prolifers to charge that abortion providers are systematically targeting blacks and other minority groups for abortion. “Presently, for every two African-American women who get pregnant, one will choose to abort” (Rev. Dr. Clenard Childress Jr., the founder of (www.blackgenocide.org).

As the nation celebrates another anniversary of that 1973 landmark decision by the Supreme Court (Roe v. Wade), the African-American community should be in tears. Since that time the community has lost more than 18 million lives, some one third of the present African-American population. In other words, the community is losing more than 1,300 babies a day.

Statistics from The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirm that abortion is the leading cause of death in African-American communities. As a matter of fact, since 1973, more African-Americans have lost their lives to abortion than to heart disease, cancer, accidents, violent crimes or AIDS combined. This means that although African-Americans represent only 13% of the population of the United States, they account for some 36% of the abortions performed in the country (Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s research arm).

The city-by-city statistics are staggering. For instance, about 60% of abortions done in New York City are done on black women. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reports that about 50% of black babies are aborted each year since 1973.

To whom do we turn to avert this genocide? We cannot depend on the politicians in Washington to respond to this phenomenon. Currently in Congress, every member of the Black Caucus can be identified as pro-choice. The result of this ideological position means that there are almost no African American voices raised in defense of the unborn in the nation’s legislative branch.

Within the church, some are afraid to touch the subject – they believe “this world is not my home…I’m just a-passing through.” The attitude, leave it alone, we are pilgrims.

Thankfully, that has not always been the attitude of the church. The late Dr. James Kennedy, in his book, What if Jesus Had Never Been Born, contends that “it was a dangerous thing for a baby to be conceived in classical Rome or Greece. In those days, abortion was rampant. It was common for infirmed babies or unwanted little ones to be taken out into the forest or the mountainside, to be consumed by wild animals or to starve or to be picked up by rather strange people. Parents abandoned virtually all deformed babies.”

In ancient Rome, Christians saved many of these babies and brought them up in the faith. Abortion disappeared in the early Church. Infanticide and abandonment disappeared. The cry went out to bring the children to church. This was the environ-ment in which orphanages and nursery-homes were started to care for the children. These new practices, based on a higher view of life, helped to create a foundation in Western civilization for an ethic of human life.

It was that higher view of life, often referred to as the sanctity of life, to which many Christians were committed throughout history. As a result, women were treated with dignity. The most recent issue of Christian History reminds us of the role of the church in establishing hospitals and health care centers in the first century.

It was that Christian understanding of the sanctity of life that challenged slavery, cannibalism, animal rights and sati, as was practiced for centuries in India.

I share the view, that if you remove the teachings of Jesus from the history of the world, life would be devalued. Janine Simpson illustrates this in her story, published in the current issue of Christianity Today. Janine and her girl friends didn’t think twice about having abortions. In her all-black Detroit neighborhood, teen abortions were the norm…the local abortion clinic was a fixture.

After Simpson’s own abortion in her freshman year of college, things changed. She became a Christian and after graduation developed a passion to help other women with unplanned pregnancies. Today she is an ordained minister assisting hundreds of teenagers to value healthy sexuality and the sanctity of human life.  

Honestly, I still believe Jesus makes a difference! We have almost 2,000 years of history with stories like Janine Simpson to prove the point.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: His Letter from Prison

I just finished reading two letters. Both letters were written in April, 1963. The first entitled, “A Call for Unity”, was written by eight Alabama clergymen to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The second letter was Dr. King’s reply, entitled, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”.

Allow me to provide the background that warranted the writing of the letters. African Americans were living under some of the most horrendous conditions. Their churches and homes were being firebombed. Jim Crow laws prevented them from sharing with whites in various public settings - their sense of worth was denied.

Civil rights leaders peacefully protested the injustices of segregation. In order to protest, even peacefully, it was necessary to break Alabama’s segregation laws. In responding to this situation, the eight clergymen wrote to Dr. King. Their letter was “an appeal for law and order and common sense.”

They asked for the discontinuation of the protests. They cautioned that the demonstrations were providing opportunities for others to become violent. Hence, in order to avoid possible violence, discontinue the demonstrations; obey the law and resort to dialog with the authorities.

Dr. King’s response from the Birmingham City Jail should be read by everyone interested in civil discourse. The spirit and tone of the letter is a lesson in civility and Christian grace. As he came to the end of the ten page document (single-space), he said, “If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less that brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.”

Other than the tone of the letter, Dr. King’s response was well-reasoned, biblical and sensitive to needs of hurting people. Although he never challenged the good intentions of the clergymen, he clearly challenged their devotion to “order” at the expense of “justice”. In essence, the clergymen were asking that their peace be maintained, as peace was delayed and denied for others.

The clergymen believed Dr. King’s peaceful demonstrations were tantamount to extremism. To this charge, he reminded them that Jesus was an extremist for love. He called for a radical reaction to opposition – “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44).
As though that were not radical enough, Dr. King went on to site the Old Testament prophet Amos. He was an extremist for justice when he said, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).

For Dr. King, the issue was not merely being branded as extremist, “but rather, what kind of extremists we will be.” He went on to ask, “Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?”

Quoting St. Thomas Aquinas, Dr. King contended, “any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.” As such, all segregation laws were unjust – they damaged human personality. “Segregation gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.”

Here we are, almost forty years since those letters were written and no one knows the names of the clergymen. However, Dr. King’s name and con-tribution are known around the world – as a matter of fact, to be able to honor his birthday with a national holiday speaks volumes.

A fitting tribute to Dr. King would be to revisit his legacy. As mentioned earlier, I would recommend reading both letters, available online. In addition, apply his civility to the issues of our day:
-Abortion within minority groups;

- Unemployment, especially among minorities;

- Increasing legalization of gambling;
- Disdain for the institution of traditional marriage; - Immigration and deportation; and

- The demonization of the Christian worldview.

Some of these issues I intend addressing in up-coming commentaries.

In my last commentary, I referred to Mahatma Gandhi as a Muslim – I was wrong. Gandhi is a Hindu – I’m sorry.