[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12841-12842]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   50TH ANNIVERSARY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.'S MARCH ON WASHINGTON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROTHFUS. Mr. Speaker, from time to time in our Nation's history, 
people of faith have stepped forward to call this Nation to something 
greater. This is steeped in our culture, our tradition, and our 
founding documents. It goes back to the cross at Cape Henry and to the 
landing at Plymouth Rock. You see it in our Declaration of Independence 
and again in the movement to abolish slavery.
  Then, in the 1950s and 1960s, it was people of faith who birthed the 
new civil rights movement. No figure cast a wider shadow on that 
movement than the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. This month, we mark 
the 50th anniversary of one of the most iconic speeches in American 
history--Dr. King's address at the Lincoln Memorial. It is a great 
honor for me to stand here today to recollect the words of Dr. King, a 
man who stands among the heroes of our Nation.
  Dr. King was a pastor. He received a divinity degree from Crozer 
Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. His

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call to the ministry led him to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in 
Montgomery, Alabama, where, in the church's basement, he helped to plan 
the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955. That Dr. King's actions were 
motivated by his faith in a just God is evident when you read his 
words.
  From the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he used the words of 
the prophet Isaiah to articulate his dream of an end to injustice and 
oppression:

       That one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and 
     mountain shall be made low; the rough places will be made 
     plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the 
     glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see 
     it together.

  Martin Luther King, Jr., looked not for a revolution but for an 
affirmation of the country's founding principles when he declared:

       That we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. 
     When the architects of our Republic wrote the magnificent 
     words of the Constitution and the Declaration of 
     Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which 
     every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that 
     all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, 
     liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

  It was not the first time that Dr. King had alluded to the promise of 
our founding documents. Just 4 months before the March on Washington, 
in writing from a Birmingham jail, he wrote that African Americans had 
waited for more than 340 years for their constitutional and God-given 
rights.
  King's letter from a Birmingham jail could not be clearer in its 
articulation of the moral status of law and the role that religion 
plays in a just society:

       Now [King wrote] what is the difference between a ``just'' 
     and an ``unjust'' law? How does one determine whether a law 
     is just or unjust? A just law is a manmade code that squares 
     with the moral law of God. An unjust law is a code that is 
     out of harmony with the moral law.

  Yes, Dr. King appealed to the Nation's religious roots to encourage 
social change, and from a Birmingham jail, he encouraged individuals to 
confront unjust laws:

       [T]here is nothing new [King wrote] about this kind of 
     civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal 
     of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of 
     Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at 
     stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who 
     were willing to face hungry lions . . . rather than submit to 
     certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. . . . In our own 
     Nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of 
     civil disobedience.
       We should never forget [King continued] that everything 
     Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ``legal'' and everything the 
     Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ``illegal.'' It 
     was ``illegal'' to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. 
     Even so, I am sure [King proclaimed] that, had I lived in 
     Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my 
     Jewish brothers. If today I lived [King continued] in a 
     Communist country, where certain principles dear to the 
     Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate 
     disobeying that country's anti-religious laws.

  King's letter from a Birmingham jail and his ``I Have a Dream'' 
speech should be required reading for every American high school 
student and for every Member of Congress.
  With the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's speech upon us, it is good to 
remember his words. It is good to appreciate all that faith in God and 
the moral law have done to advance the cause of freedom in our country. 
It is good to reflect on whether policies enacted by government in our 
time are a step back from, or show a rising intolerance of, the 
religious freedom that has been instrumental in defining our country 
and defending our rights.

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