Beyond Iraq

39 years ago on this day, Martin Luther King gave a speech called "Beyond Vietnam", which the people of the U.S.-especially its Christians-would be wise to remember.

I should preface by saying the situation today is not at all the same as it was with Vietnam. There are many things Martin Luther says we must do that we have done, which did not happen in Vietnam. But there are still parallels that should not be overlooked.

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

"War is not the answer. Communism [or terrorism] will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons [or invasions and foreign military occupations]."

"This is a calling that takes me beyond national allegiances, but even if it were not present I would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ. To me the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war. Could it be that they do not know that the good news was meant for all men -- for Communist and capitalist, for their children and ours, for black and for white, for revolutionary and conservative [for Muslim and terrorist]? Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the one who loved his enemies so fully that he died for them? What then can I say to the "Vietcong" or to Castro or to Mao [or to Saddam, his regime, and terrorists] as a faithful minister of this one? Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life?"
--Martin Luther King, April 4, 1967