Had King lived to see....

Martin Luther King Quotes Augustine and Aquinas

By Kathy Schiffer

One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

April 16, 1953

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Was Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. a Thomist?

Well, yes. Thomas Aquinas argued that laws bind the conscience—that is, obligate one to obey—only when the laws conform to “eternal law.”

St. Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologicae, argued that we must obey laws only

• when they conform to “eternal law,” the law of God, and
• when that eternal law is self-evident—is exhibited in the universal principles of practical reason (what we call “natural law”).

To be just, a law must be good as to:

1. its end: it must be ordered to the common good;
2. its author: it must not exceed the jurisdiction of the one who imposes it;
3. its form: it must not place disproportionate burdens on any of the subjects involved.

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