Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

King’s Spiritual Activism

There appear to be two kinds of faith these days in America. The first, fundamentalism, promotes coerciveness and exclusivity, encouraging polarization, impenetrable boundaries and a deep suspicion of the other. The second, a type of New Age spirituality, is largely self-concerned, mainly focusing on the individual and his or her feelings and well-being.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrate on January 20, provided a third way. As a religious and political leader, he used his particular faith tradition to mobilize an entire nation. He presented a model of spiritual activism that challenged America from the inside to live up to our higher self and take seriously the ideals emblazoned in our founding doctrines — the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the Torah of our country.

King’s method was noncoercive; he invited people to imagine a more inclusive world rather than attacking them for their limitations. This genuine spirituality, in contrast to the spiritual narcissism of the New Age and the tribal-ethnocentric spirituality of fundamentalism, informed his activism, creating both controls and a humility that fostered a prophetic, yet measured, outcome. Using his own spiritual narratives and metaphors, he brought religion to the public square not to divide, but to unite. To be a good American meant to be for civil rights, to aspire to better and to create a greater good.

Sadly, these days we seem to have forgotten much of this lesson. In this era of growing uncertainty — with a weakened economy, a threat of terrorism and the possibility of war — people are afraid, and this fear has generated a great disconnect. People are either shutting down or shutting out.

As Jews, we have a proud history of this model of spiritual activism. From Abraham to Moses to the prophets invoked by King — whether on the steps of the Capitol, on the steps of a church or in the steps taken as he walked arm in arm with Jewish leaders like Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel — we are offered a vision of building a people whose actions will bring blessings to the entire world, a light unto the nations. Jewish life is a story of spiritual activism, with a deep recognition of the importance of connection and of the inherent dignity of each other.

As we look to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 20, we might ask ourselves both as Jews and as Americans: How can we better follow King’s lead and use our own traditions to reach out to others? How can our faith traditions help to break down boundaries rather than build them up, particularly in times of growing uncertainty?

We might ask ourselves, as we celebrate King’s legacy of liberation and equality for all Americans: Will others who are not part of our community also benefit from our spiritual activism? Will more people, both within and outside of our community, have more choice in determining their destiny? Are our means in achieving our communal ends coercive? And is there room at our communal table for question or doubt?

Together, spirituality and activism enable us to improve the quality of life in society. King exemplified the best of this partnership in American life. His work left all communities healthier, prouder and better off.

Rabbis Irwin Kula and Brad Hirschfield are, respectively, president and vice president of CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.