Are We Morally Obligated To Obey The Unjust Laws?
Civil disobedience is defined as the refusal to obey certain laws or government demands for the sole purpose of influencing legislation or government policy, generally characterized by the use of nonviolent techniques such as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes. The use of nonviolent disobedience has run throughout world history; however, a major question posed is: are we morally obligated to obey even the unjust laws? In order to properly discuss that of civil disobedience and whether or not it is moral, one must first understand and characterize it. Is it right and just to uphold a law to influence change, or is it right to try to change but obey until they are changed?
With the case of civil disobedience, one must discuss government …show more content…
The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers, and the three men fell …show more content…
Martin Luther King, Jr. received a Nobel Prize and was honored, in fact, by the President of the United States for his outstanding and marvelous contributions to society. However, he was prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to time in jail. These two ideas seem rather contradictory and pose this simple question: If what he did was seen as noble, why was he jailed for his actions? When we take into account these manifestations, one may safely make the assumption that the government is not always justified in the laws that it creates. The original purpose of our government was to keep the peace, to keep order, and to ensure freedom to all of its people. King was highly justified in acting out in civil disobedience when the government restricted the liberty of he and his people, the African Americans. In fact, King writes to eight Caucasian, Christian ministers from the Birmingham Jail,
An unjust law is a human law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. [ … ] Thus it is that [ … ] I can urge [people] to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally
With the case of civil disobedience, one must discuss government …show more content…
The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers, and the three men fell …show more content…
Martin Luther King, Jr. received a Nobel Prize and was honored, in fact, by the President of the United States for his outstanding and marvelous contributions to society. However, he was prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to time in jail. These two ideas seem rather contradictory and pose this simple question: If what he did was seen as noble, why was he jailed for his actions? When we take into account these manifestations, one may safely make the assumption that the government is not always justified in the laws that it creates. The original purpose of our government was to keep the peace, to keep order, and to ensure freedom to all of its people. King was highly justified in acting out in civil disobedience when the government restricted the liberty of he and his people, the African Americans. In fact, King writes to eight Caucasian, Christian ministers from the Birmingham Jail,
An unjust law is a human law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. [ … ] Thus it is that [ … ] I can urge [people] to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally