Civil disobedience can be a mine field in the war to do what’s right. Although we as Christians are taught to submit to authorities, we are also required to stand up for what is right. Despite the fact that Mahatma Gandhi was Hindu, he made the fine line a bit bolder. Emphasizing the Christian aspect, Martin Luther King, Jr. paralleled Gandhi’s teachings some decades later in his “Stride Toward Freedom.” These two men distinguished between nonviolent and violent civil resistance by telling the world when and why civil disobedience was justified. They preached against violence and stood for the nonviolent. These two men truly understood what Jesus meant when he taught us that we should “turn the other cheek.”
Even though God put authorities where they are, they are still human. Humans make mistakes, and authorities make unjust laws. In “Stride Toward Freedom,” Martin Luther King, Jr. outlines three different ways to react to injustice. Either we comply, revert to physical violence, or nonviolently resist. Logically arguing his point, Martin Luther makes several of the following conclusions: if we comply, we are supporting injustice; if we fight, we are trying to make a right out of two wrongs; but if we use nonviolent resistance, we will not only achieve the purest of results but will also be following Biblical principals.
Referring to nonviolent civil resistance, in contrast to violently disobeying, Martin Luther King, Jr. made an incredible point in the following statement: “To accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate with that system…Noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.” For this reason, we must stand against wrong just as we stand for good. For this reason, we, especially as Christian, cannot sit back and watch injustice take its course. For this reason, Jesus couldn’t have meant for us to refrain from resistance when he talked about turning the other cheek. When we stand for what is right and they resorted to violence, then we turn the other cheek because we are going to stand our ground without hitting back.
There is a time for everything, even civil disobedience. Though, it’s not the time when it stands for injustice or resorts to violence but when injustice can no longer be tolerated. Resistance must be without violence because, as Mahatma Gandhi said, “an eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” In this way, the purest of results will be achieved because righteousness will never be forsaken.
