The Christian Century’s slogan, “Thinking critically. Living faithfully,” has to be startling to anyone brought up in a religious tradition that forbids skepticism. As a graduate of United Theological Seminary in the Twin Cities; however, I can personally attest that thinking critically and living faithfully are not necessarily dualistic.
Steve Thorngate, Assistant Editor at the Christian Century, applies a bit of critical thinking to quotes attributed to MLK, Jr. on Facebook in the aftermath of the death of Osama bin Laden.
It’s not all about inadvertently misquoting MLK, Jr., though; Thorngate lives up to the Christian Century’s slogan by also calling our attention to the religious dictum to “love your enemies.”
Thorngate writes:
The impetus for this {Facebook} thread and others like it was of course the following alleged quote from King, which went viral following the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed:
I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
The problem is that the first sentence of this quote didn't come from King. It's by a woman named Jessica Dovey, who posted it Monday along with the other three sentences, which she (correctly) attributed to King. A prominent Twitter user misread the post before tweeting it, at which point we all started seeing the fake quote on our Facebook walls.
Thornburg concludes by directing his readers to Loving Your Enemies and The Death of Evil Upon the Seashore, by MLK, Jr.
Read Thorngate’s entire post here.
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