Circle of Faith in Action

America is commonly characterized as the greatest country in the world, the glorious “land of the free and the home of the brave”, “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. This idealization of the American identity conveniently focuses on what people want to hear and blurs out most everything else. In reality, Americans do not live up to the dreamscape created by our views, and we never really have. America is no longer characterized by its freedom and democracy, nearly every first world country can afford that luxury. Nor are we set apart by the great opportunities given to our people, for those are far from universal. We aren’t equal, we aren’t unified, we aren’t kinder or smarter or richer than any other country across the board. It’s easy to find the shortcomings of American culture, all the things we aren’t, but the things we are have proven to be more elusive. First, let’s examine the nots.

In America, millions of people are affected by poverty. High-class members of America and companies take advantage of these lower class individuals. Lower class individuals who are able to find a job usually work for less than minimum wage and experience poor working conditions. These lower class workers do not deserve the lifestyle they must deal with. Low class individuals not only have to struggle with finding employment but also have to worry about the U.S. government mistreating them. Whether someone is a low class immigrant or U.S. born citizen, it is evident people in America treat their lower class citizens poorly.

Poverty has always been with us from beggars outside the gates of Jerusalem to the mentally ill homeless woman in the park. America is known for our huge difference in culture and class. This is due partly to the dynamics behind the political decisions of this country. The president himself admits that America is more unequal than it’s been since the great depression and many of his own supporters say he has failed. America now has, by many standards, the lowest social mobility of all of the high-end countries, meaning that a child born into poverty is likely to grow up as a poor adult. This is surprising for a country that not only prides itself as being a middle class society, but as the society where anyone can make it and where

As I was watching the Frontline Video, Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero, I was immediately faced with the question about evil. It is hard to imagine how someone could do something so horrific in the name of religion. So many lives were forever changed during the events that transpired on Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001. As a believer of God, I could certainly identify with the feelings of the people who lost loved ones during the 9/11 tragedy.

In the documentary “Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero,” a number of people were interviewed about how their religious beliefs or non beliefs, were challenged since the events of September 11th. The interviews with priests, rabbis, family members of victims, survivors, lay people, atheists and agnostics, this documentary explores how Americans’ spiritual lives may have changed since the event. When a tragic event happens, people would either grow closer to god or outgrow god. To those people who do not believe in a god, these actions will just prove their beliefs. In the beginning of the film, people immediately started to question God. Some of them started to question why would a god so mighty approve this kind of actions. Dr. Michael Brescia, who is a physician who saw pictures of people jumping off the building, "I wonder how many of them thought if there was a God. And if there was a God, why me? Why this? And where am I going to go?” This kind of questions always come up when something catastrophic happens. Others, however, did not ask any questions and just accepted what has happened. Kim Coleman, who lost her daughter said, “God knows something I don’t, God knows best and knows better than we do.” There were also a couple of people who were not so sure what to think of god anymore. Rev. Joseph Griesedieck, a priest who volunteered at Ground Zero said, “the face of God was a blank slate for me. God couldn't be counted on in the way that I thought God could be

Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who seldom cared what other people thought about him, lived in the moment. In doing so, He became furious over the amount of injustice. This essay shows King’s fury over injustice through the use of rhetorical appeals through ethos, logos, and pathos.

To begin, it is important to first reflect on the childhood experiences and the culture that King was raised. In his book, God and Human Dignity, Burrow poignantly notes, “Martin Luther King was a human being, no more or less so than any member of his family tree, or any other human being.” This is to say that the significance of King should not be entirely placed upon King as an individual, but on the context that King was raised. Therefore, it is important to briefly illustrate the racial landscape that King inherited as well as touch on major influential experiences that contributed to King’s ethical and theological development.

In this narrative we meet three women who come from different walks of life. Each one of them has a different religion, but they all have one thing in common. That is that they all have children and want to explain to them about their different religions, especially after the September 11, 2001 attacks as many children had questions and were left perplexed.

Eboo Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core and author of Acts of Faith, exemplifies the idea of religious pluralism, the acknowledgement of diverse religious groups and their ideologies, and portrays how America can apply this concept to its society in order to possess a better sense of equality as a whole. Patel expresses this belief through his yearning for religious identity. His own personal experiences have shaped his pluralistic position towards religion and life. America would be able to achieve a well functioned society if its citizens would be more open minded and educate themselves on the opinions and beliefs of others.

In response to the clergymen’s letter stating that his action is “unwise and untimely”, Martin Luther King, Jr. step by step refutes the assumptions made by the clergymen. He makes effective use of storytelling, pre-counter and qualification of arguments, and appeals to logic, emotions and credence through morality.

is able to separate and unify his audience. In his first paragraph he gives the audience a mental image of his secretaries unable to do work if they were to assist Mr. King in answering the letters. By describing the amount of criticism let's King show that he values his “fellow clergymen” and their opinions. Establishing his credibility makes him someone of value, and his depiction of his secretaries allows him to do just that. To unify his audience back together at the end of the introduction by using an analogy to connect us all into an “inescapable network of mutuality, tied in single garment of destiny.” In similar fashion to the first section, the final section King uses the description of police brutality of the hitting of young boys to contrast his own views of right and wrong compared to the clergy members. He uses this section to expose the harsh truth of the supposed order kept by police. As mentioned previously, he then unifies his audience by describing the future without the “dark clouds of racial prejudice,” “deep fog of misunderstanding...[in] fear drenched communities,” but replaced with “radiant stars of love and brotherhood [shining] over our great nation.” His constant separating and unifying of his audience allows King to put the concept at hand into light, and causes people to question their own morals based on socially accepted ideals. In establishing his own credibility and using imagery to separate

Martin Luther King’s adherence towards peace and especially social justice is clearly shown in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In this letter King writes with passion and conviction. Through this suggestive yet powerful letter Martin Luther King uses various rhetorical devices to get his point across by saying “justice too long delayed, is justice denied.” Through the clergymen’s arguments and use of ethos, pathos, and logos, he demonstrates to them that they need to take action immediately.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s mission is to bring forth justice in a society tarnished by injustice. Negro citizens stood by and obeyed the injustice directed towards them by the U.S. government. King refuses to obey the ideals of society and yearns to enlighten Negro citizens to overcome injustice, for they are citizens guaranteed rights by the law. There is opposition to MLK’s mission; eight clergymen believe that King’s work is “unwise and untimely” indicating that patience is the only way to deal with injustice. The clergymen’s ideology regarding civil rights influences Negro citizens to adhere to society’s ideals and obey what King believes are unjust laws. This relationship between King and the clergymen is symbolically represented in Plato’s

Martin Luther King’s vision for Beloved community stands out as the most captivating desire for human harmony, transcending the lines of racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, and social stratification. It aims to acknowledge and respect the imago Dei, rather than objectify the human individual. It shouts for the display of justice at, both, the local and global landscapes. The call for justice i.e., social justice, dominates conversational points throughout the media, town-hall meetings, demonstrations, and Sunday sermons. There remains, however, an affiliated point of justice rarely considered. Throughout the contents of this essay, I look at the grounding of justice as it relates to God and human relations. I submit that justice – according

The Dynamics of Faith is an in-depth look at what faith is from a theological perspective. Tillich seems to be replying to all of the writers we have read thus far and placing their arguments within the context of faith. Nowhere is this more apparent than on page 24, in his discussion of community. He rightly acknowledges that faith is usually seen in its sociologic setting. He then proceeds to sort out the different claims, saying that