While confined in a Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King wrote a gratifying letter of response to a published criticism by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama. In his letter, King eloquently explains the injustice of 'the evil system of segregation?. Birmingham, Alabama, in particular, is where King sees the inequality of whites and blacks, police force harassment and brutality, the burning of black churches and the oppression of the white community over the black. Annoyed by the silent and scared, King admonishes the white moderate for civil rights whoselukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection?. Even more frustrating for King, is the stand the white church chose to take during this era.
             The white church, like many others,decided to remain silent behind the stained glass windows?. The holy and moral church opted for the immoral side of the strong against the moral weak. In my opinion, King prophesized the future of the church, stating that thechurch will lose its authenticity and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning?. Disappointed with the church's stance was not only felt by King. Very frequently he met with young people whosedisappointment with the church had turned into outright disgust?.
             Reading this ten-paged letter reminded me of the similarities of Henry David Thoreau's essay Civil Disobedience. Like King, Thoreau also spent time in jail for protesting unjust laws that went against his conscience. Thoreau was one of the crusaders for the abolitionist movements as King was for the civil rights movement. Both saw injustice and refused to conform by using nonviolent tactics. In both movements, prominent figures didn't support them until the very end.
             Another point King found troubling in the clergymen's statement was the condemning of the Birmingham police forpreventing violence?. If the people sa
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