Ignorance to Injustice

 Ignorance to Injustice

Both Kolvenbach and King demonstrate how the church can turn its cheek to injustice, either by directly advocating against it or standing on the sidelines. In Kolvenbach’s “The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education,” he admits that some Jesuits, including himself, were ignorant to matters pertaining to justice and injustice. He states that a large aspect of this has to do with being associated with politics: “The Christian churches had committed themselves to many works of charity, but involvement in the promotion of justice would have tainted them by association with leftist movements and political turmoil” (Kolvenbach 24). Many human rights movements are just that: human rights movements; they should not be political, but people are still afraid of associating themselves with a specific party. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. calls out white clergymen and the white moderate in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” He speaks directly to them in his writing: “You spoke of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist” (King 4). He goes on to explain his nonviolent method of combatting the injustices that he faces as a black man. He also states that he has “been disappointed with the white church and its leadership” (King 5). He believed that members of the white church would be able to understand and aid in the struggle black people face. Instead, the leaders contribute more to the problem, telling members to comply with segregation laws as well as standing on the sidelines and not getting involved. Both of these pieces express how ignorance to injustice just creates more, both in passive and active ways.