Martin Luther King : The Culmination and Consummation of Our Post-War Christian Revival

The standard narrative sees Martin Luther King as the heroic protagonist against the vile Southern racism of Bull Connor and George Wallace. That is correct of course. But I suggest that a broader, deeper, truer understanding of his role in history emerges if we see him additionally as an expression of, even the summit of, the remarkable religious revival our culture underwent after the war. It does not diminish his personal courage and greatness to see him in the context of larger, communal currents.

I would place him shoulder to shoulder with Billy Graham, Fulton Sheen, John F. Kennedy, Jackie Robinson, Harry Belafonte, Thomas Merton, Walter Reuther...and an army of priest/rabbis, academics, polticians, entertainers, union leaders, athletes and ordinary folk that flowed forward with a renewed sense of God's providence in bringing us out of the Depression and War and into prosperity, ecumenism, confidence, unity in the face of communism, as well as a heightened sense of human solidarity and care for the marginalized.

Coming out of the war, Afro-Americans continued to face vicious racism in the South, but on the whole they made immense strides even prior to the Civil Rights movment: average income increased, the family structure was largely secure and improving, inroads were made in all elements of society. The shared trauma of depression and war as well as the renewed vitality of Christianity left our society with a sense of unity between Catholic/Protestant, black/white, Christian/Jew, company/union. The presidency of Eisenhower, a war hero, presented a moderation, a gentleness that united us. Capital/labor enjoyed a growing cordiality as they shared the spoils of a magnificent economy. A spirit of magnanimity moved us into generous aid to Europe and then to the developing world and later a war on poverty.

There was NO CULTURE WAR! Nothing like the relentless, defining, omnipresent, melodramatic Culture War that exploded after 1965! THE WAR was the Cold War: the global contest with atheistic communism that united all of us. There were, of course, cultural skirmishes; but these were intramural level as far as intensity and depth: a marginal counterculture of the bohemian and beat; an extremism of the right embodied by McCarthy and Goldwater; a congenial contest between capital and labor in apportioning the expanding pie of prosperity; and the standard liberal/conservative divide over an expansive-vs-limited state.

The fiercest culture war was specifically civil rights. The impassioned resistance of the historic white racism of the South was, however, easily overwhelmed by the emergent anti-racist consensus that permeated all elite sectors by 1965. Because of this extraordinary unanimity, the victory of King's crusade was virtually absolute going into the 1970s: systemic and sytematic anti-racism replaced its contrary, notwithstanding residues of resistance. Those structures (systematic) and assumptions (systemic) remained stable and intensified over the last 50 years but have also become exaggerated and perverted into CRT and BLM.

What is obvious, however, in retrospect,is that the Antagonist of the Catholic-and-Jew-Friendly Protestant hegemony was quietly, secretly building its resources in key sectors of entertainment, academics, leftwing politics, law, and circles of privilege/affluence. Cultural Liberalism, effectively repressed and restrained by euphoric culture of Christian revival, was prepared to explode violently in 1965 when the corrupting influence of prosperity/affluence had softened and vitiated the moral core of society.

The Great Generation, taking the reins of society in the mid-1960s, was singularly unprepared to confront the sexual-cultural revolution. Their children, us boomers...pampered, narcissistic, entitled... were all too eager to surrender to sexual license, the triumph of the therapeutic, and rejection of authority/tradition on behalf of the Imperial Self.

Tragically, Martin Luther King, iconic of the best of his age, was also emblematic of the worst of the age emerging: his infidelity, sexual compulsiveness and unrecognized misogyny carried within it the coming historical era. His behavior, if reports are accurate, was more abusive of women than his "spiritual brothers" Kennedy, Clinton and Trump. But the Me-Too movement dare not engage him because it embraces sexual liberation which itself is alligned with (now exaggerated) anti-racism. The later...resentful, self-pitying, emasculated, violent...is itself the contradiction of MLK in his Gospel-inspired non-violence, confidence, serenity, courage and virility.

Recently I have taken to the fourth commandment ("Honor Thy Mother and Father") by thanking and praising my own Mom and Dad and their generation for all the love and goodness they showered on us in those years after the War. The goodness in which we abide is largely gifted us from them. The evil flows from our own narcicissm, arrogance, righteousness... and rejection of much that was best in that era.

The mass readings this week have dealt with Solomon. How wise he was, at his best! How tragic his lapse into idolatry because of his weakness for women! How much like his father David in his splendor and his decadence! May we...descendents of the two ancient kings and the more recent King...surrender to what is best in their legacy and renounce what is worst!

Postscript: A similar historical narrative needs to be developed for other developments in the post-war period such as Catholicism and feminism. The Vatican Council is best understood, not as a break with the past, but as a culmination of the marvelous currents that were flowing through the 50s: ecumenism, liturgical reform, biblical studies, resourcement theology, personalism, social justice, and an evangelical re-centering on the person of Jesus Christ. The Catholic spirit in which I was raised was already actually the "spirit of Vatican II" as reflected in its actual documents.

Likewise in regard to femininsm. A common narrative has woman as the oppressed class througout the 50s. My recall of the women of my childhood: happy, confident, co-partnering with their husbands, delighted with their children, grateful to be out of a depression and a war. A number women remained single as some men didn't return from the war. I don't remember them as being careerist, envious of male status, or downcast; but as faith-filled, generous, affectionate and full of life. That generation of fathers, mothers, aunts and uncles adored our generation of women and infused in them the confidence, serenity and energy to make the advances for women in the following decade. Again...what is best of our time flows out of the best of their time, our childhood. We do well to give honor and thanks!