Birmingham Jail

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote Letters from Birmingham Jail to explain to the clergy his actions in Birmingham. Dr. King used appeals to try and persuade the clergy and people of Birmingham to change their ways. Paragraph 16 of his letter explains why is it morally wrong to follow unjust laws. He begins talking about just and unjust laws in the preceding paragraph by agreeing with St. Augustine who said, "an unjust law is no law at all". In paragraph 16 he continues to say that just laws are a code that follows what God would have wanted, and everyone can follow. Unjust laws however do not follow human morals and are forced upon a group while another refuses to follow. He goes on to say that unjust laws make one group of people feel more powerful then they actually are while making another feel smaller and less important.

While proving his points about just verse unjust laws he uses Ethos and Pathos. Different times during this paragraph he refers to religious figures, St. Thomas Aquinas, Martin Buber, and Paul Tillich. By referring to these people he not only uses them for support but he connects them to the topic of desegregation. St. Thomas Aquinas preached that laws that didn't help the common good were unjust, Martin Buber thought people needed to interact with each or everyone would loose their personality, and Paul Tillich thought that we (people) choose to suffer, but in suffering we will essentially self-destruct. By using religious figure's quotes as support he is telling his audience that God wouldn't have wanted segregation. When anyone connects something to God people automatically feel some sort of Pathos and Ethos. Everyone is respectful to God and care what he thinks, says and does not want to disappoint him. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. doesn't just refer to God though; by referring to Martin Buber he is pulling in the Jewish faith and by mentioning Paul Tillich is again bringing