Dear {GENDER} {LAST_NAME}:

Martin Luther King, Jr. is remembered for “the content of his character,” his deeds and especially his words. In his public speeches, Dr. King drew on a rich rhetorical wellspring from the African-American church and American political rhetoric.

In his call for civil rights, King effectively fused the rhetorical style of African-American preaching with another powerful tradition in American life known as civil religion – a belief system that binds the nation’s deepest-held values with transcendent meaning. King's invocation of civil religion allowed him to tap into the nation's conscience in a way that could no longer be ignored.

Read more about King's use of civil religion in the SageLaw article, "Analyzing King's Rhetoric and Civil Religion."

Learn more about the history of the black church in America in the SageLaw primers, "Following the Streams of African-American Religion" with Morehouse College's R. Drew Smith, and "Foundations of the Black Church" with Michael Dash of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

For a taste of what it is like to experience a worship service at an African-American church, see coverage of the Martin Luther King Day celebration at the Greater Shiloh Baptist Church in Danville, Ill.