The way for humanity is to cultivate #BelovedCommunity through the practice of loving all, doing #justice, liberating the oppressed, serving the vulnerable, and caring for the community of all life on #earth.

Focusing on a heaven and hell after our life on earth can easily make us lose sight of what needs to be done to cultivate #BelovedCommunity on earth and to avoid creating hell on earth.

The notion that there is settled and unchanging doctrine about the Divine Mystery has been used over and over again to stifle #PropheticImagination about new and better ways to live together in just and #BelovedCommunity.

Today may we in the U.S.A. celebrate what our country could become if we reject autocracy and embrace #democracy, work • for #justice for all with #equity, and use our #liberty to bring the fullness of #BelovedCommunity.

I am leading a free four-week guided discussion group via Zoom on the topic of “#Democracy and #BelovedCommunity” on the first four Fridays of March 2023 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Register at the link if you would like to participate.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtfuugrz0sG9zAMozXOwpXq4GOxqTPPcgR

I am leading a free four-week guided discussion group via Zoom on the topic of “#Democracy and #BelovedCommunity” on the first four Fridays of March 2023 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Register at the link if you would like to participate.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtfuugrz0sG9zAMozXOwpXq4GOxqTPPcgR

The shared values of #MutualRespect, #LovingKindness and #justice for all are much more important for the creation of #BelovedCommunity than uniformity of religious belief.

When #religion requires conformity of belief, it becomes more about controlling lives for the sake of religious institutions and their political patrons than about transforming lives for the sake of #BelovedCommunity.

When #religion requires conformity of belief, it becomes more about controlling lives for the sake of religious institutions and their political patrons than about transforming lives for the sake of #BelovedCommunity.

As in our lives outside of #SocialMedia, our goals for our speech and action should always be to #DoNoHarm and to do actual good. This does not mean that we are not to speak difficult truths to power and to each other, but we ought to do so in ways that will create #BelovedCommunity rather than cultivate continued chaos.

As in our lives outside of #SocialMedia, our goals for our speech and action should always be to #DoNoHarm and to do actual good. This does not mean that we are not to speak difficult truths to power and to each other, but we ought to do so in ways that will create #BelovedCommunity rather than cultivate continued chaos.

RT @TheKingCenter@twitter.com

You can still wish Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a ‘Happy Birthday’ by signing your name and sharing what #MLK means to you! While there, please also donate to The King Center so that we can continue to create the #BelovedCommunity together.

E-card link: https://www.wishyoo.com/card/exe4ZvMQ?mibextid=Zxz2cZ

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/TheKingCenter/status/1615419376261337109

If we are serious about implementing #MartinLutherKing Jr.’s vision of #BelovedCommunity, we have to move our society towards a #SocialDemocracy in which #education, #healthcare, meeting basic needs, and #EconomicOpportunity are equally accessible for all persons.

If we are serious about implementing #MartinLutherKing Jr.’s vision of #BelovedCommunity, we have to move our society towards a #SocialDemocracy in which #education, #healthcare, meeting basic needs, and #EconomicOpportunity are equally accessible for all persons.

In 2018, I present my first academic paper at a conference on Martin Luther King Jr.'s thought in New Delhi. The paper explore the centrality of #Christianity to King's vision. I wanted to share it here.

https://www.india-seminar.com/2018/712/712_sean_p_bala.htm

It was written for an Indian audience in mind and the limitation of the conference and the publication meant that I had to leave a lot out. I hope that you might find it interesting.

#MLK #MLKDay #BelovedCommunity #theology

"For some, the fact that Nhat Hanh was not a partisan for either North or South Vietnam must surely have been lost in the seeming enormity of King making a joint statement with a representative of a country at war with the United States."

https://tricycle.org/article/martin-luther-king-thich-nhat-hanh/
#MLK #TNH #Dharma #BelovedCommunity #PlumVillage #Buddhism​ @dharma
7/7 Martin Luther King, Jr. - Thich Nhat Hanh 1966 joint statement

"This brief statement of mutuality and solidarity bursts with meaning; in it, deaths that had been conceived of as suicides are redefined as martyrs’ deaths. Further, common cause is made between those in the Vietnamese peace movement and Black civil rights activists." Martin Luther King, Jr. - Thich Nhat Hanh 1966 joint statement

https://tricycle.org/article/martin-luther-king-thich-nhat-hanh/
#MLK #TNH #Dharma #BelovedCommunity #PlumVillage #Buddhism​ @dharma
6/7

"We join in the plea, written June 1, 1965, by Thich Nhat Hanh in a letter to Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘Do not kill man, even in man’s name. Please kill the real enemies of man which are present everywhere, in our very hearts and minds.’”

https://tricycle.org/article/martin-luther-king-thich-nhat-hanh/
#MLK #TNH #Dharma #BelovedCommunity #PlumVillage #Buddhism​ @dharma
5/7 Martin Luther King, Jr. - Thich Nhat Hanh 1966 joint statement

"And we believe that only in a world of peace can the work of construction, of building good societies everywhere, go forward."

https://tricycle.org/article/martin-luther-king-thich-nhat-hanh/
#MLK #TNH #Dharma #BelovedCommunity #PlumVillage #Buddhism​ @dharma
4/7 Martin Luther King, Jr. - Thich Nhat Hanh 1966 joint statement

"We also believe that the struggles for equality and freedom in Birmingham, Selma and Chicago, as in Hue, Danang and Saigon, are aimed not at the domination of one people by another. They are aimed at self-determination, peaceful social change, and a better life for all human beings."

https://tricycle.org/article/martin-luther-king-thich-nhat-hanh/
#MLK #TNH #Dharma #BelovedCommunity #PlumVillage #Buddhism​ @dharma
3/7 Martin Luther King, Jr. - Thich Nhat Hanh 1966 joint statement