NAME:
This is an excerpt from a longer and very famous text:
"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one
has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.... Now, what is the difference between
the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-
made code that squares with the moral law.... An unjust law is a human law that is not
rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just.
Any law that degrades human personality is unjust....
DATE:
One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to
accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him
is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the
conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect
for law....
and
[T]hough I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued
to think about the matter I gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus
an extremist for love... Amos an extremist for justice...Paul an extremist for the
Christian gospel Was Not Martin Luther an extremist ... Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Jefferson: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal
...' So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we
will be....'
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Questions: Discuss the answer to each question with your teammates and then write_
your answers on a separate piece of loose-leaf to hand in:
1. What is a "moral responsibility"? Explain how it can be a moral responsibility to
disobey the law.
2. What is "eternal law" and "natural law" and where does one find those laws?
3. What does the text mean when it refers to law that "degrades human personality"?
Give one example.
4. What is the moral purpose of breaking an unjust law and what must a person do to
serve that purpose?
5. Who do you think wrote this text (either by name or description)? What evidence from
the text supports your belief?