Pastors

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream for the American Church

What the election says about our progress and decline.

Leadership Journal November 14, 2008

by Skye Jethani

Amazing. How else can you describe what happened last week when Barack Obama became the first African American elected President of the United States? However you voted, whatever your politics, the election reveals something about the progress of our society. As George W. Bush said the morning after the election, it “showed a watching world the vitality of America’s democracy and the strides we have made toward a more perfect union.”

Amid the reflections there have been numerous references to Martin Luther King Jr.’s pioneering civil rights movement and his “dream.” One Chicago news commentator on election night said the day King delivered his famous speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial he could not have known that a two year old boy in Hawaii would become the fulfillment of his dream. That got me wondering – is Barack Obama really the fulfillment of King’s dream?

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