The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A Synthesis of Scripture and Strategy
Dr. King combined his love of the Holy Scriptures and the strategies of M.K. Gandhi to develop the following five key points to work from in the nonviolent civil rights movement:
1. Nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards. It takes more strength to stand for love than to strike back.
2. Such resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win friendship and understanding.
3. The attack is directed against forces of evil rather than against the people doing the evil.
4. Nonviolent resistance is a willingness to accept suffering without retaliation, to accept blows from the opponent without striking back.
5. This resistance avoids not only external physical force, but also internal violence of spirit.
