On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 16, the BTS Center and the Maine Council of Churches, both of Portland, are co-hosting an online reading of King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The event is online. It is free and open to the public.

On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 16, the BTS Center and the Maine Council of Churches, both of Portland, are co-hosting an online reading of King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Courtesy photo

On April 16, 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote a public letter to some of Alabama’s leading white religious leaders who wrote a statement that, according to the BTS Center website “openly questioned the pace and the confrontational nature of civil rights demonstrations.”

In his letter, King that wrote on the moral responsibility to take direct nonviolent action against unjust laws. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” King wrote. The letter is considered as an important document for the civil rights movement of the time.

The letter is important, said BTS Executive Director the Rev. Allen Ewing Merrill, “because the work of racial justice is far from finished, and because Rev. Dr. King’s challenge to religious communities and leaders is as relevant today as it was 57 years ago.”

Advance registration is required. To register, visit https://thebtscenter.org/committed-to-listen-mlk-day-2023/.

“Our event will conclude with candle lighting to remind listeners of the passion ignited in them by Dr. King’s words,” said Maine Council of Churches Executive Director the Rev. Jane Field. “Even a single flame is powerful — the human eye is able to detect the light from just one candle up to two miles away. So, we must never forget that the candle of justice, compassion and peace that each of us lights can be seen, even by those at a great distance.”