Understanding the religious history of the United States is a formidable task; many trends and leaders have risen within the past two hundred years which convolute an image of the whole of the American religious movement. It is difficult indeed to pinpoint one individual whose leadership, message and contribution stands above the field. In A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada, a criteria is provided as an aid in assessing individual leadership in American churches. Personal charisma, integrity of message, mastery of organization, and an ability to exploit the available channels of communication are characteristics understood to be inherent in any truly exceptional religious figure (502). In my estimation, one man satisfies and exceeds each point in this criteria, establishing himself as the most significant figure in our religious history: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..
Dr. King's plight during the 1950s and 60s typifies the very essence of Christianity. Throughout his endeavor to advance the civil rights movement, Dr. King retained Christian ideals at the foundation of his speeches and writings. So aptly did Dr. King utilize a Christian message in his movement that "it was often hard to tell where, if at all, the Christian substratum of his thought left off and the superstructure of his social theory began"(Noll 507). In this, Dr. King provided a model for practical, hands-on Christianity; the dissolution of the line between social and spiritual problems infused the public with a message that was at once political and righteous (Noll 507). In his own words, Dr. King exemplified this point as he spoke in 1955 to a congregation in Montgomery, Alabama: "If we are wrong, the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. If we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong" (Dr. King).
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