Fair or unfair? That is the question.

Because opponents of the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation appealed to the fact that segregation was legal by the standards of the Southern states and municipalities, Dr. King had to remind everyone that legality doesn't make anything morally right.

But he goes further than that.

He very quickly claims that everyone has a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws:

One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. (12)

As a Christian, Dr. King held himself to what he considered a higher moral code than legislation. But as he elaborates his argument during the course of "Letter from Birmingham Jail," it becomes clear that he's not really hanging his hat on religious reasoning. He's coming from a more nuanced position.

Regardless of a person's faith, agnosticism, or atheism, Dr. King's argument that unjust laws should be conscientiously disobeyed is hard to disagree with.