{"id":2065,"date":"2012-01-16T15:24:49","date_gmt":"2012-01-16T20:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/?p=2065"},"modified":"2012-01-16T15:27:17","modified_gmt":"2012-01-16T20:27:17","slug":"jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html","title":{"rendered":"Jay Sekulow: MLK &#8211; A Voice for the Voiceless"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2012\/01\/1166306741.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2067\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/240\/2012\/01\/1166306741-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a>As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., we celebrate not just a man but an entire movement. Dr. King spent his life\u2019s work as a voice for the voiceless, standing up for the value and dignity of the individual.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. King understood \u2013 almost better than anyone \u2013 the importance of standing up for what is right in the face of the establishment, taking on the status quo.<\/p>\n<p>In the eloquent words of the Baptist Minister:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, &#8220;Is it safe?&#8221; Expediency asks the question, &#8220;Is it politic?&#8221; And Vanity comes along and asks the question, &#8220;Is it popular?&#8221; But Conscience asks the question &#8220;Is it right?&#8221; And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>His legacy has had a dramatic impact on my life and the work we do at the ACLJ in defense of the defenseless here at home and protecting human rights around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. King\u2019s commitment to the voiceless and effective strategy of evoking change can been seen today in the prolife movement, which has modeled its work after that of Dr. King.<\/p>\n<p>There is no greater civil right than the right to life. Yet, the unborn do not enjoy this most basic and fundamental of human rights, and those who advocate for them are often marginalized and in some cases <a href=\"http:\/\/aclj.org\/pro-life\/bias-justice-tale-two-cases\" target=\"_blank\">prosecuted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past two decades, I have participated in and argued multiple cases at the Supreme Court defending the voiceless and those who would give them a voice. I owe much of my inspiration to Dr. King.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aclj.org\/us-constitution\/mlk-impact-conservative-christians\" target=\"_blank\">Take a moment today to read this article I wrote with Jordan about Dr. King\u2019s impact on our lives<\/a>. Dr. King\u2019s legacy lives on in each one of us when we take a stand for what is right when few others are willing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/JaySekulow\" target=\"_blank\">Jay Sekulow<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., we celebrate not just a man but an entire movement. Dr. King spent his life\u2019s work as a voice for the voiceless, standing up for the value and dignity of the individual. Dr. King understood \u2013 almost better than anyone \u2013 the importance of standing&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,54],"tags":[743,741,540,539,537,742,536,538,7],"class_list":["post-2065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-justice","category-religious-freedom","tag-aclj","tag-faith","tag-human-rights","tag-inspiration","tag-jr","tag-justice","tag-martin-luther-king","tag-mlk","tag-religious-liberty"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jay Sekulow: MLK - A Voice for the Voiceless  - Faith &amp; Justice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jay Sekulow: MLK - A Voice for the Voiceless  - Faith &amp; Justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., we celebrate not just a man but an entire movement. 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Dr. King understood \u2013 almost better than anyone \u2013 the importance of standing&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html","og_site_name":"Faith &amp; Justice","article_published_time":"2012-01-16T20:24:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-01-16T20:27:17+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2012\/01\/1166306741-300x199.jpg"}],"author":"Jay Sekulow","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html","name":"Jay Sekulow: MLK - A Voice for the Voiceless - Faith &amp; Justice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2012\/01\/1166306741-300x199.jpg","datePublished":"2012-01-16T20:24:49+00:00","dateModified":"2012-01-16T20:27:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#\/schema\/person\/fd4c384af0620d4b82ae09cf1d77bdb4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2012\/01\/1166306741-300x199.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2012\/01\/1166306741-300x199.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/01\/jay-sekulow-mlk-a-voice-for-the-voiceless.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jay Sekulow: MLK &#8211; A Voice for the Voiceless"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/","name":"Faith &amp; Justice","description":"Jay Sekulow - ACLJ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#\/schema\/person\/fd4c384af0620d4b82ae09cf1d77bdb4","name":"Jay Sekulow","description":"Jay Sekulow is Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a law firm and educational organization that focuses on constitutional law. He is also Chief Counsel of the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ). Jay Sekulow is one of the leading defenders of constitutional rights and religious liberties in the United States. Over the past 25 years, Jay Sekulow has amassed an unparalleled record of accomplishment, arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court on 12 occasions. His aggressive litigation strategy before the Supreme Court has led to many landmark First Amendment victories. In his first case before the Supreme Court, Jews for Jesus, Jay Sekulow secured the right of religious groups to pass out tracks in airports. In Mergens, Jay Sekulow successfully protected the right of students to form Bible clubs and prayer groups on public school campuses. In Lamb\u2019s Chapel, Jay Sekulow cleared the way for churches to have equal access to public facilities in the same way that other groups are permitted to utilize those facilities. In the Bray and Operation Rescue cases, Jay Sekulow protected the free speech rights of pro-life advocates to be free from criminal prosecution for conveying their pro-life message. In McConnell v. FEC, Jay Sekulow protected the right of young people to engage in the political process by donating to the campaign of their choice. In Pleasant Grove, Jay Sekulow paved the way for governments to be able to display Ten Commandments monuments, and other monuments of their choosing, in public parks. Through the ACLJ, Jay Sekulow engages the political, legal, and cultural battles facing America today. He routinely works with Members of Congress, advising them on proposed legislation and representing them in critical legal matters. Jay Sekulow has also testified before Congress on the constitutionality of proposed legislation. Also, in addition to being a successful Supreme Court advocate, Jay Sekulow is a highly respected broadcaster. Jay Sekulow is the host of Jay Sekulow Live! which airs each weekday on over 850 radio stations nationwide, in addition Sirius and XM satellite radio. He brings insight and education to listeners daily through this national call-in radio program. He is also the host of the ACLJ This Week, the ACLJ\u2019s weekly television program. Jay Sekulow regularly appears on major media outlets, including FOX News, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC, where he is sought out for his vast experience in constitutional law and his unique insight into many of the pressing legal and political issues facing America today. He is frequently quoted in the nation's leading newspapers and often contributes opinion editorials to national publications. Jay Sekulow has also published numerous law review and other scholarly articles. Jay Sekulow has received numerous honors for his groundbreaking legal work in the area of free speech and religious liberties. The Legal Times has named Sekulow one of \u201cThe 90 Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years\u201d and the National Law Journal has twice named Sekulow one of the \u201c100 Most Influential Lawyers\u201d in the United States. In addition, TIME Magazine listed Jay Sekulow as one of the \"25 Most Influential Evangelicals\" in America. Jay Sekulow\u2019s legal work in defense of religious liberties and human rights extends beyond the United States, having founded the ECLJ in Strasbourg, France, which maintains consultative status with the United Nations. He has also opened offices in Pakistan, Africa, and Jerusalem, Israel. Jay Sekulow is a staunch defender of Israel, presenting arguments before the International Criminal Court at the Hague. His efforts in support of Israel\u2019s right to defend itself from terrorist attacks have been commended by Israeli government officials, one official stating, \"Jay was instrumentally-involved in projects that the President of Israel and the Prime Minister put on our national agenda.\" Jay Sekulow also has a passion for educating the next generation of religious liberty advocates. He is a member of the Regent University Law School Faculty as a Distinguished Professor of Law and routinely teaches courses on constitutional law and presents guest lectures. Jay Sekulow has also started educational programs in international human rights law in Strasbourg, France and at Handong University in South Korea. Jay Sekulow is a graduate of Mercer University, earning both a bachelor\u2019s degree and doctor of jurisprudence. Sekulow served on the editorial staff of the Mercer Law Review and graduated cum laude. He later earned a Ph.D. from Regent University, writing his dissertation on American Legal History. Jay Sekulow also serves on the Board of Trustees for The Supreme Court Historical Society in Washington, D.C. Jay Sekulow, ACLJ Chief Counsels full biography and video. Jay Sekulow on Facebook. Jay Sekulow on Twitter. Jay Sekulow on YouTube.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/author\/jay_sekulow"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2065"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2074,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065\/revisions\/2074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}