Rev. Wyatt T. Walker
[Series] Abstracts of the speakers’ presentation at the Humanity Conference.
Panelist :
Rev. Wyatt T. Walker
Noted civil rights activist, Senior pastor of Canaan Baptist Church, Former executive secretary to Martin Luther King
Spirituality as a Tool for Social Reform
My journey as a human rights activist, over the last fifty years, has been a spiritual journey. As a Christian pastor, the prism through which my view of spirituality is expressed is grounded in the literature of the New Testament and the person of Jesus Christ. The sayings of Jesus have proven to be universal in terms of authentic spirituality. His central teaching was in the realm of spiritual discipline of self in relation to other humans. In a very real way it parallels the teaching of Grand Master Ilchi Lee of the inherent divinity in every person.
The greatest social changes in humankind in the twentieth century were grounded in spirituality. Gandhi, a devotee of Hinduism, threw off the yoke of British colonial rule through the use of sataygraha-soul force, on the sub-continent of India. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Christian pastor, dismantled nearly a hundred years of racial segregation through the creative use of non-violence anchored in the Christian faith. Nelson Mandela, an indigenous South African, though not formally religious, orchestrated the demise of the racist apartheid regime in South Africa from a jail cell. All three of these leaders demonstrated that spirituality is an effective instrument for social change. Their leadership provides a persuasive model of how our global village can be bettered. Without spiritual awakening, there is no hope for any social change. Through events like the humanity conference, we can declare a revolution of human spirituality and find the keys that will encourage people to join.
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