Mahatma Gandhi (pictured) was assassinated in New Delhi on his way to a prayer meeting today in 1948. His campaign of non-violence and civil disobedience for Indian independence was influenced by Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
‘Today my position is that though I admire much in Christianity, I am unable to identify myself with orthodox Christianity. I must tell you in all humility that Hinduism as I know it, entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being and I find a solace in the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount.’ Mahatma Ghandi, 1925
Today in 1649, King Charles I was beheaded in Whitehall, London. The book of his death was immediately published, with the title, Eikon Basilike: The Portraiture of his Majesty in his Solitude and Sufferings. It remarketed ‘the man of blood’ (as he was known by his opponents) as an Anglican martyr.
‘If I had to face only the Sermon on the Mount and my own interpretation of it, I should not hesitate to say, “Oh yes, I am a Christian”. But I can tell you that so much that passes for Christianity is a negation of the Sermon on the Mount.’ Mahatma Gandhi
Eight years later, tonight at 9.15pm in 1956, Martin Luther King, whose civil disobedience movement was inspired by Gandhi’s, had his home bombed. He was at a meeting, but his wife and daughter were at home; they escaped unhurt. When King returned, angry protestors gathered with him, but he pleaded for nonviolence.
Photo: Wikipedia