Walker's Appeal and King's Letter from Birmingham jail share some similarities as well as differences. A significant similarity, similar also to earlier readings, is the presence of Old Testament references. David Chappell has shown that King and others emerge in the tradition of Jeremiah and reject the faith in liberal progress. In his letter, he explicitly rejected the "inevitability" of progress and change, equating it with the failures of gradualism. Curiously,  even still some scholars have recently argued that gradualism was working and King and the movement only disrupted it (Mills Thornton, Diving Lines, 2002). (I find it strange people are still making that argument. Rather, change only comes with action and determination, or else danger follows and things just get worse. Many other civil rights workers shared similar convictions, among them Bayard Rustin (who taught King about non-violence, some have argued), John Lewis, and others. Walker also made many similar references, and like the Old testament prophets, warned of danger and destruction. Some of his remarks in the Appeal make clear indications of the punishment to be deployed against whites for imposing severe injustice, that God will avenge their sins, as he did to the Egyptians and others. Though King advocated and practiced non-violence while Walker called for violence, both conceived of resistance in similar ways. It is also interesting to note that King worried most about the white moderates and his criticisms of the white church leaders seems to apply to many whites not just in the south but across the country, not just in his time but ours as well. That seems to make complicated his appeal to their consciences which seems to represent a national moral consensus. But as Charles Payne has argued, most whites responded to extreme violence against blacks, not white supremacy. That is just what King worried about in his Letter and his critique of "law and order." While he exposed the police brutalities, among other violence against blacks, he also tried to draw attention to a power structure and highlight moderate complicity. Moreover, the question of church activism concerning social issues and King's legacy seems pertinent to a discussion of church activism after the civil rights movement. David Chappell argued that King and the larger movement taught white religious figures and many in the South that religion works well in organizing for social and political goals. While many churches clearly refrain from progressive issues, the religious campaings against abortion, among many others, plainly show how active they can be. The question of a Southern or national civil religion brings as many hazards as potential benefits.

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