Focus Unit: Justice and Injustice//Letter from Birmingham Jail
Overview Prior to reading, students should discuss the following thematic questions so that they are prepared for the complex moral and ethical questions raised by this text. The questions can be given out individually for individual student writing, or they can be used as the basis for class discussion, or both.
Prereading Questions
Questions
What is the difference between something legal versus something moral?
Is a legal action always the same thing as a moral action? That is, just because an action is considered legal by a society, does that mean this action is also the morally right thing to do?
Can you think of a classroom-appropriate example of an unjust law--that is, a law that was legal, but which was not moral?
Can you think of a classroom-appropriate example of a moral action which was illegal by the laws of that society or time?
Is obedience to a law always morally right?
Is it ever just (that is, morally right) to disobey an unjust law?