The event, which has taken place on a Sunday afternoon in previous years, was held on Friday to increase attendance. "The MLK Committee has been dissatisfied with the attendance in recent years. The numbers were small-75-100-and largely [consisted of] people from the wider community, with few students apart from the ones taking part in the service," said Coordinator for Religious Life and Christian Fellowship Advisor Paul Sorrentino. "The Committee thought that Sunday afternoon is a popular study time and may not be the best time to draw students. We decided on Friday evening since Hillel and Christian Fellowship (ACF) both meet on Fridays."
Before the service, a dinner was served in the Octagon. The event provided a kosher dinner because it coincided with Hillel's Jewish Sabbath service. "All three groups involved in planning thought this was a great idea," said Sorrentino. "Some of the meal was catered, but much of it was prepared by Hillel students. ACF and Newman students helped with set up and clean up. It was a good joint project."
Protestant Religious Advisor Reverend Dr. Leon Burrows also enjoyed the meal. "I especially appreciated all the religious groups on campus gathering to eat together. There was a sense of fellowship that was so natural and unforced. For me, that was the greatest success of the evening," he said.
The multifaith memorial symbolized King's willingness to work with individuals from all backgrounds. "[King] welcomed all who would join in the civil rights movement, not only Christians," said Sorrentino. "Many other faiths had similar motivations and wanted to join with him. None were more noteworthy than Joshua Abraham Heschel, the Jewish rabbi and scholar."
Students heard a variety of clips from King's speeches, including the famous "I Have a Dream" speech, as they entered Johnson Chapel. The speeches were followed by the National Negro Anthem, led by the Gospel Choir and a mulitfaith call to worship, including prayers from Burrows, Catholic Religious Advisor Dr. Elizabeth Carr, Rabbi Bruce Seltzer and Muslim Religious Advisor Shamshad Sheikh.
"One of the challenges of a multifaith service like this is to be respectful of different traditions while valuing what they share in common as well," said Sorrentino. "In this particular service, we focused on commonality and difference in the Call to Worship. The religious advisors for the Muslim, Jewish, Protestant and Roman Catholic communities all stood together. Each gave their own opening words from their own tradition. In the case of the Protestant and Roman Catholic advisors, they both alternated and stated the words together. Rather than have a prayer in a specific tradition, we chose to have a response of silence. This is a universal language and one that people of faith or no faith can appreciate."
In addition to music from the Women's Chorus and the Gospel Choir, Rania Arja '06, Anthony Paz '08 and Margaret Ray '08 read excerpts from King's work. The readings included an article published in a 1947 issue of the Morehouse College newspaper, "The World House" and King's second Vietnam speech from the spring of 1968.
The highlight of the event, however, was Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts III's message. Butts, the president of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury and pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City, began by claiming that King is not the only one to articulate the dream. "The dream was not new with [King]," said Butts. "Dr. King was a great American prophet but like many preachers of all sorts and all faiths, he really didn't say anything that was new." Butts stated that the prophets of Israel all had the same dream as King, but expressed that dream in other ways.
According to Butts, this shared dream is that of a beloved community. "When you start thinking about what these prophets envisioned, they were really envisioning the beloved community … a world without conflict," he said. However, although many influential leaders, including Thomas Jefferson and Langston Hughes, held King's dream, few were able to make it a reality. "Thomas Jefferson was a person who articulated the dream well, but couldn't actualize it in his own life … he held people enslaved," said Butts.
Butts also claimed that American morality is slipping. "Now the moral high ground is inhabited by moral midgets. America can't get its act together because this nation has lost the moral high ground," he said. "We lost the moral high ground because of presidents and young girls in the Oval Office. We lost it because of priests and little boys in church basements."
Butts concluded by sharing a story about a woman in labor. He compared the pushing required to give birth to the need to realize the dream. "Push your instructors, your faculty. Push your administration. Push the officials of the town. Push everybody until they get like you the vision of the beloved community," he said. "Don't be afraid to take a risk sometimes, knowing that many men and women have given up so much ... There may be a little discomfort, but the end will be that which will be marvelous in our eyes, and then we will know that we have really celebrated the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr."
This part of the message made an impression on Carr. "[Butts] called us to action by recalling for us the deep spiritual roots of Dr. King's dream," she said. "He reminded us that we, too, can make that dream happen, but that will require courage and the willingness to spend our lives speaking out for truth and justice for all people."
Paz agreed with Carr. "Dr. Butts must have been one of the most powerful and engaging speakers I've seen in my lifetime," he said. "I thought his message of pushing despite hardships and his incredible analogy of the woman in labor was exactly what students at this campus needed to hear. His speech reminded me that to simply remember Dr. King is not enough; we must honor him by continuing his course of action."
Some students, however, were dismayed with Butts' political bias. "I was disappointed with the speaker, because his remarks about the Bush administration and Clarence Thomas, among other things, were thoughtless and insulting," said James Montana '08. "I was also disappointed with the readings, which I thought were chosen to accord with the political agenda of the whole show-especially the latter two and the anti-Vietnam reading."
Others saw Butts' alleged partisanship in a positive light. "There was political bias in the speech. Is that a bad thing?" asked Gospel Choir member Ashley Finigan '08. "I don't think so at all. Instead of floundering in the relative safety of giving a 'neutral' speech, Rev. Butts took a stand and spoke passionately about things he believes in. He isn't simply speaking on topics that are nice, he is actually out there in the community working for change. The service was in honor of Dr. King, who was anything but politically neutral. It is important to honor MLK in a fitting way-keeping the spirit of political agitation alive. We cannot properly remember the man without remembering his deeds, and I think that Rev. Butts did a fabulous job of that."
Paz echoed Finigan's sentiments. "I would agree that Dr. Butts presented a political agenda. I would also say, though, that the subject of civil rights is necessarily political and, whether or not you want to believe it, historically partisan. Dr. Butt's speech, however, was not completely partisan. He criticized all politicians, mentioning the adultery in the Oval Office for helping America to 'lose the moral high ground,'" he said. "As far as being too political for a memorial service, it is important to remember that the goal was to honor the legacy of one of the most forceful political advocates of the 20th century. What [King] did was nearly all political, as he did not form an army or go into battle. If we are to remember Dr. King without bringing up some of the most pressing political issues of the day, then we are forgetting the reason he was killed."
The event was able to take place with the contributions of many individuals and groups. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee (MLK Committee), the religious life staff and an ad hoc student group each played a large role in planning the multifaith service. The Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Diversity, the music department, the religious life department, the black studies department, the Bi-Semester Worship Committee, Newman Club, Amherst Christian Fellowship, Gospel Choir, Multifaith Council, Noor and Hillel also contributed to the event.