Civil Disobedience Is Morally Justifiable

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Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey a law that you disagree with because it is unjust. Based on certain criteria for when civil disobedience is morally justifiable both cases of abortion and race and the criminal justice system fulfil some criteria, but not all. Martin Luther King Jr practiced civil disobedience because he believed that an “unjust law is no law at all” and that it was necessary for people to stand up for what is right and break these laws (King 3). His criteria for when an act of civil disobedience was morally justifiable was when the action was done in name of nonviolently protesting an unjust law (King 2). King believed nonviolence was the most effective way because if you could prove that in the face of injustices …show more content…

My criteria for when an act of civil disobedience is morally justifiable is when it is nonviolent, done in protest of an unjust law, only involves breaking minor laws, the most effective way and your reasons are clear and made known. I agree with King that civil disobedience is morally justifiable only when it is nonviolent. Nonviolent measures are actions that do not physically hurt other people or destroy property. Civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be morally justifiable because people have to maintain the higher moral ground when protesting an unjust law. If people were violently protesting, then it makes them just as bad and immoral as the people who are persecuting them because they could be destroying innocent people’s property or hurting those that haven’t done anything wrong. Nonviolence will not antagonize the opposing side, which prevents further issues and more violence from arising that could turn a situation worse. Also an important job of the laws is to protect our safety. So civil disobedience that threatens this safety is not morally justifiable. I also agree with …show more content…

The law needs to be unjust for civil disobedience to be morally justifiable because people cannot just be allowed to illegally disobey any law solely on an arbitrary basis, such as they just do not like it or it is in inconvenient for them. If people were allowed to disobey any laws, even if they weren’t unjust, it would turn our society into an anarchy and create lots of chaos. Thus, the law has to be unjust for the act of civil disobedience to be morally justifiable because that gives people the right to disobey it. An act of civil disobedience is only morally justifiable when you are breaking minor laws, like trespassing or non-cooperative behavior, when protesting an unjust law. Civil disobedience is morally justifiable because you are not breaking a just law. If you break just laws, which are laws that do not infringe on people’s rights or target specific people, like assault and the destruction of property, then you are immoral in your protests and acts of civil disobedience. If you break major laws that are just, then it makes your cause immoral because you are now unjust and your act of

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