Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Coretta, his beloved wife, wrote: "Martin Luther King Jr.'s theological belief in the interdependence , of all life inevitably led to the methods for social change advocate as well as his adversary. Christ gave us the goals, he would often say, and Mahatma Gandhi provided the tactics."

On page 150-151 in the Strength to Love, Dr. King writes of his fascination with the Gandhian concept of “Love (Truth) Force” and the great success of non-violent resistence in India. In Montgomery, Alabama in 1954, "as a pastor, at the beginning of the protest, the people called me in to be their spokesman. In accepting this responsibility, my mind consciously or unconsciously, was driven back to the Sermon on the Mount and the Gandhian method of nonviolent resistence. This principle became the guiding light of our movement. Christ furnished the Spirit and motivation and Gandhi furnished the method."

Dr. King wrote of his trip to India to: "My privilege of traveling to India had a great impact on me personally, for it was invigorating to see firsthand the amazing results of a nonviolent struggle to achieve independence. The aftermath of hatred and bitterness that usually follows a violent campaign was found nowhere in India, and a mutual friendship, based on complete equality, existed between the Indian and British people within the Commonwealth."

In the next paragraph, "…the nonviolent approach does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect. It calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had. Finally, it so stirs up the conscience of the opponent that reconciliation becomes a reality."