As both a man of faith and an active participant in the struggle for civil rights, Dr. King is well-placed in the "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" to counter the white Southern clergymen's criticisms.

It's all very well for these men to snipe from the sidelines and recommend a purely legal strategy to obtain civil rights, but as a civil rights leader King knows that that's just unrealistic. And as a pastor he knows that Christianity would never have spread as far and wide as it did if it hadn't challenged the established political order.

As much as anything, King's "Letter" is a reminder to the white clergymen of their heritage as Christians, and that this heritage is based on fidelity to an absolute morality which transcends the often unjust laws by which most societies are afflicted. It is ironic indeed that although King is so deeply involved in the civil rights struggle, he has a much broader perspective on things than his critics, whose approach is so much more detached.

I think that the fact that Dr. King is a man of religious faith and a minister helps to add much to the point of view of the letter.  The entire premise of the letter arises out of the local clergy calling Dr. King's actions as "unwise and untimely."  The point of view that displays Dr. King as a spiritual leader who refuses to associate his religious practice with passivity and acceptance is where more is gained from the reading.  When one reads the letter, one recognizes that there is a moral imperative to acting against American segregation.  It is not something that can be accepted.  Dr. King's point of view as a religious man, a spiritual figure, helps to bring this across.  For many, religion was seen at the time as a force of passivity, in that it was not religious to speak out in a voice of dissent.  Dr. King's point of view in writing as a religious man who is arguing for moral action against an unethical reality is something that speaks very profoundly in the reading of the article.  It is here where grasping the point of view helps to enhance the reading of the letter and its overall meaning to both the social struggle of the time period as well as its meaning to American History.