Martin Luther King framed civil rights in a redemptive national-biblical language

Evidence

It is the language that Martin Luther King used when he proclaimed that “now is the time to make real the promise of democracy” thereby attaining “the goal of America [which is] freedom.” Turning to fellow African Americans King declares: “Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America [because] the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.” — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 705

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: This concrete case exemplifies why Islam (lacking entry into the American prophetic narratives) gets coded as foreign/premodern, complementing Asad’s broader claim for the reader’s vault essay.