Read the following excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham," then answer the

question.

"There was a time when the Church was very powerful ... In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being 'disturbers of the peace' and 'outside agitators.' Things are different now. The contemporary Church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church's silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are."

The purpose of placing this information at the end of his letter is to:

a. praise the church for fighting the injustice of his incarceration

b. chastise the church for adopting a passive role in the world

c. make himself look more important than other church leaders

d. describe the voice of the contemporary church as dynamic

He did this by comparing the early Church and present Church. In his words, the early Church were active speakers of the truth and an instrument of change, a "thermostat that transformed the mores of society" and not merely a thermometer.

He also pointed to the fact that when the early Church entered a new location, they were soon noticed by the influential "power structures" who sought to convict them as they were agitators but when compared to the present church, they are in stark contrast as they are passive and indecisive in lending their voices to issues in the society and as such the influential members of the society disregard them and continue to perpetrate evil.