home
RSS
Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church renovations
April 22nd, 2011
12:01 AM ET

Restoring Martin Luther King Jr.'s church

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights leader, activist and pastor before his death in 1968 at age 39. The church he grew up in, Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta, has become a historic structure and national treasure.

With the aid of contributors like Save America’s Treasures, the National Park Service renovated the church’s sanctuary to resemble the years that King spent there as a pastor. Click through the gallery above to see some of the changes, along with images of the sanctuary’s reopening, King’s birthplace and crypt.

- CNN Belief Blog

Filed under: Baptist • Church • Faith Now • Georgia • Houses of worship • Leaders

soundoff (15 Responses)
  1. Elder Nathanyel

    Dr.Martin Luther King jr. fulfilled bible prophecy according to Jeremiah 23:25 "I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
    [26] How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;"
    The blackman and woman that descended from the trans-atlantic slave trade are the biblical children of Israel.-Peace

    August 28, 2011 at 5:45 pm | Report abuse | Reply
  2. Fist of Reason

    I honor MLKjr for his civil rights work, not his religious delusions.
    It got to be too big for him. He should have done things differently, imho.

    April 23, 2011 at 2:27 am | Report abuse | Reply
    • Adelina

      Civil rights were impossible and inconceivable without the Christian religion. Secular Americans' ignorance is indeed abysmal.

      April 23, 2011 at 4:03 am | Report abuse |
    • Reality

      Hmmm, tis holy Saturday. Tis not this the day, the simple, preacher man spent in Hell?

      Time for an update:

      The Apostles' Creed 2011: (updated by yours truly and based on the studies of historians and theologians during the past 200 years)

      I might believe in a god whose existence cannot be proven
      and said god if he/she/it exists resides in an unproven,
      human-created, spirit state of bliss called heaven.

      I believe there was a 1st century CE, Jewish, simple,
      preacher-man who was conceived by a Jewish carpenter
      named Joseph living in Nazareth and born of a young Jewish
      girl named Mary. (Some say he was a mamzer.)

      Jesus was summarily crucified for being a temple rabble-rouser by
      the Roman troops in Jerusalem serving under Pontius Pilate,

      He was buried in an unmarked grave and still lies
      a-mouldering in the ground somewhere outside of
      Jerusalem.

      Said Jesus' story was embellished and "mythicized" by
      many semi-fiction writers. A descent into Hell, a bodily resurrection
      and ascension stories were promulgated to compete with the
      Caesar myths. Said stories were so popular that they
      grew into a religion known today as Catholicism/Christianity
      and featuring dark-age, daily wine to blood and bread to body rituals
      called the eucharistic sacrifice of the non-atoning Jesus.

      Amen

      April 23, 2011 at 7:56 am | Report abuse |
  3. iLoveGod

    CNN is full of atheist comment trolls. Nobody is asking for your negative feedback. The only thing "worthless" is your input. Everyone has a right to believe what they want and if you are not into anything that has to do with the Almighty God, then dont come to the belief blog site. Go to what interests you and leave what interests us alone!

    April 22, 2011 at 3:27 pm | Report abuse | Reply
  4. Kathy

    I am so thankful that generations to come, will be able to visit and visualize, the footsteps of such a great leader. Thank you, thank you, thank you.....

    April 22, 2011 at 11:37 am | Report abuse | Reply
  5. Adelina

    Worshipping self is worthless. All creatures should worship the Creator God. All honor and glory to God forever and ever!

    April 22, 2011 at 10:20 am | Report abuse | Reply
  6. Reality

    A great place to preserve as a museum in honor of a fallen leader. With respect to its aspects as a church, we already have enough houses of "worthless worship".

    April 22, 2011 at 8:59 am | Report abuse | Reply
    • Steve (the real one)

      If you believe worship is worthless, you know nothing about the worship of God! Self worship is indeed worthless! It is high arrogance for the creation (you) to tell the Creator (God) how He does not exist!

      April 22, 2011 at 1:20 pm | Report abuse |
    • MikeTX

      It is what you choose to make of it.

      April 22, 2011 at 3:21 pm | Report abuse |
    • iLoveGod

      CNN is full of atheist comment trolls. Nobody is asking for your negative feedback. The only thing "worthless" is your input. Everyone has a right to believe what they want and if you are not into anything that has to do with the Almighty God, then dont come to the belief blog site. Go to what interests you and leave what interests us alone

      April 22, 2011 at 3:28 pm | Report abuse |
    • Yeah

      "and leave what interests us alone"

      If only you would leave those that don't believe as you do alone too! Let gays marry!

      April 22, 2011 at 3:30 pm | Report abuse |
    • iLoveGod

      Dude, Nobody is stopping anybody from anything. We have our belief and our code of conduct that we live by. Its called the 10 commandments. Nobody is forcing anything on you. You have freedom of choice to do whatever you want to do. If Gays want to get married, then let them get married. God loves all people, even the gays. Your personal life is just that and when it comes down to the end, only God can judge your acts, not the Christians, not the Muslims, or the Harry Krishnas.

      April 22, 2011 at 3:34 pm | Report abuse |
    • Steve (the real one)

      Yeah
      "and leave what interests us alone"
      If only you would leave those that don't believe as you do alone too! Let gays marry!
      ------–
      @yeah, I don't know you poltical leanings and don't need to BUT I find it very ironic how the current President courted the Gay community for votes. They voted hard for him. Guess what? Even he is against gay marriage!

      April 22, 2011 at 3:46 pm | Report abuse |
  7. Adelina

    Do Americans know Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was Christian? I hope so...

    April 22, 2011 at 3:26 am | Report abuse | Reply

Post a comment


 

CNN welcomes a lively and courteous discussion as long as you follow the Rules of Conduct set forth in our Terms of Service. Comments are not pre-screened before they post. You agree that anything you post may be used, along with your name and profile picture, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the license you have granted pursuant to our Terms of Service.

Advertisement
About this blog

The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke and Eric Marrapodi with daily contributions from CNN's worldwide newsgathering team and frequent posts from religion scholar and author Stephen Prothero.