notable people from various religious beliefs
Mother teresa
Mother Teresa is a Catholic nun who was born in Macedonia on August 26th, 1910. She taught for 17 years in India before she experienced the “call within a call” to dedicate herself to care for the sick and the poor. She then started an order of nuns called the Missionaries of Charity. Over the course of the 1950’s and the 1960’s, she established a leper colony, an orphanage, a nursing home, a family clinic, and multiple mobile health clinics. She was called to Rome in 1968, and in 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her compassionate work. With her worsening health conditions, it forced her to retire. By the time of her death in 1997, the Missionaries of Charity numbered over 4,000 with an additional of a thousand more volunteers with 610 foundations in 123 countries on all seven continents. She died on September 5th, 1997.
martin luther king jr.
Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929. In Boston, he met and married Coretta Scott where two sons and two daughters were born into the family. In 1954, Martin Luther King became a pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He dedicated his life to helping the African-Americans who were facing adversity in the United States. His idea was based on non-violence, which included leading peace marches and giving speeches. Between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action. He directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C. of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, “I Have a Dream”. He was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963 and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks, but also a world figure. He was assassinated and died on April 4, 1968 on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee.
mohandas gandhi
Mohandas Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, West India and died in 1948. He studied law and became a leader of India’s independence movement, organizing boycotts against British institutions in peaceful forms of civil disobedience. He studied the Bible and was struck by the teachings of Jesus Christ. He stayed committed to the Bible and Bhagavad Gita throughout his life. His goal was to help poor farmers and laborers protest oppressive taxation and discrimination. He struggled to improve poverty, free women, and end discrimination. His objective was to self-rule for India, which helped India gain independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
the dalai lama, tenzin gyasto
The Dalai Lama was born on July 6, 1935 in Taktser, China. He assumed political power of Tibet as the Dalai Lama. He is both the head of state and the spiritual leader of Tibet as well. He received the Nobel Prize in 1989 for working for a peaceful solution for the liberation of Tibet. He is considered the great man of peace and describes himself as a Buddhist monk. He is a strong advocate for non-violence, promotes inter-religious understandings and universal compassion. He proposed a Five-Point Peace Plan in 1987-88 for Tibet to help the situation in Tibet that kept worsening. His overall goal was to turn Tibet into a peaceful zone.
dorothy day
Dorothy Day was born on November 8, 1897 in New York, New York. She worked for pacifism and women’s suffrage by participating in protests. She has been arrested several times for her involvement in protests. . She also worked as a journalist for many years while she was protesting. Dorothy co-founded The Catholic Worker, which promoted Catholic teachings and tackled public issues and also helped establish special homes to help those in need. It was very successful and helped tackle issues of social justice. She dedicated a lot of her life in her beliefs and her adopted faith. She died on November 29, 1980 at one of her Catholic settlement houses she helped establish.