Assignment task:
As discussed in the assigned reading, there may be some laws that are so unjust that instead of having a duty to obey such laws, we as "subjects" have a duty to disobey such laws. As a team, you are going to work to explain the concept of civil disobedience in society and determine its relevancy under the natural law theory.
For your Unit 3 Assignment, Muhammad Ali's rejection of the draft an event in history that illustrates the concept of civil disobedience and discuss how this event would be viewed under the theory of natural law. The example of civil disobedience you choose to discuss should be from the areas of civil rights (such as Rosa Parks on the Montgomery bus or Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968), environmental activism, animal rights activism, socioeconomic activism (such as the Occupy movement), or issues involving civil liberties/constitutional rights such as abortion bans, book bans, or another topic that has made or will make the history books.
Once you have chosen your event, create a PowerPoint of at least six to eight substantive slides describing the event, explaining the concept of civil disobedience and presenting arguments for why the conduct at issue would be justifiable under the theory of natural law as espoused by Thomas Aquinas, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others.
In addition to describing the event you have chosen and explaining how it fits into the definition of civil disobedience, discuss in detail how such civil disobedience exemplifies the natural law theory that an unjust law is no law at all and therefore should not be obeyed. Be sure to cite at least four sources to support your statements.
You will also narrate your PowerPoint presentation (see the instructions below for embedding audio into the PowerPoint) so you can share it with your classmates in the team thread found in the Unit 4 Discussion Board. In the team thread, upload your Unit 3 PowerPoint presentation to the post and provide a 150-word summary of the civil disobedience event you chose to discuss in your PowerPoint. Explain how this event ties in with natural law theory. In addition, provide substantive feedback to two of your classmates discussing the civil disobedience event they chose and its connection to natural law theory.
Narration Guidelines:
- Maintain a professional tone by summarizing observations and evaluations for each slide.
- Ensure that your presentation is highly ordered, logical, and unified.
- Words should be clearly enunciated, and professional tone should be sustained throughout the presentation narration.
- Audio recording should be free of background noise and interruptions.
1. Did you describe a key example of civil disobedience from the areas of civil rights, environmental activism, animal rights activism, socioeconomic activism, civil rights/constitutional rights, etc., in detail to illustrate an instance in which "subjects" felt it was their moral duty to disobey the law?
2. Did you present arguments for why this act of civil disobedience was justifiable under the natural law theory?
3. Did you include internal citations in the body of the text as well as a proper list of references at the end of the presentation, following APA style?
4. Is your PowerPoint presentation at least six substantive slides, excluding the title slide and reference slide?
5. Did you narrate the content of your slides in preparation to share and collaborate with your classmates in the Unit 4 Discussion Board to determine if the act of civil disobedience you discussed exemplifies the natural law theory?
6. Did you provide substantive responses to your classmates?