The most dangerous type of atheism is not theoretical atheism, but practical atheism —that's the most dangerous type. And the world, even the church, is filled up with people who pay lip service to God and not life service. And there is always a danger that we will make it appear externally that we believe in God when internally we don't. We say with our mouths that we believe in him, but we live with our lives like he never existed. That is the ever-present danger confronting religion. That's a dangerous type of atheism.

Rediscovering Lost Values, Sermon delivered at Detroit's Second Baptist Church (28 February 1954).

Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project | The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute[kinginstitute.stanford.edu]