BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Religious faith was a lifelong constant for Rep. John Lewis.
He spent his boyhood in Alabama preaching to a make-believe congregation of chickens and siblings. He went on to be inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to learn nonviolence protests tactics from ministers and other teachers.
Lewis often cited religious faith as a reason for his activism. Lewis worried aloud that some didn’t understand the importance of religion to the civil rights movement.
Lewis died Friday at age 80.
