King did not represent himself as a saint. Posthumous revelations of some of his weaknesses underscored the fact that King, at the time of his death, was still evolving, still on the way to reconciling the logic of his faith with his personal conduct. But nothing detracts from his role as a "drum major of freedom." He said of himself, "I want you to know...that I am a sinner like all God's children. But I want to be a good man. And I want to hear a voice saying to me one day, 'I take you in and I bless you, because you tried.'" King struggled to be more than his weakest qualities. He challenged the church...to do the same.
— Martin Luther King in All Saints (1997) by Robert Ellsberg