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Martin Luther King Jr. uses figurative language strategically throughout his letter to promote equality. How does the following instance help accomplish his purpose of challenging the church leaders to take action against racial injustice?

In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer (strictly tells the temperature) that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat (changes the temperature) that transformed the mores of society.

Respond in three to five complete sentences.