Both MLKjr & NM co-opted essentially secular concerns over and above their religious ones. The essence of their struggle was secular / political, otherwise neither of them would have had a leg to stand on.

Ethical & moral concerns have evolved as an essential aspect of our humanity; Religion would seek to exploit that much as it exploits our natural born spirituality too. Religion has the same relationship to spirituality as Pornography does to our sexuality. Morality is part of what we are; religion is optional & exploitative hobbyism & utterly irrelevant to the case.