On a July day in 2013, George Zimmerman was acquitted for the death of Trayvon Martin. With that historic decision came the birth of a movement Americans have had no choice but to become familiar with- the Black Lives Matter Movement.
In the years following this controversial decision, the BLM Movement has only grown more prevalent, carrying out demonstrations in the wake of similar instances. 2020 was an especially active year for BLM after George Floyd’s death during an arrest in May. The police officer, Derek Michael Chauvin, who many blame for his death, is on trial as I am writing this article.
Before I continue with the main point I will be making, let’s get some things straight.
When I refer to “BLM,” I am talking about the organization itself. Although Black Lives Matter started as a simple phrase, it quickly evolved into something beyond a hashtag on Twitter. “Black Lives Matter” became the slogan of protests against police brutality, spurring America’s newfound movement.
While the BLM movement came across as being favorable to many Americans in the beginning. Most of these protests were started based on misinformation, such as in the case of Rayshard Brooks, a black male who was was shot and killed by a white police officer in Atlanta, Georgia. What most news outlets failed to report at first was that Brooks was drunk and resisted arrest which led to his death. What is more alarming is the group’s increasing inclination towards violent riots. According to the U.S. Crisis Monitor, the U.S. experienced 637 riots between May 26, 2020, and September 12, 2020, and 91% of those riots were linked to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Today, BLM operates officially under the title “Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation,” which has chapters in various cities and an official website used to fundraise. Search for BLM on any social media platform, and you will see a blue checkmark by their name.
Over the past several years, BLM protests have spiraled into tumultuous riots. Last summer, non-stop news footage circulated across social media of hysterical individuals fueled by blind rage hurling bricks through the windows of fiery buildings, swinging at police officers’ shields, assaulting innocent civilians, and fleeing ransacked businesses with armloads of expensive goods. BLM’s older cousin Antifa also made an appearance amidst the fiery chaos.
By June of 2020, only a month after George Floyd’s death, nineteen people had already been killed during the “protests” inspired by his passing. These protests-turned-riots resulted in more Black lives unnecessarily being taken a week after George Floyd protests began than all the unarmed Black men shot by police in 2019. By October, this number reached at least twenty-five.
Between May 26, 2020, and June 8, 2020, BLM protests-turned-riots following George Floyd’s death cost insurance companies up to $2B.
Despite the apparent harm and destruction, this group has caused, BLM defenders will still argue that such actions were “justifiable.”
At this point, you may be asking yourself where churches come into the picture. Recently, a growing number of churches have begun to express their support for BLM. The disease of “woke” liberal virtue-signaling leaves no stone unturned in their path of destruction. A certain breed of Christian will latch on to social justice issues because they believe it’s the “Christian thing to do” even if that means voting for pro-abortion Joe Biden because Trump is mean on Twitter.
In this case, it means blindly supporting a violent and destructive hate-group (yes, a hate group) because supporting “Black Lives Matter” is “showing Christian love” to a group of people that have duped most Americans into believing they’re not being treated fairly.
I’m not sure who is more to blame for this phenomenon; hypocritical leftist pastors with the ability to influence people from the pulpit or the toxic mainstream news media that can grip on the heartstrings of those who think primarily with their hearts and seldom with their brains. Either way, this problem has touched people of all denominations and religious backgrounds.
It should be evident as to why the behavior of BLM goes against Christian teachings. I don’t believe it’s necessary to explain why Jesus Christ (someone who a corrupt institution in His country killed) would not condone burning down the business of your brother or sister before running off with the merchandise they sell to make a living, but what may be less obvious is that I don’t believe He would even be supportive of the movement “Black Lives Matter” itself.
Let me clarify for a moment that I don’t like the idea of regular people like myself doing anything that could come across as “speaking for “Jesus Christ. What I’m writing right now may appear to be just that, but I want to emphasize that I’m writing my opinions based on how I understand the topics I’m covering to align with what He explicitly stood for.
Of course, the lives of black people matter, and they matter to Jesus. However, so does every life that has been lived and will be lived, from the most good-hearted of saints to the worst of sinners. Scripture speaks of God’s love rather abundantly. In these passages, the incompatibility of BLM and Christian teachings is the most apparent to me.
In 1 Corinthians 13: 4-6, for example, love is described as “patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.” When I reflect on the images of people screaming into the flaming night sky as they dance atop totaled police cars, I see zero consistency with this description of love.
Plainly stated, these riots are not moral by any standards, let alone Christian ones. Christians supporting this group to show “Christian love” should review the verse I just covered. For that matter, they should review the plethora of other Bible verses about love and hate and then see how they can apply those verses to BLM’s nature.
I could cover numerous verses that dismantle Christian support of BLM. Malachi 2:17 reads, “you have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ By saying, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them.’ Or by asking, ‘Where is the God of justice?’”
Proverbs 6:16-19 reads, “there are six things the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make hast to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among his brothers.”
Psalm 11:5,” the Lord tests the righteous, but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.”
Leviticus 19:17-18, “you shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
Shall I go on?
It’s abundantly clear that the actions of BLM are not in line with Christian love or teachings. All one has to do is open a Bible to understand this; it’s not some deep theological debate. While I agree with Christians practicing forgiveness (as we should) and refraining from demonstrating the same hatred that BLM does when confronted with these occurrences, standing by groups like BLM is another thing entirely.
To stand by BLM is to stand by hatred, violence, and lies, all of which are things God condemns. I can’t understand pastors who preach in favor of this toxic organization as anything other than fraudulent con artists. By doing so, they are planting the seeds of division and hatred in the hearts of their parishioners.
A memorable line from Abraham Lincoln’s House Divided Speech comes from the Gospel of Mark, in which Jesus states that “if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” BLM behaves in a way that explicitly goes against Biblical teachings about love; woke Christians have also tossed out the verses that condemn the hateful division that BLM has caused this country.
To deny the existence of this division would be like denying that the sky is blue. Even if supporters of the BLM movement are opposed to the violent insanity that other supporters have enthusiastically carried out, the group’s reputation as a movement for positive change has been lost at this point. Rather than create any sense of unity in America, BLM and other leftist race-baiters have pushed people further apart than they have been in more than half a century.
While the Bible promotes loving thy neighbor and doing unto others as you would have done unto yourself, BLM sees people first and foremost according to their race, being quick to make judgments against others for appearances alone. We are all God’s children; we are black, white, brown, yellow, and red. When it comes to BLM views on law enforcement, they don’t approach them with neighborly love or the Golden Rule.
Do woke Christians and their beguiling counterparts at the pulpit not see this? Do they choose to ignore this reality for the sake of feeling good? Perhaps they believe that they can’t love and pray for BLM supporters without outwardly supporting the organization themselves. Woke Christians will always find a way to twist deceptive mainstream media narratives to fit their views on Christian faith.
Just yesterday, I was made aware of one of the most blasphemous things I have ever encountered. An Instagram follower messaged me with a picture someone he knows had created for Good Friday. This artist paints Episcopalian icons. The painting that this follower sent me featured George Floyd dead in the arms of his mother.
Yes, you read that correctly.
As if turning a drug-addicted criminal into a religious icon is not sacrilegious enough, this painting was featured at The Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion in St. Louis, Missouri.
It is idolatry; this is the sort of nonsense that takes place when we let woke progressives creep into the church. They will find a way to ultimately poison that space so that it becomes a mockery of what it was meant to be. Christians must stand against this. We can’t let groups and ideas that go so against Christian values take over our churches.
Woke progressivism has no place in the church.
Christians need to remember that we can be loving and kind without accepting things that don’t fit our belief system. We don’t need to support hateful, violent, and divisive organizations that harm this country.
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About the Author:
Erin Fitzgerald Adair is a political commentator known as @Always.Right on Instagram. She attended college for Political Science and History, formerly hosted a weekly podcast, and recently worked on a congressional campaign. Erin is a “Cav Kid” from Georgia who now splits her time between there and Florida. She is passionate about advocating for gun rights, free speech, and our constitutional liberties while speaking out against abortion, censorship, and cultural marxism.