“Black lives matter,” taken as a sentence, is profoundly true. God made every human being in his image, which means every life on the planet, at every stage, matters. Yet that sentence is understood, nearly universally, as expressing approval of a movement rooted in critical race theory, which is grounded in destructive Marxist ideology.
Words matter, especially when words are at the center of controversy and conflict. It is the responsibility of all people to look at words carefully, to understand what the words are, what they mean, and what they are doing.
Three short and simple words have formed a sentence that has captured the attention of the nation. The words “black lives matter” are particularly controversial, having become a major part of the American conversation in 2020.
“Black lives matter,” taken as a sentence, is profoundly true. God made every human being in his image, which means every life on the planet, at every stage, matters. Every human being possesses full human dignity, and by extension, full human rights.
Furthermore, saying that black lives matter does not mean that other lives do not matter. Indeed, when some people hear, “black lives matter,” they respond by saying that it is wrong to single out one part of humanity. Ever since the phrase sprang into the American imagination, there were others who asserted that “police lives matter,” “blue lives matter,” or “all lives matter.”
During a particular moral and historical context, it is not wrong to say something emphatically directed, like “black lives matter.” Just consider, as an example, Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 40s. The Nazi Party adopted a deadly antisemitism that led to the horrors of genocide during the Holocaust. At that time, to say that “Jewish lives matter” would not only have been right, but would have been morally urgent and necessary.
Fast forward to America in June of 2020. Today, there are very real and urgent moral concerns about the lives and well-being of black Americans. It is not wrong in our context, therefore, to say “black lives matter” as a sentence.
But it’s not that simple.
Black Lives Matter did not emerge merely as a sentence. Those three words function as a message and a platform making a significant political statement—one guided by Marxist ideology that seeks to revolutionize our culture and society.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. – Public Discourse – June 18, 2020.
