Scrolling through social media, it's hard to ignore the amount of people using faith as their reason for being anti-BLM. These beliefs are always pretty hard to argue with. On Instagram (@st.reetprophet), I asked you to submit some of the faith-based opinions you've heard so I can disprove them.
Myth #1: "We, as Christians, should forgive the police."
Ah, the classic "justice vs forgiveness" dilemma. Admittedly, it can be hard to balance the two sometimes, but they aren't incompatible. The Bible portrays God as both a being of forgiveness and of justice. We are instructed to forgive, sure, but that's moreso intended to release us of anger and ensure that we are level-headed in our efforts to help the needy. Romans 13 describes a "Duty of Care" that each of us are burdened with that instructs us to prevent further wrongdoings. We are called to create a better world for innocent people, which BLM does. Allowing murders to go unaddressed would ultimately lead to more murders. In other words, justice overrides forgiveness when the aim is to create a better world. Our priority, as always, is with the oppressed.
Myth #2: "Jesus would want a peaceful protest."
First of all, the BLM protests have been peaceful up until the cops incite violence. The person who holds this opinion is misinformed about the nature of the protests. However, even forgetting this, any casual Bible reader will see that Jesus is a protestor and has used multiple methods to get his point across. Jesus chases religious hypocrites from the temple with a whip, overturns tables, and destroys property (John 2:13-25). Jesus speaks radically at a synagogue until he receives death threats (Luke 4:16-31). Jesus goes to places he isn't supposed to go and talks to people he isn't supposed to talk to (John 4).
Myth #3: "The Jews were passive during the Holocaust, and you should be too."
Absolutely not. I'm not sure how this narrative began, but the Jewish resistance was present and immense. Look up the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The destruction of Nazi documents. The underground newspapers. The spies. The Armée Juive. In fact, the Jewish resistance was so strong that we were (wrongly) criticized by Gandhi for not being more peaceful. Gandhi said: "They should have offered themselves to the butcher's knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs... as it is, they succumbed anyway in their millions."
Myth #4: "BLM has become a religion/cult."
This myth is a bit out there, but I see it gaining popularity on Twitter. It's a wild claim that makes very little sense. First of all, people from all religions have come together to support BLM. None have seen it as heretical, idol-worship. or otherwise. People have cited the "creepy chanting" as a reason why it seems cult-like, but I think these people have never seen protests before. They're all like that. Yes, even the one a few weeks ago about reopening the country. BLM also lacks the basic qualities of a cult. The leaders, while well-respected, do not hold a charismatic position. Most people don't even know who they are. BLM also isn't interested in policing who joins the movement, as most cults do. BLM is an ideology that speaks to all religions, and is not a religion in itself. It's a movement. That is all.
Myth #5: "God condones slavery."
It would be accurate to say that some of the Biblical authors support slavery, but not God Himself. Let me explain. I see a lot of people acting on the misconception that the Bible is the word of God rather than the word of men struggling to know God. I think our education has failed us on this one. Our Biblical authors wrote in a time period where slavery was acceptable and wrote accordingly. Some authors were clearly against it, but others wrote rules about how to treat slaves. The Bible often contradicts itself because multiple people wrote in it. And none of these people were God Himself. So, while we can recognize that some of the authors condoned slavery, this isn't sufficient evidence to say that God does too. There are plenty of instances that suggest otherwise. Think of Exodus!