Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Rev. Ben Johnson discusses Black Lives Matter on ‘The Lars Larson Show’
Rev. Ben Johnson discusses Black Lives Matter on ‘The Lars Larson Show’
Dec 5, 2025 11:06 PM

Why would a movement dedicated to black advancement want to dismantle the family, when fatherlessness is associated with every social malady from poverty and crime to delinquency and low self-esteem? Is the racially tinged socialism promoted by Black Lives patible with the U.S. Constitution? And why does BLM demand that America pay reparations to nations where terrorists have attacked U.S. soldiers or civilians?

I had the privilege of discussing these issues and more on Tuesday, August 11, on “The Lars Larson Show.” The nationally syndicated talk radio host graciously called my Acton Powerblog article “one of the best reviews” of Black Lives Matter’s political agenda.

Other topics during the segment included the exploitation of tragedy for political gain, flawed measures of disparate impact, and why BLM’s policies would “strangle the one form of government that has created the most inherently equal, equitable society in human history: the United States of America and our Constitution.”

Larson’s radio program originates from Portland, Oregon – a city with a history as the epicenter of left-wing riots long predating the current outbreak of Black Lives Matter/Antifa violence. This interlocking history of radical violence is perhaps best exemplified by the arrest earlier this week of Demetria Hester at a riot at which “[c]ommercial grade fireworks and a mortar were used against Portland Police Bureau officers.” In May 2017, Hester had been harassed by Jeremy Joseph Christian, a white supremacist Bernie Sanders supporter who went on to murder two men on a Portland train. (This June, a judge sentenced Christian to two consecutive life sentences.)

“Portlanders need to send a strong message that enough is enough. This is not forwarding the goals that are going to lead to better es for people of color,” said Portland Chief of Police Chuck Lovell.

That’s doubly true of an organization dedicated to channeling justifiable anger into promoting a collectivist system of resentment and government-sponsored plunder.

You can listen to Larson and I discuss why people of faith should not support the Black Lives Matter political manifesto below, or listen on the SoundCloud page.

TheLarsLarsonShow · Ben Johnson – If anything, BLM’s “demands” are more expansive and government-expanding

riot in Portland, Oregon, on August 9. bgrocker / . Editorial use only.)

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Video: Acton Institute Preview of April 20 Rerum Novarum Conference in Rome
The Acton Institute issued a video statement to the international press today from its Rome office, introducing the main topics that to be addressed at its April 20th Rome conference “Freedom with Justice: Rerum Novarum and the New Things of Our Time” at the Roma-Trevi Conference Center. Among the “new things” to be discussed for the 125th anniversary of Leo’s landmark social encyclical will be the Church and poverty, Europe’s faltering welfare states, globalization’s winners and losers, youth unemployment, our...
Religious shareholders attack ExxonMobil’s reputation, worry about oil giant’s ‘reputational risk’
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, shareholder activists of the corporate God-fly variety, are gearing up for the May 25 ExxonMobil Corporation annual general meeting. The ICCR agenda isn’t about maximizing shareholder value, but seems far more intent on reducing it. For the record, your writer possesses no financial stake in ExxonMobil, but if he did it’s certain he’d be upset mightily at ICCR’s efforts to hobble the industry giant and send stock prices plummeting even further. The religious-left activists...
Samuel Gregg: How Bernie Sanders spins a papal encyclical
At The Stream, Acton Institute Research Director Samuel Gregg does a crime scene investigation of Bernie Sanders’ take on Pope John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus encyclical. You might never guess, by listening to the Democrat presidential candidate, that John Paul actually had some positive things to say about the market economy. Gregg says that Sanders’ recent appearance at a Vatican conference “will be seen for what it is: grandstanding by a left-wing populist candidate for the American presidency.” Aside from...
What Christians (Should) Mean When We Talk About Conscience
A new Pew Research surveyfinds that the majority of American Catholics (73 percent)say they rely “a great deal” on their own conscience when facing difficult moral problems. Conscience was turned to more often than the three other sources — Catholic Church’s teachings (21 percent), the Bible (15 percent) or the pope (11 percent) bined. While it never really went away, conscience is making eback among Christians. Over the past few years, the term conscience has been increasingly referenced in debates...
The Correlation Between GDP and Human Flourishing
Recently we considered a simple tool and metric for measuring economic well-being: real GDP per capita. Yet such metrics feel can seem materialistic. What about the things that money can’t buy, we wonder, like health and happiness? As economist Alex Tabarrok explains, while real GDP is an imperfect measure, it tends to be correlated with many of the non-monetary improvements that contribute to human flourishing. ...
Video: Freedom and the Poverty Industry
Kris Mauren, executive director of the Acton Institute, kicks off the second season of the Free Market Series, a television program for American and Canadian audiences produced by The World Show in partnership with the Montreal Economic Institute and broadcast on PBS affiliates. In Episode 1, Mauren takes apart the “fatally flawed poverty industry” and talks about Acton’s Poverty Inc. documentary. Interview notes: Many people imagine that free markets are synonymous with self-interest and greed, but for Kris Mauren, freedom...
Pope’s ‘sad journey’ to Lesbos challenges EU Immigration Policy
Pope Francis’ words to journalistson board the chartedflight yesterday to the Greek island of Lesbos struck an emotional chord:“It is a sad journey,” he said. “We are going to see the greatest humanitarian tragedy after World War II.” As Francis deplaned he was greeted by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The pope expressed his gratitude for Greece’sgenerosity to Middle Eastern refugees, many of e to Europe fleeing from desperate situations. Francis spent only 5 hours on the small Greek island...
Just Render Unto Caesar Already: The IRS and Frivolous Tax Arguments
In an attempt to trap Jesus, some Pharisees and Herodians asked him, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” In response, Jesus said, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that...
Should we give smartphones to the homeless?
Across the globe, extreme poverty has been reduced by the advent and ubiquity of a simple tool: cell phones. As USAID says, mobile phones “fundamentally transform the way people in the developing world interact with one another and their governments, and access basic health, education, business and financial services.” Could the same technology that is alleviating extreme poverty around the world also be used to help solve America’s homeless problem? In an intriguing paperby the America Enterprise Institute, Kevin C....
Audio: Samuel Gregg on Rerum Novarum’s Relevance for Today
Acton Institute Director of Research Samuel Gregg is in Rome this week for Acton’s conference on the 125th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s ground-breaking encyclical Rerum Novarum.The conference – titled Freedom with Justice: Rerum Novarum and the New Things of Our Time – takes place on April 20th from 2-7:30 pm at the Roma-Trevi-Conference Center in Rome, Italy. Sam sat down for an in-depth interview with Vatican Radio about the encyclical and the conference, noting that “there are many things...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved