Why Hillsong’s Carl Lentz Will Only Say ‘Black Lives Matter’

Hillsong New York refuses to say “All lives matter,” like many in the Christian community. Rather, they’re firmly proclaiming “Black lives matter!” 

“At THIS church, we are not saying ‘all lives matter’ right now because this is a logical assumption that most reasonable people agree with,” Pastor Carl Lentz posted to the church’s Facebook page.   

The Black Lives Matter movement was birthed after George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin in 2012.  

Initially founded to be “an ideological and political intervention in a world where black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise,” the label has attracted controversy.  

In one Florida neighborhood, vandals tagged “Black lives matter” next to “Kill white people.” 

But the answer is not “all lives matter,” despite the phrase initially sounding positive.  

Examples of the difference can be found in the New York Times‘ breakdown of the phrase.  

Daniel Victor writes: 

More to the point: It is a given that all lives matter, said Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, an assistant professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University.
“That has always been an assumption,” she said. “The entire point of Black Lives Matter is to illustrate the extent to which black lives have not mattered in this country.”
Judith Butler, a professor in the department of comparative literature and the program of critical theory at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a 2015 interview that “if we jump too quickly to the universal formulation, ‘all lives matter,’ then we miss the fact that black people have not yet been included in the idea of ‘all lives.'” 

And Hillsong’s Lentz stands behind this position.  

“All lives are not at risk right now. We ARE saying BLACK LIVES MATTER. Because, right now, black lives apparently are worth LESS on our streets. It’s ‘our fight’ not ‘their fight,'” he says.  

Do you agree? Sound off!