One of the points thoughtful people frequently make is that leftists are religious people.  They're strict about doctrine and don't tolerate heretics or blasphemy.  The problem is that their religion lacks a divine god, grace, justice, and personal morality. 

Because leftism is a fundamentally empty religion, leftist thought leaders keep having to create new sectarian movements that in turn fade away because they're just as lacking as the umbrella faith of leftism.  The Black Lives Matter movement is the latest leftist sect, and its glaring problems highlight why this faith will also soon shed all its adherents other than the true believers.

Ryan Bomberger, a devoutly Christian man who dedicates himself to the anti-abortion movement, wrote a list article about Black Lives Matter: "Top 10 Reasons I Won't Support the #BlackLivesMatter Movement."  List articles often have more bullet points than they have actual points.  Bomberger has proven to be the exception.  While I recommend the entire article, I want to focus on one point:

There is no goal of forgiveness or reconciliation. None. It's never mentioned on their sites. You can't talk about the sins of the past and expect to move forward if there is no intention of forgiveness. I'm tired of the deeply prejudiced oppressed/oppressor critical race theory paradigm. It's not Gospel-centered. This should, immediately, be a deal-breaker for Christians.

One of the things that makes Christianity a powerful faith (and I say this as an agnostic Jew) is how it allows people to feel remorse, then repent and, finally, by genuinely embracing faith, achieve redemption.

In this way, Christianity is a profoundly hopeful faith.  It recognizes man's imperfection but allows him to change without losing faith or face.  People who follow this path aren't just losers who made bad choices; they're winners who through their own efforts and insights escaped their bad choices.

This is true for individuals and for societies.  America, first through the bloody Civil War and then through the Civil Rights Movement's rejection of actual systemic racism, has gone through the phases of remorse, repentance, and redemption.  We've let go of the hate and stupidity.

Sure, some individuals are lagging on this progress.  I can tell you, though, as a very well traveled person, that America (outside Democrat-run communities) is the least racist place in the world.

Black Lives Matter, like any other leftist faith, leaves no room for repentance and redemption.  It is a "faith" of perpetual anger and greed: greed for power, greed for merchandise, greed for unhappiness.  As with Baal, there is no satisfying its endless hunger.  You can sacrifice as many individuals, companies, towns, and states as you like, but the nature of the faith is that it cannot allow for improvement.  It survives only if people cannot improve.

Black Lives Matter fails as a functional faith for another reason: its saints have no merit.  They've made no journey and no sacrifice.

A friend was troubled by the facile explanation that George Floyd died because a cop placed his knee across Floyd's neck, intending to kill him.  It's possible that this is exactly what happened.  Democrat-run cities often promise cops' unions serious protection in exchange for votes.  That encourages careless and even malevolent police work.

However, in Floyd's case, he also had extreme heart disease and had taken pot, amphetamine, and fentanyl.  Each of those, when coupled with stress or unconsciousness, was enough to kill him, even absent police wrongdoing.

While that is theoretically interesting, my friend is tilting at windmills.  What caused Floyd's death is irrelevant.  It matters only that he died, transforming a longtime criminal, ex-con, and drug abuser into St. Floyd of the Church of Black Lives Matter.  That church doesn't care that Floyd was passive, had no crisis of conscience, did not speak out for others or advance the faith, and certainly wasn't a willing martyr for the cause.

The same is true for other Black Lives Matter saints: Trayvon Martin was high on drugs and trying to beat George Zimmerman to death.  Michael Brown had just used strong-armed robbery on a store clerk and, when a police officer ran him down, tried to steal the officer's gun, leading to his death.  Freddie Gray was a longtime criminal who had the awful luck to break his spine in the back of a police car.  None of these individuals' lives and choices inspire others.  All that matters is that they're dead.

If you have a faith that actively fights repentance and redemption, and that has as its saints criminals who died in the act, that faith will not provide the spiritual nourishment people need.  A recent poll revealed that 41% of likely black voters approve of Trump.  Could it be because they're rejecting the lack of spiritual sustenance black activists and Democrats offer?  Instead, perhaps they're choosing real faith in their private lives and economic and national security in their political lives.