White opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement are trying to discredit the movement by calling attention to BLM's -- the organization’s -- Marxist connections, but these charges are simply a way to provide an excuse for dismissing the movement by labeling its core philosophy Marxist, an ideology most Americans reject.

• Wikipedia, 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
• Politifact, July 21, 2020, Is Black Lives Matter a Marxist movement? 
• BLACK LIVES MATTER……. What We Believe
  Formerly found at: https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/ 
  "Four years ago, what is now known as the Black Lives Matter Global Network began to organize. 
  It started out as a chapter-based, member-led organization whose mission was to build local 
  power and to intervene when violence was inflicted on Black communities by the state and 
  vigilantes. In the years since, we’ve committed to struggling together and to imagining and 
  creating a world free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic, and 
  political power to thrive. 
  Black Lives Matter began as a call to action in response to state-sanctioned violence and anti
  Black racism. Our intention from the very beginning was to connect Black people from all over 
  the world who have a shared desire for justice to act together in their communities. The impetus 
  for that commitment was, and still is, the rampant and deliberate violence inflicted on us by the 
  state. Enraged by the death of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent acquittal of his killer, George 
  Zimmerman, and inspired by the 31-day takeover of the Florida State Capitol by POWER U and 
  the Dream Defenders, we took to the streets. A year later, we set out together on the Black Lives 
  Matter Freedom Ride to Ferguson, in search of justice for Mike Brown and all of those who have 
  been torn apart by state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism. Forever changed, we 
  returned home and began building the infrastructure for the Black Lives Matter Global Network, 
  which, even in its infancy, has become a political home for many. 
  Ferguson helped to catalyze a movement to which we’ve all helped give life. Organizers who call 
  this network home have ousted anti-Black politicians, won critical legislation to benefit Black 
  lives, and changed the terms of the debate on Blackness around the world. Through movement 
  and relationship building, we have also helped catalyze other movements and shifted culture 
  with an eye toward the dangerous impacts of anti-Blackness. 
  These are the results of our collective efforts. 
  The Black Lives Matter Global Network is as powerful as it is because of our membership, our 
  partners, our supporters, our staff, and you. Our continued commitment to liberation for all 
  Black people means we are continuing the work of our ancestors and fighting for our collective 
  freedom because it is our duty. 
  Every day, we recommit to healing ourselves and each other, and to co-creating alongside 
  comrades, allies, and family a culture where each person feels seen, heard, and supported. 
  We acknowledge, respect, and celebrate differences and commonalities. 
  We work vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension, all people.We intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a 
  beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting. We are unapologetically Black in our 
  positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and 
  desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a prerequisite for wanting the same for others. 
  We see ourselves as part of the global Black family, and we are aware of the different ways we 
  are impacted or privileged as Black people who exist in different parts of the world. 
  We are guided by the fact that all Black lives matter, regardless of actual or perceived sexual 
  identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs 
  or disbeliefs, immigration status, or location. 
  We make space for transgender brothers and sisters to participate and lead. 
  We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black 
  trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by 
  trans-antagonistic violence. 
  We build a space that affirms Black women and is free from sexism, misogyny, and environments 
  in which men are centered. 
  We practice empathy. We engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with 
  their contexts. 
  We make our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. 
  We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” so that they 
  can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work. 
  We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each 
  other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our 
  children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. 
  We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing 
  ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the 
  world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise). 
  We cultivate an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all 
  people, regardless of age, show up with the capacity to lead and learn. 
  We embody and practice justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another."

• Pew, October 7, 2014, Black vs white attitudes toward homosexuality 

" Our aggregated 2014 polling has found that about four-in-ten black Americans (42 %) support same-sex marriage, 11 percentage points below the comparable figure among whites (53%). Meanwhile, seven-in-ten African Americans (70%) say that homosexual behavior is a sin, compared with 47% of whites who say this, according to our new survey." 

• JAIDS, December 1, 2010, Persistence of racial differences in attitudes toward homosexuality in the United States

"The proportion of African Americans who indicated that homosexuality was “always wrong” was 72.3% in 2008, largely unchanged since the 1970s. In contrast, among white respondents, this figure declined from 70.8% in 1973 to 51.6% in 2008, with most change occurring since the early 1990s. Participants who knew a gay person were less likely to have negative attitudes toward homosexuality (RR=0.60, 95% CI: 0.52–0.69)."

• Marxists murders: Since publishing earlier today, I have corrected my statement on the death toll of Marxism to say: "Marxist regimes murdered close to a hundred million people in the twentieth century." The number is 94 million, and they are people murdered by Marxist governments.
  This is ...

What did the earliest Christians do when they met together? It would take too long to list all the things your church does that they did not. But it only takes a few minutes to say what they did do. Check out the third and last installment of Sunday Morning at the Movies.

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Did the apostles and the first disciples ever use anything but their own houses or open-air spaces to meet?
99.9% never. Ever wonder why? Everyone knows that the church building is not a feature of the primitive church, but a later development. It's one most people take for granted and do not question. But what if there are reasons beyond poverty, small numbers and simplicity that underlie the practices of the first Christians? What if those reasons are principles and wisdom that could still be applied the 21st century?
 
Email me: You may reach me with comments or questions at [email protected] 

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___________________________
References
Ezekiel 8:1, 20:1-3. Elders meeting at Ezekiel's house.
Acts 6:1-6. Distribution problem, and appointment of the seven.
Acts 6:8-15. Stephen gets in trouble.
Acts 7:44-50 Stephen on the tabernacle and the temple.
Acts 7:51-53. Stephen doesn't hold back.
Acts 17:18-34 Paul is invited and speaks to the Areopagus (ruling council of Athens).
2 Corinthians 6:16-18 "You are the temple of the living God."
1 Peter 2:5. "You are living stones in God's building."
Ephesians 2:19-22." You are part of the spiritual temple God is building."
Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit.

What if our Sunday morning services were a movie that we think is based the book we claim is the fullest revelation of God's design for our faith, life and works? Would we consider it a faithful adaptation of what we read about church gatherings in the New Testament? Would we care?

Email me: You may reach me with comments or questions at [email protected] 

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___________________________
Here is the Spurgeon quote in full and in context, from a  sermon given February 17, 1884 on 1 Chronicles 12:16-18  (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 30):
"Then David puts the question, “If ye be come peaceably unto me,” and this was needful, for some are captious and quarrelsome. Some profess to come to Christ, but they quarrel with Christ at the very first. They would make terms with him, and they come intending to dispute with his people. From the first they are discontented and fault-finding, rather patronizing Christ and his cause than humbly uniting with him and his people. They do not think half as much of God’s people as God thinks of them. When I hear people say, “Oh, there is So-and-So, who is not what he ought to be, and he is a member of the church,” and then they begin finding fault with this and with that, I say to myself, “That critic is no true friend.” The church is not perfect, but woe to the man who finds pleasure in pointing out her imperfections. Christ loved his church, and let us do the same. I have no doubt that the Lord can see more fault in his church than I can; and I have equal confidence that he sees no fault at all, because he covers her faults with his own love— that love which hides a multitude of sins; and he removes all her defilement with that precious blood which washes away all the transgressions of his people. I dare not find fault with those whom the Lord has loved from before the foundation of the world; more especially since I find that I need all my time to find out my own faults and to get rid of them. If you are a faultless man I do not ask you to join the Christian Church, because I am sure that you would not find anybody else there like yourself. It is true that if you do not join a church till you find a perfect one you will not be a church-member this side heaven; but I may add, that if there were such a church, the moment your name was written in the list it would leave off being a perfect church, for your presence would have destroyed its perfection. If you are coming to pick holes, and quiz, and question, and find fault, and talk about inconsistencies and so forth, then you may pass on and join some other army; but if you be come peaceably to our Lord and to us, then I offer you a hearty welcome. We are not anxious to enlist men who love to have the pre-eminence, nor men of fierce temper, nor unforgiving spirits, nor proud, envious, lovers of strife: we want only those who have the mind of Christ. Come peaceably, or come not at all." 

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Show Notes
Reflecting on how to confront evil ideas, and whether and when to cut ties with a friend - or a favorite public figure - who has lost their way. First thinking about the confrontation I related in Episode 2, and then how I respond when someone who's work I love -- in this case one of my very favorite musicians -- takes a sharp turn down the wrong road.

• New on Facebook: please like the page for this podcast, "The Peace, Love, & Understanding Podcast."
• The LA Times article on Van Morrison
• Here is a playlist of some of my favorite Van Morrison songs
• Listen to the Lion

• False Teachers:

Matthew 7:15-20 (NKJV) 
15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 
16 "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 
17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 
18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 
19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

• He was made sin for us: 

2Co 5:17-21 (NKJV) 
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

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I saw an old friend at a party, and our conversation quickly went south -- to Naziville, actually. How does one respond to these situations? Well, here's how I did.

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Thank you for listening!
Today I introduced the show by discussing its purposes and goals, outlining my philosophy of public discourse, and giving some brief biographical information about myself.

I shared the source of the show's name: the song, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," written by Nick Lowe. I think it's one of the greatest rock songs of the last fifty years, and one of my very favorites.
I urged y'all to listen to one or both of the first recordings of the song if you're not familiar with it:
Nick Lowe's band, Brinsley Schwarz, made the original 1974 recording.
Elvis Costello & the Attractions made this music video of their 1978 cover, which I fell in love with at age 16.

I also mentioned Nick recently performing live with Los Straitjackets a slowed down version.

Bonus: An energetic live performance including  Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, Jackson Browne, Eddie Vedder, Dave Matthews, and Bonnie Raitt.

I also mentioned in passing the beautiful "Everyone," by Van Morrison.

Email me: You may reach me with comments or questions at [email protected] 

Support: If you like the show, please subscribe to the podcast by tapping the the FOLLOW button in your podcasting app.
If you would like to keep the show ad-free, help defray my productions costs, and support the podcast, as well as me and my work, thank you! You may do  by visiting patreon.com/stevedehner.