Charlie Kirk appeared on the Bill Maher show. Here is what he said in the aftermath of the assassination. "Charlie Kirk was a guy who was always talking — and I talked to him here. The right-wingers — say what you want about them — but they talk to you." "The left really has much more of a 'I don't talk to you, I don't want to deal with you, you're deplorable, I can't break bread with you' attitude. All the right-wingers — they don't have that attitude." "Charlie Kirk and I certainly don't agree on much politically — but he sat here, he's a human being, he's not a monster!" "I liked him! I like them all! They are all nice people when you meet them in person. And nobody is as crazy as they make them out to be.
In contrast, Gavin Newsom, on whose show podcast Charlie appeared, has said little.
I have heard Charlie Kirk talk on some religious matters related to the Bible and disagree with him. I am sure if I listened more deeply into some of his politics, I would have some things.
Something is going on in the country. It feels different from past conflicts or divisions. It is not just ideological. It is spiritual. This means it does not point to a Left or Right issue, but cuts through the hearts of us all. A battle is being waged for the heart of each of us. We have moment in which the choice is between darkness and light. Unseen forces-good versus evil-are shaping what we see: anger exploding into violence, lies twisting truth, fear turning strangers into enemies. it is the enemy eroding empathy and normalizing hate.
This moment feels like some sort of invisible line has been crossed that we did not even know was there. Like the rules of the game had been permanently altered and there was simply no going to back to the innocent, peaceful past. I did not feel like this when an attempt was made on President Trump's life. If I had to rationalize why I did not, I guess it is because several US Presidents have been shot at and even assassinated. Somehow it was within the realms of the possible, no matter how awful. But to murder a young father simply for doing debates and mobilizing young people to vote for a party that represents half of America? This is something else. Charlie's death is a tragedy for his wife, his children and his family. I fear his murder will be a tragedy for all of us in ways we will only understand as time unfolds.
When one is in a profession in which words are the primary means of exchange, it is easy for others to misinterpret and twist, if they want to do so. Most pastors are well acquainted with this. Victor Davis Hanson is right to say that Turning Point USA focuses upon the alienation of the youth and its flirtation with socialism and the false answers it provides to real problems. But more importantly, socialism is creating a social, cultural problem called prolonged adolescence. He was trying to address the cultural, economic, and social maladies of this country that expressed themselves in politics. The universities are training generation after generation after generation in this seriously dangerous leftist dogma. This was the concern he had for having biological men compete in women’s sports, to stealing and not being prosecuted, or thinking that race is essential rather than incidental to who you are. We are tolerant of Islam and Buddhism, Hinduism. We have a multiracial, multicultural population. But whether we like it or not, the foundations of the United States are Judeo-Christian, as they are of Western civilization in general. We have no apologies for that. Such notions receive a label of Christian Nationalism. I do not know about that, but if one embraces traditional Christianity and vote politically conservative, one is in line with the concerns that Charlie Kirk had. One will get out to note on those convictions.
RFK JR testifies, “My 17-year-old niece left for Europe to go to college and while she was packing, she had put a Bible in her suitcase, and she said I want to live like Charlie Kirk. According to Barna’s latest data, 66 percent of all U.S. adults say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life today. That marks a 12-percentage-point increase since 2021, when commitment levels reached their lowest in more than three decades of Barna tracking. Gen Z is emerging as a corrective to the casual Christianity that has marked our religious landscape and characterized our dechurching movement. People need meaning, and the secular world did not produce the goods. The perennial human search for purpose and significance has not gone away, and there is not much on offer in secular culture. So, people are suddenly open to exploring more ancient stores of wisdom. In a meaning crisis where materialism and politics have failed to deliver, belonging to a church community offers a sense of purpose. And young people are seeking this more than ever
The reaction to the assassination of Charlies is of further concern. All people had to do was to be fully against murdering someone for their political opinions and refuse to lie and dehumanize him in death. All people had to do was practice the traditional period grace when someone dies. That was the moral test. Shocking how many seem to have failed it.
This reaction exhibits a spiritual issue that should call Christians to prayer. Prayer is both connection with God and confrontation with evil. Demonic rhetoric needs a scriptural answer. In John 10:10 the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. The enemy seeks to destroy civil discourse by dehumanizing those with whom we disagree, to rationalize political violence committed by those who are following through on the logic of the rhetoric, to be fearful of the other, and to be anxious about the future. Yet, for me, there is fear as a traditional Christian who is a political conservative. I have in my heart a fear of those who use the language of fascism to describe their political opponents. I have this suspicion that persons who speak this way will, as one person put it, dance on my grave. Will persons who speak this way become a danger to me if they earn what I believe.
Victor Davis Hanson makes a good point. So, it is very scary, and it is not occurring in a vacuum. I know that both sides have extremists, but when you look at the Rep. Steve Scalise shooting—where a former Sen. Bernie Sanders organizer who helped in the campaign tried to take out, deliberately tried to take out, the Republican leadership in the House as a political act. And then you look at two near-successful assassination attempts on President Donald Trump. And then you have these spinoff things. Brian Thompson, a man of the middle class who worked up the chain of command to be the CEO of UnitedHealth, which offered health insurance that was needed by millions of people. And he is what? Gunned down and assassinated by Luigi Mangione. What I am getting at is the reaction as well. What was the reaction to Steve Scalise and the Republicans? Was there outrage from the Left? No. What was the reaction to the near assassination attempts of Donald Trump? Yes, there were principled people on the Left that deplored that, but a couple of polling companies took surveys, and a third of Democrats wished that these assassination attempts had been successful. What was the reaction to the murder of Brian Thompson by Luigi Mangione? He was the object of a puff piece by Taylor Lorenz, a former Washington Post reporter. He has an opera named after him. He is a folk hero among the Left. So, what I’m getting at is, when you kill somebody who’s involved in politics, and now we’ve gone to the next level, politics and as a media influencer and as a journalist and as an opinion writer, and there is not widespread condemnation of that—and there was booing even in the House of Representatives just for a simple call for an a minute of prayer on behalf of Charlie—then something is wrong. And what is that wrong? Dems are legitimizing political violence.
Jasmine Crockett is okay with lying: Charlie Kirk was an evil, violent fascist who loved genocide and wants trans kids to die, but that does not mean we should shoot him or anything. Me calling you a wannabe Hitler... All those things are like not necessarily saying 'Go out and hurt somebody.” But it is. Political violence begins with ideas. It is designed to silence those who align with the one assassinated. It will not work. You cannot call your political adversaries Nazi fascists and modern-day Hitlers and then say political violence is wrong when your deranged lunatic supporters act on your statements and kill or attempt to kill the people you have attacked. I will not accept it. No one should.
I share just a few of the hateful remarks on social media:
LOL Someone Shot Charlie Kirk.”
“Hope the bullet’s okay after touching Charlie Kirk.”
“Thank you Chaos Gods.”
“If you ask me it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”
“If you’re a fascist who is literally responsible for untold numbers of deaths it’s good actually.”
“Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor? Reap what you sow.”
“Sorry to his kids, your dead was a fucking cult member and a loser.”
In addition, his association with evangelical Christianity has led to dark corners of social media that are also calling them haters and calling for violence.
This is the natural outgrowth of left-wing protest culture tolerating violence and mayhem for years on end. The cowardice of local prosecutors and school officials have turned the left into a ticking time bomb.
In Ephesians 4:26-7, sin is close to us anger, and we must not give the devil a foothold in our hearts. Ilhan Omar said she will not sit here and be judged. However, since the light has entered the world, she has been judged already, and her hate is destined for the dustbin of history. The spiritual battle is bringing anger to hate in the heart.
As Victor Davis Hanson noted, we are seeing it in the United States with thousands of people commemorating the death of Charlie Kirk. There is less tolerance for the usual left-wing, socialist craziness, the abhorrent, violent smears of conservatives who have died. The Babylon Bee headline speaks a truth: Why Won’t Conservatives Give Up Their Guns?’ Ask The People Shooting At Them. Last year, Maxine Waters called supporters of President Trump "domestic terrorists." She even claimed Republicans were "preparing a civil war against us." The opposite was true.
With just a brief internet search, I discovered that what the shooter of Charlie Kirk said of him, that he was full of hate, hated trans gender people, and could not be negotiated with, was easily dispelled. Thus, it is inexcusable that a Washington Post reporter would say of Charlie that he committed and espoused political violence. It would not have taken much effort to see the truth, if she wanted to see it. Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar shared this video that says of Charlie Kirk: "Kirk was a reprehensible human being... a stochastic terrorist... With his last dying words, he was spewing racist dog whistles. Charlie Kirk was Dr. Frankenstein, and his monster shot him through the neck." Such statements suggest that he deserved what he got. Such statements legitimate violence to resolve difference. Such tolerance of violence on the left needs to stop.
What I want to show is that accusations that he was a hater of anyone, including gays and trans gender people, or that he committed and espoused political violence, he deserved this death because he was a racist, a reprehensible man who instigated terrorism with rhetoric. Although I say with confidence that when thousands gather in Phoenix, it will be a peaceful gathering, putting a lie to that accusation.
First, let us consider the accusation of racism.
Did he ever say slaves were better off than black people today? Instead, he argued that slavery was evil. He also argued, as did Charles Murray, that the government programs instituted in the 1960s devastated the black family. For him, anything that destroys the family unit is good neither for the individuals nor for society.
Did he say that black women have no brains or intelligence? How this slur developed from his position that he would be nervous of getting into the plane piloted by one of any gender or race if he knew they were there because of DEI. Ketanji Brown Jackson, a justice, and Joy Reid, Michelle Obama—were not qualified, according to meritocratic standards. He said that DEI considerations had been used for their elevation or prominence.
Did he oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and think MLK Jr as awful? Instead, he was grateful for the end of segregation, but thought racial quotas were a mistake. He valued MLK Jr for his stance on equality but disagreed with his socialist bent.
Second, did Kirk support the genocide in Gaza? The question presumes that Israel seeks genocide in Gaza, which it does not. He supports removing Hamas, a terrorist organization, from Gaza and supports the right of Israel to defend itself. He also had pro-peace Muslims on his shows.
Third, did he call for the execution of gays and trans people. No such quote exists, so this is simply a lie. Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessant is in a same sex relationship, two of the most prominent thinkers associated with conservative thought these days are David Starkey and Douglas Murray, who are both gay.
Fourth, did Kirk mock gun violence survivors? He did offer that the second amendment is worth defending, pointing to the value of guns in self-defense, but admitted that a tragic trade-off was that some would die by mistake. The twisted nature of those who hated Charlie is to turn his death into example.
Fifth, did Kirk promote the great replacement theory? Like many Americans, his concern about open borders has been the driving down of wages for lower incomes. Even Politifact described this as false.
Sixth, did Kirk hate all Muslims and was he Islamophobic? Like all Americans, I hope, he opposed Jihadism and Sharia Law. His organization has a role for moderate Muslims.
Seventh, is Turning Point USA white nationalist? Even Politifact said No, 40% of the chapters being minority led and explicitly denouncing white supremacy.
Eighth, did his anti-vax position shorten lives? He did receive the vaccine himself. He questioned the mandatory nature of the program and, like many of us, had questions related to how to deal with this crisis.
In other words, he is being accused of all the things the Left accuse Trump and the GOP. There are calls for unity. Yet is it possible to unify when for the most innocent and harmless of differences one can receive the label of Nazi and fascist, racist trans phobic, and so on. These scripts turn disagreement into existential threat, justifying violence.
Let the Left admit that even if it disagrees, it is legitimate to vote for Donald Trump - that it does not make you a Nazi or a fascist. If Charlie Kirk was advising Trump, his death is not random; it is targeted. Like, why him? Not just because he mobilized youth, but because he was a direct line to Trump’s orbit. The message of Kirk challenged young people to turn from socialism and the faculty lounge Marxism of the professors. That is a threat to the narrative. And those labels-fascist, genocide lover-they were not sloppy memes of opponents. They were aimed. If you can paint Kirk as Hitler-lite, his boss-Trump-becomes the real monster.
Let the Left admit that even if it disagrees, it is legitimate to enforce immigration law passed by Congress by closing the border and have those here illegally to leave the country, and that it does not make you a wannabe dictator or bigoted toward Hispanics.
Let the Left admit that even if it disagrees, it is legitimate to believe there are only two genders - that it is not hateful or bigoted, but what most Americans believe.
Let the Left admit that even if it disagrees, it is legitimate to believe that life begins at conception - that it does not make you a misogynist who wants women to die.
All this would mean moving the direction of Henry Ford Jr on the FOX show The Five, Sen Fetterman, and Bill Maher. However, the Democrat Party is moving toward AOC and Mamdani. Someone on the Left needs to stop the insanity.
My point is that the Left has painted itself into a rhetorical corner where there is only one side that is rational and that deserves respect, and it is their side. I am inviting us to have civility. Let conservatives believe in a secure border, the realities of biology, and respect for life, without being Nazis. The spiritual battle in this moment: media smears dehumanizing conservatives, left-wing tolerance of chaos (remember those riots?), or even surveys where a third of Democrats wished Trump died. It is not coincidence. If Kirk-young dad, debater-can get gunned down and mocked, we are in battle mode. Yet, being a spiritual battle, it must be won in a spiritual way: Stay curious, refuse labels, pray bold. Darkness loses when light does not flinch.
This is why many of us who are both traditional Christians and political conservatives have had the feeling of being vulnerable to attack. “We are Charlie Kirk.” If someone like Charlie can be murdered …
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