By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Surely God weeps. Thirty-one years old, married, two young children, looked up to by so many Americans and beyond. The White House, in the Trump administrations, had an open-door policy for Mr. Charles James Kirk, a Christian conservative activist – talk about clout! And just a week ago he was murdered on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He was sitting under a tent, emblazoned with the words “American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong,” surrounded by young hearts and minds, and plenty of Make America Great Again ballcaps, when the assassin’s bullet took his life. Against the larger backdrop of political violence in America, Kirk’s murder just adds to a growing list.
Let’s recall that Abraham Lincoln (1865), James Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901), President John F. Kennedy (1963), Medgar Wiley Evers (1963), Malcom X (1965), Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968), and Robert F. Kennedy (1968) were all assassinated. In addition to the four above, thirteen other Presidents survived assassination attempts – Andrew Jackson (1835), Theodore Roosevelt (1912), Herbert Hoover (1928), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933), Harry S. Truman (1947 & 50), Richard Nixon (1974), Gerald R. Ford (twice in 1975), Jimmy Carter (1979), Ronald Reagan (1981), Bill Clinton (3 in 1994 alone), George W. Bush (2005), Barack Obama (numerous 2008-2015), and Donald Trump (numerous 2016 & 2024).
The list of politically motivated assassinations and attempts in the United States is lengthy. It includes Law Officers, Mayors, Judges, State Legislators, Governors, and members of Congress. Charlie Kirk was none of those. Turning Point USA, the non-profit that Kirk co-founded in 2012, when he was still a teenager, updated their website after Kirk’s murder. “…More than anyone, Charlie believed in the power of argument and good-faith debate to find the truth and guide people towards, if not in agreement, then at least mutual understanding. Charlie was no stranger to threats. He received thousands throughout his life. But he always prioritized reaching as many young Americans as possible over his own personal safety. Now, Charlie has become America’s greatest martyr to the freedom of speech he so adored…” That’s obviously what they believe.
President Trump is intent on bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously. The nation’s highest civilian honor can be presented to “any person who has made an especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” Just hours after the assassination he gave a video address from the Oval Office praising Kirk, who he has credited for helping him win the 2024 election, for his activism. He then said what happened to Kirk is a consequence of people demonizing those they disagree with (yes, Trump said those words) “in the most hateful and despicable way possible,” and turned his ire to the political left. “Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives. Tonight, I ask all Americans to commit themselves to the American values for which Charlie Kirk lived and died,” Trump said, per National Public Radio.
The Pastor of World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, TN, referred to Kirk on Fox News after the murder as “a Christian martyr in America for his biblical worldview and proclaiming biblical truths, and then evoked the phrase, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” from Matthew 25:14-30.
Others viewed Kirk’s life differently. He initially believed in the separation of church and state, but in 2022 changed his mind on that. “I don’t seek to be inclusive, I seek what is best. And the Ten Commandments are what is best.” On the idea of submission, he said, “Women should look for men that have self-control, and men should look for women that are willing to submit, which is basically a non-feminist woman.”
He often criticized the Christian church, “nowhere near as bold or courageous or strong as it should be,” and that pastors should “fight harder and fight stronger in the spiritual battle that we’re in.” He criticized churches that didn’t oppose government shutdowns during Covid-19. Kirk agreed with Trump that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. At the 2020 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) he celebrated Trump as a president who “understands the seven mountains of cultural influence” – a mandate, spread by charismatic evangelical leaders, saying Christians should lead in society’s seven institutions of influence: religion, family, government, education, media, arts, and business, per USA Today.
Countless internet citations quote Kirk speaking out against LGBTQ people, CRT, The Civil Rights Act, and DEI – even stating that Kamala Harris and Ketanji Brown-Jackson were diversity hires. It is noted that the Turning Point Board of Directors listed on www.tpusa.org are all white men. Their Advisory Council shows 80 members, predominantly white men, and possibly two African American men. So, there’s that. Kirk was the author of several books, including The MAGA Doctrine (The Only Idea That Will Win the Future), and just last year, Right Wing Revolution (How To Beat The WOKE and Save The West).
What America can never seem to escape from is that those who claim so-called – American values – do not value all Americans at all. And that reality is in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus Christ. German American social psychologist Erich Fromm once said, “The ultimate choice for a man, in as much as he is given to transcend himself, is to create or destroy, to love or to hate.”
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