The Ultimate Disciple

In the Book of Ecclesiastes (3:1-8), it is written that there is a time to be born and a time to die…a time to kill and a time to heal… The murder of Charlie Kirk or as many are calling it an assassination because of his political visibility, has dominated the national headlines for many days.

The atmosphere for killing Kirk, the 31-year old father of two, the so-called politics of hate did not develop overnight. It has been brewing on college campuses for several years among a coterie of radical left professors, who believe that thanks to capitalism, America has been divided into two classes, the oppressors, represented by right-wing people like Kirk and of course, President Trump** and its victims, the oppressed.

If any single cause is responsible for the on-going division in our country, I think we need look no further than the legalization of abortion through the infamous Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Even though the issue seems to have returned to the back burner for most people, its divisiveness can be found in all allusions to an on-going culture war.

I believe that abortion, where the United States Supreme Court declared a dubious right to choose opened the flood gates of death, which has sanctioned women to have aborted nearly 60 million unborn babies since Roe. Anytime someone takes it in his own hands to eliminate a person they believe is divisive and bad for our society, I cannot help but see the bloody hands of the thousands of abortionists, who have made killing the innocent more of a sport than a criminal offense. 

I think that the right to choose to remove unwanted political criticism, known in the vernacular today as hate speech, can easily fall back on the abortion rationale of personal choice to justify wanton killings, such as that of Charlie Kirk. His free speech to criticize and condemn the ideas of the left made him a target for any unhinged partisan, like Tyler Robinson, who wanted to erase him and his ideas from the face of the earth. After he was arrested, Robinson allegedly told his trans partner that he had enough of Kirk’s hatred.

Kirk began his career as a secular activist. Religion had not been part of his early efforts of swaying the public to his conservative viewpoints. This started to change with the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. Kirk had been disappointed by church leaders for their failure to speak out about lockdowns. 

The conservative activist emerged from Trump’s defeat in 2020 determined to evangelize for more than political causes and candidates. The following year he established his Turning Point USA Faith organization to influence pastors and other Christians to counter lies and highlight the inextricable link between faith and God-given liberty.

According to the New York Times, Kirk symbolized the deep faith and hope of the Christian right with an uncanny ability to meld Christian spirituality with political activism. For many of his followers, Charlie Kirk was the ultimate disciple. He was a decent soul who encouraged others to do what he did, that is get married, have kids and go to church. This is basically a simple message and certainly not enough to warrant a death sentence.

Vice-president, JD Vance, not only praised his friend’s open views about his religious faith…but he also called Kirk a hero to the United States of America and… a martyr for the Christian faith. Vance also spoke of dark forces, behind Kirk’s slaying rather than  a single gunman…He was taken from us by those who despise the virtues that actually make our civilization great to start with.***

Several thousand Charlie Kirk supporters filled the football stadium in Glendale, Arizona for his memorial on Sunday, September 21st. It was there that President Trump reminded the nation that Charlie Kirk had been our greatest evangelist for liberty.

Several other conservative luminaries, such as Lauren Boebert of Colorado and James O’Keefe, the former leader of Veritas, eulogized him in front of a crowd estimated at over 200,000 mourners. State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL, was packed to the rafters. They filled the stadium, which holds only 73,000 very shortly after the gates opened at 8:30 in the morning.

When I started writing this essay, I really thought that Charlie Kirk had long been a practicing Catholic because his wife was, and there were reports of his going to Mass with his family. I had falsely assumed this because he wore his pendant of St. Michael**** around his neck, and the fact of his vigilance in the culture war, gave strong credence to my mistake.

The truth of the matter is that Charlie was on the brink of becoming one of us. Robert Brennan, a Los Angeles-based writer and the brother of Bishop Joseph Brennan of Fresno, California had spoken with Kirk at a prayer breakfast where he expressed his interest in becoming a Catholic. His wife’s faith and the fact that he often attended Mass with his family, led him to tell the prelate that I am this close! to converting to the Catholic faith.

It was only his premature death that prevented him from joining later this year. He had already developed a strong devotion to our Blessed Mother. He said that Catholics do not venerate her enough and she is the answer to toxic femininity.

It is a delicious irony to me that Charlie Kirk loved visiting the young people in their colleges, where their professors scorned him. College students excited him and got his adrenaline flowing. His wife Erika was quoted in an article by Robert Draper for the New York Times that his college visits were to him like training for an Olympic event. He prepared with white board sessions for hours…and Mock debates…

It is a given that Kirk’s leadership will be greatly missed. His position as an influencer and his organization, Turning Point USA, which he co-founded with fellow conservative activist Bill Montgomery, in 2012 had a deep impact on those around him and the millions who heard him speak. Yet all has not been lost, as Erika will replace him as the CEO of Turning Point. She has shone in the shadows of her husband’s murder and plans to keep his fire and legacy alive. 

Erika took her first step in the healing process of Ecclesiastes and forgave her husband’s murderer. However, she rightfully wants justice done…even if Robinson receives the death penalty. She said she wants the government and the courts to decide his fate. She does not want his blood on her ledger. Because when I get to heaven, and Jesus is like…Uh an eye for an eye? Is that how we do it? And that keeps me from being in heaven…from being with Charlie?

Though abortion was hardly mentioned in any of these post-mortem discussions, it is impossible for me to believe that this legalized killing machine does not share primarily in the forces that have created a pervasive attitude of personal discord and hostility that festers in our culture. I believe abortion followers make up the so-called dark side of his death.

What I think is most memorable about Kirk was that he was quite aware of the fact that many on the other side would love to see him dead and he had the threats to prove it. Yet he accepted all this as part of the job of his calling or vocation.

No one I have read to date has captured the deep meaning of the dark side of his death better than the nationally syndicated radio host, the alliterative Erick Erickson. I frequently listen to his daily show because of his keen intellect and coherent views. I also learned that he had been one of the many of the national conservative hosts mentioned for replacing Rush Limbaugh when he died in 2021.

Erickson has a pleasant voice and he does remind me of Rush a great deal. In speaking out about Kirk’s murder, a month before his 32nd birthday, he wrote,

It should be common understanding in civic society that although you may dislike or even hate a political opponent, you do not gun them down. If Americans decide we cannot settle our differences without bullets, we no longer have these United States.

What has upset Errickson the most was not the nut picking or finding the internet troll celebrating Kirk’s death… but the number of people who feel comfortable—under their own names, as doctors, lawyers, teachers and others…going onto social media to celebrate and cheer the father of two being gunned down because they do not like his politics.

He also ruminates on the fact that far too many Americans find it OK to kill another American because of his political views…Erickson wonders out loud: where are the gatekeepers in our society who monitor the line which cannot and should not be crossed? This is very troubling to me and to everyone else who considers themselves a Christian. He hopes that Kirk’s assassination will serve as a wake-up call for everyone that our time to decide our destiny has arrived. Will it be ballots or bullets?

Several days after his essay was published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Erickson expounded on his radio program his belief that people like Tyler James Robinson subscribed to the ideology found in the New York Time 2012 publication, Project 1619, which among other things believed that hate-inspired words amount to violence and could be stopped with violence.

One of the unexpected bits of collateral damage of the assassination has been the widespread fear of increasing anger among our general population. Many fear a tinderbox of violence that is motivating both sides to prepare for further social disruption. Not surprising is that most of the fear-mongering comes from academia which has played a leading role in inciting the passions of many of their students. 

One recent survey by political scientist, Robert Pape, had 39% of Democrats believe that the idea of removing Trump from office was justifiable. This is shades of the late 1850’s when the Southern Democrats were discussing secession from the Union. Nearly a quarter of Republicans felt that Trump was justified in using the media to crack down on his opponents who oppose his political agenda. 

To me this is the most important fact about the aftermath of his death. How can anyone, this side of our jails hold such Satanic views? Is that what the culture war has done to us? Have we lost our way as a people? Are we heading for an ideological civil war? One commentator said that the country needs Christ now more than ever. I say Amen to that!

**I believe that my essay, ‘Birthmark Catholics,’ published on September 13, 2015, would add a greater dimension to Kirk’s murder.

***This was adapted from a ‘New York Times’ article, Kirk’s ‘Memorial Blend Politics and Evangelism,’ written for their 9-22-25 edition by Jack Healy et al.

**** Erika proudly wears it today, despite its stains of his blood.