Hours after Charlie Kirk’s murder, influential right-wing Christian worship leader Sean Feucht filmed a selfie video of his home in California, his eyes filled with tears.
Feucht claims that shootings in one of the nation’s most prominent conservative activists are no less than “a line in the sand” of a country trapped in a spiritual darkness.
“The enemy thinks he won, and there’s a fight today,” he said. “No, man, there will be millions of bold voices due to Charlie Kirk’s sacrifice and the to-door.”
Shortly thereafter, Pastor Matt Tuggle, who leads the Salt Lake City campus, headquartered in San Diego-based Awakening Giant Church, posted a video of Kirk being killed on Instagram, adding: “If your pastor doesn’t tell you the left, believe in the evil demon belief system of the left, you are the wrong church!”
People put candles under a photo of Charlie Kirk, at his vigil in Orem, Utah.
(Lindsey Wasson/AP)
Kirk’s death triggered a series of reactions, most of which expressed condolences to the 31-year-old activist and his family. But this also triggered conspiracy theories and popular presumptions Left responsible and call for revenge on Kirk’s perceived enemy.
Vigil in Jike In Huntington Beach This week, some attendees waved white flags, depicting the Red Cross and the word “Jesus”, Some people shouted“White, fight back!” Kirk spreads a philosophy that liberals try to deprive humans of humanity, and some of his male supporters see his killing as an attack on them.
Whether the call for revenge will disappear or strengthen remains to be seen, especially as President Trump announced “highly certainty” on Friday A suspect was arrested in a fatal shooting.
In life, Kirk, now 31, talks about what he calls “spiritual warfare” between the United States between Christians and a “Democrat who supports God’s hated everything.”
In the death, Kirk, one of the Republicans’ most influential power brokers, was praised by conservative evangelical pastors and Republican politicians for Christians’ death due to their religious beliefs.
trump card Called Kirk In honor of his honor, “a martyr of truth and freedom”, and ordered the flag to be hung on the half-mast. He also accuses Kirk of death On the rhetoric of the “radical left”. Vice President JD Vance, he Help carry Kirk’s coffin For the Second Air Force, Kirk wrote on X last month: “It’s all about Jesus.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quoted Jesus and wrote on X: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
A woman puts her head in her seat during a vigil at the Centerpoint Church in Charlie Kirk in Orem, Utah.
(Lindsey Wasson/AP)
Experts on faith and far-right extremism say they are bothered by Kirk’s religious acclaim in this era Increase political violence – and potential revenge that may emerge from it. They say the activist’s death seemed to ignite the factions on the right, from white supremacists to stubborn Christian nationalists.
Matthew Boedy, a professor of rhetoric and composition at the University of North Georgia, said: “The ‘spiritual war’ rhetoric only increases.
“The speech of spiritual warfare is a big part of January 6,” he said of the deadly 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021. “Making martyrs from Charlie Kirk will change our country in serious ways.”
Samuel Perry, a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma and an expert in Christian nationalism, said he is a Christian himself but uses religion cynically, “there is the possibility of expanding secular political conflict between the Democrats and the Republicans.”
“What if those are amplified by the universe and ultimately meaning?” he said. “It becomes, ‘This is God and Satan. It is Angels and Demons-If we lose our next election, we will put this country in a thousand years of darkness.” …it will basically cause extremism. ”
feucht, Christian nationalists And failed Northern California Republicans Candidates for Congresssaid: “The blood of the martyrs is The seeds of the church“That was after Kirk’s death, “we had to do something.” ”
Kirk gathered millions of online followers in the 2024 election to vote for Trump, declaring God on the side of the American conservatives and “no separation of the church and the nation.” He is also known for his sulfuric acid content on racial and religious minorities, LGBTQ+ people, childless women, progressives, and others who disagree with him.
The memorial was established at Charlie Kirk of the University of Utah in Orem, Utah.
(Lindsey Wasson/AP)
Kirk Called Trans people “middle finger to God’s th foot”. he explain The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was “a huge mistake” and called Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “terrible.” In his podcast, He called with a smile “Some amazing patriots in San Francisco or the Bay Area who really want to be mid-term heroes” The attacker The husband of former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wears a hammer in their home in 2022.
In 2023, Kirk sat on the church stage where Salt Lake City woke up, saying, “I think it’s unfortunate that the price of some gun deaths every year is worth it so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
Kirk forwarded it two days before his death His own video Say “the spiritual struggle of the West is underway for the West” and follow “the way of life in America, which is the Christian world” with “awakening or the combination of Marxism and Islamism.”
“There is no need to paint the legacy of Charlie Kirk,” Perry said.
“It’s a tragedy and no one should die like this,” Perry said. “However, at the same time, Charlie Kirk is part of this polarization story in the United States, who use rather divided rhetoric, the United States and them, the left is evil.”
Perry points out that Kirk’s turning point in the United States has Let him go On its surveillance list professors, the website says it aims to expose professors “professors who discriminate against conservative students and improve leftist propaganda.” Perry’s entry calls his flag “anti-Christian values.”
Kirk was killed in the neck by a sniper gun on Wednesday during an outdoor speech at Utah Valley University.
Some of Kirk’s most prominent evangelical followers say his death was an attack on conservative Christian values, and he was shot to death for telling the “truth.”
Jon Fleischman, Orange County-based conservative blogger and former executive director of the California Republican Party, started as a conservative college activist who knew Kirk and said, “There is a hell of a martyr situation.”
“A lot of people are being activated to take a walk, talk about conversations and use money as a way for them to try and deal with people they lose their care,” he told the Times.
Kirk has become more outspoken about his Christian faith in recent years. He founded the nonprofit turning point America in 2012 as a claimed secular youth organization and is known for his college campus tour, and his debate video with students from Liberty University won tens of millions of views.
But in 2020, during the pandemic, university campuses were closed. Kirk began speaking at the church, which was open for violating local lockdown and mask orders, including the Godspeak calvary Chapel in Ventura County, led by Rev. Rob McCoy, former mayor of Thousand Oaks.
McCoy is now co-chair of the U.S. Turning Point Faith, which encourages pastors to become more politically outspoken. McCoy, who could not be contacted for comment, wrote A statement Kirk “never used violence, but was threatened with violence every day by those who could not compete with logic and truth.”
Professor Body said McCoy turned Kirk to Christian nationalism, especially the mission of Seven Mountains—a Christian should try to waving on the seven pillars of cultural influence: arts and entertainment, business, education, family, government, media, media and religion.
Christian nationalism was rejected by the mainline Christians, believing that the United States was established by a Christian country and that faith should be crucial in government and law.
“The more violent edges of Christian nationalism have disturbing aspects that are eliminating and anti-democracy,” said Brian Levin, founder of the Center for Hate and Extremism Studies, a professor emeritus of Cal State San Bernardino.
He noted that some of Trump’s Christian nationalists and white supremacists who now call Kirk a martyr have stood out, especially after he made two assassination attempts on the campaign last year, saying he was “he used to be”Saved by God Make America great again. ”
Levin said many Christian nationalists portrayed Trump as “an unsettling armed Christian fighter who protects America from all kinds of immigrants, religious minorities, gender and sexual orientation.” So his advocates locked in when he described Kirk in martyrs’ language.
“Where are the martyrs coming from? From violent conflict and war,” Levine said. “The fact is, this is a moment that Trump can seize more effectively, but he turned to splitting the territory.”
California Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-Santee) also called Kirk a “modern martyr.” Jones quoted Thomas Jefferson in a statement, saying, “The Tree of Freedom must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of the Patriots and Tyrants.”
“Let us notice that we allow that tree to feed on Charles J. Kirk’s hits for years to come,” he wrote.
Seema Mehta, an employee of the era, contributed to the report.
