Charlie Kirk, age 31, a leading conservative figure in the US “culture wars,” and a supporter of US President Donald Trump, was shot by a single bullet to his neck which severed a major artery and killed him instantly yesterday afternoon while speaking to a crowd of students at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The shooter has not yet been apprehended.
Kirk was a Protestant Christian, and in 2024, when asked in an interview how he would like to be remembered if he died, said, “If I die?… I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That would be the most important thing. The most important thing is my faith in my life.” (link)
As the New York Times reported today, “For millions of conservative Christians, Charlie Kirk was the ultimate disciple. He symbolized the hope of the new Christian right, breaking down the borders between right-wing politics and evangelical faith to transform the next generation of America. Now, he is considered a martyr.” Indeed, some believed Kirk was so intelligent and talented that he was a likely candidate to become the President of the United States in coming years (link and full text also below).
Kirk’s last social media post from Saturday, September 6, said, “Jesus defeated death so you can live.” Those words feel even more powerful now.
Earlier this year, Kirk debated an atheist about faith and hope. Kirk said, “We as Christians have hope that we are going to see our loved ones again and that we will be in heaven and that we will be in perfect peace and that this is not it. In fact, there’s something even better awaiting us.”
“For we are but of yesterday, and are ignorant that our days upon earth are but a shadow.” –Job, 8:9
“No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death.” –-Ecclesiastes, 8:8
“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!” –Psalm 39:4
“13 Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” —Epistle of James, 4:13-14
“Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no dominion over him.” —St. Paul, Epistle to the Romans, 6:9
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” —St. Paul, Second Letter to Timothy 4:7
Poem
by Dylan Thomas
And death shall have no dominion.
(…)
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost, love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
—“And death shall have no dominion” is a poem by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) — a poem my father, William, who had studied the work of Dylan Thomas, recited to me more than once, in solemn moments, at funerals, when I was a boy. The title comes from St. Paul‘s epistle to the Romans (6:9). I recall it in memory of Charlie Kirk…
Letter #64, 2025, Thursday, September 11: The murder of Charlie Kirk
Note:
The following text is by my friend and long-time assistant editor at Inside the Vatican, Christina Deardurff, a mother of 10 children and grandmother of 29. I asked Christina to try to sum up the meaning and significance of Charlie Kirk‘s life and sudden, tragic death.
May eternal light shine upon the soul of Charlie Kirk, and may he rest in peace. —RM
By Christina Deardurff
Charlie Kirk, the young (31) Christian conservative activist who was killed yesterday by a single shot from a sniper, is being hailed as a hero, a martyr and, some say, the victim of the most significant political assassination since the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.
He may be all of those things.
He was a young prodigy, having built up a non-profit organization he started at age 18, Turning Point, whose purpose was to change the rapidly deteriorating culture in which we live — to “win the culture war,” in his own words.
Turning Point was able to galvanize the support of thousands of college students and other young people in support of conservative values and politically, the candidacy of Donald Trump as a “bodyguard of our values,” as Kirk described him.
Kirk was a devout Christian, who last year told podcast host Russell Brand “I mean, I’m nothing without Jesus. I’m a sinner. I fall incredibly short of the glory of God. We all do. I gave my life to the Lord in 5th grade, and it’s the most important decision I’ve ever made and everything I do incorporates Jesus Christ.” (link)
Conservative social media activist Robby Starbuck observed, “Aside from being a father, perhaps Charlie’s greatest achievement is talking about God to young people during a time when too many were afraid to do that.”
But Kirk spoke not just about Jesus but also, to the surprise of some, about the mother of Jesus, Mary.
“We do not venerate Mary enough,” Kirk said of his fellow evangelical Protestants.
“Mary was clearly important to early Christians,” he said in his July 16, 2025, podcast.
“But let me first say, I think we as Protestants and Evangelicals under-venerate Mary. She was very important. She was a vessel for our Lord and Savior. I think that we, as Evangelicals and Protestants, have overcorrected. We don’t talk about Mary enough. We don’t venerate her enough. Mary was clearly important to early Christians. There’s something there.
“In fact, I believe one of the ways that we fix toxic feminism in America is that Mary is the solution.”
“Have more young ladies be pious, be reverent, be full of faith, slow to anger, slow to words at times. Mary is a phenomenal example, and I think a counter to so much of the toxicity of feminism in the modern era.” (link)
The killing of Charlie Kirk is being called in the US press “more than just murder” (link) because it was not a personal matter but a public one, a societal one, a political assassination — perhaps the most significant political assassination since that of Robert Kennedy” by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968, 57 years ago.
Young, but influential and politically important
Kirk, though still very young, was nevertheless an influential figure in conservative Republican politics and a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, especially in the last election.
Many credit Kirk with delivering an unprecedented youth vote for Trump; his friendship with the Trumps, particularly Donald Trump, Jr., goes back years (although at the start of the 2016 election season, Kirk admitted he was “not the biggest Trump fan.”)
But Charlie Kirk never ran for office and never claimed aspirations to be a political king-maker.
His focus in founding Turning Point, and later several other projects like the annual Student Action Summit, Young Women’s Leadership Summit and the annual Americafest, which celebrated conservative values and featured keynote speakers like Tucker Carlson, Glen Beck, Matt Walsh and even Donald Trump himself.
The events were centered around the idea that the social and cultural values of the Judeo-Christian majority of Americans needed to be revived in the cultural mainstream, and that these very “grassroots” Americans needed to be inspired and mobilized to do it.
In this sense, the assassination of Kirk was not so much a political assassination as a cultural one.
In fact, the very last words out of his mouth before the assassin’s bullet struck him were concerning gun violence by “transgender” individuals.
He wanted the Christian, conservative cause to win in America’s culture war, and he was cut down in the very act of trying to change the hearts and minds of young people, trying to bring them onto the side of traditional morality, natural law and Christian truth.
Charlie Kirk is survived by his wife Erika, herself an evangelical Christian who was raised Catholic, and two small children.
Let us pray for the happy repose of his soul and for the family he left behind. And let us pray for our country — that as a culture, we might turn back to the one Truth that alone can set us free.
—Christina Deardurff
***
Below, a link to a video which discusses Charlie Kirk’s life and work.
Below that, the text of the New York Times article on the assassination.
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Charlie Kirk and President Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 2023 Turning Point Action Conference at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. | Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 link, via Wikimedia Commons
The New York Times article on Charlie Kirk’s assassination. (The sub-heads within the article are my own addition for greater clarity.)
Kirk’s Christian Supporters Mourn Him as a Martyr
“Charlie died for what he believed in,” said Jackson Lahmeyer, a pastor in Oklahoma.
By Elizabeth Dias and Ruth Graham
September 11, 2025
Updated 11:18 a.m. ET
For millions of conservative Christians, Charlie Kirk was the ultimate disciple. He symbolized the hope of the new Christian right, breaking down the borders between right-wing politics and evangelical faith to transform the next generation of America.
Now, he is considered a martyr.
As shock over Mr. Kirk’s assassination on Wednesday spread, the meaning for many of his followers was immediate and nearly universal. Evangelical pastors, activists and young conservatives felt his death personally, because of his influence on their lives and because they saw him dying while fulfilling a greater purpose.
“Charlie died for what he believed in, he died for something greater than just himself,” said Jackson Lahmeyer, a pastor in Oklahoma who founded the Pastors for Trump network. “We hope and we pray that Charlie’s death is not one in vain.”
The shooter’s motive could have been political, religious or something else, Mr. Lahmeyer said, but regardless, Mr. Kirk was a martyr.
“I don’t think there was anyone in Christian conservative circles who was not impacted by Charlie Kirk,” he said. Mr. Lahmeyer described Mr. Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, as a friend, and said Mr. Kirk had provided his introduction to the Trump family, years before the pastor was a player in national politics.
Mr. Kirk ascended as a provocative figure, promoting positions on issues like gender identity and immigration that proved divisive. It was these same positions that made him a hero to many conservative Christians.
For many, the assassination represented an attack on the values of millions of conservative Christians, even beyond how they felt targeted in the assassination attempt against Donald Trump in Butler, Pa., last summer.
Intercessors for America, a Christian group with ties to the Trump administration, emailed supporters on Wednesday night with a suggested prayer in response to Mr. Kirk’s death. The subject line referred to “Charlie Kirk, a modern day MLK.”
“I said, ‘Dude, when you are 35, I want to help you get elected president’”
Terry Schilling, the president of American Principles Project, a social conservative advocacy group, shut down his office upon hearing the news of his friend’s death.
“I’m racking my brain trying to think of another political figure that had a similar impact and following who was assassinated, and the only person I can think of is Martin Luther King Jr.,” Mr. Schilling said.
He participated in a 10-day fellowship at the Claremont Institute with Mr. Kirk in 2021 and came away convinced that Mr. Kirk was the future America needed. “I said, ‘Dude, when you are 35, I want to help you get elected president,’” Mr. Schilling remembered as he tried to absorb the news. “He just shirked it off. But I meant it. I saw. This kid is not hype, he is real.”
Announcement of death
President Trump announced Mr. Kirk’s death on Wednesday afternoon and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in his honor.
On Monday, in a speech at the Museum of the Bible, Mr. Trump emphasized what he characterized as a rise in violence against “beautiful Americans of faith” and places of worship, including the recent shooting of schoolchildren at a Catholic church in Minnesota.
Vice President JD Vance joined a chorus sharing a post Mr. Kirk wrote on X last month, where he said simply, “It’s all about Jesus.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth referred to a parable of Jesus on X, posting, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Paula White-Cain, Mr. Trump’s longtime personal pastor who leads the White House Faith Office, called Mr. Kirk “a true co-laborer in the fight for faith, freedom, the future of our nation, truth and righteousness.”
“As Scripture declares, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith’ (2 Timothy 4:7). That is the legacy Charlie leaves behind,” she posted on X.
Mr. Kirk was a model particularly for young conservative men, encouraging them to marry, have children and boldly express their values.
“Charlie Kirk was a patriot who loved God, his family and his country above all else,” said Nick Solheim, chief executive officer of American Moment, a conservative group. “He inspired us and countless others in the conservative movement. Charlie was a once-in-a-generation trailblazer who will never be replaced.”
Mr. Kirk began his career as a secular provocateur. He said little about the role of religion in American politics in his early years as an activist. That started to change during the Covid pandemic, he told The New York Times this year.
He was disappointed in church leaders who failed to speak up against lockdowns, he said, and began reading and asking larger questions about the idea of shared morality.
Mr. Kirk emerged from the pandemic, and from Mr. Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election, ready to evangelize for more than political causes and candidates.
In 2021, he founded TPUSA Faith to influence pastors and other Christians to “counter falsehoods and illuminate the inextricable link between faith and God-given liberty.” He hosted monthly events at a large evangelical megachurch in Arizona and spoke regularly in personal terms about his own faith.
Jeff Schwarzentraub invited Mr. Kirk to speak to his congregation at BRAVE Church in Denver that fall, during the second year of the pandemic. Two or three thousand people showed up eager to hear what Mr. Kirk had to say, he recalled, his voice choking up as he scrolled back to look at the photos in his phone.
Mr. Kirk was “a catalyst and encourager to the Christian community” and to America, Mr. Schwarzentraub said, adding that he was praying “those voices will get stronger and stronger and stronger.”
“I think what the enemy intended for evil, the Lord will use for good,” Mr. Schwarzentraub said of Mr. Kirk’s death. “We will see what the Lord does through it.”
To many conservative Christians, his death was a sign that the spiritual battle they had been fighting was far from over.
“Jesus told us this would happen,” said Shane Winnings, who heads Promise Keepers, an evangelical men’s organization that has leaned into partisan politics under his leadership. “There’s a real spiritual war going on.”
Mr. Kirk spoke at a Promise Keepers event in Oklahoma last year and invited Mr. Winnings to speak at several of his own gatherings.
“A demarcation in the nation’s history”
Within hours of Mr. Kirk’s death, Mr. Winnings and other conservative Christian leaders were speaking of the event as a demarcation in the nation’s history, one that would lead only to the strengthening of the religious movement Mr. Kirk embodied.
“When Jesus was killed and then rose from the dead and visited the disciples and he ascended, they moved forward and they spawned the early church,” Mr. Winnings said. “I am more filled with determination than ever to continue the mission that I’m on.”
Elizabeth Dias is The Times’s national religion correspondent, covering faith, politics and values. Ruth Graham is a national reporter, based in Dallas, covering religion, faith and values for The Times.
A Letter from a reader concerning Pope Leo
Dear Dr. Bob,
I would like to point out that Pope Leo is much more than a “classic moderate.” Please urge your readers to watch his example, and listen to the people who know him. His example that all of us could follow, is LISTENING. After his election, many cardinals commented that he is a good listener. I believe that this is the way forward that he is leading. We all need to become more of a listening community. Listening was the intent of Pope Francis’s synodal approach. Pope Leo is leading by listening actively.
Let’s watch Pope Leo listen. Let’s observe how he listens. Let’s follow the Pope’s example and make more of an effort ourselves to listen to others, and observe how the Holy Spirit is working in their lives. This will help us also to observe better how the Holy Spirit is speaking and calling us to love in our lives, and in the Church community. Noisy discussions are a distraction from listening, loving and ultimately building community of Jesus’ followers.
—Bob
Springfield VA
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