I put off writing these thoughts for a week. I have never particularly been a fan of Charlie Kirk. His brash and argumentative style never really appealed to me, but his content was never an issue for me. He was a spokesman of run-of-the-mill conservative Republican talking points with an increasingly religious reasoning that impressed me when I saw his clips on social media. Yet, his murder has been a final turning point for me.
Five years ago, I started to become a quieter person. As the COVID-19 pandemic descended across the land, our family was already in transition. I was finishing up graduate school. My wife and I needed to make career decisions. We had to figure out where we wanted to continue raising our family. I did not take the lockdown of the pandemic well. I resented the fear of the churches. Particularly, our choice to fear death so much that we did not celebrate the resurrection of our Lord together on Easter. I had little to say about the George Floyd situation or the riots that followed, though I had many thoughts. As the 2020 election billowed on, while I had my opinions and I was willing to talk about them, it was mainly just with my friends. And there have been many such situations where I have just become content to let others talk, for good and bad.
You see, I began my career and middle-aged life. I am doing work that makes perfect sense for how God has made me. Another degree has taken up much of my thoughts and time. We bought a house and have been working on it. We’ve found a new church home with a new kind of spirituality, which has taken some getting used to. King Jesus gave us more children…All in all, I became content with being quiet.
Yet, I am discontented. The simple truth is that many Christians simply do not know how to think about politics and church life. Charlie Kirk had plenty of flaws, but his dogged devotion to religious reasoning for the future of America was not one of them. Watching a young father be shot in the neck while he talked about some of the most impactful issues to our society seems to have woke me up. I have had a relatively tranquil last five years in some ways, but it has lacked some necessary and vital work for my own life.
I believe it is time that I give up on having quiet thoughts and prayers for this world. Instead, I believe I will return to having very loud thoughts and demand action that fulfills my prayers. It is time Christians began to engage with politics in a more informed and less reactive way. If I believe it, then this must start with me.
No more being quiet so as to seem like a nice guy to those who might disagree.
Common Thought 
Charlie’s “devotion to religious reasoning for the future of America,” was a theocratic state for White Christian Nationalists. That would have our predecessors indoctrinated in the faith, but that goes against everything. Faith is about the choice, God wants us to choose him not force himself on us. (Romans 14:1-4) As Christians we have the right to judge each other, but we have no right to judge or force anyone’s way of life. (Proverbs 31:9) Simply spreading the message and way of life to people who willingly listen is what we are called to do. (1 Peter 3:15)
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There is a vast continuum of how to engage with the world between doing nothing and forcing others into something. Yes, we are not able to force others to believe or live the faith, but there is no right to do evil in this world. God calls us to establish justice in our nations and for Christians to teach the nations how obey the commands of King Jesus, who is Lord of Creation and King of kings, whether they acknowledge him or not. The common good is for good and Christians have the right as humans to suppress evil from our societies.
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What is “evil,” though? Is it the brutality towards a poor and uneducated people?(Israel to Palestine) Is it the ideology that the Civil rights act was a mistake? (Charlie’s own words) Or is it just when something doesn’t align with the views of the faith? I find if I couldn’t see Jesus loving them regardless of the sin then thats true evil, when you condemn his children in any matter I find it evil. As we are all God’s children.
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Yes, the conversation about what is evil and how to address it is precisely why Christians must now begin to properly and more fully engage in the political sphere again. Many American, especially Christians, seem to have forgotten how to evaluate wicked forms of existence in this world and proper ways to slowly but effectively root out the evil that sinful humans tend to devolve into as societies. We have rebuilt many nations and it time that we begin that work more effectively.
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