On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while engaging in an open debate of ideas with students on the campus of Utah Valley University. It should never have happened. Killing someone because their political views don't align with your own is, to me, unthinkable. Every human life is of infinite worth and should be treated as such. Charlie Kirk did not deserve to die for his ideas. His wife did not deserve to lose her husband. His children did not deserve to see their father murdered before their eyes. Charlie Kirk was murdered by a deranged lunatic. I fervently pray that the FBI and the Utah authorities will capture, try, and punish this individual to the fullest extent the law allows. The shooter should be shown the same mercy they showed Mr. Kirk and his family, which is none at all.
Let me start by saying that I was not a fan of Charlie Kirk. Nor am I a liberal critic of Mr. Kirk or his movement. I only heard Mr. Kirk speak a few times, none in person. The last time was on California Governor Gavin Newsom's podcast, This is Gavin Newsom.
In this podcast, Newsom and Kirk carry on a civil discussion of issues they disagree about. Both men caricature the other's position at times, but both remain respectful. This is what civil discourse is all about. It seems, however, that this is not what America is about any longer. Gone are the days of amicable disagreements. Here are the days of 'enrage and engage' by partisan cable outlets like Fox and MSNBC. Even the president, without a single shred of evidence, blamed liberal rhetoric for causing Mr. Kirk's murder. Yet, conservatives are aghast when one suggests that their dehumanizing of liberals may lead to horrific consequences, such as the attempted assassination of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and his family, or the murder of Democratic legislators in Minnesota last June. You can't have it both ways. If rhetoric is to blame, and I think it contributes, it is on both sides to choose their words more carefully. Listen closely...I am not saying Mr. Kirk deserved to die or that he brought this on himself. No, it is the result of a society that has become less and less tolerant and more divisive. The only one responsible for Mr. Kirk's death is the individual who obtained a gun and made a conscious choice to kill an unarmed man. Period.
So, what can we, as a society, do to avoid the senseless political violence that has ramped up in the last decade? First, tone down the rhetoric. Stop calling Governor Newsom 'gruesome newsom.' Stop referring to President Trump as a dictator or autocratic figure. Stop dehumanizing the people you disagree with about politics. Instead, show them the love God commands. The Bible teaches Christians to love our enemies. Do that and we won't ever need to have this conversation again. Do that and Charlie Kirk will not have died in vain. As Chuck Todd said above, 'enough is enough.'
