In an exhilarating, often exhausting and unprecedented moment in American history, thousands of mourners gathered in an Arizona football stadium on Sunday afternoon to honour slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Attendees included dozens of members of Congress, half the cabinet, President Donald Trump, Vice-President J.D. Vance and the former shadow president, Elon Musk.
They remembered Kirk as a husband, a father, a friend, a devotee of freedom of speech, a lover of classical Greek and Roman philosophy, and, perhaps most significantly, a warrior for the Christian God – belief in whom animated Kirk’s every utterance and action.
Kirk’s memorial – or, as many speakers called it, ‘revival’ – was perhaps the most Christian event in American history to take place outside a church setting. Devotional music augmented every minute of the proceedings, with many members of the crowd singing along. In one particularly beautiful moment, Kirk’s widow, Erika, fought back tears as she said Kirk wanted ‘to save young men, just like the one who took his life. I forgive him, I forgive him because it’s what Christ did and it’s what Charlie would do’.
What a contrast to the cruel, graceless left-wing celebrations that occurred online in the days after Kirk’s death.
The revival proceedings included a predictably vengeful rant by Trump advisor Stephen Miller, a rambling address by Tucker Carlson, combative MAGA thumping from the influencer Jack Posobiec, and classy remarks from national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and a grieving Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. As always, though, President Trump’s appearance, which came at nearly the five-hour mark of a very long ceremony, was the highlight.
Trump appeared on stage surrounded by sparklers as an aged Lee Greenwood, facing him like a lover in a duet, crooned ‘I’m Proud To Be An American’. The President, never one to stay entirely on message, talked about sending federal troops into Chicago, about declaring war on the left-wing Antifa movement, and called Jimmy Kimmel an ‘anchor with no talent and low ratings’. He also reiterated that he was going to be awarding Kirk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom and called the assassination ‘an assault on our most sacred God-given liberties and God-given rights’.
It was a vintage Trump performance with something for everyone, unless you are a ‘radical left lunatic’. On political violence and freedom of speech, he had this to say: ‘No side has a monopoly on disturbed or misguided people, but there’s one part of our political community which believes they have a monopoly on truth… If speech is violence, then some are bound to conclude that violence is justified to stop speech.’
This is the most Christian moment in America that I can recall
When it came to religion, Trump said: ‘We have to bring back religion to America because without borders, law and order and religion you really don’t have a country any more.’ But though Trump invoked God a number of times, and expressed admiration for the Christian faith of the Kirk family, his presentation was not overtly religious. In fact, at one point he said: ‘[Kirk] did not hate his opponents, he wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagree with Charlie. I hate my opponents and I don’t want what’s best for them. I’m sorry, I am sorry Erika.’ That was very non-Christian of Trump, but you cannot say the same for the Kirk revival as a whole.
It’s one thing if Charlie Kirk’s pastor, coworkers, friends or widow say things like ‘Charlie looked at politics as an onramp to Jesus’ or ‘Charlie was a prophet… not the fortunetelling kind, but the Biblical kind’. It’s another when Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, preaches the Gospel truth about Christ’s resurrection in an event broadcast to millions around the world. J.D. Vance called Kirk a ‘martyr for the Christian faith’, adding: ‘The assassin expected us to have a funeral but instead we have had a revival in the celebration of Charlie Kirk and his Lord Jesus Christ.
‘Charlie brought the truth that Jesus Christ was the King of Kings and all things flowed from that… I have talked more about Jesus Christ the past two weeks than I have my entire time in public life.’
He’s not the only one. This is the most Christian moment in America that I can recall, and I’ve been alive since Richard Nixon’s presidency. On the one hand, Charlie Kirk was a devoted Christian, and a hugely influential figure in modern American political history. When you look at the shining, optimistic faces in the arena, or at the many spontaneous prayer gatherings that have sprung up since his murder, it’s far preferable to the bitter, angry, violent woke race-Communism or whatever it is that modern progressives are offering. Kirk offered a message of faith, family, patriotism, and love. A soul-sick nation, thirsty for optimism, responded.
On the other hand, some of us will never accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour. I’m Jewish, so that’s right out for me, and there are other religious and non-religious people who sit in the same kettle. Not every spiritual journey ends with ‘He Is Risen’.
The Kirk assassination is going to have deep reverberations throughout American history for a generation, and possibly beyond. I just hope we learn to feel free and open dialogue as part of those vibrations.
This article first appeared on The Spectator’s World edition.
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