Devin Strong
Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church
Perhaps to my shame, just weeks ago I did not know who Charlie Kirk was. When he was violently and unjustly gunned down on a Utah college campus, I quickly learned that Charlie was a 31-year-old conservative Christian activist who founded an organization called Turning Point USA in 2012. As Charlie describes it, the aim of his organization is to bring an alternative conservative voice to young people and college campuses, and according to polling, Turning Point has been remarkably effective in moving the political needle among college-age voters.
In the wake of his death, I heard and read people saying glowing things about him, and I heard and read other people saying awful things about him, including that he is willing to accept a certain amount of gun violence to maintain the second amendment and that he is a racist who once disparaged Martin Luther King, Jr., but I do not have the sourcequotes for these accusations, so I will not speak to them, one way or the other.
Many said that Charlie Kirk was willing, even enthusiastic, to debate people who held opposing opinions to his own, so I listened to the March 2025 podcast where liberal governor Gavin Newsom interviews/ debates Charlie Kirk. Without a doubt, I found Kirk to be incredibly bright and articulate, particularly for one so young, I also found him to be energetic and passionate.
Throughout the debate he was certainly civil and respectful to Governor Newsom (as was Newsom to Kirk), though he concedes few, if any, points to Newsom.
In the podcast, Charlie Kirk makes it clear that he is no fan of transgender people and flatly opposes gay marriage. These positions are in direct contradiction to my own, based on my personal and professional experience.
On the flip side, no less than Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York calls Charlie Kirk a modern-day Saint Paul, so opinions are clearly divided about the man! What cannot be debated is that Charlie Kirk was willing to sit down and have a civil discourse with those who disagree with him. This is miles better than responding to our disagreements with violence or political retribution. As Christians, we must be willing to speak to one another face to face in love. I would prefer if Charlie Kirk tried less hard to win his debates and instead tried harder to truly get to know the person on the other side of the table, but at least he was willing to sit at the table.
We must celebrate this effort and replicate it in our congregations, workplaces, and kitchen tables across this country. Social media debates, while better than guns, make it too easy to villainize the nameless person on the other side of the post. Instead, we must look at one another in the eyes, care about them as people, and let the best ideas win.
It is essential that we lower the temperature down on both sides of the aisle and debate ideas while not villainizing personalities behind those ideas, otherwise we will continue to see more violence and ultimately descend into the anarchy of might makes right.
Only true and respectful dialogue will make our politics healthy again, and for healthy discipleship, I say we must go even further. We must love the people who are on the opposite side of the table from us, even when we disagree with their ideas.