Photo by Geoff Carter
By Geoff Carter
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
“Love thy neighbor as you would yourself”.
“Turn to them the other cheek also”.
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.“
–from the teachings of Jesus Christ
Words of love, acceptance, understanding, and sacrifice. I guess Jesus Christ was about as “woke” as you can get.
And then we have those church-going folks who brought us the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, the Russian Pogroms, the Aztec conquest, the razing of Gaza, and the Holocaust. And, of course, my personal hometown favorite, Christian Nationalism.
How many lost lives, how much pain and suffering, and how much destruction has mankind wrought in the name of God? How can people live with the yawning abyss between the words of Jesus Christ and the torture, murder, and suffering performed in his name? How can anyone be aware of such naked hypocrisy and still live with themselves—and still go to church? I don’t know how, but they’ve been doing it for centuries. They’re doing it this very moment.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk has set off a firestorm in this country. Over seventy thousand people attended a memorial for him in Arizona—a ceremony that resembled a revival meeting more than a funeral service. Dozens of other local ceremonies celebrated the controversial Republican leader. Kirk, was a conservative activist and founder of The Turning Point, a MAGA-based organization focused on recruiting young people to the far right. He is being treated as a martyr to the conservative cause—MAGA—which is itself heavily entangled in Christian Nationalism. He might be painted as a martyr, but Charlie Kirk was no saint.
We have reached a strange—and inevitable—watershed moment in American politics, a confluence of money, politics, and religion quietly carrying the flag of white elitism, masquerading under the flimsy guise of social reform, and wrapped in the cassock of holiness. In other words, we’re witnessing the arrogant march of the religious right televangelists and millionaire pastors leading their flocks toward 21st century manifest destiny. Make no mistake, Christian Nationalism has brought us to this ugly turn, and Charlie Kirk was one of the most repugnant representatives of the movement—which is saying something.
For decades, the Christian Nationalist movement has been doggedly chipping away at what it has termed “social liberalism and ”moral relativism”, those terrible institutions like public schools, Social Security, and the NIH. Itasserts that America is a country founded for and by Christians and that advocates “a fusion of identitarian Christian identity and cultural conservatism with American civic belonging”, in other words, a most unholy marriage of religion and politics—one that directly contradicts the First Amendment of the Constitution—the separation of church and state.
A segment of Christian Nationalism is predicated on the Seven Mountains Mandate, which seeks to transform seven separate aspects of society: family, business, media, religion, education, media, arts, and government into paragons of Christian ideals. Proponents of this movement have been actively attempting to influence these bastions of our society with their warped ideology—mostly through the implementation of Project 2025. Proponents believe that government should be closely related to the church and have advocated prayer in school, the display of the Ten Commandments in public spaces, and even—flying directly into empirical historical sources—insisting that the founding fathers were God-fearing men who wanted the United States government to be informed and influenced by the Bible. This is a flat-out lie. Not that it matters to the far right.
According to an NPR, report about Kirk, “he described DEI, or diversity equity and inclusion, as “unbiblical.” He also stated that the United States was created not only for Christians, but specifically Protestants. He actually said, “The body politic of America was so Christian and was so Protestant that our form and structure of government was built for the people that believed in Christ our Lord,” and that, “One of the reasons we’re living through a constitutional crisis is that we no longer have a Christian nation, but we have a Christian form of government, and they’re incompatible. So you cannot have liberty if you do not have a Christian population.” (NPR). A white Christian population.
Mr. Kirk also said, “We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately.”
– The Charlie Kirk Show, 1 April 2024
and
Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more.
– The Charlie Kirk Show, 19 May 2023
Charlie Kirk and his Christian nationals are wrong on a series of levels. First of all, the framers of the Constitution did not set up a Christian nation. They created an explicit separation between church and state. In the Treaty of Tripoli, John Adams stated, “The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion…” (CAP). In fact, the only mention of religion in the Constitution is exclusionary. While the founders were generally religious men, they recognized the need to separate the church from government. If Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, or James Madison wanted Jesus or the Bible in the Constitution, they would have included them. The Christian Nationalism determination to rule our country through the lens of Christian ideology flies directly into the face of our Constitution.
Today’s Christian Nationalists, including the martyr Charlie Kirk, advocate policies that harken back to its racist roots during Reconstruction. The conflation of evangelical Christianity with repression, racism, and white exclusivism is reminiscent of the oppressive tactics of the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch trials, and the Crusades.
Charlie Kirk and his ilk sought, and still seek, to divide, discriminate, and destroy our government using the scriptures and the teachings of Jesus Christ whose philosophy was about as “woke” as you can get.
His assassination is being coopted by President Trump and his administration. The president lost no time in blaming the radical left for his murder—an accusation without evidence, without cause, and without reason. Trump once again was trying to drive a wedge between the American people. Those who chose to exercise their right to free speech and criticize Kirk—to call him our for what he is—were reviled. Some were suspended or fired from their jobs. Others received death threats. How dare they criticize Charlie Kirk?
And this, more than the huge rally in Arizona or the flags flown at half-staff, or the crocodile tears shed by Republicans everywhere, is the fitting tribute to the true Charlie Kirk: a man who earned millions of dollars by fomenting hate and division through racist, misogynistic, and discriminatory statements. A man, like many religious men before him, who used the teachings of Jesus Christ to sow fear and hate—probably the worst sin of all. He was no saint and we should not remember his as such, treat him as such, or love him as such.
Notes
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_nationalism
- Perry, Samuel L.; Whitehead, Andrew L.; Grubbs, Joshua B. (Winter 2021). Baker, Joseph O. (ed.).
- “Save the Economy, Liberty, and Yourself: Christian Nationalism and Americans’ Views on Government COVID-19 Restrictions”. Sociology of Religion. 82 (4). Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mountain_Mandate
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Kirk#:~:text=Partnering%20with%20Pentecostal%20pastor%20Rob,began%20advocating%20for%20Christian%20nationalism.
- https://www.npr.org/2025/09/22/nx-s1-5549402/charlie-kirk-evangelical-christian-worship-martyr#:~:text=Kirk%20said%20he%20didn’t,%2C%22%20Kirk%20said%20in%202024.
- https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-founding-fathers-religious-wisdom/#:~:text=A%20treaty%20of%20peace%20and,trust%20under%20the%20United%20States.”
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/11/charlie-kirk-quotes-beliefs