About 15 days ago, Charlie Kirk, the popular right-wing activist was assassinated at the Utah Valley University during an outdoor public debating event. Those who are familiar with his work would know how he regularly debates students (sometimes professors) on political and social issues in the United States.
Kirk was an able and talented man who had exerted great influence in the past few years among the youth in the United States. He walked into “hostile” (intellectually) campuses and engaged in civil debates. He was also a professing Christian and used to publicly affirm his beliefs.
However, he was no Christian martyr.
To call Kirk a Christian martyr, that is, a martyr of the Faith to have suffered martyrdom during Kingdom work, would be an insult to countless known and unknown names being killed for doing actual Kingdom work in the mission field across the world.
Charlie Kirk was merely an American, right-wing, conservative activist, who happened to be Christian. I am not drawing any conclusion or passing judgement on whether he was a born again Christian in the Lord and saved.
Having been a former lawyer, and in the Lord for almost 20 years, I have observed that Christians (evangelicals) are quite poor in understanding politics (and art too). And most Christians are easy prey to political propaganda. And just like how they disdain people from other theological camps, they quickly label people who don’t agree with their political views as “leftists” or “liberals” or, in the case of the United States, as “communists”.
It may be mostly because of the fact that Christians sometimes look at politics and expect things to be black and white; while holding a measuring stick of “binary” laws against politicians. It could also be their theological convictions such as post-millenialism, dominion theology, or Christendom guiding them to expect how governments of this world should function.
Therefore, just because of the fact that there is the phrase “In God We Trust” on an American dollar currency note, many Christians blindly believe that the United States is a Christian nation. And many falsely believe that the founding fathers of the United States were God-fearing believers and the Constitution of the United States is a biblical document (which does not feature the word “God”, in case you did not know).
Charlie Kirk was merely a propagandist for the right-wing and the Republican party, advocating for a capitalist and greedy economy; antiquated and unbiblical gun rights (Matthew 26:52); and a corrupt and immoral man as the leader of a nation. He once openly disagreed with John Piper’s characterisation of Trump, equating Trump with Samson! He used faulty theology as an aide for some of his views. Watch this video where he does that.
What Charlie Kirk wanted to established was simply American supremacy (according to him, its the greatest country in the world), and not work for the Kingdom of God, which is actually not of this world (John 18:36).
Christians may easily turn a blind eye on all of this, simply by pointing at the outcome of what Trump’s, or Kirk’s work has accomplished. Some, may even call him a champion of the Gospel (I have read a blog of a young Indian pastor equating him with Stephen).
He proclaimed, in a majority Christian populated nation, that he is a Christian. I honestly doubt whether it was a humble invitation to the Kingdom, but rather a boastful threat to the “liberals”. He was simply a Christian Nationalist, who primarily worked for leveraging power in a polarised country, while amassing millions (read about the amount of funding he received).
Once, a friend of mine retorted that when someone from the United States says he is a Christian, one should take that with a grain of salt.
I agree. The United States is not a “Christian nation”, but a country with a lot of Christians.
When you are in the United States, you cannot walk by a locality (unless its a pure residential area) that does not have a chapel, or a Christian ministry’s building. And the majority of the population professes to be Christian; from Stephen Curry to Denzel Washington. As a matter of fact, the left-wing liberal champion, Barack Obama, swore his Presidential oath on two Bibles. Watch him here, leading a congregation to sing Amazing Grace (with much better skill than some “worship leaders”). Christianity is not just the Faith in the United States, but a culture. And Christians, sadly, don’t see the difference.
What I am trying to say is that Christianity in the United States is as diluted as it gets (also the greatest exporter of the weirdest theological convictions, cults, and the “prosperity gospel”). Christianity is now a banner for many to simply cling onto tradition, and to justify the good amount of wealth they have been making for years, straying far away from the Faith once advocated by a tentmaker who might have had only some clothes, a blanket, some scrolls, and parchments that he owned (2 Timothy 4:13), and a Faith which is hard for rich men to possess (Matthew 19:24).
Christians in the eastern parts of the world sometimes miss certain aspects about Christianity in the US.
Let me share a couple of anecdotes to illustrate what those things are.
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In the US, I was hosted by a lovely Christian American family who worked as staff of a Christian ministry, and who hosted a Bible study every Friday at their house, and did a whole lot of service for foreign students (aka “international students) admitted to the University.
One day, I met a couple (white Americans), who were attending the Friday Bible study. The husband was around 45-50 years old, and the wife was of the same age group. We exchanged pleasantries, and talked a bit.
What I learnt about the man’s job surprised me. He was a “Church reconciliation consultant” (not the actual title). His job involved helping churches that had gone through a split. He would help the church to regain peace, and get adjusted to the new way of things, and even to the new pastor (if they got someone new).
Wow!
First of all, imagine the number of church splits that must have been happening on a regular basis for that man to have a stable job. Secondly, there is such a job!
The next anecdote is from my visit to the Moody Church in Chicago. I was attending a conference event along with my friend from law college. There, I met a mother and her son who were sitting right next to me during the event. I learnt from the son that he was just finishing high school then, and that he intended to go for seminary education. This is not what surprised me.
It was the tone of his voice, and his attitude.
He was very certain of his choice, and offered no hint of confusion. He spoke as if it was indeed a popular career path, and that it is a “normal” career path.
Coming from a country and culture in which such a career choice is looked down upon or frowned upon with a lot of doubt, I was indeed surprised.
In the United States, apart from being a way of life, and a religion, Christianity means, culture, politics, and… a billion (maybe trillion) dollar industry.
To get a sniff of what I mean, watch this extremely funny skit by Jon B. Crist on Contemporary Christian Music.
And sadly, in the United States, the above five domains blur their boundaries and sometimes exist in the same place; and it is high time that the Church in India start recognising discerning what is what. It is sad to see that churches and Christians in India simply ape the Western church.
The biggest area that Indian Christians fail to understand is politics.
To most, they first of all assume (wrongly) that the United States is a Christian nation. A lot of pastors in India preach (again, wrongly) that the Constitution of the United States is a Bible inspired document as if nation’s founders had the Bible on their tables and occasionally referred to it while drafting the Constitution.
Since, the United States’s dollar bill carry the phrase “In God We Trust”, Christians in India assume it’s the same God of the Bible that Christ revealed to us is being referred to in those currency notes.
Indian Christians erroneously cheer the moment a Republican Party member is elected the President.
Am I saying that all Christians in the United States are unfaithful and power-hungry?
No!
The Lord has His faithful there. And I am sure there are many. I know some of them personally from my brief time in the US.
Is this article in any way an attempt to condone or downplay Kirk’s assassination?
No!
What happened to Kirk was indeed sad. It was evil. Where civil dialogue and persuasion should have existed, what we saw was an unfair and tragic exercise of violence.
Yet, in no way was that Christian martyrdom.
Update: 23 October 2025
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