The assassination of Charlie Kirk seems to have fractured something deep in the American spirit.
It’s a tragedy that should probably be understood as the most troubling evidence yet of an ongoing fracturing, a darkness now taking a deeper hold on the United States. We seem to be in the midst of a cultural revolution, in which morality itself is being entirely rewritten by large swathes of our fellow citizens.
Kirk’s killing is certainly not the first act of horrific violence over the past year, especially in the political arena.
Last summer, a young man tried to kill President Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. Last winter, Brian Thompson, CEO of insurance giant United HealthCare, was gunned down on the streets of Manhattan by Luigi Mangione, a disaffected young man who allegedly plotted the murder well in advance out of a desire to protest the supposed injustices of the health care system. In June, Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in an apparently politically motivated shooting.
And now we know from charging documents in Kirk’s murder that the Turning Point USA founder was killed on ideological grounds, too, shot from 200 yards away by a disaffected young man who said he’d “had enough of [Kirk’s] hate.”
The illiberal movement to silence or punish speech has run roughshod over college campuses in recent decades. But for a public thinker to be murdered on campus while openly engaging his ideological adversaries marks a horrific new low.
As if the killing itself weren’t tragic enough, much of the public reaction has confirmed that the shooter was far from alone in his belief that Kirk deserved to die for defending his views.
Anyone who spent time on social media in the wake of the assassination will recall that open celebration of Kirk’s death sadly was not confined to shadowy anonymous accounts. Evidently, too many of our fellow citizens agree with the alleged killer that Kirk’s views warranted his death, not to mention those who began calling for other conservative thinkers to be next on the hit list.
This ought to shock our sensibilities, but perhaps we’ve lost our capacity for surprise. A crowd fund to support Mangione, after all, exceeded $1 million in donations as of this May. Meanwhile, an annual survey conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression finds that 1 in 3 U.S. college students believes it is acceptable to use violence to oppose a public speaker, compared to 1 in 5 students who said the same in 2020.
We cannot quietly accept this shift. To become a society where large numbers of citizens accept or even celebrate ideologically motivated vigilante assassinations isn’t just antithetical to the American spirit — it’s a sign of deep moral disintegration. Either our nation continues to embrace the fundamental willingness to settle our disagreements at the ballot box and in public debate, or we tacitly accept that any of our disagreements can be settled with bloodshed.
There is no controversial statement, no worldview or belief system, not even any crime that justifies murder. Pro-life Americans understand this reality intimately. Our movement unequivocally condemns vigilante killings of abortionists, though their work involves intentionally killing innocent human beings. No well-ordered society can survive the belief that citizens may execute one another if their rationale is strong enough.
Ultimately, Kirk’s assassination is a shocking reminder that we live in a world haunted by sin, and there is no escaping it. Kirk’s group Turning Point has an apt name for the moment at which we find ourselves. His death must be a turning point. But where shall we turn?
American Catholics of all political sensibilities should take this opportunity to turn once again toward the foot of the cross, that “still point of the turning world.” We must remember that, though we are called to live virtuously and lead others to Christ during our time on earth, we are destined for eternity. No ideological project, no political movement, no cultural renewal can ever fix the fallenness of human nature or erase the reality of original sin.
For that, there is only the cross. As we confront the brokenness around us, let us allow this tragedy to lead us back to God, who wants us not in a charade of perfection but in all our brokenness. May we see this tragic moment for our country as but one of the endless invitations he extends to us so that we may return to him.
