I struggled with how to write about the murder of far right wing, Christian nationalist influencer Charlie Kirk this week.
There are many reasons for this but primarily I’ll confess three:
- I HATE violence
- I HATE hypocrisy
- I HATE when religion of any kind gets mixed up in politics of any kind
The latter point is particularly meaningful to me because I believe, as our founders did, that religion has no place in politics. (Note: Yeah, they did. Check out this pre-MAGA analysis from 15 years ago)
Believe what you like or DO NOT believe AT ALL.
But the bottom line for me is that ATHEISTS have as much RIGHT to the moral high ground as the most devout preacher, rabbi or imam in this country.
As a Jewish person, I loathed when the late Sen. Joe Lieberman injected his faith into political arguments.
As a lifelong Democrat I become extremely uncomfortable when Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) uses his senatorial platform to quote scripture in order to burnish any political argument.
And as a secularist, my blood begins to boil when the likes of Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Department Secretary Pete Hegseth, to name a few of many, advocate all over the internet for a Christian nationalist state requiring prayer and religion becoming a part of American education and American politics, AND that Americans be guided by THEIR Christian principles as if they are some universal doctrine.
It’s not that I am against Christianity. I mean, I married a guy who spent most of his early years in Catholic school. It’s that I believe the basic tenet of America is that we are a melting pot of inclusivity and beliefs AND that it is THE primary asset we have to offer the world.
We are AMERICANS. That means we are comprised of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Protestants, Wiccans, Agnostics and ATHEISTS, just to name a few.
When we favor one we are ostensibly telling everyone else they can’t believe what they believe. In essence, we’ve going against the traditional values given to us by our very imperfect, yet very prescient, founders – the Separation of Church and State.
If you don’t believe me look at the first amendment to the Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
It’s not like you can’t talk about it as a social issue. But when the lines are blurred and it becomes a political cudgel used by political figures to adopt laws or defeat the opposition, that’s a dangerous attempt to turn the United States into something it was never intended to be – a theocracy.
Which brings us to violence and hypocrisy.
Mr. Kirk, 31, was shot dead by one bullet fired by a disturbed young man from a rooftop while speaking at an outdoor forum at Utah Valley University.
It’s a large school of approximately 47,000 that leans conservative and Kirk was on the first stop in a series of 10 college campuses on what he had branded as The American Comeback Tour.
He brandished his internet fame with these events and at the time of his death had close to 4 million followers on his personal YouTube channel, though his outreach was in the tens of millions.
On the surface, Kirk’s thing was to have a dialogue with “anyone” on the events of the day, and often loved being challenged by young people on the left about his beliefs.
But in reality, what he offered was catnip entertainment where he used his oratorial powers and extreme views to rapid fire “own the libs” through speedy, seemingly impromptu discourse where he’d quote select Bible verses and offer a mashup of statistics and unvetted conservative think-tank type studies/talking points to publicly pillory his opponents.
He was charismatic to many but certainly not to me.
I will never understand the appeal of people who spew racist nonsense like, If I see a Black pilot I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified; or who categorize accomplished Black women like Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as “affirmative action picks” who “had to go steal a white person’s slot to be taken somewhat seriously.”
I also don’t appreciate people who proclaim there is no separation of church and state, cherry picking facts (Note: Once again) to prove A-historical points.
Nor do I appreciate anyone who blithely uses their Bible quotes as a way to order any woman to “submit to your husband…you’re not in charge,” as he recently did to one of the most successful female entertainers in the history of the world, Taylor Swift.
Lastly, and needless to say, as a Jew and a gay person, I find it lazily provocative, not to mention offensive, when a person proclaims: We need a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender affirming clinic doctor” as Mr. Kirk proclaimed in April last year.
There are many dozens of bilious bon mots of this fashion, some of which are quoted in this article from The Guardian.
And if you want a particularly strong editorial of Mr. Kirk’s origin story, how he founded his business and the way he conducted himself in his attempts to convert America to Christian nationalism, click here.
On the other hand, if you want to read or listen to a defense of Christian nationalism and Mr. Kirk’s roadshow simply google the President, the Vice President or Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. They represent the succession of power in U.S. leadership at the moment and the current “official” word on the subject.
But let me close with this:
It’s abhorrent the guy was shot, in public, for saying anything someone didn’t like. And It’s especially hurtful and awful for his family and friends, who have to endure that footage being broadcast worldwide and shared endlessly online everywhere and probably for all eternity.
But let’s not turn this into a biblical argument between good and evil.
That’s just plain un-American.
In the very traditional sense.
Laura Nyro – “Save the Country”
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notes from a chair 