A reflection on Charlie Kirk’s assassination and a path toward peace
By Andrew Fowler, Real Clear Wire
The assassination of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and conservative icon, is the grim manifestation of a nation that has forgotten its essential democratic principles: not only freedom of speech and discourse — for which Kirk was killed — but the deeper moral command to love one’s neighbor and, more importantly, one’s enemy.
In truth, America has lost its identity of being a “moral and religious people,” as John Adams once deemed necessary for citizens to cherish the U.S. Constitution. This reality reared its sadistic (or Satanic) head in the ghoulish glee of those celebrating Kirk’s murder.
Thankfully, many Americans across the political spectrum expressed horror and sorrow over his death during an event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. Yet the radical Left’s surging bloodlust is not the first time Americans have indulged fantasies of violence against ideological opponents — and it will not be the last unless the nation rediscovers its moral compass and the shared inalienable rights endowed to us by God.
The murder has exposed a nation adrift, desperate for answers on how to confront rampant polarization and strive for peace. Providentially, the following day (Sept. 11), the Gospel reading at Catholic Mass provided the solution plaguing modern America:
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well. …For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.'”
What does it mean to love your enemy? And what does it mean to love? To borrow the Thomistic definition, love is willing the good of the other. Love is not passive approval or blind affirmation — quite the contrary. It is a challenge: a call to a higher purpose and sacrifice for your family, friends, neighbor, and community. For Christ, love meant death on a cross, even for those who called for His execution.