How long is our collective memory? In some cases, very long indeed. Christians look at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as if it happened yesterday, not over two thousand years ago. Unfortunately, many of us can’t remember what we had for breakfast, let alone what the major news story was a week ago. We have become a soundbite society, driven to focus on the shiny object of the moment.
I don’t think that will turn out to be the case in the assassination of Charlie Kirk. As in the case of our Savior, the believers in his message will continue to keep him alive in our hearts and minds for a very long time. I believe that the left knows that, and as was the case with the persecutions of the early Christians, they will do anything to cow and intimidate present-day conservatives. They must not be allowed to succeed in their efforts.
Like Jesus, Charlie preached a message of faith and love, but he didn’t shrink from naming the injustices of his time and paid the ultimate price for his faith and dedication. We, in turn, must not fail in our duty to keep that flame of truth alive and growing, no matter how strident and threatening the forces of the left become.
Faced with the hatred of the Jewish ruling class of his time, who were in turn backed by the might of the pagan Roman Empire. Jesus’s followers might have been wiped out. In fact, many of them were, including most of the original disciples. The fact that the message of Christianity did not die, but rather blossomed and grew, is a testimony to the steadfast courage of many Christian martyrs over the years. Charlie Kirk is the latest in that pantheon of heroes.
It is our job to take his message proudly into the future, fearlessly confronting the vitriol and lies of the left. Make no mistake, they will be vitriolic, and they will be threatening. The Democrats have long used violence to gain and maintain power. They were the founders and leaders of the Ku Klux Klan, the framers and enforcers of the Jim Crow Laws, and the dissenters against the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.
When that was passed over their objections, they plotted and schemed to turn it against the very people it was intended to help. They slowly but surely destroyed the morals of the black community and the black nuclear family. Then they did something even worse. They plotted to destroy this Christian nation from within by capturing the minds of our children.
The teachers' unions, under the likes of Randi Weingarten, current President of the American Federation of Teachers, and former President of the United Federation of Teachers, gradually moved our school curricula from the basics of “reading, writing, and arithmetic” into indoctrination centers of left-leaning ideology.
No longer were students taught American and World History, but “Social Studies” propaganda instead. Math and science test scores plummeted, and our education system no longer ranks near the top worldwide, but barely in the middle. Her policies urged COVID school closings, sometimes for as long as two years. This robbed students of vital educational opportunities that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Many high school graduates are functionally illiterate! This is a disgrace.
If K-12 is a disaster, higher education is even worse. Conservative college and university professors are as rare as hen’s teeth. Instead of being taught critical thinking, students are introduced to Critical Race Theory, and if white, told to be ashamed of their race and its supposed advantage over others due to “White Privilege and Supremacy.”
This is what Charlie Kirk fought against in a most vigorous, but not condescending way. He urged students to defend their beliefs rationally, not emotionally. That’s why he called his campus tours “Prove Me Wrong.” Students lined up to debate him, and those who disagreed with him weren’t shouted down, but rather moved to the front of the line.
The fact that there has been a massive influx of requests for information on how to start TurningPointUSA chapters in high schools, universities, and colleges is testimony to the validity of Charlie's message. It is tragic that he had to die to bring this about, but sadly, martyrs are sometimes necessary for right to prevail.
So again, how long is our memory? In the case of Charlie Kirk, like that of the memory of Jesus Christ, it will last a very, very long time.
God Rest Your Soul, Charlie, God Rest Your Soul!