I’ve been musing on a few thoughts recently. I posted one earlier on guilt by association. Here’s another post. A month or two ago Charlie Kirk was shot dead by a gunman at one of his “Prove me wrong” arguing events. Much has been made in the Christian media of his Christian martyrdom. It is undeniable that Charlie Kirk was a Christian. He spoke extremely well when pressed on why he was a Christian, giving an excellent argument as to why he believed what he believed. And it is difficult not to agree that he was a martyr. But was he a Christian martyr? Was he martyred for his faith in Jesus? It’s my opinion that he was martyred for his belief in free speech, which he exercised freely and energetically, but was not martyred for his Christianity. Put simply, I think that the person shot him, not because he was a Christian, but because of his outspoken political opinions. He was a martyr but not a Christian martyr. He was a martyr and he happened to be a Christian. He was a martyr to free speech.
People might say “well what is the difference and why does it matter?” I believe it does matter. Charlie Kirk said things – outspoken things, outrageous things, ungracious things, and it was these political statements which I believe were the things that ultimately brought about his horrific murder. Some of the things Kirk said, I completely disagreed with. (Having a few innocent people killed by crazed gunmen is not a price worth paying for the ‘freedom’ to own a gun in my opinion). Some other things that he said were not wrong, but I found the way that he said it was lacking in grace and empathy – and no I don’t agree with him that there is no such thing as empathy, only sympathy as he claimed. Jesus didn’t sympathise with us in our hopeless state, he came down from heaven and became like one of us so that he could deal once and for all time with our predicament. That’s not sympathy! It looks more like empathy to me. Charlie Kirk, in my opinion, confused his Christian identity with his political identity. Again, this matters, because I am a Christian but I profoundly disagree with his political opinion. Unless we can disentangle Kirk’s politics from his faith, it leaves me looking as though I’m not a Christian. If we say that this is how a Christian thinks and votes, then anyone who doesn’t think like that or vote like that, according to that statement, can’t be a Christian. I think it was Franklin Graham who said that you could not be a Christian and vote Democrat. What nonsense, to define someone’s Christianity by which way they vote! I am a Christian. I’m born again by the Spirit of God. I’m saved by grace through faith in Christ. But my politics are a million miles from Charlie Kirk’s. And that’s ok. Because my politics are about my culture, just as Kirk’s are wrapped up in his culture. We live in a culture. We cannot remove ourselves from the world that we live in and it shapes us in ways we may not always realise. But on those things that Jesus tells us to do, we need to be counter-cultural and swim against the prevailing tide.
I’ve said before, we are called to preach the gospel of Christ, – repentance and forgiveness from our sins through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. It’s true that God hates abortion. It’s true that God created sex and marriage between one man and one woman for life. There will be other sins around that we could point to. But that’s not our message. And we are not to judge those who live differently, not wanting to follow Christ. – that’s their free choice, but Jesus will one day be the judge – that’s their choice. We’re called to proclaim Christ and his cross and resurrection.
In my view, Charlie Kirk was a martyr to free speech, and it was dreadful that anyone should be murdered for their political opinions, however much I might disagree with those political opinions. But let’s not confuse those opinions with Christianity. The two things are separate.