Where Are Your Prayer Vigils Now?

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, right wing Christians completely lost their minds and went overboard with tributes. The fact that I have to say this is indicative of the witless world we live in today: Charlie Kirk’s murder was a horrific event that should never have happened, and all Christians should condemn violence. But I’m going to be as clear as possible in this post in saying that Kirk was also a white supremacist Christofascist and not a Christian martyr. I’ll stop short of saying that he wasn’t a real Christian and I won’t respond to the many social posts lamenting the killing of a, “man of God.” None of us get to question each other’s Christian faith, that is between one human and their Lord.

Some of the most degenerate human beings in my own sphere of influence here on the Front Range were some of the worst offenders in their social posts. One even helped to organize a prayer vigil. These acts are strictly performative virtue signaling because these same people have done some hurtful and damaging things inside of communities to which I belong. What are the virtues that these people are signaling? What does Charlie Kirk represent that hundreds of other victims of violence don’t represent?  I’d like to know, are you going to hold a prayer vigil for the LDS Church victims in Grand Blanc, Michigan? Or are LDS members as godless as you think the US progressives are? Are you not feeling the same outrage simply because the suspect in Michigan seems to be a MAGA supporter who hated LDS members? In fact, the suspect wore Trump shirts in photos. You know, Donald Trump, a serial sexual predator, an actual court-adjudicated rapist whom many right-wing Christians helped return to office. Charlie Kirk was one person while four died in the Michigan attack including a Navy vet. I’m guessing that the four who died were significantly less vile than Kirk, not that it should matter. Where are your prayer vigils now?

If you held a prayer vigil for Charlie Kirk but not this LDS church, not Club Q where five people were killed for being LGBTQ+, not the Buffalo supermarket shooting where 10 people were killed because of the color of their skin, then in my mind you own all the vile rhetoric that Kirk spewed. You must, because why do you support him and not the many victims of right-wing violence? Charlie Kirk’s entire job was to tell lies to promote white supremacy and right-wing fascism. How is this the work of Jesus? How is this remotely Christlike?

Kirk’s only contribution to the world was a trail of cruel, diminishing rhetoric. Right wing Christians, have you not heard those words or have you heard them and then agree with them? Kirk said things that were clearly racist, misogynistic, homophobic, antisemitic, Islamophobic, and celebrated the American gun culture from which he himself was a victim. This is who you hold up as a paragon of faith? I fear for your souls. Is this what inspires you?

Words matter, or at least they should matter for sentient humans who are capable of feeling. Kirk’s words did enormous harm to people of color, women, immigrants, LGBTQ folx, and perhaps worst of all the minds of impressionable young college kids. People who were swayed by Kirk’s monstrous depravity have suffered real moral injury to their souls. Kirk was the founder of the Professor Watchlist, a project aimed at publicly identifying professors he believed were biased against conservative perspectives, which resulted in some of those educators receiving threats. He frequently targeted the LGBTQ community, once declaring, “God’s perfect law…[says gay people] shall be stoned to death.” He also argued that the Civil Rights Act was “a huge mistake,” and referred to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “an awful person.” Kirk openly mocked the 2023 attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, and even suggested that someone should post bail for the attacker. Additionally, he tried to tie Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to the killing of Walz’s close friend and ally, State Senator Melissa Hortman. Yet, you didn’t hold prayer vigils for the Hortmans, did you? Here are a bunch more. If you are celebrating this garbage as Christian faith, it isn’t any Christianity I recognize.

And now “Christians,” are out here “Jesus washing,” Kirk into some kind of icon. Of course, the usual suspects are involved, mostly because they have something to gain like political power by the likes of the Trumpers, big piles of money from right wing influencers and more Spotify followers from some hypocritical cash grabbers. Spotify, you say? Yes, I hate to break this to you as the drummer in my own church’s worship team but I will now be boycotting Phil Wickham and Chris Tomlin. I mean, I never listened to them anyway unless I had to learn a drum part. Thank goodness there are so many more eloquent artists who write about faith like Common, Chance the Rapper, Ryan Ellis, Sufjan Stevens, Michael Gungor and two of my five favorite Nicks, Nick Cave and Nick Ehrhardt.

This isn’t surprising. Right wing Christians have abandoned the real faith of Jesus Christ. Instead, they worship the idol of nationalism, privilege and exclusivism. They harm the very people Jesus says to uphold. They need Charlie Kirk to be a martyr so they can pretend their false faith is justified. They need to point to Kirk’s murder to pretend that somehow the left wing of this country is out of control. Their narrative isn’t Christian; it’s white Christian nationalism of the ilk Kirk espoused.

To be clear, the left wing in this country is not out of control. If anything, it is extremists from the right wing who are out of control. Between 2014 and 2023, 336 people were killed (that’s 76% of all extremist attacks) at the hands of right wingers. And it seems to be getting worse. In 2023, 15 of 17 killings involved perpetrators and suspects who had specific ties to white supremacy. All data shows that since Trump took office, extremist threats have escalated. The crazies are emboldened when they see a sociopath sitting at the Resolute Desk. There are three times the number of deaths from right wing extremists than there are Islamic extremists, but I doubt FBI agents are profiling Southern Baptists. If you want a deep dive on this analysis, read more here.

So that’s depressing. But what are we supposed to do about it? As I’ve written previously, Barth would say to preach Christ. But in general, the best things that the devout can do involve leaning even harder into our faith. Make Jesus the center, not people like Charlie Kirk. Point out that we are citizens of God’s Kingdom first and foremost. That means loving God and neighbor, which specifically includes immigrants, the poor and any others whom we consider the least among us. Teach faithful Christian citizenry in contrast to white Christian nationalism. The ELCA Churchwide Assembly 2025 has adopted a social statement on faith and civic life, the relationship of religious organizations and political authority, and related matters, as called for by the 2019 Churchwide Assembly, so maybe read that and tell others about it. Don’t be afraid to call out idolatry to wealth, xenophobia and autocrats, that’s not random ideology, that is faithful Christianity. Now would be a good time to center religious leaders who represent everything that Charlie Kirk hated, religious leaders who are people of color, LGBTQ+, indigenous and immigrant.

Finally, don’t let others mutate sacred practices like prayer into ideological rallies sold as vigils. Model humble discipleship in a life of prayer. Let Christ mold your clay, not a barely-educated podcaster. Refuse to sacralize extremists and instead hold onto your contemplative faith. Invest in your own faith formation through prayer to become an example that outlasts the latest news cycle outrage.