September 16, 2025- Charlie Kirk inspired millions of young people around the world. His assassination has only galvanized the movement that he lived and ultimately died for.

• by Professor Janet E. Smith

I have spent hours reading tributes to Charlie Kirk and watching his videos. I have avoided as much as possible the unbelievable, hate-filled responses that rejoice in his death.

For some time now I have said I have felt privileged to live in the time of several individuals, Kirk very much among them. The fact that he is no longer with us devastates me.

If you can’t see that Charlie Kirk’s life was animated by love, I pity you. You do not have eyes to see or ears to hear. You are allowing the hate-filled to shape your views.

Charlie did not go out to the wilderness of college campuses, he did not leave his beloved family for days on end, he did not work long hours for love of anything but Truth (and that means Jesus Himself). He did not risk his life for his own pleasure and profit. He loved those who have rejected the truth, who were duped by the lies of our culture and entangled by its moral corruption. 

Although he spent only one semester in college, Charlie defeated everyone he debated, even students at Oxford and Cambridge. He defeated them because he was more brilliant, more learned, and more in love with the Truth than they who could only spout politically-correct ideas. If you doubt me, spend an hour watching his videos. I predict you will come to respect him if not love him. 

If you are not on ???? or some other useful news source (nothing mainline) you will not know that huge vigils for Kirk are taking place all over the world—in small villages and major cities—and that is no exaggeration. Billions have watched his videos. Billions. Billions love him, even many of those who don’t agree with him on major issues but know that he loved them.

My ???? feed is filled with statements by the old and the young—that they are going back to church this weekend after years away or going for the first time because of Kirk (and that they are leaving the Democratic party and becoming Republicans). His testimonies to his love for Christ and what it demands of us were more moving and persuasive than almost any given by religious leaders—in large part, of course, because he truly believed and tried to live the Gospel. He exhorted young men to save themselves for marriage, to prepare to support a wife and children spiritually and financially, and to live lives rebuilding American culture. He told them there was no other path to happiness. And many came to believe him. That is why they killed him.

To read more of this article at Crisis Magazine, click the following link:

https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-impact-of-charlie-kirks-death