‘First Time in 20 Years’: Charlie Kirk’s Death Starts a Faith Revolution

Will Charlie Kirk change the religious landscape of the United States as much he did the political landscape?

Social media were flooded over the weekend with posts of people going to church in honor of Kirk, who was assassinated Sept. 10.

“We went to church today. It was the first time in 20 years,” said one mom in a TikTok video. “We are raising 3 boys that will one day be men. And we want those boys to be as strong in their convictions as Charlie Kirk was.”

“Heading to church with my four small children this morning for the first time in too long. Charlie Kirk makes me want to be a better Christian, and reaffirms my desire to raise my children with God,” wrote Candice Malcolm on the social media platform X.

Daily Signal contributor Isabel Brown told Fox News a young TikTok user wrote, “I don’t go to church, but Sunday, I will sit in Charlie’s place—please join me. I will shake the pastor’s hand and say, ‘Charlie Kirk brought me here.’”

There’s little doubt that Kirk, who founded Turning Point USA in 2012 when he was just 18, transformed the American political landscape. Between Turning Point events and groups on college campuses, and his viral social media videos, Kirk reached—and influenced—Gen Z.

But the numbers suggest more young Americans are politically conservative than religious. Trump won 43% of young voters, defined as those under 30, according to ABC News exit polling.

Yet among Americans born in 1990 through 2006, only 18% attend weekly religious services, according to the Pew Research Center. Fewer than a third in that cohort, which includes those 18 to 34 years old, pray daily.

Will Kirk’s legacy be shifting those numbers as much as he shifted the voting numbers?

At The Kennedy Center in Washington, which on Sunday was packed to the rafters and still unable to contain all the people who wanted to honor Kirk, Trump administration official Kari Lake spoke about some of the social media posts during a prayer vigil.

“Charlie’s going to be remembered for politics,” said Lake, senior adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, “but he’s going to be remembered most for bringing people to God.”

Nor were people just talking about going to church last Sunday. Matt Zerrusen, president of Newman Ministry, a Catholic organization that promotes faith on about 250 college campuses, told Catholic News Agency that he was hearing about surges in attendance: “Every one of them told me they’ve seen bigger crowds,” including attendees “they’ve never seen before.”

“I have not talked to anyone who has not seen an increase in Mass attendance,” he added. “Some schools are reporting increases of 15%.”

Christian Broadcasting Network news producer Raj Nair recounted his friends reporting, “We’ve never seen the church this crowded. I mean, there’s standing room only. There is something happening.”

Craig Dyson, lead pastor at CONVO Church in Reno, Nevada, told “The National News Desk,” “We were filled to overflowing. We had more people give their life to Christ yesterday than we’ve ever had on a single Sunday.”

That’s what Kirk would have wanted.

“Most important of all, if you aren’t a member of a church, I beg you to join one, a Bible-believing church,” his widow, Erika Kirk, said Friday night. “Our battle is not simply a political one. Above all, it is spiritual … . The spiritual warfare is palpable.”

“Charlie loved his savior with all of his heart, and he wanted every one of you to know him, too,” she added.

Kirk himself, in an August interview with Deseret News of Salt Lake City, Utah, described his mission as “actively trying to stop a revolution,” and urging people “towards getting back to the church, getting back to faith, getting married, having children.”

“That is the type of conservatism that I represent, and I’m trying to paint a picture of virtue, of lifting people up, not just staying angry,” he said.

Kirk’s own spiritual life, Deseret News reported, included a daily examination of conscience and study of the Bible, and “a phone-free Sabbath from nightfall on Friday to sunset on Saturday.” In 2021, he founded TPUSA Faith, a group that, per its mission statement, “is dedicated to empowering Christians to put their faith into action.”

Kirk also wasn’t shy about talking about the importance of young men—one of his biggest audiences—finding faith.

“Young men are going back to church. That is legit. That’s happening because, honestly, it’s the only thing that they can find. It’s a life raft in this just tsunami of chaos and disorder,” Kirk told Tucker Carlson in a July podcast interview.

“If any young man is listening to this right now, stop watching porn, stop smoking weed, stop drinking endlessly, find yourself back to church. That will reorient your life.”

If many young men, affected by the horrific assassination of Kirk, take his advice, it could change America’s trajectory—arguably even more than the rightward trend in politics has. I, for one, am rooting for this revival to endure.

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