No Death Is “Worth It”

Charlie Kirk is dead—shot during a college speaking event in Utah. I will not pretend to admire him in death. His politics were malicious on every level: rooted in white Christian nationalism, gun idolatry, cruelty toward LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, women, and anyone who didn’t fit his narrow vision of America. His influence harmed countless lives.

And yet, I will not say his violent death is justice. That is the logic of empire, not the gospel. When death becomes a solution, we have already lost our way. His killing is not something to cheer. It is not a “gotcha” moment for the left. When we baptize violence as a solution, we participate in the same death-dealing logic that undergirded his movement.

Two years ago, Kirk said this about the Second Amendment:

"I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe." --Charlie Kirk, April 5, 2023 at a TPUSA Faith event.

Now, his own blood testifies against that deadly bargain. No human life should ever be reduced to a “cost of doing business.” Not yours. Not mine. Not even his.

The truth is stark: America has chosen an idol. We sacrifice our children, our neighbors, our leaders, and our enemies on the altar of guns. We dress it up in the language of freedom, but it is the freedom of Pharaoh—freedom purchased by death.

As a pastor, I can only call this nation to repentance. We cannot keep worshiping weapons and pretending we are serving God. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” not “Blessed are the well-armed.”

So I grieve. I grieve that Charlie Kirk lived a life dedicated to amplifying hate. I grieve that he died in the very way he once dismissed as an acceptable cost. And I grieve most of all that America will see this and still refuse to change.

The gospel I cling to is not one of acceptable casualties but of a Savior who went to the cross so that death would no longer have the last word. That means no life is expendable. That means even now, in this bloody and broken moment, there must be another way—away from violence, away from idolatry, and toward peace.