Jerry Falwell Sr. was a fundamentalist pastor who became engaged in politics. Charlie Kirk was a political activist who wrapped his speech in evangelical garb. There is a big difference between the two.
Falwell, the legendary pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., and founder of Liberty University and the Old Time Gospel Hour on TV, became a political figure as an outgrowth of his independent Baptist fundamentalist theology. He successfully rallied other pastors and laypeople to join his Moral Majority, which was the birth of the Religious Right in American politics.
Jerry Falwell
Although engaged in politics, Falwell remained a preacher throughout his life.
Kirk, on the other hand, is better known for his close relationship with the Trump family than for his affiliation with a church. Do you know where the Kirk family attends church? Probably not. Neither did I until I looked it up.
Phoenix TV station 12News identified Dream City Church as the place “where conservative activist Charlie Kirk worshiped and frequently hosted high-profile political rallies.” And indeed, the home page of the church’s website currently shows a full-screen photo of Kirk with a link to a memorial.
Dream City Church is the new name for a congregation founded in 1923 as First Assembly of God Church. Today, the church extends across 10 campuses in Arizona, California, Oklahoma and Nebraska.
Ironically, the church website presents male-female couples of “pastors” of its various campuses — something even the Southern Baptist Convention wouldn’t allow today. Kirk was well-known for his more severe complementarian views on men and women.
The point is that Kirk’s Turning Point USA always was and remains a political organization, not a religious organization. But in the mixed-up world of evangelicals and MAGA, that’s a distinction without a difference.
Consider this: Official news of Kirk’s death came not from a church, not from a pastor, not from a family member but instead from the president of the United States — a partisan political figure. Not only that, Donald Trump has continued to insert himself into the role of family spokesman and other political figures have most frequently been in front of the news microphones.
When Falwell Sr. died in 2007 at age 73, it was Liberty University that announced his death, not the president of the United States.
Evangelist Billy Graham (second from right), kneels in prayer on the White House lawn in Washington July 14, 1950, with three friends, asking Devine aid for President Truman in his handling of the Korean crisis. He had just finished a half-hour visit with the Chief Executive. With him from left to right are Jerry Beavan, Clifford Barrows and Grady Wilson. (AP Photo)
When Billy Graham died in 2018 at age 99, it was the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association that announced his death, not the president of the United States.
I cannot think of another instance of a religious leader in America dying and his death being announced by the president.
Charlie Kirk was a political advocate first and an evangelical Christian second. Yet his core audience could not — and still does not — see the distinction. Some of them already have declared him a martyr for the faith.
“Charlie Kirk was a political advocate first and an evangelical Christian second.”
Kirk’s widow, Erika, addressed the nation Friday night, and what she had to say also is telling.
Here’s how the BBC described it: “In a livestream, standing beside her husband’s empty chair that he used during podcast tapings, Mrs. Kirk quoted the Bible and spoke about his love for President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, the US and the couple’s two children. The broadcast, from Turning Point USA’s headquarters in Arizona, began with several minutes of silence, as the camera was fixed on the empty chair. As his widow started speaking, she looked upwards and whispered a silent prayer.”
Here’s how ABC News described it: “Erika Kirk thanked first responders and investigators, as well as President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, for their support in the wake of the fatal shooting on Wednesday. ‘Mr. President, my husband loved you, and he knew that you loved him, too,’ Erika Kirk said, fighting back tears. ‘He did. Your friendship was amazing. You supported him so well, as did he for you.’”
Erika Kirk also declared her husband’s message and memory will carry on.
“My husband’s voice will remain,” she said.
She also said: “To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die. It won’t, I refuse to let that happen. … All of us will refuse to let that happen. No one will ever forget my husband’s name, and I will make sure of it.”
“The movement my husband built will not die. It won’t, I refuse to let that happen.”
Carrying on her husband’s caustic tradition, she spoke of the “evil-doers” who opposed her husband.
“You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife; the cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry,” she said.
And the “evil-doers,” she said, “should all know this: If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before you have no idea, you have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world.”
History predicts a different outcome, however. As pastor Joel Bowman wrote for us, Charlie Kirk was no Martin Luther King. Today, even conservatives quote King and try to appropriate his famous speeches. It is doubtful anyone in the future will quote Kirk for any reason other than to advance MAGA talking points. There was gospel behind King’s words. But there was no gospel behind Kirk’s words.
Consider also the legacy of Jerry Falwell Sr. and Billy Graham.
Graham’s legacy has been dragged through the mud by his son, Franklin Graham, who is more like Charlie Kirk than like his father. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association continues but with much less influence today.
Falwell’s legacy also has been handicapped by his son Jerry Falwell Jr., who managed to get himself fired as president of the university his father founded. However, the Moral Majority gained traction well beyond Falwell Sr. as its spokesman and spawned dozens of like-minded groups. And Liberty University, like most institutions of higher education, easily transcended the life of its founder.
What will become of Turning Point USA now? Charlie Kirk was the face and the substance of this organization. There is no heir apparent, no familial heir, no one visible who has the same charismatic persona.
Erika Kirk may wish her husband’s legacy to live forever, but the odds are against that.
Related articles:
Charlie Kirk was no King | Opinion by Joel Bowman
The morning after an assassination | Opinion by Mark Wingfield
How Charlie Kirk went from college dropout to Trump influencer | Analysis by Mara Richards Bim
Listening to young adults explain their love for Charlie Kirk | Opinion by Rebecca Johnson