Charlie Kirk
September 21, 2025
Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Forever ~
As tragic as Charlie Kirk’s passing was, I wasn’t going to say anything about it, as I don’t know that I had anything to say that wasn’t already being said elsewhere. However, it has become such a major story, and so many of you have asked me for my thoughts, some insight into it, and some acknowledgement of it, that I decided to reflect on it here.
Amongst other things, democracy is predicated on the presumption that: all citizens are equal, freedom of speech and assembly, and that everyone will accept the outcome of an election and abide by it. Where these things don’t exist, you don’t have a democracy.
Sustainable democracies (republics), true ones anyway, are only possible in the first place because the people in that democracy are believing and practicing Christians. No other democracy in the history of the world has survived beyond its founding except those whose citizens were Christians. Democracies in Islamic countries (if allowed) are shams (Egypt, Turkey, Iran, etc.), as are those of communist nations (China, the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, etc.), or even Hindu India, just ask Fr. Bala (have some time on your hands). The reason for that is that Christians believe in the natural law, or put another way, reality. As long as the vast majority of citizens in a given state believe in the natural law then they can work together to find common cause in governance. John Adams, one of the founders of this nation, stated that “America's possible because it is a religious nation (i.e., Christian).” Because Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and life,” to live apart from Him must mean the opposite: being lost, false, and dead.
Alexis de Tocqueville, a French statesman, visited the United States in the early 1800’s to explore what it was that made America successful. He discovered that the success of this country, or the reason why it could even exist as a democracy when all attempts to the same in Europe had failed, was that Americans went to church on Sunday. He stated that if that ever ends, then the American experiment will end as well.
America, indeed, the whole world, has seemingly rejected God. While the majority of Americans may claim they're Christians, the reality is they live no differently than atheists. The problem with that, when it comes to maintaining a civilization, is that the rejection of God doesn't lead to the merely natural, but rather to the unnatural and diabolical. Civilization could maintain itself if its citizens believed in, and acted upon, the laws of nature, but not if they reject nature; not if they reject reality. What happened to the ancient civilizations of Greece, Rome, Carthage, Inca, Aztec, etc.? Without the truth of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, they couldn’t stay united and committed to the laws of human nature as revealed in the ten commandments. But for the Romans, they didn’t even know them.
For the moment, Charlie Kirk’s assassination has brought a great deal of Americans to a point of reflection upon our nation, democracy, and yes, God. For many, Charlie’s death was a pivotal moment, a Pearl Harbor or 9/11, that this nation, indeed the world, is at war: a war for truth, goodness, and beauty over the forces of falsehood, evil, and ugliness. If the latter continues to prevail, then this nation is lost.
The three attributes of God are truth, goodness, and beauty. Hence, Satan and all of hell, do their best to win everyone over to their opposites: falsehood, evil and ugliness–and so far–they are winning. Pope Saint John Paul II called this global state of things “the culture of death.” So far, the avatars of this mindset have succeeded in getting a majority of Americans to believe:
1. That marriage and children are not necessary for the survival of the human race
2. That internet pornography should be legal, and of course, in the hands of every kid who has a smart phone, which is about all of them
3. That separating the sexual act from procreation through contraception is just common sense
4. That the mass murder of defenseless babies, as long as they are in the womb, is just
5. That men can be women and women can be men
6. That children can be mutilated by their parents and the state to change their gender
7. That our nation must celebrate and promote the normalization of sodomy with parades and dedicate a whole month to it
8. That our entire educational establishment, entertainment industry, news media, and courts should promote all of the above!
Anyone who disagrees with any of this, faces silencing in one way or another, such as:
1. Being mocked, shamed, slandered, called: right wing, far right, racist, homophobic, a fascist or nazi – if that doesn’t do the trick, then
2. Being shouted down, having social media accounts flagged or removed, or fired from their employment. If that doesn’t work,
3. Then they may face litigation or incarceration. Some very famous examples, though it may be uncomfortable for some, include among an exhaustive list:
A. The extensive litigation filed against candidate Donald Trump prior to the national election, made America look like any other tin pot “democracy” trying to take down a political opponent.
B. Many of the January 6 protestors [which was an ugly day in American history] were in jail for over a year without any charges being brought against them!
C. Pro-lifers praying across the street from an abortion clinic, and doing nothing more, being jailed.
4. If none of the above works to silence those who disagree with the culture of death, then they are to be murdered.
Young people and the mentally ill don’t know how to process all this and some of them threaten people, assault people, stab innocent people on trains, shoot up schools and churches, and attempt to assassinate political figures. Where does it all end?
Almost all of us hope things get better from here; that because of Charlie’s death, we’ll have less violence. However, unless the underlying culture of death is overcome with the culture of life, then more death is naturally to be expected.
How do we overcome the culture of death? Answer – Jesus Christ: the Way, the Truth, and the Life – and His truth, goodness, and beauty. All good things are possible for God.
We need to take our Christianity seriously, practice it, and even try to be holy. Then we need to speak up in charity, in love, to convert those who embrace falsehoods, evil, and ugliness. Charlie Kirk didn’t hate the people he engaged, he loved them, that’s why he heroically engaged them. He tried to help them to see “the light,” ultimately the Light of Christ, which no darkness can overcome; to see the falsehood, evil, and ugliness of the things many Americans unreflexively believe in, the things I’ve listed above, a culture of death. We need to help people become practicing Catholic Christians who stand up for their faith, amongst both family members and strangers. To save ourselves, others, and America by the private and public practice of our Catholic faith.
1500 years ago, the Roman Empire collapsed for good. During the Dark Ages that followed, civilization came to a standstill, in many ways it ended. All that was left for the people of Western Europe was the Catholic Church. At the end of the day, God gave His divine guarantee not to any nation, democracy, or political party, but the Catholic Church: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church and gates of hell will not prevail against it.” – Jesus. (Mt. 16:18)
Jesus Christ wins in the end, evil loses. God wins. Truth, goodness, and beauty win in the end, yet Our Lord is calling us to defend and share it. If we do, then our loved ones and America can still be saved.
May Almighty God Bless You,
Father Thomas Nathe
