A new survey in the US reveals the impact of Charlie’s death – and Erika is all class in an interview with the New York Times with her comments on forgiveness, social media and the importance of family and motherhood.
Show script:
Erika Kirk – the widow of Charlie Kirk – recently did an interview with the New York Times and I want to play you just a couple of excerpts from that.
But before I do, Barna Group is a Christian research organization that provides data and insights on the trends affecting faith, culture and ministry today.
And they’ve just released a new survey which reveals the spiritual impact of Charlie Kirk’s death.
According to the survey
Barna surveyed 5,003 U.S. adults roughly two months after Kirk’s death. While most Americans were familiar with Kirk before his passing, the data reveals his killing has sparked a wave of reflection and action, particularly among the younger generations he had worked to reach and among practicing Christians.
The survey found that more than eight out of ten Americans knew of Charlie Kirk before his death, with 15 percent saying they followed him very closely. Overall, just one-third of Americans said they followed Kirk very or somewhat closely.
The survey showed that younger generations were more familiar with Charlie Kirk. Among Gen Z, 40 percent reported following Kirk very or somewhat closely before his death, with Millennials showing similar engagement at 41 percent. Practicing Christians across all age groups also showed the highest engagement, with 47 percent following his work.
They then asked what their response was after Charlie’s assassination, and whether they’d taken any action.
71 percent of U.S. adults said they had not. However, among those who did act, (29% – that’s almost a third) spiritual responses dominated. Eighteen percent reported taking a spiritual action, while just 5 percent took a political action. Another 6 percent said they had taken both.
These responses were most pronounced among younger Americans and practicing Christians. Among Gen Z, 28 percent reported taking a spiritual action and 13 percent indicated taking a political action—proportions matched by Millennials. Among practicing Christians, 40 percent took spiritual action and 13 percent chose political action since Kirk’s passing.
That is quite an incredible response.
Perhaps you’re aware of even people in New Zealand who took spiritual action since the death of Charlie.
And finally they asked respondents what they thought might be the potential outcomes of Charlie’s death and whether it would be a positive or negative impact.
Note the top line that I’ve circled in yellow.
The clearest consensus emerged around Christianity among younger Americans, with 47 percent predicting a positive impact compared to just 19 percent expecting a negative one.
It also reported
Two areas showed nearly even splits between positive and negative expectations for Kirk’s impact: the ability to have civil political conversations and ending gun violence.
Americans were more pessimistic about two other dimensions. They expected negative impacts on politics in America generally and cooperation between conservatives and liberals.
Gen Z respondents were particularly likely to expect negative impacts on political cooperation, American politics broadly, and civil discourse.
But you’ll note down the right hand column that I’ve circled in orange that practicing Christians held markedly much more positive
Seventy-one percent believed Kirk’s passing would positively impact Christianity among younger Americans, with only 11 percent viewing it negatively. They also expressed more optimism across all other dimensions.
So the impact of Charlie’s death continues.
But as part of this McBlog, I also want to play you a couple of clips from a recent interview that Erika Kirk did with the New York Times DealBook Summit.
To be honest, she was all class and integrity. Given what she has been through, even more so.
Her first comments were around forgiving the assassin, and how did she manage to do that
She was then asked about social media and how she copes with that – given some of the appalling and offensive commentary that is said about her on there at the moment.
Her response is pure class. And you’ll hear some reference to some social media that Turning Point posted on Thanksgiving Day that included Erika walking past all the cards and communications that have been sent to her since her husband’s death.
She wrote on the post “It’s easy to fixate on what’s been taken, at what’s missing. But my goodness does the Lord meet me in my weakness, and His strength gently shifts my eyes to what I still have on this side of heaven. What remains is sacred.”
And finally some important words around family, not delaying having family, the importance of motherhood, and why women should depend on family, not the state. And this was in relation to the fact that the left wing socialist Mayor of New York received a lot of support from younger female voters.
And then some final words on family again
As you can see and hear, Erika is all class.
Given what she has suffered this year, she fully deserves our respect and love, and our prayers for her and the children.
Rest in peace Charlie. Well done, good and faithful servant.
