Dr. BJ Condrey

The tragedy of Charlie Kirk is profound on many levels—a lost husband, a lost father of two, and at moments, a lost voice for conservative values and Christian witness. However, and before I go any further, I want to state unequivocally that I did not and do not agree with all of Kirk’s ideas and comments. Far from it. Also, his style was not my style when it comes to debate, etc. Why do I say this? I share this to say that the true tragedy, at least in my estimation, is not the loss of a conservative voice, but the inability of a country to love, value, and engage with those who are different than us. Let’s not talk—let’s silence. This can take many forms, as oppression often does. In this case, it was a bullet.

As I shared yesterday with our church, this is a tragedy that should grieve every heart—whether you’re on the far right or the far left. If it had been Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren instead of Charlie Kirk, the moral weight would be no less.

Before we are political, we are human.

Before we are political, we are American.

And from a Christian standpoint, every person is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26–27; 5:1–2; 9:6). That image may be blurred by sin, but it is not erased. It remains, no matter how far we deviate from that original, perfect, beautiful, moral reality that is ultimately grounded in the nature of God. And that means every person—regardless of gender, sexual orientation, religion, or political affiliation—possesses objective and intrinsic worth. Only Christianity offers a robust metaphysical foundation for such a claim. We can be as different as night and day, but we possess the same value in the eyes of God, and for this reason alone deserve respect.

If you’re a conservative-leaning Christian, I want to ask a serious question: Would you grieve the murder of someone on the far left if they were killed for sharing their views?

This is where our faith must rise above our politics. According to Scripture, a person’s value does not come from their political affiliation or their stance on any given issue.
A person is valuable—period—because they are created by God in His image.

I simply hope that Christians, especially those on the conservative side, can look beyond the surface and recognize that Charlie Kirk’s death is tragic—not just because he championed conservative or religious values, but because he was a human being, made in the image of God. And that alone is reason enough to grieve. Knowing this keeps us in a place where no matter our values, we can grieve the loss of any life even if they shared views opposite our own.

Comedian Dave Chappelle expresses something we’ve tragically lost in America—and something that should be deeply lamented: “Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone, you must agree with everything they believe. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.”

They killed Socrates.

They killed Jesus.

They killed Martin Luther King, Jr.

They killed Charlie Kirk.

In America, freedom means we can share our ideas, challenge one another, and even get angry as we debate. That’s part of a healthy democracy. But violence has no place in that process. In this case, it went too far—someone was shot simply for expressing their views.

I don’t care what your views are—I don’t want you to die.

I don’t want your life to end.

I may strongly oppose your opinion. I may want it to be defeated in the public square of ideas, where we debate what kind of society we want. But I never want you to be destroyed.

God, have mercy on us as a country. We need your mercy. We need your help.