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Calling Charlie Kirk a martyr, conservatives see an opportunity to supercharge the movement the right-wing leader began and to cement conservative Christian values in American life.
Sept. 15, 2025, 5:03 a.m. ET
The vice president escorted Charlie Kirk’s casket home on Air Force Two. Thousands of people across the country gathered at candlelight vigils. A Republican congresswoman called for him to be allowed to lie in honor in the Capitol.
The gestures signal not only how conservatives see Mr. Kirk as a martyr, but also their view that his assassination could be a watershed moment that will propel their cause and cement both conservative and conservative Christian values in American life for decades to come.
Mr. Kirk’s death has “unleashed the dragon,” Luke Barnett, a pastor, told the congregation on Wednesday at Dream City Church in Phoenix, where Mr. Kirk had hosted monthly “Freedom Night in America” events.
He addressed young people specifically. “It is time for you to rise up because of what has happened to Charlie Kirk today,” he said to cheers. “I can just envision, right now, 10,000 Charlie Kirks rising up in campuses right across America, proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ.”
It was a moment not just of mourning but of opportunity, he suggested: “Charlie is gone. Who’s going to fill his place?”
Less than a week after Mr. Kirk was fatally shot at an event at Utah Valley University, the anger and grief remain raw for many across the country, and it’s difficult to predict the long-term political impact of Mr. Kirk’s death amid a highly charged climate.
