Charlie Kirk’s memorial service was a historic event. Some estimates suggest as many as 200,000 people attended in person. The NFL’s State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona was packed, and the overflow crowd filled the NHL’s Desert Diamond Arena. President Trump, Vice President Vance, multiple cabinet secretaries, and Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, spoke to the massive audience in Arizona, and millions more online and on TV.
This was more than just a funeral. Incredibly, a divided and hurting nation witnessed five hours of uncensored worship and praise. History’s judgment about the impact of an event requires the perspective of time to take shape.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk had already hit millions of Americans like a thunderbolt. The celebration of Jesus Christ at Charlie’s memorial service has added to the significance of this moment.
Some conclusions on the last few weeks come to mind immediately.
Beginning in the early 1960s, the Christian faith has been pushed out of the public square and marginalized. God and the Bible were taken out of our schools by Supreme Court rulings with disastrous results for our children. One of the most significant provisions in our Constitution—government cannot interfere in the church—has been twisted by radical secularists into demands that the church and Christians stay out of government. We just saw in Arizona dozens of prominent Americans, many of them elected government officials, praise the name of Jesus Christ. The “public square” on Sunday belonged to followers of Christ. We must continue to occupy it and let no one push us out.
Children who have been taught virtually nothing about America’s real history saw the gospel proclaimed for hours on the public airwaves. It’s going to be difficult to push Christians back into the closet. Vice President J.D. Vance said, “I have talked more about Jesus Christ in the past two weeks than my entire time in public life.”1 He is not alone.
Second, much of the service’s oratory was a challenge to the American church to stop watering down the gospel. Instead, we must boldly present it. That’s exactly what Charlie Kirk did in one of the most hostile forums in America—our secular, globalist, Marxist-dominated universities. He went into those “lions’ dens” and presented a pure, undiluted Christian message. He rejected the watered-down, “woke” gospel that has been so trendy in recent years. If he had diluted God’s Word, it is doubtful we would know Chalie Kirk’s name. He would have changed no hearts, touched no souls, attracted no crowds. His legacy would have faded to nothing. His boldness was key to his success.
Third, Charlie Kirk challenged another major myth/fallacy in the church today: the idea that Christians can’t present the gospel and be active citizens involved in our public debates and elections. He believed, as we do at JDFI, that Christian citizens are essential to saving America. Our Founding Fathers believed that, too. Today, in every election, our religious liberty, our constitutional rights, the sanctity of life, and the future of our children are all on the ballot.
Charlie Kirk cared about Christian citizenship more than anything, other than the gospel itself.
In 2024, Charlie Kirk spoke at JDFI’s The Gathering. He shared deeply disturbing information. He had just received polling results suggesting the upcoming election would have the lowest involvement of Christians in modern American history. He was astonished and horrified that Christians either could not see what was at stake or just did not care. He urged us to do everything we could, talk to everyone we knew, and communicate with our pastors to wake up the church. At the memorial service near Phoenix, voter registration was a major priority of Turning Point USA.
Finally, Charlie Kirk’s memorial service was a direct challenge to the culture of death that has engulfed our country. The most prominent aspect is the celebration of the destruction of innocent human life through abortion on demand. We saw just how deep the culture of death is when the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, thus ending the fiction that a right to kill preborn children was in our Constitution. Pro-abortion demonstrators screamed in the streets of our cities. They spat on those who were seen praying. Pro-death radicals banged on the doors of the Supreme Court. Churches and pro-life ministries were vandalized and firebombed in the weeks that followed. All because the most important thing on Satan’s agenda—the killing of innocent life—was being rolled back. A transgender “wannabe” assassin flew from California to Washington, D.C., with the intent to kill Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh.
The same forces were at work after Charlie Kirk’s bloody assassination. Many of those on social media celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder were young women. What would explain such callous and hateful behavior? American women have been told for over fifty years that destroying their preborn child, their own flesh and blood, was a sacred “constitutional right.” The abortion industry has urged women to “celebrate” their abortions. God help us.
Dr. James Dobson shared Charlie Kirk’s vision for America. The James Dobson Family Institute is committed to the values Charlie Kirk lived and died for—the values of faith, family, and freedom. With your continued prayers and support, JDFI will honor the lives and legacies of Dr. James Dobson and Charlie Kirk every day as we point people to Christ, work for stronger families, and fight to preserve our freedom.
1. J. D. Vance, “VP Vance on Charlie Kirk’s legacy, speaks at memorial, LiveNOW from Fox, September 21, 2025, YouTube. Accessed September 22, 2025, 18:50, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOV2yoORZYQ.
