Charlie Kirk was murdered in cold blood this week—as he sat on a stage defending the very thing his killer hate: free speech.
As many of us who have spent the last five years defending our bodily and mental freedoms, it made me think long and hard about how we get to a point where someone is killed for their words.
The obvious answer is just that they couldn’t beat him in a debate. They couldn’t match his energy, his reach, or the fire he lit in the hearts of young Americans.
They couldn’t destroy his ideas, so they destroyed him. They didn’t just cancel Charlie—they killed him. Silenced him in the most permanent, brutal way.
But it has to be deeper than this, surely? And I think it is, and that deep underlying truth is terrifying. I believe that the underlying hatred that resulted in a man's death stems from his Christian faith and the colour of his skin. All of his ideas, ideas that the so-called ‘liberal’ left detested, were clearly and unashamedly embedded in his Christian faith.
The very values on which the West was built are seen as threatening by those who hate Judeo-Christian society. One who believes in family, tradition, and marriage. One that believes in raising strong kids in a free society rooted in faith and values. One who prefers conceived children to be born and for marriage to exist between a man and woman.
Christianity, however, is not the only religion to believe in these fundamental core values. Islam has the same interpretations of their holy book; in fact, on some strands, it is even less flexible.
No major Islamic school of thought endorses same-sex relationships or same-sex marriage, for example. Charlie was constantly criticised for his view that homosexuality was not acceptable within his faith-based world.
But this criticism was targeted at Charlie and other high-profile Christians who were different to many expressing the same view. The difference was that they were Christians and White. Hear me out.
Charlie Kirk was guilty of today's two worst crimes: being Christian and white - Renee Hoenderkamp
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I am convinced that Charlie was guilty of two crimes : being a committed Christian and being white. And worse, he was proud of it, proud of his culture, his religion, his values, not ashamed of them. That, today, is a crime.
Let's look at the evidence for this statement. This hatred for religious values is selective. When Kate Forbes ran for leadership of the SNP, her Christian faith was picked up by those looking to derail her campaign, and the attacks became so violent that she decided, for her sanity and for her family, to step aside.
Ironically, Humza Yousaf, her main opponent, was a Muslim man who proudly follows a religion which shares many of the same values, and yet he went unchallenged and took the SNP leadership role. Not a mention of Islam’s stance on the same issues.
Then there was Tim Farron, another white Christian man in a public role. During the 2017 election campaign, Farron was repeatedly pressed by journalists on whether he believed homosexuality was a sin.
His hesitancy fuelled media speculation and criticism. Eventually, he clarified that he did not hold such views and supported same-sex marriage, but the damage was done. Similar questions arose about abortion, with Farron seen to hesitate too long on a firm answer. He was forced to step down.
Rob Flello was another victim of this selective outrage. After a successful career as a Labour MP, he moved to the Lib Dems.
Shortly after his selection, he was dramatically deselected over party concerns over his opposition to same-sex marriage and his Catholic stance on abortion, which apparently ‘clashed with the party’s progressive policies’.
David Campanale was another sacrifice to the progressives, and despite having been a party activist for the Lib Dems for 40 years, when he was selected for a seat, he suddenly faced opposition from a vocal group of Lib Dem members and LGBT activists who objected to his practising Christian worldview, particularly his pro-life stance and traditional views on family and marriage.
There are so many examples of Christians pushed out of public life for their beliefs. All white. All silenced. Meanwhile, Black pastors across America preach the same messages daily to online audiences of millions.
Muslim leaders across the West, particularly in the UK, hold office without backlash. Their values are often identical. But they’re not targeted like this. They get a free pass due to the religion's name and the followers' skin colour.
Sadiq Khan, Hamza Yousef, Shabana Mahmood, Anas Sawar, Yasmin Qureshi, Baroness Warsi… I could go on. There’s a pattern here — one we must confront: If you're white and Christian, you’re not just unwelcome in public life. You’re a threat. You must be silenced. We see this extending to the open hostility to Jewish leaders in politics and business.
Again, similar family values, although ironically, Israel is the most liberal and accepting society when it comes to the LGBT+ community and the only democracy in the Middle East!
We have to accept that certain sections of Western society are under attack. Those that represent the original order that formed and enabled that very society that allows us the freedom of thought and action that we cherish, and we need to say no. We need to be proud to be Christian, proud to be white, and we must take our messages to society and define them.
We must explain and convince the young and old that faith is good, meaningful and fulfilling, because it is. The reasons behind the ideas that underpin Christianity form rules that are the glue of society.
Of course, there is room to be accepting of everyone, but that doesn’t mean capitulation and being forced into the shadows. And the reason that the ‘progressives’ are so hostile to Christianity is that they are threatened by ideas and beliefs.
Their determination to break up society can only be achieved if they break it away from Christianity, and they don’t have the ability to debate their way to the top, so they bully and, at worst, they kill.
Charlie Kirk is gone. But what he stood for—faith, truth, courage—must not be.