Remembering Charlie Kirk: Reflections on His Life and Legacy

Personal reflections on Charlie Kirk’s life, assassination, faith, courage and his legacy inspiring a new generation

Discovering Charlie Kirk

I hadn’t heard of Charlie Kirk before this year so, in some ways, it feels strange that I’ve felt profoundly affected by his death. He was only slightly on my radar: I knew he was a young American conservative who seemed like a good guy, and that was about it. I first came across him on YouTube; I watched part of his debate at the Oxford Union and watched an interview he did with GB News during his visit to the UK in May. He was speaking particularly about free speech (or the lack of it) in the UK and I remember being struck when he said that he and his team were trying to get the US State department involved in the Lucy Connolly case. He talks about this in the following video:

Charlie Kirk YouTube video, 23 May 2025 ‘The UK Has Fallen, I Saw It Myself’:

My 17-year-old son, however, knew a lot more than me about Charlie and had been following him on social media for some time, listening to lots of his talks and watching videos of him debating students.

The New Media Conference

In August, I went to the New Media Conference in London, organised by Mahyar Tousi of TousiTV. One of the guests there was Jack Ross, CEO of Turning Point UK, taking part in a group discussion on stage entitled, ‘From Views to Votes: Can you mobilise voters through new media?’ He came across as a gentle, thoughtful, intelligent young man and it was interesting to hear his views on the topic.

Jack Ross is second from the left in this photo:

Another guest at the conference was Andy Ngo, an American journalist, who spoke on a panel about media bias. He’s also an impressive man - articulate, softly spoken, and very sharp.

Andy Ngo is second on the right in this photo:

I’ve written a full post about attending the New Media Conference, which you can read here. It was an impactful day for me and I frequently think back to my time there.

At the end of the conference, my son and I headed to the Turning Point UK stand to buy a Make Britain Great Again hat. Jack Ross was there, and we had a brief chat with him. I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t connected the dots and realised they were linked to Turning Point in the US. So when I asked what the organisation did and he asked if we’d heard of Charlie Kirk, I said no. My son said something like, “Oh yes, he’s great.” Jack explained that Turning Point UK promoted conservative and Christian values and were involved in street protests around the country. I didn’t realise until my son and I spoke later, after we’d left, that Charlie Kirk was the man I’d seen in the videos. I didn’t really think about him much after that.

Encountering Andy Ngo’s Work

A couple of weeks later, I stumbled across some posts by Andy Ngo on Substack. I was intrigued as I’d heard him speak at the conference. I started to read some of his content and discovered that he writes mainly about Antifa and extreme elements of the trans activist movement and their links to violence and mass shootings in America. It was alarming to read just how extremist these groups are in the US. I recommend Andy’s Substack if you want to keep up with the latest on Antifa in America. He’s also the author of the book, ‘Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Plan To Destroy Democracy’.

I learned about how Andy’s own life has been negatively impacted by Antifa. In one post he explained he’d had to move away from his home town due to death threats. I was shocked to read how this gentleman with a brilliant mind had been beaten up twice and nearly killed, on one occasion suffering a brain haemorrhage (see link below):

I couldn’t comprehend why anyone would want to kill him. It’s clear it’s because he writes about them and exposes them, but to have that level of hate towards someone I find hard to get my head around. We have similar groups operating in the UK, but to my knowledge they don’t resort to the same level of violence and extremism as in the US. I hope they never will. It’s good that President Trump has now declared Antifa a terrorist organisation. So has Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Hungary.

The Day of the Assassination

Then, on 10 September 2025, Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I watched Mahyar Tousi reporting on the event on TousiTV from his honeymoon in America, having just got married days earlier. He was visibly distraught because Charlie was his friend and he was having to report on this appalling event. At first he reported that he’d just been injured but, not long after, there was confirmation that he’d died. My heart sank and I felt a sense of shock followed by despair.

Mahyar Tousi report breaking the news of Charlie Kirk being shot:

My thoughts went back to meeting Jack Ross at the New Media Conference and how he’d mentioned Turning Point UK’s link to Turning Point US. I thought of what he and his colleagues must now be feeling, and how Mahyar Tousi and others at the conference who knew Charlie must have been impacted. It was terrible that a good man who simply wanted to spread good through free speech, debating, ideas and Christian values had been killed.

A Christian Martyr

Then again, Jesus died on the cross - an innocent man and God in human form killed despite never doing anything wrong. In some ways, we shouldn’t really be surprised when something similar happens to a Christian. If it happened to the Master then it’s possible that it will happen to his followers too. On one level it seems crazy but we live in a world that is at times very dark. Christians will face hatred, violence and in some cases death in this world. We see many examples of that throughout history and today. Charlie Kirk is a modern-day Christian martyr.

Tributes and Erika’s Forgiveness

Over the next few days, I followed the aftermath and dissection of the assassination online and I was amazed by the global impact of Charlie Kirk’s death. I saw countless tributes on social media from people whose lives had been changed by him: often young people who had turned to Jesus, began reading the Bible or turned away from harmful paths as a result of some of the things they’d heard Charlie Kirk say. He helped many people, especially young people, turn their lives around and live good lives. His message, like Christ’s, was one of love, forgiveness, purpose and hope.

This post is an example of a young man whose life was impacted by Charlie Kirk:

davidjharrisjr

A post shared by @davidjharrisjr

I’ve also been struck by the beauty, courage and strength of Erika Kirk, Charlie’s wife. She’s a truly inspiring and faithful Christian woman, who advocates for the Christian faith and marriage, emphasising how parenting is the most important job in the world.

It’s heart-breaking that she and their 2 children were present when Charlie was shot. How she has coped with grieving and dealing with his death publicly while caring for her children is a testament to her faith and strength.

Her speech at the US Memorial for Charlie Kirk on Sunday 21 September was extremely moving. She was so composed and spoke with such wisdom and love. It was an incredibly powerful moment when she declared that she forgave her husband’s killer.

You can watch this moment here:

You can watch Erika’s full speech here:

Turning Point UK’s Response

On the same day, I watched some of the Charlie Kirk Memorial in Hyde Park, London on YouTube. Turning Point UK CEO, Jack Ross, spoke, along with others including Nick Tenconi, COO of Turning Point UK. He’s an excellent speaker who puts the restoration of the UK as a Christian nation at the heart of what he says and does. Both men spoke powerfully about faith, Conservative and Christian values, Charlie’s life and death, and the challenges they face as an organisation and as individuals, including receiving death threats.

Echoing this, Jack had said in a recent GB News interview that, due to the increased risk to his life since Charlie’s assassination, he now wears a bulletproof vest and requires security when he’s out and about.

You can hear Jack talk about this in the GB News interview, from 3 mins 41 secs in:

Despite the risks they face and inspired by Charlie Kirk, Turning Point UK want to relaunch chapters in British universities, even though the first time around they were met with immense hostility leading to failure. They’ve had thousands of people express interest in getting involved in their mission which is very encouraging.

You can watch Jack talking about this at 7 mins 44 secs in the video above and also, at 18 mins 13 secs in the following video:

At 1 hr 13 mins 08 secs in the following video, Nick Tenconi, Chief Operating Officer of Turning Point UK gives a speech:

At 2 hrs 6 mins 39 secs of the same video, Nick Tenconi speaks more about the legacy of Charlie Kirk and the impact of his life and death, at one point saying:

“Charlie gave us the mindset, the bravery and the hope through logic, words, reason, and an awful lot of kindness, Christian teaching and courage and biblical lessons to say actually you can defeat the Left. You use words, you expose them for who and what they are, and now he’s been destroyed for that. That makes him a hero. That makes him one of the bravest men ever to have existed on the Christian nationalist conservative right. And as far as I’m concerned, it makes him a Christian martyr.”

It’s hard to fathom that Charlie Kirk lost his life simply for his peaceful beliefs and that these brave people continue to face intense opposition for those very same beliefs.

Andy Ngo Under Threat

Talking of death threats, Andy Ngo has recently posted a couple of posts on his Substack, where he talks about the current death threats he’s facing from Antifa extremists in America in the wake of Charlie’s assasination. One of them created a list of people they want to target, and having crossed Charlie off, Andy is one of the next in line.

See ‘Kill Andy Ngo’ Substack post: https://substack.com/@mrandyngo/p-174298715

Andy has also spoken about some of the possible motives of Charlie Kirk’s killer, Tyler Robinson, in the following article in The Free Press, ‘Understanding Tyler Robinson’s Motives’:

Understanding Tyler Robinson’s Motives

Faith, Hope, and God’s Peace

The world has been reeling from Charlie Kirk’s ever since 10 September. I’ve heard people quote Romans 8:28 and I think that’s a comforting verse for these times. It doesn’t gloss over the difficulties and pain of such a dire situation but rather it reminds us that God can bring good out of bad:

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”.

God is able to transform and use every circumstance to bring about good. We see already that, in the wake of this terrible tragedy, light is breaking through. Erika Kirk’s forgiveness, the growth of faith among young people and the renewed courage of Turning Point UK are all signs of God bringing good out of evil.

Another example of goodness is Erika Kirk’s decision to continue running Turning Point US and the various different branches of Charlie’s work. Her composure, calmness and courage as she shared this news on Charlie’s YouTube channel are, in my view, testament to ‘the peace of God, which transcends all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7). She said:

“And so, what I’m getting at here is the Charlie Kirk show is not going anywhere. My husband’s voice will live on. The show will go on. We will have rotating hosts, rotating casts, rotating people coming on. … We will have consistency. The members only group will continue to go on. All of his socials that God has blessed us with, the people who follow those socials will go on.”

You can watch the full video here:

Erika Kirk’s Big Announcement + Personal Stories of Charlie as a Husband and Father:

Personal Reflections on Faith

Charlie Kirk’s death has made me reflect on my own faith. I became a Christian at 23 after various challenges in my life. Then, a car accident in 2016 and ongoing post-concussion syndrome as a result, rocked my faith and tested it but I’ve never lost it. Today, it’s strong again.

This tragedy has made me ask myself a number of questions, including: Am I living out my faith as well as I could? Is there anything missing? What’s my next step for growth? In recent years, I’ve struggled to find a local church where I felt spiritually at home but, in the last few weeks, I’ve found a couple of good ones where the Gospel is preached and I’m currently praying about which one I should go to.

I was really encouraged to hear the brilliant Hanna of Hanna’s World UK talk recently about her own Christian faith. Her videos are hilarious, especially the ones about the helplines. I hadn’t realised she was a Christian until one of her videos popped into my IG feed where she says that people are coming to faith and rediscovering God and wanting to step up how they live their faith out in the world. She wrote in her post:

“I was once trapped in darkness - addiction, lies, sin … but the Word of God rewired my whole life. Reading the Bible cover to cover changed everything. I’m nearly a year sober because of His grace.
“This is the moment. Don’t sit it out. Get involved. Pick up the Bible and let God change your life.”

You can watch the full video here:

hannasworlduk

A post shared by @hannasworlduk

A Legacy That Lives On

I find it extraordinary that one man’s life, thousands of miles away, has touched the lives of so many people around the world, including me. I’ve been encouraged to take new steps in my faith. It’s inspiring to see so many people, especially young people, reignited in their faith, and it’s uplifting to hear that many thousands have contacted Turning Point in the US and UK to offer to help set up new chapters in colleges and universities and continue Charlie’s work.

Let me know in the Comments how Charlie Kirk’s life or death has affected you in any way. I think it’s very hard not to be touched by his story and I’d love to hear your experience.