Charlie Kirk and September 11
By: Deji Yesufu
It has been a very hectic one-week period for our world. Tuesday, September 8th, 2025, two gunmen enter a public bus on the outskirts of Jerusalem and kill six Israelis in obvious retaliation for Israel’s military actions in Gaza and other parts of the Middle East. The leadership of Hamas claimed responsibility for this attack. The following day, September 9th, Israeli fighter jets invaded the sovereign nation of Qatar and killed five leaders of Hamas who were discussing the terms of releasing hostages from Gaza to bring an end to the war. Israel explains that the attack was retaliation for the killings the previous day on their land. We were still reeling from all these news, only to wake up to hear that an American conservative speaker, Charlie Kirk, had been gunned down by an unknown shooter midafternoon of the 10th of September. Kirk was holding his usual speaking engagement with students at a university in Utah. The media describes Kirk as “right-wing” and might be suggesting that his political views may have been what had instigated his assassination. There is still a manhunt for his killer as I write this. Today, following all these events, is the 24th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
All of these came on the backdrop of a provocative article I had written, which I titled “Israel is Fighting a Just War”. I have gotten two very interesting responses to that article. The first person is a Christian who claimed to have been a member of the Christ Embassy Church, but who no longer associates with the church. He explained that my article was ill-informed and stated that I reached conclusions that were regrettable. The second person is a Muslim. He took umbrage with me on the fact that I dared to identify with a genocidal regime (Israel). He said that America is the leading exporter of terrorists to the world, and whatever America gets, America deserves. I tried to explain to the two men that the real issue here is militant Islam. I tried to show them that at the root of Islam is a deep-rooted antisemitism and that even if the Jews were to do nothing in reaction to all the terrorist attacks on their country, they would still be unsafe. The two men tried to convince me that modern Jews are not the biblical Jews. They said that the Jews are just as anti-Christian as any other religious group that opposes Christians. Therefore, it is a waste of valuable time trying to stand in defense of the Jews and whatever they may be doing. I want to use the death of Charlie Kirk to explain what is at the heart of a true progressive, modern, and civilized society, and why certain ideologies are antithetical to what has made our world what it is today. What I share with the Jews may not be a common faith, but a commitment to these ideals of a civilized society.
Charlie Kirk was killed because he not only hold certain political and religious views, but he also proclaimed those views without fear. Whether our world appreciates it or not, we must understand that the United States of America is the biggest influence on world culture and politics today. What America believes will inform what the rest of the world holds dear. In the last thirty years, a certain anti-religious idea began to pervade the American landscape, and this idea thrived on America’s greatest strength – freedom. America holds the position that every man has a right to freedom of ideas, religion, and conscience. This philosophy of freedom is what has given rise to the flourishing of a marketplace of ideas, where the best ideas reign. American ideas are also closely connected to the political atmosphere of that country. It means that the political party in power and the person at the seat of government will decide what the majority of the American people will believe. America will allow you to share your thoughts, and it will give liberty to people to hold those ideas. In the past twenty years, however, something began to happen. A leftist anti-Christian idea began to reign in the United States. It was promoted by Barack Obama, and it took a permanent seat in the days of Joe Biden. The problem was not with the holding of these ideas – remember that America permits all kinds of ideas to reign. The problem was that these leftists began to prohibit everyone who opposed their ideas from speaking. It is what brought about the cancel culture that began to reign on Twitter before Elon Musk bought that social media space. The left lost the battle with Donald Trump coming to power, but their penchant to silence opposing views is what made one of them attempt a near-assassination of President Trump. And it is this very mentality that has led to the killing of Charlie Kirk yesterday.
What do all these have to do with September 11? On September 11, 2001, exactly twenty-four years ago, the world came face to face with militant Islam. It will interest many to know that militant Islam and militant leftists are bedfellows. They have a common enemy, and that enemy is freedom. They have a rabid fear of people expressing opinions other than theirs, and they will do everything to silence all opposing views. Their silencing of the opposition could range from personal attacks, criticism, death threats, and, in some cases, assassinations. They believe that if people are given the freedom to choose what views they might wish to espouse, these people will take the wrong path. They forget that God, our creator, has given every man a will and we all have the liberty to use that will whichever way we please. Even many Christian traditions have not been able to appreciate the liberty that the Christian message has given to men. Jesus Christ calls all men to listen to the truth and to make informed decisions regarding what they wish to do with the information they have. The blessing of adult life is that you and I will make decisions today, and we must live with the consequences of those decisions tomorrow. It is bondage to insist that grown men must do what you command them to do. This might have been permitted under the feudal system of the past, but in the days of civilization and modernity, all men must decide what they wish to use their lives for. The best we can do is to go to the marketplace of ideas and sell our ideas to all men, and we must rest content with allowing the best ideas to win. This is what has made America a great country, and this is the future of the modern world.
Charlie Kirk was just thirty-one years old. His wife is also very young, and the oldest of his two children would be about three years old. He was one of the biggest supporters of President Trump, and one news commentary claimed that he practically won the state of Arizona for Donald Trump. He was supposed to have been given an office in the cabinet of Trump, but they concluded that his work with the “Turning Point USA” was more important than any work he could do at the White House. Kirk will go into American Universities and debate leftist ideologies. In the process, he had helped to change many students’ mindset and helped them to appreciate a more conservative worldview and even consider the Christian message. Kirk was in the middle of answering a question on transgenderism – pointing at the fact that his Christian worldview abhors such thinking, when he was suddenly shot in the neck. He died a little less than two hours after that time.
When I write that “Israel is Fighting a Just War”, I am positing the idea that modern civilization thrives in an atmosphere of freedom. As we raise our children, one of the best gifts we can give them is the freedom to be themselves and to think for themselves. We must help our children to appreciate the fact that what they hold as beliefs will inform what they do in life, and what they do in life comes with consequences. Similarly, every person in our world must have the liberty to listen to ideas – to accept or reject them. When the state begins to force on people what religion or political ideology they must espouse, you have bondage. And where there is bondage, there can’t be a marketplace for ideas, and the best ideas will not flourish. This will bring regression to society instead of civilization and progress.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached at [email protected]
Share this: