Evangelicals are rushing to recognize Charlie Kirk as a martyr to the cause, but it's putting Black evangelicals in a difficult position where they must reconcile some of his statements with their faith.
The Washington Post reported Monday that as White evangelicals herald Kirk as his generation's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and one pastor thinks it's because they're putting their faith in politics above their faith in Jesus Christ.
“I think that their allegiance to their political association trumps their connection to the cross,” Pastor Jamal Bryant alleged of church leaders speaking about. “This is really a critical moment for race relations in the nation, and what the church says and does or does not say is going to play an active role in that.”
Like many people who agree with Kirk on faith-based issues and oppose political violence, Bryant attempted a nuanced conversation on social media in which he explained that a person could believe violence is wrong while also thinking "how somebody dies doesn't erase how they lived."
"The amount of hate speech that both my wife and I have received on social media, the number of derogatory calls and slurs and pejorative statements left at our church, speaks volumes,” Bryant said. “And all of these are spoken by people who claim to be Christian.”
Kirk once called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “a huge mistake.” Kirk also spoke out against United Airlines' 2021 announcement that 50% of the graduates in the flight training academy were women of color.
“If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified," Kirk said. After criticism, he backed down, saying that “DEI invites unwholesome thinking” and “anybody of any skin color can become a qualified pilot.”
Kirk also has a history of calling Dr. King, “awful. He's not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn't believe."
The Post explained that there is a concern that the attempt to "lionize Kirk" as a martyr will continue the divide between Black and White evangelicals and eliminate any progress to integrate congregations.
Senior minister Stanley Talbert, at Normandie Church of Christ in Los Angeles, noted that Kirk puts him “between a rock and a hard place.”
“Black Christians have empathy,” Talbert told the Post. “The frustration is that other ethnic groups do not empathize with the Black experience and Black suffering.”
Christian values of tolerance and kindness are deeply rooted within their faith communities, so Kirk's divisive views on race and other matters are going to make it difficult for their churches to consider him as a martyr.