Observations on Recent Violence

When the news of Charlie Kirk’s assassination broke, many of my clergy colleagues across the country did what all good spiritual leaders do: they decried violence in all forms for all reasons.  I add my voice to this chorus.  While my social media feed is filled with pastors and Christians denouncing all violence (and advocating for gun control), I am aware some people out there are celebrating Kirk’s death.  If your social media stream is filled with people doing that, you need to find new friends.  And if you've got friends who are publicly mourning Kirk but haven't said anything about the Annunciation shooting, you also need to find new friends.  

Some of my clergy colleagues also acknowledged how Kirk fueled hostility, which there is plenty of video of.  This got me thinking how I should respond. While I don’t have millions of followers, I’ve become more aware in the last two years how people are shaped by my words as a semi-public figure. I needed a couple of days to think on it so I could talk about it from a more societal perspective.  I’ve now done that thinking, so I make some observations.  You will not hear me talking in "us" and "them" terms. I'm frustrated by the media and people simplifying this and letting politics guide how they think.  I'm not going there, so stop reading if that is what you want.  

Like many of you, I’m worried, not only about the state of our country, but also what is happening to Christianity in the US.  The rise of Christian Nationalism is confusing a lot of people about the life and ethics of Jesus.  History tells us that mixing religion and government never ends well for Christianity.  I believe Kirk was a passionate Christian.  And to the chagrin of some, I think he had some good things to say to young men.  However, it is undeniable that his faith was wrapped in political ideology and inconsistency could easily be pointed out.  I’ve seen many videos of him twisting the Bible into supporting his politics, and yes, violence. Regardless of whether one is speaking morally or not, in the US, he had the right to share his viewpoint.  And others have the right to publicly disagree to move their alternative position forward.  I will continue to speak out about the dangers of Christian Nationalism’s impact on Christianity.   

After the Annunciation shooting, I read an article that used the words “mixed ideology.”  Finally I had a word to describe what I felt like was happening!  Many of these folks are radicalized into hate but seem to have various (and often contradictory) political ideologies.  This article calls it salad bar ideology.  Understanding Mixed Ideology Extremism | Program on Extremism | The George Washington University  In many of these cases, hate gets ahold of people, and they go down several dark rabbit holes.  Motive on Kirk’s murderer is still under investigation, but it appears he held various ideologies throughout his life.  (If the evidence shows something different later, I will correct this.)  Certainly, the Annunciation shooter had mixed ideology, which was also true of the person who attempted to assassinate Trump.  The ideology of the Hortman's murderer is more clear--conservative extremism.  While our human nature is to put people in boxes--"the shooter must have been MAGA" or "the shooter must have been radical left"--we must resist that urge until we have data.  

I am very concerned about the young adults in our country, especially young men.  As many of you know, one of my kids spent a year in treatment in St. George/Washington, Utah, ironically where Kirk’s shooter is from. My son benefitted greatly from having men therapists and wildness guides help him claim his place in this world, yes, as a young man.  As a feminist, I was so nervous about the program, but once I started to see the gains, I knew they were onto something:  it wasn't toxic, it was just motivating.  Trust me, I know women have it harder—we all know about the vast inequities and how it feels like men can't take what women have experienced for 100s of years.  But we must be honest with ourselves, Charlie Kirk hit on a felt need with these listless young men and gave them motivation.  Trust me, I'm the first in line when it comes to celebrating how the lines on gender are blurring, but men, regardless of their masculinity or femininity, shouldn’t be bashed for feeling like a guy’s guy (i.e. masculine) as long as it's not rooted in toxic masculinity.  Too many young men have been driven into the dark places of the web (e.g. manosphere and incel community) because they feel misunderstood.  Kirk saw this and spoke to it—sometimes in ways I think were helpful and sometimes in ways that were hurtful.        

This brings me to my last, very concerning, observation. I used to believe the internet was neutral: that it could be used for good and evil.  I’ve now determined that the evil far outweighs the good.  The research is convincing—it is not good for us as humans and it's making us crazy, disconnected, anxious, and violent.  I couldn’t possibly go into all the issues I see, so I will simply say this:  I believe the internet is creating a spiritual problem.  People are becoming disconnected from each other’s emotions and their own sense of self/humanity.  I truly think the next frontier for the Christian church will be to heal the brokenness the internet has created. 

And that’s all I got to say about that.