“Come, Let us Reason Together”: A Reflection on Charlie Kirk

God’s words in Isaiah 1:18 poignantly capture Charlie Kirk’s spirit: “Come, let us reason together.” While the biblical context offers a different meaning, it seems fitting to use words that so closely describe this extraordinary young man.

As a husband, father, and leader of a burgeoning organization, he could have stopped his campus tours as the crowds grew larger and the peril of the events grew in like manner. But if you ever heard him speak live, you’d understand why he didn’t.

Kirk’s eyes had a certain quality, mirrors into the man himself – a mixture of fire, courage, love, and honesty; the rarest of human attributes in spades.

He wanted to reason with young, impressionable college students who are at the mercy of feverish secular atheist professors bent on proselytizing young minds. But the astute Kirk viewed human reasoning as the bridge to lead young people out of the catastrophic throws of atheism and its political expression called leftism.

Our Founders would have been proud of him, since it was reasoning that brought the colonies together to cast off the yoke of despotism.

In fact, in Charlie Kirk were echoes of William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonhoeffer – men of tremendous courage, undaunted by the fact that speaking truth can come with great risk.

It’s also appropriate to point to the Apostle Paul. Surely Kirk felt kinship to the great man of God who reasoned in the synagogues and in public forums (Acts 17:17). You see, danger is a minor pothole in comparison to speaking God’s truth. And like Paul, Kirk most certainly bore witness to His great Savior.

The Danger of Departed Reasoning

One of the greatest dangers to society is when reasoning leaves the building. And let’s not mince words – America is not divided by politics, we are divided by worldview and the disappearing bridge of reasoning.

To be blunt, the means and methods of leftism contort as leftists themselves become less interested in ideas and more interested in coercion. We have all seen firsthand the disappearance of reasoning and the embrace of coercion – mandatory DEI indoctrination, churches shuttered during the pandemic, speech control, mandatory vaccinations, asymmetrical lawfare, and the nonstop dehumanizing of Christians and conservatives by the Pravda media corporations.

The barbarism that accompanied the race riots in the summer of 2020 was a vivid example of the consequences of reasoning being jettisoned and replaced by violence and coercion.

The entire concept of “microaggressions” is built on the dire leftist need to avoid dialogue, lest some leftist idea crumble when faced with actual human reasoning.

The precarious tenor of American division rests on the fact that Liberals have replaced dialogue with demagoguery, and demagoguery quickly gives way to justified violence. So inculcated is this view that a major poll found fully half of “left of center” people “at least somewhat justifying murder for Elon Musk and President Trump” in what is being described as leftist “assassination culture.” The ghoulish cheering across social media over Kirk’s assassination bears that out.

It’s time to admit the grisly truth that the patterns are conspicuous, and ignoring them for the sake of “comfort” and asking, “Can’t we all just get along?” is merely the gasoline of enablement for the fire of violence against Christians and conservatives.

It’s certainly a time to be vigilant. We’re not in Norman Rockwell’s America anymore.

In this great tragedy, we are faced with a haunting question: Can we emulate Charlie Kirk and find the courage to speak the truth without subordinating mercy in favor of anger? Can we remain vigilant and strongly deter violence while not canceling our opportunities to reason with fellow Americans?

If we can’t, then who will?

It’s a critical question for a critical time, because let there be no doubt: The departure of reasoning has taken a great toll on our nation and with it, one of its great young torchbearers.

Joachim Osther is a freelance writer focusing on the intersection of culture and Christianity. He holds a master’s degree in theological studies from Veritas College and Seminary, and two degrees in the life sciences, a field in which he works as a strategist, advisor, and published author. He is also an occasional contributor to RaymondIbrahim.com, chronicling the relevance of historical clashes between militant Islam and the West.