Saints

The world was shocked when it learned of the death of Princess Diana of Wales on August 31, 1997, in Paris, France. She died as the result of injuries received in an automobile crash. In the aftermath of her passing, the media narrative painted her as a secular saint because of her young age, her activism, and the circumstances of the breakup of her marriage to then-Prince Charles, the heir to the British crown.

On September 10, 2025, we learned of the death of Charlie Kirk, a conservative media influencer. His death was especially appalling because he was killed by a gunshot wound at the hands of an assassin. Reaction on both sides of the political divide was as expected, with conservatives lamenting and grieving the loss of a voice and while many liberals express grief some on the extreme left used the occasion to deride and even malign Kirk’s political beliefs.

The reactions from some members of the evangelical community on social media were striking. According to those commentors, Charlie Kirk was,

“…a modern-day Saint Paul.”

“He was David slaying Goliath and they murdered him for it.”

One social media post tied Charlie Kirk’s death to the apocalypse.

More than once, I saw the phrase “If your pastor didn’t mention Charlie Kirk last Sunday, find another church.”

A Mormon wrote a post saying that there had been “two Christian martyrs: Joseph Smith and Charlie Kirk.”

These folks are attempting to make Charlie Kirk into a saint.

Charlie Kirk was not a political commentator that I followed. I knew little about him. I only found out that he was an evangelical Christian after his death. Given the Christian worldview that Kirk and we proclaim, I do not believe we should elevate any one individual to sainthood in this fashion. The word “saint” is used over sixty times in the New Testament and is used to speak of believers in Jesus Christ. Saints are made by Jesus Christ, not because of their political positions or charitable work.

Everyone who professes Christ as their Savior is a saint.

We should mourn for Charlie Kirk whose life was lost tragically.

We should hope that justice is done for his murder and that the one accused for the crime receives a fair trial.

Charlie Kirk proclaimed the Savior, Jesus Christ. We should proclaim Jesus.