Charlie Kirk’s recent book Right Wing Revolution is a good test of whether current Republican politics is influenced more by pagan or Christian thought. Kirk is founder of Turning Point USA, the leading conservative outreach to the younger generations. Kirk is more representative of whom politically active Republicans are listening to, rather than to Q-Anon or white supremacist groups that I’ve never heard of. His YouTube videos on college campuses show him to be an articulate thinker who can be quick to turn the tables on critics when responding to them.
I received my copy of Kirk’s book unsolicited in the mail. (I am no fan of the term “right wing,” simply because the views expressed by Kirk and the views I happen to hold were consistent with mainstream/middle-of-the-road belief 40 years ago, from which the world around us has lurched far to the “left.” Even my Marxist sister, who died 20 years ago, would have rejected today’s gay/transgender ideology if she had lived to see it take over her political party.)
Kirk published his book shortly before the 2024 election. Most of Kirk’s book is a detailed manifesto and call to action that contains much wise advice on how to push back and reclaim America from “wokeism.” I will not attempt to summarize or comment on most of his political advice, but Kirk clearly sees his opponents as motivated by a sweeping substitute for theism in general, and Christianity in particular.
Kirk writes for a broad audience. But he constantly defaults to generic Christianity as his foundation, even while he urges those with other religions or no religion to adapt his advice to their lives. He urges his readers not to be hateful or nasty toward their opponents, and believes that “God is sovereign,” so much so that God has allowed even the evils that Kirk opposes.
I was unable to find Kirk’s church affiliation. He mentions keeping the Sabbath the way the Seventh Day Adventists do, although the SDA’s do not claim him. His only heresy is in the very last line of his last full chapter, where he writes, “And it is our duty to live righteous lives, so that we might deserve [God’s] favor and mercy,” a heresy of which even some New Testament apostles could unfairly be accused.
Where I find Kirk most challenging is in his insistence that we put belief into action. This is from a guy whose organization has worked hard and successfully in the area of voter turnout. Kirk challenges his readers to get out of their cocoons and get involved in their neighborhoods and communities. He also has helpful advice on how to avoid knee-jerk reactions to our opponents that turn out to be counter-productive.
Kirk has several chapters in the final section of his book on “Changing Yourself.” In one chapter, he urges us to be “lovers of old things,” where he recommends that we read or re-read classics of Western civilization, including Plato, Shakespeare, The Imitation of Christ, the Federalist Papers, Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, and Orwell’s 1984. He has a chapter urging readers to avoid or conquer obesity, followed by a tough chapter warning readers to avoid or kick pornography, followed by a chapter urging single readers to get married and have children, and how to make yourself marriageable. (Here is where we might find him skating on the thinnest ice. There is only so much one can do to make oneself attractive, and we can debate whether he is giving “Christian” or merely neutral advice, but certainly being a good disciple of Christ can also make oneself good marriage material.)
In Chapter 3, Kirk uses the concept of drag shows, where a male dancer pretends to be what he is not, to describe what he says has happened to all sorts of respected institutions: from the military, to the ACLU, to the Sierra Club, to the Boy Scouts, to many of our colleges and churches. All of these, says Kirk, have been transformed from within to where they are no longer who they claim to be. They depend on our respect for who they once were, to command respect for a very different agenda. Kirk particularly resents whom he calls “conservatives in drag,” who use a claimed conservative identity to preach an ideology that is anything but conservative. (I like to say, “It says ketchup on the label, but it’s not ketchup in the bottle.”)
Hitler’s followers sought to hijack Christianity, but they rejected it at major points, such as whether Jesus was truly Jewish, and whether Jesus or the Fuehrer was Lord. Kirk never denies the Christian teachings that people like him are accused of rejecting, such as care for the poor or love for the immigrant. By contrast, the religion that Kirk opposes is pro-abortion, pro-homoerotic behavior, and pro-transgender, all of which are arguably contrary to clear historic Christian teaching.
Kirk’s voluminous recommendations for political action are far from being canonical words from God. But I find nothing in his book that is un-Christian, unless you define capitalism or opposition to illegal immigration as un-Christian, and I find the whole to be politically plausible. That’s where the debate begins: which political system actually delivers what God wants to see happen? Which economic system actually delivers for the poor (not just in rhetoric)? Who has the best solutions to conquer evil, crime, and injustice? If you want to understand how people on the political “right” think, this book is one of the best places to look.
