I did something I now regret. Well, kind of. I have done a good job of shielding myself from watching much of the news regarding this administration. I see everyday the trauma and suffering they are causing so the need to hear them talk about it is really not there for me. There is so much to take care of in the Festival Center and our neighborhood that I really do not have emotional energy or time to devote to much else. But I kept hearing disturbing reports about the Charlie Kirk funeral so I decided to watch some of the clips and boy, were those reports accurate. I don’t recommend watching them at all.

I did not watch the entire thing, thank God, but the parts I did watch were indeed disturbing. It should go without saying, but in case I need to say it, gun violence is always tragic and it is most tragic for the victim’s loved ones. That was the case here and no one in their right mind can take any joy in this senseless violence. It also should be said that the quickest way to cut down on gun violence is to eliminate unlimited access to guns, but that is for another post.

I feel like it also should be said that Kirk was not a pleasant person. For all of his commitment to his faith, he spent an inordinate amount of time attacking people who disagreed with him and that included mobilizing his angry and unstable followers to go after university professors who taught things he didn’t like.

I think it is worth sharing a reflection from journalist and college professor, Stacy Patton:

I am on Charlie Kirk’s hit list. His so-called ‘Professor Watchlist,’ run under the umbrella of Turning Point USA, is nothing more than a digital hit list for academics who dare to speak truth to power. I landed there in 2024 after writing commentary that inflamed the MAGA faithful. And once my name went up, the harassment machine roared to life.

For weeks my inbox and voicemail were deluged. Mostly white men spat venom through the phone: ‘bitch,’ ‘c*nt,’ ‘n****r.’ They threatened all manner of violence.

They overwhelmed the university’s PR lines and the president’s office with calls demanding that I be fired. The flood was so relentless that the head of campus security reached out to offer me an escort, because they feared one of these keyboard soldiers might step out of his basement and come do me harm.

And I am not unique. Kirk’s Watchlist has terrorized legions of professors across this country. Women, Black faculty, queer scholars, basically anyone who challenged white supremacy, gun culture, or Christian nationalism suddenly found themselves targets of coordinated abuse. Some received death threats. Some had their jobs threatened. Some left academia entirely. Kirk sent the loud message to us: speak the truth and we will unleash the mob!

The damage Kirk has caused is real and he does not deserve to be so venerated. But the magaverse has decided to lionize Kirk. And to showcase Kirk’s importance in the maga movement nearly the entire trump administration not only showed up, but spoke! What stood out to me throughout the clips I watched was how angry everyone was. trump, in the midst of his meandering and meaningless speech, talked about how much he hated his “opponents.” Stephen Miller, who seemed he was about to have a coronary he was so angry, talked about how the left – the enemies – are nothing, nothing, nothing. Seriously, he said the word “nothing” about 10 or 12 times.

Yes, I understand they lost someone they loved. Yes, it was an act of violence, so anger is appropriate. But this was beyond that. It was more than anger. It was pure hatred. And so, one speaker’s use of Scriptural imagery stood out in this context.

Jack Posobie is a right winger who used Christian-sounding imagery throughout his talk including comparing Kirk to Moses as I guess Kirk somehow brought us to the promised land, though he didn’t spell that out. He finished his speech by angrily charging people to put on the full armor of God by charging his listeners to mount an offensive against those of us who embrace “wokeness” and other things he hates. But Posobiec, like the other speakers that day, was embracing a Jesus-free and Scriptural-free theology.

The passage discussing the “armor of God” comes out of Ephesians 6, which I know is a favorite of Christian nationalists. I have found that the letters of Paul in the New Testament are far more interesting to Christian Supremacists than the gospels are. Paul’s letters are filled with rules, many of them carrying a note of hierarchical order, while the gospels are filled with stories of love, compassion, and empathy. And when you want to establish societal control you prefer rules and order more than love and empathy.

This chapter in Ephesians begins with Paul admonishing people in their stations of life to be content and obedient in those stations, including slaves obeying their masters. Paul’s admonition is more than just uncomfortable or bad theology. Paul’s urgings in this chapter to the church in Ephesus is actually a betrayal of his own Jewish faith and thus, we should be careful to ascribe them too much authority. Paul urging slaves to remain obedient to their masters directly contradicts God’s liberation of Israelite slaves under Egypt, which is a vital part of Jewish identity. I sincerely doubt Paul meant for his admonition to this particular church in this particular time to be taken literally by Christians two thousand years later, so like all of Paul’s letters we need to critique them as to what they meant at that time.

But when you are pissed at the left nuance is not your friend.

It was clear that Posobiec’s reference to the armor of God was for the purpose of mounting an offensive. The problem is that this is not supported by the text. Here is what the passage from Ephesians 6 actually says about the “armor of God.”

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (6:14-17)

It is clear that Paul uses instruments that are to be used to withstand an offensive others bring against you, the believer. Paul does not issue a battle cry. Paul urges his listeners to “stand firm” against the attacks of “the evil one.” In fact, the only part of the armor that can be construed as offensive in nature is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And here, Paul is not referring to the Bible here as there was no Bible as we know it when he wrote this letter to believers in Ephesus. The word of God is Jesus the Son so to engage offensively against the schemes of evil is to follow closely the teachings and actions of Jesus. And even a cursory glance at the gospels shows a teacher who repeatedly showed compassion for those on the margins, loving those society deems unlovable, and forgiving those who treat you wrongly. There is no doubt that this accurate understanding of Paul’s imagery of the armor of God had absolutely no basis in the angry, hate-filled, charges to battle the left that were constantly sounded by the speakers at Kirk’s funeral. Thus, while Posobiec and the rest of the speakers at Kirk’s funeral want to lay claim to a special iteration of American evangelical Christianity, their brand of Christianity is actually void of biblical fidelity and any centering of the biblical Jesus.