Following the shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk, I picked up my Bible, looking for answers. I haven’t put it down since. Countless other young people are doing the same. The Sept. 10 murder didn’t just claim the life of a prominent political and cultural force — it is serving as yet another catalyst for a broader spiritual awakening among America’s youth.
Viral footage of the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder’s death at Utah Valley University shattered the digital apathy gripping young Americans, many of whom crave transcendent meaning beyond the anchorless amorality of modern leftist culture. In the aftermath of the shooting, vigils sprang up nationwide.
Thousands of young mourners gathered last weekend to pray, sing, and pledge to carry Kirk’s mantle. From the gathering in the Capitol, where members of Congress lit candles under marble gazes of Founding Fathers, to the service at a Plymouth, Massachusetts, church packed with Gen Z adherents, the outpouring was profound. In Beverly Hills, mourners rallied with crosses and American flags, while at Western Michigan University, Turning Point chapters held a candlelight vigil in the plaza while reciting Bible verses. At the University of North Alabama, students organized a prayer circle that stretched across campus quads, and even in Vermont, Ignite Church in Williston saw overflow crowds on its lawn.
These memorials provided moments of connection where grief sparked conversations about faith, purpose, and values.
Raised in the 1990s and 2000s, when religious adherence plummeted, Millennials and Gen Zers inherited a legacy of moral ambiguity from their parents, who largely turned away from church. As these generations came of age, the divorce rate hovered around 50 percent, drugs killed tens of thousands of Americans annually, and Bible readership fell significantly. Less than a quarter of Millennials attended weekly church services by 2019.
Yet in a stunning pushback against the moral and cultural vapidity brought about by secularism, the last few years have seen young Americans filing back into the pews. A staggering 39 percent of Millennials now attend religious services weekly, which is nearly double from just six years prior. Meanwhile, Gen Z attendance has risen to 1.9 services per month on average — up from just under one service per month in 2020 — translating to roughly 12 additional Sundays per year for the average 18-to-28-year-old. The resurgence is particularly pronounced in traditional denominations. Nearly 30 percent more Millennials read the Bible regularly today than did just one year ago.
Kirk undoubtably energized these shifting trends. His work with TPUSA, blending conservative activism and biblical values, resonated with many Millennials and Gen Zers because it offered an antidote to a fragmented culture marked by rising rates of loneliness and mental health challenges. By 2024, TPUSA had grown to 2,100 high school and college chapters. Kirk reached millions through events where he wove principles of faith into discussions on cultural issues. In 2021 he launched TPUSA Faith, which established outposts at more than 45 Christian universities and partnered with hundreds of churches to “eliminate wokeism from the American pulpit.”
At rallies like the 2023 AmericaFest event, attended by 13,000, Kirk’s faith-infused speeches on spiritual warfare — which included urging believers to seek the welfare of their communities as a divine mandate — prompted many young people to proclaim that Jesus is Lord. TPUSA Faith events often featured altar calls and discussions leading to spiritual commitments, with attendees sharing stories online of how Kirk’s messages inspired them to reconnect with their faith.
Kirk’s assassination appears to have already amplified the Christian movement he helped foster during his lifetime. Personal testimonies have poured in to platforms like X in the last week, where ordinary young people say his death has shaken the foundation of their spiritual apathy. One young man wrote that after Kirk’s murder, “I finally stopped resisting the conclusion I had been in the slow, painful process of coming to for several years. Christianity is simply true.” Another young man posted a video describing how he had “avoided posting online out of fear of judgment, but said Kirk’s death inspired him to boldly proclaim his faith in Jesus Christ. He urged others to do the same, reminding people they are not alone.” Many others posted photos of packed churches, with one woman writing that “young people came by the bus loads this morning” to a church in Pittsburgh.
Kirk’s widow, Erika Frantzve Kirk, has vowed to carry forward her husband’s mission. She declared, “They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith and of God’s merciful love,” while promising that “the movement my husband built will not die.”
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, a shift has begun to ripple through waves of young Americans, echoing the spiritual awakenings of generations past. We are witnessing a renewed hunger for timeless truths, amplified by the moral listlessness of secular leftism. Now, as grief transforms into resolve, young seekers are turning back to anchors that steadied their forebearers — faith communities and the moral compass of Christianity — not just to comprehend the chaos of the world, but to reclaim a confident discernment between good and evil, and right and wrong.