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“How do we cover that?”
That had to have been the topic on the table at the Monday morning meeting of news network executives, producers and hosts, and probably will be today and for at least a week to come.
I hope the producers and hosts have the courage to call it what it was: the most watched Christian service of witness and forgiveness, mourning and testimony as has ever been watched and listened to in history.
Look past the more than 100,000 people who attended in person and began to line up outside of Phoenix’s State Farm Stadium before dawn, a stadium which filled to the acceptable capacity of 70,000 and left tens of thousands in an adjacent arena or watching on their cellphones.
I haven’t seen any estimates of U.S. audience or online views, much less the international reach or the audience for clips during the days of echoing that will follow in the virtual world. The numbers will be enormous if there is even any way of compiling them.
That Sunday would be a unique day of mourning was already widely understood by the end of last week. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth would be the biggest names among the eulogists, along with the heartfelt tributes of Charlie’s friends and colleagues, teachers (Dr. Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College) and older mentors, (Dr. Ben Carson, elder statesman of the politically active evangelical conservative community) and of course, his colleagues at Turning Point USA plus an extraordinary musical backdrop from the world of Christian ministry and superb production values from a tested TPUSA team used to big events.
But what how will the media describe it?
Having dipped in and out of covering faith in America since 1990, with a couple of books and documentaries on the subject and a PBS series in 1996, “Searching for God in America,” I’m well aware that America’s newsrooms are not overflowing with journalists accustomed to the language of evangelical Christianity of any kind.
I’m multilingual when it comes to Christianity, describing myself for decades as an evangelical Roman Catholic Presbyterian, as I am a faithful member of Pope Leo XIV’s legions and an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.) — one river, two banks and I’m welcomed on both. I’m just a “mere Christian” as C.S. Lewis put it. Not a theologian, but a lawyer-journalist who has covered world religions and made an effort to keep up with doctrinal arguments within my own, arguments which have consumed most of the past few decades.
More than 60% of Americans identify as Christians, according to Pew Research Center’s 2023-2024 survey. The world is currently home to more than 2.5 billion Christians. Whatever one makes of the faith, it is the primary shaping force of Western civilization. Whatever one makes of Christianity’s truth claims, Charlie and the vast majority of those who watched Sunday believe them, as I do.
But, much of post-modern media lacks basic fluency in the language used by many of the speakers Sunday. The vice president and secretaries of State and War made explicit testimonies to their belief in the objective truth of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Trump underscored Charlie’s role as an evangelist.
Erika Kirk made a heart-breaking and deeply moving public forgiveness of her husband’s assassin —perhaps the hardest of all Christian commandments which Jesus laid down in his famous Sermon on the Mount: “I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
At that moment, Erika Kirk was modeling the words of the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen, as he prayed for his persecutors, even as Jesus did for the Romans crucifying him in Jerusalem 2000 years ago.
So what is the impact going to be of Charlie’s murder and of his evangelical witness amplified by Sunday and a hundred or a thousand other commentaries like this one?
I don’t know and it would be foolish to guess. Here is an example of why.
The Christian view is a large one and its timelines are not “news cycles.” This year, for example, I had occasion to worship in an old Baptist church in Maine that had commissioned George Dana Boardman —”Apostle to the Karens” (yes, an actual ethic group in Myanmar) in 1825.
Boardman and his wife took ship to Calcutta 200 years ago, then on to what was then deemed Burma, learned the language for two years and spent three to four years evangelizing the people before George died of tuberculosis. An unremarkable life of a forgotten Christian missionary? Hardly.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of “Karen congregations” around the world because of a missionary’s efforts 200 years ago. The Karen Baptist Convention (KBC) is a major denomination in Myanmar and a reliable source for figures there. More than a decade ago, the KBC included 1,829 churches with a membership of over 287,000 in Myanmar with hundreds more congregations in Thailand. There are hundreds of such churches in the US alone. George Boardman’s mission was unnoticed by most at the time. I doubt even many American Baptist Church folk know of him today. Religious “coaching trees” are very difficult to trace. But they are everywhere.
Point being: Nobody has any idea what Charlie’s life and his memorial service will mean in the hearts and minds of millions who watched it and how their lives will change as a result and thus change the lives of others.
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But reporting on the size of the outreach is a start and asking authorities on faith for their assessment is so much more interesting and compelling than trying to smash the story into a “political” or “cultural box.”
The “world-wide religious impact” box of stories doesn’t get taken off the shelf very often — deaths of popes and conclaves are one of the few occasions that come to mind — but, the uniqueness of the Christian celebration of the life of Charlie Kirk ought to draw the attention of serious people.
There are hundreds of experts on whom networks and news platforms of all sorts can rely who are close at hand: Dr. Albert Mohler, Bishop Robert Barron, former Senator Ben Sasse and perhaps even Pope Leo XIV could be approached for assessment and comment.
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What I expect is that most news organizations will flee the scene or force it into a political moment because Charlie was assassinated for overtly political causes in a time of increasing political violence.
But the “story” is one that Christians routinely refer to as “the greatest story ever told” and one which we believe to be objectively true. Bravo to the outlets with the courage to grapple with the most consequential part of Charlie Kirk’s life: His impact on the infinite timeline of millions of human souls.
Hugh Hewitt is host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.
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