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Notes -
This isn't a question but rather a statement. But I would like to hear what you think.
So I didn’t care for Charlie Kirk, and I’m not Christian (though I think they're pretty cool in general). But the fact that Erika Kirk, his widow, stood up and forgave the man accused of murdering her husband is staggering.
In an era where public life is fueled by score-settling and astounding cruelty this feels like a rare moment of moral progress. It’s counter-cultural in a good way: mercy instead of vengeance.
Here's an article from The Guardian about it
It's especially notable when you compare this act to yesterday’s generation of right-wing Christian political leaders, who would’ve absolutely doubled down on punishment and wrath. Can you imagine, fucking, Hannity, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Falwell or Robertson forgiving someone that murdered their spouse? Yeah right.
And just to remind us of the previous era that needs to finish going the way of the dinosaurs, Trump himself openly said on stage right next to her that he hates his enemies and doesn’t care what Erika just said about what Jesus says about forgiveness.
To see Erika Kirk take the opposite stance, forgiveness, love, mercy, is unexpectedly hopeful. I am appreciating the small bit of moral progress on the Christian right here.
As a culture warrior, this seems like an eminently disadvantageous move. Attempting to lose gracefully when both sides' blood is up and they're out for more of it just means that your side gets plowed under more easily. Specifically, the Left can leverage this as "stop arguing about this, see how the widow takes it, there's the moral authority you must now follow, cease your fighting", and then turn around and promote more violence against the Right, while the Right sends conflicting in-group signals about whether they should fight back or lie down and let themselves get trampled harder.
I'm sorry, but for me the Culture War doesn't become less damaging when the Right just forgives the left for literally murderign their spokespeople. I'm sure the Widow is quite distraught at present, and not obliged to serve my political cause, and perhaps it is the Christian thing to do, but strategically it's downright stupid and, if it does anything at all, will only invite more attacks.
That's fair and completely understandable. I would absolutely not forgive and I would see that the perpetrator paid in full and would desire to personally squeeze the life out of them and I might tell the world.
But I'm also not broadcasting my Christian virtues to the world. It is not my moral-political framework. But it's theirs, and seeing a political figure show actual Christian commitment after decades of listening to hypocrisy from the Christian political right is refreshing! It makes me feel this movement could be a force of actual good and not just a slightly lesser evil!
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