The Charlie Kirk Standard and The Line in the Sand
A grassroots reflection on Charlie Kirk's assassination, How We Got Here, Where We Go Now, and America's lost moral compass
Charlie Kirk's assassination this week wasn't political violence in a vacuum. It was the inevitable outcome of a twenty-year experiment in unlimited tolerance, and proof that when you refuse to draw moral lines in the sand, someone else will draw them for you, sometimes violently.
I want to start by saying that I am known to be a rough and tumble guy, not what most would consider to be a “Bible thumper” in the traditional sense. This is written by a man who would argue that he is not a good man. This is written by a man of historical compromise who has lived in the grey. If you asked me if I’m a good man generally I say, “I don’t know.” I’m writing this as someone who fails and has failed and will no doubt fail again, by a man who is neither holy nor religious but merely spiritual. I'm writing this as someone who's lived through this transformation, watched it unfold, and, if I'm being honest, enabled it through my own fence-sitting, “be reasonable,” tolerant, live-and-let-live.
That mindset got Charlie Kirk killed. We created Tyler Robinson through our tolerance and acceptance of leftist insanity. This week's events, including Charlie Kirk's and the beheading in Dallas, last week's Charlotte event, and many other events over the past five years, have prompted me to reevaluate my mindset. We all should.
The Twenty-Year Slide
Let me paint you a picture of how we got here, because it didn't happen overnight, and it wasn't just one issue, it was a coordinated assault on multiple fronts, all designed to make us violate our own moral boundaries in the name of "keeping peace."
The Trans Movement was just one battlefield. Twenty years ago, it was a small community of maybe 2% of people who would've been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, asking for basic human dignity. Good-hearted conservatives said "live and let live." That community grew, demanded more, then more, until now they're gunning people down for not celebrating their ideology. Acceptance and tolerance were not enough, they needed more. That’s the nature of concession. That was just the beginning.
Systemic Racism became another weapon to beat us into submission. They told us America was fundamentally racist, that white people were inherently oppressive, that our entire system was designed to keep minorities down and we bought it. We apologized for things we never did, accepted guilt for sins we never committed, all to "keep the peace" out of misplaced shame and guilt for things we had nothing to do with and mindsets and hearts we never had nor adopted.
Here's the thing about systemic racism, the people screaming about it can't even cite specific instances where it's affected them in modern times. They wave around statistics without context, claim disparities and individual instances prove systemic discrimination, and demand we accept their narrative or be labeled racist bigots. We caved. We adopted their language, their guilt, their worldview, all while violating our own understanding of individual responsibility and merit-based achievement. We even created advisory committees to bridge gaps that really don’t exist. Systemic racism means all white people hate all nonwhite people or all black people hate all white people. We do not have that. We have amazing white, black and brown people. We have bad white, black and brown people. That's not systemic based on race, it's just objective.
Critical Race Theory infiltrated our schools, teaching our children to see everything through the lens of race, to judge people by skin color rather than character. We knew it was wrong, but we stayed silent to avoid being called racist. When we did fight our parents were jailed.
Climate Change became another religion we had to bow down to. Question the science? You're a denier. Point out the hypocrisy of elites flying private jets while demanding we give up our cars? You hate the planet. Suggest that maybe China and India are bigger problems than American pickup trucks? You're selfish and ignorant.
COVID Authoritarianism showed us just how quickly they could make us abandon our constitutional rights. Mask mandates that made no scientific sense. Lockdowns that destroyed small businesses while protecting big corporations. Vaccine mandates that violate bodily autonomy while arguing the right to choose to kill a fetus, and if you questioned any of it? You were labeled a conspiracy theorist, a grandma killer, a sexist or woman hater, a science denier.
Election Integrity became another forbidden topic. Raise questions about mail-in ballots, signature verification, or ballot harvesting? You're undermining democracy. Point out irregularities or ask for audits? You're an insurrectionist. The very act of wanting secure elections became "voter suppression."
The pattern is always the same:
Create a crisis (real or manufactured)
Demand immediate action that violates conservative principles
Label anyone who resists as bigoted, selfish, or dangerous
Use emotional manipulation and social pressure to force compliance
Move the goalposts and repeat
Our first mistake was thinking tolerance was a one-way street, thinking appeasement would satisfy them. What happened next was predictable to anyone who understands how extremist movements work. Each victory emboldened them to demand more. Each time we compromised our principles to "keep the peace," we lost a little more of our moral foundation. Even parts of the Republican party started saying, "Well, we can tolerate it. We don't have to believe in it, but we can go along to get along. That's what reasonable people do, right?"
Wrong. Dead wrong.
What Scripture Tells Us About This Moment
The Bible has a lot to say about what we're experiencing, and it's not pretty. We've been living through a modern-day Tower of Babel, where God divided people by tongues and nations for a reason.
Genesis 11:6-7 tells us God divided humanity because unified rebellion against His order leads to unlimited evil. What we're seeing now is the fruit of trying to rebuild that tower, a unified culture that rejects moral boundaries and declares man the measure of all things.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 describes our time perfectly: "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people."
Read that again: "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." That's precisely what the "fun with the sinners" mentality represents, and the command is clear: "Have nothing to do with such people."
Romans 1:28-32 warns us about the progression we've witnessed: "Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity... Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."
The final stage, "they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them", is exactly where we are. It's not enough for them to live their lifestyle; they demand we celebrate it. And if we don't? They'll kill us.
1 Corinthians 5:11-13 gives us clear instruction: "But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people... Expel the wicked person from among you."
This isn't about hatred, it's about maintaining moral boundaries. The church that tolerates everything stands for nothing.
Ephesians 5:11 commands us: "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them."
Charlie Kirk was doing exactly this, exposing the fruitless deeds of darkness. They murdered him for obeying God's word.
Isaiah 5:20 warned us this day would come: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."
We're living in that "woe" right now. A society that calls the murder of unborn children "healthcare," that calls sexual confusion "identity," that calls the destruction of the family "progress," that calls the silencing of truth "tolerance." It's even more specific than that. Look at what we're calling "good" and "evil" in our justice system:
Danny Penny gets charged with murder for defending a subway car full of innocent people from a violent criminal who was threatening to kill passengers. He's called a racist vigilante for doing what any decent person should do, protect the innocent.
Meanwhile, criminals walk free with no bond, only to kill and harm others. We saw it in Charlotte on the train. We see it in every major city where violent criminals are released immediately to commit more violence, while good people who defend themselves get prosecuted.
We've lost the fundamental concept of personal responsibility. We look at George Floyd, a career criminal, a drug addict who was high at the time of his confrontation with police after passing counterfeit bills, and we canonize him. Was the police response right? No. Should he have died? No. But was he a saint worthy of worship? Absolutely not.
Yet we built statues to him while tearing down statues of our founding fathers. We renamed streets after him while defunding police who protect law-abiding citizens. We made a martyr out of a criminal while criminalizing heroism.
Parents are being criminally charged for defending their children's innocence at school board meetings, while predators teaching sexual content to kindergarteners are protected by the state.
Law-abiding gun owners are treated like criminals while actual criminals with illegal guns are released without bail.
People defending their property during riots were prosecuted, while the rioters who burned cities were called "mostly peaceful protesters."
Instead of holding people accountable, from Luigi Mangione to Decarlos Brown Jr. to Karmelo Anthony to everyone in between, we set up GoFundMe campaigns for criminals and no cash bail programs that let killers walk free.
Think about the insanity. Karmelo Anthony stabbed Austin Metcalf to death in front of his twin brother at a high school track meet, and supporters raised over $515,000 for his legal defense. Decarlos Brown Jr. randomly stabbed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska to death on a Charlotte train, a woman who fled war in Ukraine only to be murdered by a career criminal with 14 previous charges who was still walking free.
We raise money for murderers while prosecuting heroes. We crowdfund criminals while criminalizing defenders. We set up donation pages for people who stab innocents to death while charging people like Danny Penny with murder for protecting subway passengers.
Our society's first response to murder isn't justice, it's "let's raise money for the killer."
This is Isaiah 5:20 in action: calling evil good and good evil, darkness light and light darkness.
The Extortion of Good Hearts
What we failed to recognize was that we were being played on multiple fronts. These people took our conservative, tender-hearted, kind-hearted, tolerant nature and weaponized it against us. They took our Christian compassion and used it as a crowbar to pry open every moral boundary we had.
On race: They convinced us that questioning their narrative made us racist, so we stayed silent while they taught our children to hate their own country and judge people by skin color.
On climate: They convinced us that questioning their science made us planet-killers, so we stayed silent while they destroyed our economy and freedoms.
On COVID: They convinced us that questioning their mandates made us murderers, so we stayed silent while they trampled the Constitution.
On elections: They convinced us that questioning their processes made us traitors, so we stayed silent while integrity became "voter suppression."
On gender: They convinced us that questioning their ideology made us bigots, so we stayed silent while they mutilated children and destroyed women's sports.
The progression was always the same:
Stage 1: "Just let us exist"
Stage 2: "You have to tolerate us"
Stage 3: "You have to accept us"
Stage 4: "You have to celebrate us"
Stage 5: "Submit or we'll kill you"
We're at Stage 5 now. Charlie Kirk's body is proof of that.
How the Democratic Party Sold Its Soul
Here's what makes this even more tragic, the Democratic Party used to have moderate voices who would have called this insanity what it is, but they needed votes. They needed these fringe groups as their base. So moderate leftists who knew better stayed silent, bought into the narratives, and enabled the extremism because political power mattered more than moral clarity.
Think about it, Twenty years ago, most Democrats would have laughed at the idea of men competing in women's sports. They would have rejected the notion that America was systemically racist. They would have questioned the science behind climate alarmism. They would have demanded election integrity, but these fringe groups became their voting base, so they sold their souls for power.
The moderate Democrats who had functioning consciences got steamrolled by the activists. They went along to get along. They compromised their principles to win elections. And now look where we are, their party is literally murdering people who disagree with them.
This is what happens when political expedience trumps moral conviction. The Democratic Party became the party of "whatever our base wants, we'll deliver", even when their base wants to mutilate children, destroy the family, tear down the country, and kill political opponents. They chose votes over values, power over principles, winning over what's right.
Now they own this. Every Democrat who stayed silent while the extremists took over their party, every moderate who went along to get along, every politician who chose expedience over conscience, blood is on their hands too.
The Heart Problem
At the root of all this is we have a heart problem masquerading as a humanity problem. We've fundamentally lost our moral baseline, our ethical foundation, our line in the sand that says "this far and no further."
We've replaced moral clarity with "whatever feels good." Last week, someone posted on Facebook: "I'd rather have fun with the sinners than cry with the saints." That statement hit me like a freight train because it perfectly captures where we've gone wrong. We don’t have to be perfect but we need some boundaries and they need to be focused on humanity, morals, and ethics.
We've decided that as long as something feels good, pleases us, or makes us happy, then it must be right. That's not a moral or ethical boundary, that's hedonism dressed up as wisdom. That's tolerating the worldly, fleshly view that "it's all good" as long as "I'm having a good time." We've adopted this mindset to avoid the hard work of establishing a fundamental moral baseline grounded in something bigger than our feelings.
You want to know how far we've fallen? We're willing to kill children before they're born and call it healthcare. Once you've convinced yourself that some humans aren't worthy of life, it's a short slide to deciding your political opponents aren't worthy of humanity either. We've lost the fundamental understanding that another human is another human, period, and we've lost something even deeper, the understanding of why we're here in the first place.
We've become a society that's forgotten the most basic question, Why are we here? Are we here to work for 60, 70, or 90 years and then die? Are we here just to chase whatever feels good in the moment? Are we here just to accumulate stuff and experiences and then fade into nothing? Or are we here for a purpose that's bigger than our own pleasure?
Most people, including myself, have never seriously asked themselves this question. They've never established what I call a fundamental moral ethical baseline, a set of principles grounded in something eternal, something that doesn't shift with the cultural winds or personal convenience. The mark you leave on this world will depend entirely on what baseline you choose to adopt. We learned that this week.
We live in a society driven by groupthink. When you live righteously, it has a profoundly positive impact on others. It changes their lives for the better. When you lead people toward truth, toward moral clarity, toward something bigger than themselves, you create a ripple effect of good. The opposite is also true. When you lead people astray, when you adopt a fundamental baseline of "whatever feels good is good", you create a ripple effect of destruction. You contribute to a society that starts doubting whether humans are even human, whether we have the right to kill other humans or not.
That is not morally or ethically right, and we have to start putting that back to pen and paper again. There was a time in this country when people wouldn't run for office if they had moral failures in their past. Leadership required moral authority. Joe Biden himself withdrew from a presidential race decades ago because he was caught in lies, and back then, that disqualified you because people understood that liars have no foundational values. Now we elected that same man president because we've collectively abandoned our standards. We no longer demand integrity from leaders because we've lost our own.
Im not a religious man, I like to think I am a spiritual man, and when I’ve lost the faith my grandparents instilled in me, I let my conscience guide me, and when I let both lapse, I fell. It's what happens. I've lived one of the most fence-sitting lives you can imagine. Part redneck, part professional. Part layman, part literary. Spiritual but not religious or righteous..I've worked everything from shoveling concrete to executive boardrooms. I've been comfortable with contradictions, comfortable sitting on fences, comfortable saying "you do you." I thought being reasonable made me a good person. I thought tolerance made me righteous. I thought "live and let live" was wisdom.
Turns out it made me complicit. My father was a drug addict, an alcoholic, an abusive man who died at 43. Hundreds of people came to his funeral because his public persona was fun-loving and generous. I learned early that people are complicated, that you can be good and bad at the same time, that life isn't black and white, but you know what? Some things ARE black and white. Some behaviors ARE absolutely wrong. Some lines CANNOT be crossed, not even in the name of tolerance, compassion, or "having fun with the sinners."
I have anger issues. I have patience problems. I’m known to be violent. I am tatted up. I stereotype people. I'm not a perfect man by any stretch, but I know the difference between personal flaws and fundamental evil, and I've been afraid to call evil what it is. The "fun with the sinners" mentality sounds enlightened, but it's actually moral cowardice. It's saying "I'd rather avoid the hard conversations, the difficult stands, the unpopular truths than do the work of establishing and defending real moral boundaries."
I've always been a spiritual man, but I've seldom been a religious or holy or righteous man. Maybe that's part of the fence-sitting I'm talking about. I've had a sense of something bigger than myself, a belief in God, a spiritual awareness. Still, I haven't always let that translate into the kind of moral courage and righteous living that actually makes a difference. That has to stop. For all of us.
The Guides We've Abandoned
One of two things has to guide you in life, your conscience or your faith and religious beliefs, with righteous discernment. If we don't have one or both of those calibrated correctly, we find ourselves in the mess we're in now, and when the rest of us join in with those who have none of those guides properly functioning, we get the societal collapse we're witnessing.
Your conscience should be that inner voice that tells you right from wrong, that makes you uncomfortable when you're about to cross a moral line, that warns you when you're compromising your integrity, but consciences can be seared, ignored, guided, or miscalibrated by cultural pressure.
Your faith and religious beliefs should provide the eternal framework, the absolute standards, the unchanging moral law that doesn't shift with political winds or social trends. This is where righteousness comes from, not from being perfect, but from submitting to God's standards rather than man's.
Many Americans have lost both.
Their consciences have been seared by years of compromise and cultural conditioning. They've been told that feeling guilty about wrong behavior is "toxic shame" rather than moral wisdom. They've been taught that their hearts can guide them rather than understanding that "the heart is deceitfully wicked above all things.” Their faith? Either abandoned entirely or watered down to "God just wants me to be happy" rather than "God calls me to be holy."
When you have neither a functioning conscience nor a biblical worldview and moral compass, you become capable of anything, including murdering people who disagree with you.
The Charlie Kirk Standard
Charlie Kirk understood that if you're not willing to confront insanity, if you won't call out what you know is fundamentally wrong, you will always have this battle between good and evil. He didn't just understand it, he lived it. While many of us were compromising on systemic racism narratives, he was calling out the lie. While many stayed silent on election integrity, he was demanding answers. While many tolerated transgender ideology, he was protecting children. He didn't say it with hate. He didn't advocate violence. He simply stood up and said, "This is insane, and I won't pretend it's not."
Scripture tells us why this was necessary. Ezekiel 3:18-19 warns: "When I say to a wicked person, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself."
Charlie Kirk was doing exactly what God commanded, warning the wicked, speaking truth to power, refusing to stay silent while evil advanced. And they killed him for it. Now they're targeting teachers, workers, anyone who dares to suggest that maybe, just maybe, gunning down political opponents isn't the answer to disagreement.
They're calling US the haters while THEY commit murder.
We have two vastly different Americas now. Two completely different moral baselines that cannot coexist. One side believes in absolute truth, moral boundaries, and accountability to God. The other believes in relativism, unlimited tolerance, and the worship of self. The left has made their choice, submit or die.
I'm not advocating for civil war. I'm not calling for violence, but I AM calling for Americans to stop being afraid of moral clarity. We need to stop apologizing for having standards grounded in eternal truth rather than cultural trends.
This isn't about becoming hateful ourselves. It's about understanding that real love sometimes requires confrontation. Real compassion sometimes demands we say "no" to destructive behavior. Real faith requires us to choose God's truth over man's approval. Charlie Kirk decided to serve Christ rather than please people. They murdered him for it. It's time for everyone to make a choice.
The Line in the Sand
Tolerance without boundaries isn't compassion, it's cowardice dressed up as kindness. We can't tolerance-trap our way out of this mess. We can't fence-sit our way to peace.
Every American who still believes in basic human decency needs to ask themselves, where is my line in the sand? What will I absolutely not tolerate? What moral boundary am I willing to defend, even if it costs me? Make no mistake, it will cost you. It cost Charlie Kirk his life. It might cost you your job, your reputation, your comfort, friends or family, but the alternative is a society where the most violent, most unhinged voices get to dictate reality to everyone else.
We need a moral revolution, a return to the understanding that some things are absolutely wrong, some behaviors are absolutely destructive, and some lines absolutely cannot be crossed. Real love sometimes requires confrontation. Real compassion sometimes demands we say "no" to destructive behavior. Real tolerance means I'll defend your right to speak, but I don't have to pretend your insanity is wisdom.
You can be kind while refusing to tolerate insanity. You can be loving while calling out evil. You can have compassion while maintaining standards.
Charlie Kirk died because we've been too afraid to offend people who want to destroy everything decent in this country. He died because we thought tolerance was enough when what was needed was moral courage. He died because the Democratic Party chose votes over values and let extremists take over their platform.
This is a wake-up call for every American who still has a functioning conscience or any remaining faith. We need to evaluate our courage. We need to examine our position. We need to determine our boundaries and set our line in the sand. We need to recalibrate our moral and ethical compass. If you're guided by conscience alone, ask yourself, Is it still functioning? Has it been seared by years of compromise? Are you listening to it or drowning it out?
If you're guided by faith, ask yourself, Is it real faith that submits to God's standards, or cultural Christianity that bends to popular opinion? Are you seeking to please God or man? Even some denominations have folded under the pressures of modern society.
If you have neither, if your conscience is dead and your faith is absent, then you're part of the problem. If asked if it's ever okay to kill another human, and your answer is ever anything but no, in self-defense, you’re compromised. You're contributing to a society where murder becomes acceptable, where evil is called good, where truth-tellers like Charlie Kirk get gunned down for speaking what everyone knows but won't say.
The question isn't whether we'll have conflict, we're already there. The question is whether we'll have the courage to stand for something worth defending. It's time to draw the line. It's time to hold it, and it's time to stop letting evil people hide behind our good hearts while politicians chase their votes instead of defending what's right.