Charlie Kirk’s murder sparks ‘wave’ of spiritual action: report

The murder of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk appears to have “sparked a wave” of spiritual actions, particularly among younger generations, according to a recent poll.

The Barna Group, an Evangelical polling firm, published a survey on Wednesday of 5,003 U.S. adults roughly two months after Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination during an outdoor speaking event at Utah Valley University. The survey is based on interviews with adults ages 18 and older conducted from Oct. 17 through Oct. 30, with a sample error of +/- 1.3 percentage points at a 95% confidence interval.

Among the respondents, one in four Americans reported taking spiritual action after Kirk’s death, while fewer reported taking political action.

While 71% of Americans said that they had not taken action following the conservative activist’s assassination, 18% of U.S. adults reported that they had taken spiritual action, 5% said they had taken a political action, and another 6% said that they had taken both.

Younger Americans and practicing Christians were the most likely to report taking spiritual action. At least 22% of respondents from Generation Z and millennials reported taking a spiritual action rather than a political one, and 40% of practicing Christians also reported taking a spiritual action. 

“There has been some discussion about Charlie Kirk’s passing as directly responsible for a surge in church attendance,” Barna Group CEO David Kinnaman said in a statement. 

“Barna research does not confirm that direct connection, although there had already been positive research showing that Millennials and Gen Z were returning to church well before Kirk’s passing,” he added. 

Kinnaman believes the current survey’s results align with earlier Barna reports this year that showed a growing spiritual openness among Americans, particularly among younger generations.

In September, the Barna Group released data that showed millennials and Gen Z Christians are attending church more frequently than before and more often than older generations. 

Days after the TPUSA founder’s assassination, several pastors at churches throughout the country also reported seeing a spike in church attendance, particularly among young adults. 

“It is remarkable to see the impact of a widely known public figure, and the fact that tens of millions of Americans were inspired to take action as a result of his death,” Kinnaman said about the results of Barna’s latest survey. “By a more than two-to-one basis, they were more inclined to take spiritual action than political action.”

Researchers also asked participants about five potential outcomes of Kirk’s death, including whether they believe his murder will have a positive or negative impact on Christianity among younger Americans. Forty-seven percent of all U.S. adults predicted it would have a positive impact, while 19% said it would have a negative impact.

Among Gen Z, 46% of participants predicted a positive impact, compared with 25% who expected a negative one. Fifty percent of millennials also predicted a positive outcome compared to 21% who said they expect the opposite, the survey found. 

“Americans were more pessimistic about two other dimensions. They expected negative impacts on politics in America generally (39 percent negative vs. 33 percent positive) and cooperation between conservatives and liberals (35 percent negative vs. 28 percent positive),” Barna reported.

“Gen Z respondents were particularly likely to expect negative impacts on political cooperation (45% negative vs. 29% positive), American politics broadly (46% negative vs 33% positive), and civil discourse (43% negative vs 32% positive),” the report continued. 

Responses from practicing Christians were more optimistic, the survey noted, with 71% saying that they believe Kirk’s death will have a positive impact on Christianity among younger Americans. Eleven percent of practicing Christians said that they believed Kirk’s death would have the opposite effect.

They also expressed more optimism across all other dimensions, “including civil conversations (53 percent positive vs. 22 percent negative), politics generally (49 percent vs. 28 percent), ending gun violence (42 percent vs. 18 percent), and cooperation between political groups (44 percent vs. 24 percent).”