By Ahndrea Blue

The recent death of Charlie Kirk has stirred a complex and troubling response across the nation. Before anything else is said, let me be clear: as a follower of Christ, I believe no one has the right to take another person’s life because of a difference in belief or opinion. Violence is never justified by disagreement. Mr. Kirk was a husband, a father, and a son. My condolences go sincerely to his family as they grieve.

Yet I am deeply unsettled by the way some have chosen to respond. In death, Mr. Kirk has been elevated by many to the status of hero, despite a public life marked – at least in my observation – by reckless rhetoric, distortion of truth, and manipulation of emotion for influence. I find myself asking how we, particularly those who claim to follow Christ, arrived at a place where misinformation is excused, division is applauded, and blind allegiance replaces discernment.

This is not a question about one man alone. It is a larger reckoning with a troubling pattern within American Christianity: the willingness to embrace or remain silent about words and actions that contradict the Gospel’s command to love. Too many who profess faith are willing to overlook hate when it comes from a figure they admire or whose ideology they share. Some even go further – celebrating such voices while marginalizing, condemning, or ignoring those harmed in the process.

For me as an African American woman and a lifelong believer, this moment is profoundly personal. My race – one I did not choose and would never change – has too often been the target of hate, justified or excused even within circles that claim Christ. Watching friends, colleagues, and fellow Christians embrace narratives of exclusion or defend silence in the face of injustice is heartbreaking. It forces difficult choices about relationships and exposes painful truths about who we are becoming as a community of faith.

Christianity at its heart is defined by grace, mercy, and unconditional love. God does not withhold His love based on our choices or failures. Christ modeled compassion for the marginalized and rebuked self-righteous judgment. When believers ignore this call – when we justify hate, remain silent as others are mistreated, or stand by as people are abandoned, prosecuted, or even killed – we betray the very Gospel we proclaim. Silence is not neutrality; it is complicity.

If the Church cannot clearly reject hate and violence, if it cannot champion truth over conspiracy and love over fear, why would anyone seek to join it? Our witness loses credibility when we trade the teachings of Jesus for the comfort of tribal loyalty or partisan allegiance.

I do not write these words as a perfect Christian; I depend on grace every day. But I do know this: to follow Christ is to reject hate. It is to speak truth even when inconvenient. It is to love, even when it costs us.

My appeal is to my fellow believers. We must examine our hearts and actions in this moment. We must hold ourselves accountable to the Gospel, not to personalities or politics. The credibility of our faith – and the hope we offer to a watching world – depends on our willingness to stand against hate and live out the radical love Christ commanded.

Ahndrea Blue is the Founder and President/CEO of Making A Difference Foundation. Making A Difference Foundation’s mission is to make a difference in the lives of others, one person at a time, by helping them acquire the most basic human needs: food, housing, encouragement, and opportunity. To learn more about the organization and its hunger-related programs, please visit www.themadf.org or call (253) 212-2778.