“The Chosen” creator Dallas Jenkins is among those mourning the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk — and he’s offering a warning about the dangers of out-of-control and unfettered rhetoric.
“It’s obvious he was killed for his beliefs,” Jenkins said of Kirk, lamenting this tragic reality. Jenkins commended Kirk for his attempts to dialogue with people who ideologically opposed him.
“The Chosen” director said he, himself, is used to being around people who disagree with him — even on the set of his hit TV show. Because of that reality, Jenkins said he’s often around discussions and debates.
“I’m on set, surrounded by probably more than 50% of my cast and crew, people who disagree with me politically and even spiritually,” Jenkins said. “Most people know by now that a good chunk of our cast and crew are not traditional believers or evangelicals. Some have become so by doing the show, but others haven’t.”
But while many people are willing and able to have these debates, he said that negative changes in culture are leading to some truly tragic conclusions.
“We are in a time where people demonize the opposition — the political or spiritual opposition, so much that their death is a logical conclusion,” Jenkins said. “If you tell enough people that someone or a group of people are Nazis, are a threat to your literal freedom and democracy, and in fact, your very life, I mean, why wouldn’t you think that they should die, or at least be stopped in some dramatic way?”
Jenkins’ point is that the near-constant rhetoric portraying President Donald Trump, Charlie Kirk, and others as primary dangers is having a negative impact and inciting people who are already unstable to take radical and dangerous actions.
“That’s how some people literally think of Charlie Kirk, or Donald Trump, or conservative Christians — as existential and literal threats to their lives,” Jenkins continued. “And they use terms like ‘evil,’ and ‘Nazi’ and whatnot.”
Jenkins cautioned both sides of the aisle to stop inflammatory rhetoric that can contribute to causing real violence. While he was careful not to make the situation about himself, he noted how, on a smaller scale, he has seen similar issues unfold surrounding “The Chosen.”
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“I personally have seen Christians … exaggerate, and demonize, and inflame to the extent that others have done about Charlie Kirk, about Donald Trump, about conservatives,” he said. “Again, I’m not making a political statement myself. I’m not defending Donald Trump. I’m not defending Charlie Kirk. I’m not defending anyone’s comments. All I am saying … is that I have seen many times people on all sides, on social media, casually throw out terms like ‘evil’ and ‘destructive,’ ‘destroying the world,’ a ‘threat to your life’ — all that kind of thing.”
Jenkins was resolute about the danger of such proclamations, explaining how such proclamations can lead to total chaos.
“I always want to bring it back to, ‘Where is Jesus in this?'” he said. “Our call as Christians is not to be like the world, is to not engage in the same way that the world does.”
Jenkins said there are tragically “enough crazy people” and “damaged people” who can take people’s words if they say them enough and be inflamed by them.
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