Conservative and Christian commentator Charlie Kirk’s death sent shockwaves throughout the United States and the entire world, sparking claims of both spiritual revival and political fervor.
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New research from Barna Group sheds further light on the true impact of Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination, with the data showing a massive reaction among citizens.
David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group, told CBN News his research firm explored the impact of Kirk’s death across different generations, exploring the dynamic two months after the assassination.
“First of all, younger generations were much more likely to be familiar with Mr. Kirk — Millennials, Gen Z were much more likely to know about him,” he said. “And, actually, more than eight out of 10 Americans knew of Charlie Kirk, even though very few followed him very closely.”
Kinnaman said the “most surprising” finding was that one-in-four Americans reported “taking spiritual action as a result of Charlie Kirk’s death.” While researchers didn’t delve into what that specifically looked like, it underscores reports from pastors of people flocking to the pews after his death.
While 71% of Americans reported taking no action after Kirk’s killing, a substantial proportion did self-report notable reactions.
“We find that 29% of Americans report taking some sort of action as a result of his death in general, and spiritual responses were outpacing political ones,” Kinnaman said. “About 24% took spiritual action as a result of his death. This was much more common among young people — Gen Z and Millennials — and about 11% took some sort of political action as a result of his death.”
Practicing Christians were even more likely to say they took a moment to reflect or took political or spiritual action as a result of Kirk’s death. Kinnaman said these statistics were relatively shocking as few events have such a massive impact on the American populace.
However, the researcher noted that the data aligns with other developments unfolding within the culture.
“It carries on with some of the larger changes that we’re seeing in our research about people having a moment of spiritual reflection,” Kinnaman said. “Openness to Jesus, open to churchgoing, Bible reading is rising up, especially among younger generations.”
He continued, “It seemed as though this comes at a time when there’s already an openness to spiritual renewal, and I think it is a surprising finding for sure to just see how widespread his impact is.”
CBN News has covered moves of spiritual resurgence throughout the nation over the past two years, with some of that activity kicking up in the wake of Kirk’s death. New York City-based Pastor Mike Signorelli told CBN News earlier this year that he saw 533 people accept Jesus during the first Sunday after Kirk’s murder. Other churches have similar stories.
“I almost started weeping just hearing the number again,” Signorelli said. “It’s still overwhelming to even think about it. … Five-hundred-and-thirty-three decisions for Christ of every age, [many] generations were represented, every race was represented.”
Kinnaman said the data and events show that “something that is stirring in our society as people are interested in Jesus.”
“We see it reflected in some Bible reading increases,” he said. “We see it in churchgoing increases. We see it overall … among young people.”
Amid growth, there’s still debate about what exactly is happening, as not every metric is positive, though Kinnaman admitted something certainly “seems different” at the moment.
“There’s some other areas even of Barna data that’s showing … plateauing, so I want to make sure we paint that accurately,” Kinnaman said. “It seems as though what’s happening is younger Americans — Gen Z and young men — are going back almost 15, 25 years to levels they would’ve been a previous generation — maybe even higher.”
Seeing young men surge in faith and men overall outpace women points to some unique happenings in the faith space.
“These are the days we have been praying for,” Kinnaman continued. “We are praying that our kids and grandkids — that the next generation — would find Christ, would find a vitality to their faith, to their Christianity, and we’re seeing openness bubble up all across our society, and we can continue to pray that God would make the most of that.”
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