Our “Theocrat of the Week” is extremist Christian nationalist Charlie Kirk, who has called on ministers to engage in unlawful electioneering to elect Donald Trump, while FFRF Action Fund’s “Secularist of the Week” is an evangelical Christian pastor who has called out Kirk and other Christian nationalists.
Kirk is executive director of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a nonprofit organization building an extremist grassroots activist network in high schools and college campuses.
Earlier this month, Kirk appeared as the keynote speaker for the Igniting the Remnant Pastors training conference, a political training session for pastors and their wives in Dallas, Texas. Kirk called on the pastors to mobilize their congregants to “chase ballots” in swing states to elect Donald Trump, even promising to provide their advocates free lodging and stipends. Of course, such displays of partisan political activism by churches violate IRS regulations barring tax-exempt organizations from using their tax-exempt resources for electioneering. “Our goal is to have 10,000 out-of-state patriots flood Arizona and flood Wisconsin in a way that we’ve never seen before,” Kirk said.
Kirk made fun of evangelicals who have complained that Trump is not “a very good role model for our church,” mimicking and denouncing them: “I have no patience for you any more, people. I am sick of this.” Kirk urged the pastors to remain motivated because they “are at war in this country for the future of this civilization.”
Kirk’s beliefs seem to have undergone a dramatic transformation since 2018. Six years ago, Kirk was a staunch critic of the evangelical political movement and denounced Christians’ “sanctimonious approach” to contentious issues like LGBTQ+ rights. He criticized evangelicals trying to “impose” their beliefs and values on the rest of the United States “through government policy.” Kirk told conservative commentator David Rubin that the United States does “have a separation of church and state and we should support that.” Kirk has since proclaimed, “There is no separation of church and state. … It’s a fabrication. It’s a fiction. It’s not in the Constitution. It’s made up by secular humanists.”
While appearing at a two-day conference in Tulsa, Okla., last weekend before the Promise Keepers, an evangelical Christian parachurch organization for men, Kirk again tried to mobilize Christian voters. “If men, and Christian men, start to recommit to the truths of the promises of the Bible, this country can and will be saved,” Kirk said.
Our “Secularist of the Week” took to X to condemn Kirk’s incessant pleading for Christians to galvanize behind Trump. Rev. Benjamin Cremer is a digital pastor who is a strong evangelical opponent of Christian nationalism.
Responding to a post by Kirk, Cremer wrote: “It is a fragile Christianity that has to stoke fear into the hearts of its followers towards others in order to ‘win’ rather than stoking love towards all.” In another post, Cremer asserted that “the separation of church and state protects Christianity rather than threatens it. It protects Christianity from becoming corrupt by the allure of political power, wealth, and privilege…. It protects Christianity from nationalism.”
“We Christians don’t own this world. We don’t have exclusive right over its nations, governments, or its cultures,” Cremer wrote in a different post. “We share this world with an incredibly diverse people. When we choose to see that as a gift rather than a threat we will have so much more peace.”
“We thank Cremer for his refreshing perspective on his faith and religion’s separation from government,” said FFRF Action Fund President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We need more outspoken ministers and Christian believers to speak out as Cremer does, to counter the pernicious Christian nationalist ideology trumpeted by theocrats like Kirk.”
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.