GLENDALE, Arizona (LifeSiteNews) — Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, has said that she forgives her late husband’s killer in an emotional speech in front of a crowd of 70,000 at Charlie’s memorial service.
“Charlie passionately wanted to reach and save the lost boys of the West,” Erika Kirk said during her remarks at the memorial service at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday.
“The young men who feel like they have no direction, no purpose, no faith, and no reason to live,” she continued. “The men wasting their lives on distractions, and the men consumed with resentment, anger, and hate. Charlie wanted to help them.”
Charlie Kirk “wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life,” she stated.
“Our Savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ That young man … I forgive him,” Erika Kirk said. “I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it’s what Charlie would do.”
The stadium rose in a standing ovation after Erika expressed her forgiveness, and cameras showed most attendees with tears in their eyes.
According to Turning Point USA, the organization that Charlie Kirk founded, roughly 90,000 people attended the memorial service, with approximately 70,000 inside the State Farm Stadium, and another 20,000 at nearby overflow venues.
The service was broadcast by every major U.S. television network and was one of the largest gatherings in U.S. history for a private citizen.
Many prominent political and cultural figures attended the service, including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, tech billionaire Elon Musk, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and conservative media giants Tucker Carlson and Jack Posobiec.
Erika Kirk began her speech by quoting Isaiah 6:8, one of Charlie’s favorite Bible verses: “Here I am, Lord. Send me.” She said her late husband quoted the verse in a speech he gave at America Fest in 2023.
“After Charlie finished, I met him backstage and I spoke to him … I said, Charlie, baby, please talk to me next time before you say that statement,” she said.
“Because when you say something like that, there is so much power in that verse … God will take you up on that … and He did.”
She said that despite her grief, in the days since her husband was murdered, “God’s mercy and God’s love” were revealed to her.
“After Charlie’s assassination, we didn’t see violence,” Erika said. “We didn’t see rioting. We didn’t see revolution. Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country.”
“We saw revival.”
“This past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in a decade,” she added. “We saw people pray for the first time since they were children. We saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire lives.”
“To those of you out there who just made that decision and took the first step toward a spiritual life, I say: Thank you and welcome.”
Speeches by Trump, Vance, and Carlson
President Trump, who was the last speaker at the event, gave a political speech, as was to be expected. He called Kirk a “martyr” and said his assassination was “an assault on our most sacred God-given liberties and God-given rights.”
“The gun was pointed at him, but the bullet was aimed at all of us,” the president said.
Trump himself was nearly shot in the head last year by a gunman at a rally in Pennsylvania.
He called the killer a “radicalized, cold-blooded monster,” and added that the majority of political violence is perpetrated by the “radical left.”
“No side in American politics has a monopoly on disturbed or misguided people, but there’s one part of our political community which believes they have a monopoly on truth, goodness and virtue, and concludes they have also a monopoly on power, thought and speech. Well, that’s not happening anymore,” he said. “If speech is violence, then some are bound to conclude that violence is justified to stop speech. And we’re not going to let that be justified.”
Vice President Vance said during his speech at the memorial that, as horrible as the murder of Kirk was, it is not the worst fate one can suffer.
“It is better to face a gunman than to live your life afraid to speak the truth,” Vance said. “It is better to be persecuted for your faith than to deny the kingship of Christ.”
“It is better to die a young man in this world than to sell your soul for an easy life with no purpose, no risk, no love, and no truth,” Vance said.
Tucker Carlson’s speech also focused on the spiritual aspects of Charlie Kirk’s life. He said that Kirk knew politics “can’t answer the deepest questions” and that “the only real solution is Jesus.”
Many commentators noted that Kirk’s assassination and his memorial service could mark a spiritual turning point in the United States.
“Every speech for five hours in a row declared Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior,” the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh said. “We’ve never seen anything like this. It was extraordinary.”
“One reason @TPUSA service for Charlie Kirk is historic is that Western audiences are hearing major secular leaders explicitly and specifically invoke Christian theological concepts & imagery at a public event,” Jewish conservative commentator Ron Coleman wrote on X. “This is indeed a great and monumental turning point for our country.”
