Robinson has been charged with seven counts, including aggravated murder. He turned himself in hours after the shooting and is being held without bail.
He has confessed to firing the single rifle shot from a rooftop that pierced Kirk’s neck Sept. 10 on the campus of Utah Valley University.
Kirk’s supporters describe him as a staunch defender of conservative values and a champion of public debate who galvanized young voters through Turning Point, shaping the MAGA movement’s appeal to Gen Z voters.
Middletown native JD Vance has credited Kirk for helping him win a U.S. Senate seat that led Trump to name him his presidential running mate.
Robinson allegedly said to his romantic partner about Kirk: “I had enough of his hatred.”
‘Evil is alive and well in America’
Charlie McMahan, lead pastor at SouthBrook Christian Church in Miamisburg since 1992, said he understands why some members of his congregation are concerned because they share Kirk’s skin color and political leaning and “that makes you afraid.”
Others, he said, are indifferent about the killing of Kirk and believe he “got what he deserved.”
He said politics are more important to some Christians than their religious beliefs. Politics are “framing you more than your faith is,” he said.
McMahan told the congregation they should grieve because “a communicator of the gospel was killed because of his faith. What should shake us is that evil is alive and well in America.”
Kirk’s death has spurred McMahan to preach the gospel until he takes his last breath, he said. That drew applause from the audience. He encouraged the same for his congregation.
“When we watched some of the responses of people celebrating in the death of Charlie Kirk we saw evil, the face of Godless animalism,” he said. “The only response to that is to get on your knees and pray the gospel everywhere.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
‘We are living in a holy war’
Lamar Ferrell, pastor of Berachah Church in Middletown, said he pondered what to say or not say when preparing to deliver his Sunday sermon.
Eventually, he decided to address what he called the “elephant” in the church.
“Today, I’m not standing on a political platform,” he told the congregation. “I will only stand on the word of God which is true.”
He said we live in a world where everyone wants to tell us this divide is through “a political regime.”
People are told they must either stand on one side or the other, he said.
“But I believe we are living in a holy war between righteous and evil,” he said. “While we can have differing opinions and thoughts, I would say it’s all too cruel to celebrate the death of anyone.”
He added: “We are seeing evil in all forms and fashions.”
‘Politics have become the religion of today’
Mike Roe, lead pastor at Maiden Lane Church of God in Springfield, said before delivering his message on Sunday he wanted to have “a family conversation” with the congregation.
He talked about what he called a “tumultuous” few weeks that included a school shooting, a fatal shooting on a bus and ended with Kirk’s assassination.
“Life does not seem to be precious anymore,” he said.
Roe said that on Sept. 10 in Utah, Kirk was there to have conversations with college students about his beliefs.
“Because people didn’t agree with him, his life was taken,” Roe said. “When was it we lost the ability to have conversations with one another about things we don’t agree with? What happened to cause all the chaos we have seen in our nation in the last several years?”
Then when the pastor read some comments on social media from people who wrote they were celebrating Kirk’s death as though that was some victory.
“It’s heartless, it’s callus,” he said of those comments. “And when we see that what we’re seeing is not the presence of someone who is following Jesus, but someone who has been on destruction and evil.”
Violence is never the answer to solve disagreements, he said. No one wins those arguments. Just leads to more funerals, more prison sentences.
“We can have different views on this, we can have different ideas on this, but ultimately God has called us to love each other,” he said. “Church, hear my heart when I speak this. The main issue, not only in our nation, but even in the church, is that people have put their politics above their relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Anything put before God is an idol, he said. That includes political views.
“It seems politics have become the religion of today,” he said. “Our identity is not found in what political party we associate with. Our identity is in Jesus Christ. We need to put Jesus back at the center of everything.”
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