To strike him dead, I hold it not a sin

These words, spoken in anger by Tybalt Montague in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, came to mind when reading more about the recent killing of conservative US commentator, Charlie Kirk, while addressing some 3000 MAGA-supporting  (or -curious) students on Utah Valley University campus.

The analogy may seem far-fetched but it occurred to me that this assassination, like the Elizabethan drama, was a tragedy involving passionate young men acting on tribal impulse. The Montagues and Capulets would have been teenagers, of course, but Kirk's alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, is only twenty-two years of age, so not much older than Tybalt and Romeo. Kirk himself was thirty-one and his ideological opposite number, Hasan Piker, a left-wing online streamer and influencer, thirty-four. These three young men are among the dramatis personae of an unfolding modern American tragedy. 

Both Kirk and Piker, I should make clear, champion non-violence but Kirk's widow, Erika, has now spoken publicly of the forces her husband's murder will unleash in American society. In a lengthy, and understandably emotional, address she praised her husband's legacy, but one section is worth quoting in full: "The evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done. They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith, and of God’s merciful love. They should all know this. If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world. You have no idea. You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry."

These are the words of a grieving widow, in shock, trying to process the horror that has befallen herself and her family. It is entirely natural that she should be angry and distraught and, in speaking of her country, her meaning was ambiguous but her words could prove inflammatory. Those of us living outside the United States see a country already riven by anger, bitterness and division. In describing her comments as "a battle cry", Erika Kirk clearly sees her husband's untimely death as a casus belli, a just cause for war. Whether that war will be restricted to one of words or degenerate into armed conflict is unclear but, given the Second Amendment right of citizens to carry firearms, we should fear the worst in such a febrile atmosphere.

Erika Kirk's comments also expose another key aspect of the American way of life, that of the centrality of evangelical Christianity. This brand of the faith may seem alien to us in the UK - a functionally secular society accustomed to CofE woolly liberalism - and its 'old school' theology, seemingly focusing more on the Old Testament prophets than the teachings of Christ as set out in the Gospels, harsh and jarring. In amplifying the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" spirit of Mosaic Law rather than Jesus' "turn the other cheek" and "walk the second mile" encouragement, it preaches an uncompromising, unforgiving scripture.

When Erica Kirk talks of 'they' it is unclear who she believes 'they' are, other than "the evildoers", but the assumption must be that she is referring to Democrats and the left en bloc rather than individuals. This 'othering' must give cause for concern. There is no evidence so far that Robinson was anything other than a 'lone wolf' so to imply conspiracy is disingenuous and dangerous. After all, the suspect in her husband's killing is already in custody and the state of Utah is calling for the death penalty should he be convicted. If she envisages a massive settling of scores along partisan lines in response to an unproven conspiracy theory, then that is a truly scary proposition. 

We need to bear in mind that such internecine conflict, driven by ideology, has happened twice before in the United States' relatively short existence as a nation; once at the Revolution in 1775-6 and again in the Civil War of 1861-5, so it is by no means unprecedented. This is a country perfectly prepared to go to war with itself over clashing ideologies. I would respectfully urge Erika Kirk, as a self-avowed Christian, to pause and reflect on Matthew 12:25, a biblical warning quoted by President Abraham Lincoln before the outbreak of the Civil War and heeded too late by Shakespeare's two illustrious Veronese families:

"Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand."

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