By: Rachel Morales, Executive Director Right to Life ED
On Sunday, September 21, 2025, Charlie Kirk was laid to rest, eleven days after his assassination. Many people gave uplifting and powerful speeches recognizing Charlie’s impact on the world and on their individual lives. None were more powerful, though, than the words of Charlie’s widow, Erika Kirk.
Mrs. Kirk delivered a moving speech, honoring Charlie’s strength as a follower of Christ, a loving father, and a devoted husband. Perhaps the most powerful part of her tribute came when she said:
“That man—that young man—I forgive him.
I forgive him because it’s what Christ did.
And it’s what Charlie would do.”
With these few words, Erika Kirk demonstrated to the world, with grace and poise, the movement from harm to healing. She has every right to be angry and vengeful toward the man who stole her husband’s life. But instead, she chose to follow her convictions, based on the teachings of the Bible, and extend forgiveness to someone who, by all human standards, does not deserve it.
This is the part of forgiveness that many outside the Biblical faith struggle to understand: the absence of deserving it. Forgiveness is not about what someone has earned; it is about giving the revenge and the hurt over to God so that healing can begin.
This understanding of forgiveness is also what makes it so hard to forgive ourselves. We know, better than anyone, the wrongs we’ve committed, the hurt we’ve caused and because of that, we rarely see ourselves as deserving of the pain being let go.
For many people, the pain they carry is quiet and buried. Decisions made in fear, confusion, or isolation can leave wounds that no one else sees—but God does. And He is still offering the same mercy, the same healing, the same forgiveness.
Just as Erika Kirk extended forgiveness to the man who took her husband’s life, we too are called to forgive, even when it feels impossible, and even when it’s ourselves we struggle to forgive.
Forgiveness is not agreement. It is not forgetting. And it is certainly not pretending that justice isn’t needed. Charlie Kirk himself once tweeted:
“The stupid neither forgive nor forget;
the naive forgive and forget;
the wise forgive but do not forget.”
Forgiveness is a surrender. It is placing the pain and the judgment into God’s hands, trusting Him to carry it, and taking the first step toward healing.
In a world that feels increasingly angry, bitter, and divided, Erika Kirk’s example reminds us that light still shines in the darkness. That faith can still triumph over fear. And that love, even in the face of unimaginable loss, is still the most powerful force on earth.
May we all have the courage to forgive, even ourselves, like Erika Kirk.