I don’t know how many of these I will plan to do, but periodically I will post transcriptions of clips that stand out of Charlie Kirk answering a question that I think needs to be put out there. As an aside, I think it’s pretty cool how both Cliffe Knechtle and Stuart Knechtle, two other men who, like Kirk had done (albeit on a smaller and less political stage), go to college campuses to preach the Gospel and debate college students about why Jesus is the one and only way to heaven, were also on stage with Kirk, listening intently as he was answering this question. For my part, I had never really heard any kind of discussion, let alone a solid response as satisfactory as this one.
You can watch the video clip here: https://youtube.com/shorts/oqB6xhAQIKI?si=LOBz2RLR-UP4tJpP
Question/comment received:
“Our country was founded on common law, because the Declaration [of Independence] only refers to God four times, and the [US] Constitution doesn’t refer to God at all. And that only articulates the structure of government.”
Charlie Kirk’s response:
“First of all, remember that we were a collection of states and colonies, and you need to read the state constitutions before anything else. Nine of the thirteen original states required you to be a Bible-believing Christian to serve in government at the time of the founding. All thirteen out of thirteen required a declaration of faith, [and] nine of the thirteen required you to be a Protestant, except Maryland which was Catholic, which still required a declaration of faith. Almost every single one of the original state constitutions, Pennsylvania included, they had “I profess [the Lord] Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior” in the original state constitutions. Remember, we were a collection of states before that.
Secondly, fifty-five out of the fifty-six … original signers of the Declaration were Bible-believing, church-attending Christians, so common law is inherited from William Blackstone, who was Christian. Common law is an outgrowth of the Scriptures. So let’s go to three principles of common law: presumption of innocence, due process, and jury of your peers. All three are Biblical principles, wrapped into the ultimate Biblical principle that “you shall not favor justice if you are rich or [if you are] poor,” which is in Leviticus 19, right before the most famous part of Leviticus 19 which is that “you should love your neighbor as yourself.” But before that is that in the administration of justice, you shall not favor the rich or the poor (which is the idea of blind justice; we get that in the West), which is incorporated also in the New Testament ideal: neither slave nor Greek nor Jew, you are all one in Jesus Christ, [which is where we get the idea of] human equality. These are all Biblical ideas; they are not enlightenment ideas. … (They kind of [got] conflated at the time.)
More importantly than that, they say that God was only mentioned four times in the Declaration of Independence. Well, that’s a big deal! Okay? Laws of nature, and [of] nature’s God. The last paragraph of the Declaration reads as a prayer. It says, “we appeal to the Supreme Judge of the Universe.” Who is the Judge of the Universe? [It’s] Jesus Christ. It says in Revelation that Jesus will judge the earth on His throne. So, in the Declaration, they were praying to Christ our Lord as a prayer very specifically.
Thirdly, as I said on the stage yesterday, Deuteronomy was by far the most quoted book, religious or non-religious, in the time of the founding when they were putting together the Constitution, more than John Locke, more than [French judge] Montesquieu, more than Blackstone. The Book of Deuteronomy, which talked about laws, customs, and traditions, was Moses’s farewell address, as he’s about to say goodbye, to say, “hey, good luck in Canaan, guys! Here’s how you should set up your form of government.”
But finally, and most importantly, let’s look at actually what the founders said. John Adams famously said: [“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”] The body politic of America was so Christian, it was so Protestant, that our form and structure of government was built for the people that believed in Christ our Lord. One of the reasons we are living through a Constitutional crisis is that we no longer have a Christian nation, but we have a Christian form of government, and they’re incompatible. So you cannot have liberty if you do not have a Christian population.
Biblical references:
You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. Leviticus 19:15, NKJV
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28, NKJV
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: Revelation 19:11-16, NKJV
“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 16:18-20, NKJV