The sign outside the little Baptist congregation in Sewickley read simply: "In Memory of Charlie Kirk 1993-2025." It was one of dozens of images on Facebook feeds showing houses of worship honoring Kirk since he was murdered while speaking at Utah Valley University.
On the steps of the Pittsburgh City-County building on Grant Street in the center of the city, hundreds graced the portico, joining in prayer and remembrance. Over in Harrison City in Westmoreland County, the next evening, hundreds parked their cars at Nicassio Fields and filled the building. All joined in prayer for unity.
Not far from there, my family's little Catholic parish has grown with mostly new families joining, something records show was already happening in the past year.
The Diocese of Greensburg said it will not know what the increase looks like until it does its annual count in October. However, some parish priests said privately they have found more engagement with young people after Mass in the past two weeks.
Pastor Jason Howard of The Sanctuary Church in Pittsburgh, a nondenominational Christian congregation that is made up predominantly of young people, said the surge of people who came to services the first Sunday after Kirk's murder didn't wane last Sunday. "There were still public transportation buses filled with kids pouring into church last week," he said, adding, "Since the Pitt Purpose revival we had on campus last week, we've been overwhelmed with young people curious to attend our services this week."
The Pitt for Jesus revival was a student-athlete event held on campus that attracted over 600 young people, 80 of whom were baptized at the event. To date, over 30 athletes at the University of Pittsburgh have made public declarations of faith and have even started a Pitt football team Bible study.
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It was begun by senior tight end Jake Overmanz when he sensed a calling to reach his teammates and other student athletes with the Gospel.
These are all anecdotal accounts of a growth in people, young and not so young, who have been moved toward faith and purpose. That movement has accelerated since the assassination of Kirk, but it has been an undercurrent in our culture since last summer.
Since Kirk's murder on Sept. 10, posts have flooded X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram -- celebrating his words in life while lamenting how vilified he was in death -- offering testimony to a renewed return to faith.
In many ways, we are not OK. The decline of faith has left a void, and people have tried to fill it with politics, social media, gaming and countless other distractions. Yet none of these substitutes provides the deeper sense of purpose we were made to seek.
Over the past few decades, the erosion of religion and the rise of political polarization have gone hand in hand. As faith receded, the longing for meaning, belonging and community did not disappear -- it was redirected. Too often, that hunger has been channeled into the far less healthy pursuit of politics.
Faith heals and unites, but politics, especially when played out online, strips away our humanity. Whether it's a professional sparring in good faith or an anonymous troll hurling insults, if your purpose in life becomes demonizing those you oppose, the words you post will carry real consequences.
Young people raised in this environment are already showing, at least anecdotally, that political engagement alone cannot define them. Whether this shift endures will depend largely on the unifying forces now drawing them back toward faith.
Salena Zito is a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between.
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