Survey finds 43% of U.S. Christians have taken action in aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death
Millennials show the strongest reaction to the assassination, boomers the weakest
Although a new survey related to the aftermath of the assassination of Christian-right activist Charlie Kirk raises more questions than it provides answers, it suggests that the event reinforced what appears to be a societal trend toward more interest in the Christian faith.
According to a survey released last week by the Barna Group, a nonpartisan, for-profit organization that extensively studies religious and cultural trends, about 29 percent of American adults have taken some sort of action as a result of Kirk’s death — and for 24 percent, or nearly a fourth of adults, that action has been at least in part a spiritual action.
And for people that Barna described as practicing Christians, 40 percent had taken action that is at least spiritual in nature. (See details in the graph at the bottom of this page.)
Barna’s survey, taken in October, included 5,003 American adults. In its announcement of the survey, Barna did not include substantial details about the methodology, including how it defined “practicing Christian” or details about differing results among categories of people. In particular, the announcement of the survey did not include any analysis of the numbers based on gender; recent surveys by Barna have showed a surge of interest in the Christian faith among young men, who were Kirk’s primary audience. The announcement also did not include data about political ideology; presumably, political conservatives would be more likely to see Kirk has having a positive influence on faith and culture than would liberals.
Here are some of the findings of the survey:
Among all U.S. adults, in response to the question “Have you personally taken any action since the passing of Charlie Kirk?” 18 percent said they had taken spiritual action, 5 percent said they had taken political action, and 6 percent said they had taken both spiritual and political action.
Among practicing Christians, 30 percent said they had taken spiritual action, 3 percent said they had taken political action, and 10 percent said they had taken both spiritual and political action.
Millennials were the age group with the strongest response to Kirk’s death, with 36 percent saying they had taken spiritual and/or political action. For boomers, who were the least responsive to the event, the number was 16 percent. (Millennials are generally defined as those born from 1981 to 1996, while boomers are generally defined as those born from 1946 to 1964.)
Almost half of adults, 47 percent, predicted that Kirk’s death will have a positive impact on Christianity among young adults, while almost a fifth, 19 percent, predicted the opposite. (About a fourth gave no opinion.) Among practicing Christians, more than two-thirds, 71 percent, predicted a positive impact, and only 11 percent predicted a negative impact.
David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group, said the survey’s findings highlighted the intertwined nature of spiritual and political life in America.
“It is remarkable to see the impact of a widely known public figure, and the fact that tens of millions of Americans were inspired to take action as a result of his death,” he said in a prepared statement. “By a more than two-to-one basis, they were more inclined to take spiritual action than political action.”
