We must add, of course, the most consequential factor \u2013 that is, missing factor \u2013 regarding alienation. It was supplied by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose life and (literal) trials were a more intense crucible than any experienced by the theoretician Fromm: Mankind has forgotten God; that\u2019s why all this has happened.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Henry Adams, the descendent of two US presidents, despaired of an American culture that was dissolving into pockets of personal alienation, with disunity as a harbinger of worse. In the early 20th century he visited two Medieval French cathedrals, Mont St-Michel and Chartres, and wrote detailed letters about them to nieces. He intended to address architecture, but found himself admiring the societies that built them during the so-called Dark Ages. Despite the putative retreat from accomplishments of the Roman Era, communities were structured and unified, where all classes communed and shared purposes, where beliefs were common, accepted, and cherished. These factors Adams admired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The unifying force was the Church. Every town and city was built around the church; every civic event (not only religious) occurred in the church; every worker toiled at his or her job, and then worked for hours to build churches \u2013 often over generations. At this time all conversations, correspondence, and arts were centered on Biblical teachings. Every symbol in carvings, every image in stained-glass windows, every narrative in tapestries, every color in cloths and vestments, had spiritual significance that even the peasants understood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was unity<\/em>. Individuals engaged in activities and crafts and professions\u2026 but worked as one. Foundational beliefs, common purposes, and communal loyalties were the essence of one\u2019s existence on this side of Heaven. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Adams recognized that in his day, the essential matters of life \u2013 individual and collective \u2013 unity was disappearing in Western civilization. Despite advances in literacy, medicine, and prosperity, the \u201cDark Ages\u201d were not totally dark, and that era\u2019s demise was to be mourned. He attended a world\u2019s fair in 1900 and beheld an exhibition called the Dynamo, a massive, clanking machine that did nothing except represent the coming \u201cMachine Age.\u201d Adams understood the thematic purpose; but he lamented its prophecy \u2013 that the coming world would be centered on, and virtually worship, machines. Machines (read: computers, AI, etc) would replace God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The critiques of Plato, the early church fathers, St Augustine and Luther; Adams and Solzhenitsyn; secular observers like Kafka and Fromm; resonated in the person and legacy of Charlie Kirk. An unlikely heir? He is at home with most of the great prophets and great martyrs of Western history. Sadly but proudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This morning I had a call from my daughter Emily in Northern Ireland, where she has lived for 20 years. She expressed concern about the Charlie Kirk situation\u2026 and I expressed surprise that she knew of Charlie beyond my appearance on his show. She replied that he was quite well known in Ireland. Her family listened to him online at least once a week, and has done so for two years. My granddaughter is now 14. I asked what attracted her to Kirk; the main reason was his strong anti-abortion stand; next was \u201chis intelligence in debates and how he was strong in sharing his ideas.\u201d TurningPoint USA is<\/em> a youth movement, but not only for youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around the world there have been spontaneous and massive protests and vigils in the wake of Charlie\u2019s murder. London, three million in the streets (all, as elsewhere, peaceful \u2013 to be compared with left-wing violence). Parades in Ireland, Berlin, Hamburg, Rome, Warsaw, Korea, Australia. Charlie\u2019s mode of mentioning Jesus and promoting Christianity (focusing on faith more than himself), spread his larger message across the globe. His spiritual and related social themes coincide with the political upheavals throughout America and Europe: my family told me about a protest in the Northern Irish town of Newry where Unionists and Nationalists \u2013 that is, Protestants and Catholics who have been killing each other (the \u201cTroubles\u201d) for generations \u2013 were locked arm in arm in\u2026 unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Charlie\u2019s message plugged into the West\u2019s emotional dissolution. Frustrated societies have found hope in his spiritual, social, and political critiques. A worker in that Irish protest said to an interviewer that \u201ceven the church has let us down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Undeniably, this is true for many people. In fact virtually every institution in Western societies has let people down \u2013 Big Media, traditional political parties, the Entertainment Industry, the Education complex. Liberals in the church and other monopolies can push back or say that we are paranoiac. But perception is reality. Returning to my first point, people are finally sick of alienation \u2013 being forced into modes that resist traditional, folkish identity and interaction. They are sick of dealing with what Fromm called powerlessness. Charlie Kirk\u2019s major message was not political nor even social, but spiritual. Turning to Jesus, returning to Jesus, is the comfort food that is attracting hungry youth. His ministry, raised to the n<\/em>th degree by his martyr\u2019s death, is the spark that likely will ignite a fundamental change in America, the West, and around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n It is why he was killed. He was a Christian patriot\u2026 he argued for change\u2026 but most significantly, he was effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think of all history\u2019s examples of malignant opponents who \u201ckilled the messenger.\u201d Every time it has been futile; that is, the advance of reform and renewal has withstood the desperate and usually evil attempts to stop it. The System, all over the world, has pressed down individuals and tried to mold an obedient mass distracted by bread and circuses, supposed to hate whom they are told to hate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mankind has forgotten God. Perhaps, by martyr\u2019s blood, they are remembering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n +++<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People believe they have been let down because they know<\/em> they have been let down. Proven in the recent US election \u2013 and the political storms brewing in every European country \u2013 is the realization that traditions, culture, and community mean more to people than, even, poll-taker\u2019s headline \u201cissues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rock-pile.jpg?resize=506%2C540&ssl=1\")
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