A vigil and remembrance for Charlie Kirk was organized by a Whittie resident and Jackson county GOP treasurer, Kitti Chisholm was held on Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Bridge Park in Sylva.
Kirk a conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA was shot in the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. He was later pronounced dead in the hospital.
Around 100 people came to the vigil and many passers and visitors to the market had a chance to listen to speakers praising Kirk, his faith and the dangers of political and gun violence in the United States.
“We didn’t come here with an agenda of what we think,” the founder and lead pastor of Refuge Church in Sylva, Shane Roughton, said. “We came here with a message from God, and so I hope you hear with that intent.”
Roughton, along with other speakers at the vigil, spoke more about Kirk’s views on religion instead of talking about his politics.
“Our beliefs are not hateful; they are loving, loving convictions that God has placed within us,” Roughton said. “We know that Charlie Kirk shared these convictions, shared them, and was called hateful.”
Roughton talked about the beliefs that Kirk followed and spoke about across the United States, and agreed with many of them.
“You may be led to believe that you are extreme in that, and in the other beliefs I have mentioned, do not buy into that,” Roughton said. “Those are all values, morally and politically, that I have mentioned today that our country was founded on.”
In the end, Roughton extended a prayer to everyone in the United States.
“Let’s just pray for this country,” Roughton said. “Let’s pray for all of us: left, right, middle, believer, non-believer. Let’s pray for peace in this great country, and let’s be peacemakers.”
Version of the story was published in The Sylva Herald, Sept. 25 edition.
