I had different plans for writing this week, but the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk has shifted the focus of an entire nation. It is a bitter reminder of our vulnerability and mortality – man knows not his time, and we never know who the next target may be. The 24th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks and the Benghazi attack on that date in 2012 also emphasize this on varying levels. Death at the hands of evildoers happens around us in a fallen world all the time, taking lives way too soon.
But Kirk’s murder draws attention to a particular decay that has been allowed to fester and erupt: academia, which should be a civilized, self-governing people’s safe haven for the challenging discourse of ideas, has become a temple of idols that some will shed blood to defend and worship.
