Are There Religious Implications Involved in Today's Political Assassination of Charlie Kirk?

These are just some random thoughts that have popped up as I have read through, and heard some of the news stories related to today's tragic shooting death of Charlie Kirk.  Regardless of what people thought of him, and it's pretty clear he was a polarizing figure, with an in-your-face kind of approach to his hard-line, right wing political views, political violence of any kind, directed at anyone, should never be considered acceptable for any reason.  It is the one method of opposition that never succeeds in achieving its goal.  

The Location of the Shooting Has Some Significance, Maybe More Than We Might Think 

It happened in Utah.  What most Americans generally know about Utah, and associate with it, its that it is the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and has the highest percentage of population of its members, also known commonly as "Mormons," than any other state.  So people might find it unusual that such an assassination would occur in Utah.  

It happened in Orem, a town that is really part of a larger metro area connected to Provo, where Brigham Young University is located, the center of the LDS church's education program.  Provo and Orem, along with some smaller "suburbs," make up a single metropolitan area where the percentage of Mormon residents is among the highest of any other place in the state of Utah.  While half the population of Utah is made up of members of the LDS church, the Provo-Orem-Spanish Fork area is over 70 percent LDS.  So the Mormon population there would include those who have a higher level of theological conviction and education, and a deeper involvement in the LDS community, which is anchored by the church.  

Utah also happens to be one of the easiest states in which to buy a gun, and has a high percentage of residents who are gun owners.  

Stick with me, some of this might actually be worth considering when it all adds up.  

Utah Valley University, where the gathering was taking place at which Kirk was shot, is the largest state university in Utah, primarily a commuter school with an enrollment of over 45,000 undergraduates, 10,000 more than either the University of Utah, or Brigham Young University.  Even though it is a state university, it is likely that the number of LDS students enrolled there is well over half the total, given the fact that most of its students commute from the Provo-Orem-Spanish Fork area, which is Utah's second largest metro area.  

So what would attract a group of predominantly Mormon students to a gathering where Charlie Kirk, who is a conservative, Evangelical Christian, is the speaker?  From a theological and doctrinal perspective, being Mormon and being Evangelical are mutually exclusive.  Evangelicalism as a whole treats Mormons as a heretical cult, one of the worst in terms of deceiving people away from true Christian faith, at least, from their perspective.  Mormon leaders and theologians are open in their caustic criticism of Evangelicals.  In fact, it is a core doctrine of Mormon faith that Joseph Smith was informed directly by the Angel Moroni, who appeared to him and revealed the location of the "golden plates" he allegedly translated into English as "The Book of Mormon," that all of the followers of all of the other Christian churches that were in existence were wrong, that they were liars and did not have the truth.  

Did I mention, that's a core doctrine of Latter Day Saints theology. 

So it is common ground in conservative, right wing politics that brings Mormons together with conservative Evangelicals.  But not on every single political point, either.  

Shared Perspectives But Different Outcomes in White, Christian Nationalism 

The Latter Day Saints have a Christian nationalist perspective that declares themselves to be the chosen people of God for the purpose of one day being the government of the United States.  It is their divine will, included in their prophecy, that God has ordained them to take over the government, using the vast resources and power of the United States to convert the rest of the world to Mormonism.  Everything they do, from temple rituals to having well over the average number of children, is built around this belief.  And there is no room in this Mormon perspective of Christian nationalism, for the heretics of the Evangelical right.  

Likewise, the dominionism of white, Christian nationalism that dominates some branches of conservative Evangelicalism considers all Mormons as heretics who will be put to death when they are given rhe righteous rule of American, as God's chosen people.  Kirk got a crowd of almost 100% white college students to a rally on Utah's largest university campus.   For the most part, the shared politics keeps religion out of the discussion, and Kirk's speeches are generally not overly laced with either Biblical references or Christian theology.  

But one thing is clear.  There can't be two "chosen peoples" destined to rule America, and thus, the world.  For Mormons, the purpose in doing this is to turn the rule of the world over to the Mormon God, who procreates spirit children in need of human bodies.  For Evangelicals, the purpose of their Christian nation is to eliminate all of God's enemies in order to usher in the Second Coming of Christ.  With, of course, all associated benefits, including acquired wealth, going to the church leadership. 

Is it possible that an LDS hard-liner, distrustful of Evangelicals because that's ingrained in their theological instruction from their pre-school days, took advantage of a casual, less secure atmosphere at an open air rally in a place that was obviously easy to access, and got at Kirk for his theological and doctrinal incompatibility with the Latter Day Saints?  

That discovery would not surprise me. 

I doubt that the shooter was some frustrated, angry left winger.  That's been rare, at least in the most recent plague of politically motivated shootings and violence we've seen in this country in recent years.  Disaffected Proud Boys or Oath Keepers are right wingers, not left wingers.  Left wingers abhor gun violence.  Even those who tried to get at Trump were politically on the far right.  

Well, it's a theory.  

My heart goes out to Charlie Kirk's wife and children.  This was senseless, tragic and cruel, and it is the kind of behavior that has no place in American Constitutional Democracy, or as any part of any faith that wants to align with the gospel of Jesus Christ.