RADIONovember 21, 2024

Why Oklahoma RETURNED the Bible to schools

Oklahoma has become the first state to put the Bible back into classrooms. Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters joins Glenn to explain why and respond to critics who yell “separation of church and state” at the top of their lungs. Why wouldn’t the Bible be in schools, Walters argues. It’s the most popular book in history and the key to understanding our founding. So, instead of lying to our kids, he’s giving them access to the primary sources. Walters also gives his take on Trump’s promise to dismantle the Department of Education and his pick of Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So why do we believe in the underdog? To have

We always root for the little guy. Never count the little guy out. What does it mean? We're battling the giants.

It comes from tasted and Goliath. That is part of our culture. You don't have to believe there was an actual giant, and tasted defeated the giant with one rock.

I happened to believe that story. But you don't have to. But if you don't know that story, you don't really understand the West.

And the Bible is littered with those stories. Almost every phrase, famous phrase that we've ever spilled out of our mouth, over and over again, comes from the Scriptures.

And their famous phrase is because everybody used to know them. Everybody knew the Scriptures.

Well, now nobody does. So you don't really understand the giant. You don't understand the little guy going up against the giant.

You don't understand the reference of, wow, that's a tasted versus Goliath thing there.

They don't know what that means. The Bible is important, even if you don't believe it to be a miraculous book. If you just look at it as the world's first history book, even if you look at it as the world's first history book, as man understood and could explain history at the time.

You can't understand Macbeth. You can't understand Shakespeare. You can't understand our Declaration of Independence if you don't understand the Bible.

And dismiss it. So now Oklahoma schools, the head guy. The superintendent, Ryan Walters, who has been on this program before, has now just dedicated all kinds of money to put a Bible in every school. What does this mean?

You're going to hear all kinds of distortion on this. But we will talk to -- we're going to talk to Ryan right now. And get his take on it.

Hello, Ryan. How are you?

RYAN: I'm great. Thank you for having me on, Glenn.

GLENN: Great. So I want to talk to you about the Department of Ed. In a second. But first, let's talk about what you're doing with Bibles in schools. Why are you doing this? And what does it actually mean?

RYAN: Yeah. Look, the left. I'll give them credit. They've been a tremendous force for the last 40 or 50 years. And, frankly, broader society to believe that somehow our Founding Fathers believed there shouldn't be a Bible in the schoolhouse or there shouldn't be prayer in the school.

But look it's not my fault the Supreme Court in the 1960s misinterpreted the establishment clause. The reality is, absolutely you can have a Bible in school. You should! The Bible is the most read, the most purchased book in American history.

It's more cited in any other book, since the 18th century. How in the world do you teach American history without the Bible.

How do you explain the Pilgrims? How do you explain the idea where the rights came from God? How do you explain Martin Luther King Jr. is a letter from a Birmingham jail.

Where you reference Daniel, Shadrack, Michadrack, and Bendigo.

How do you understand this? And, again, what the left has been able to do is create state-sponsored atheist centers by saying, no.

No mention of God. We're going to distort American history. And tell kids, this country is an evil, racist place.

The state played no role. And so we're bringing the Bible back. We're very excited to put the Bible first in every classroom. It will be understood. And it's a historical context.

To your point, what leftist. You don't have to agree with the Bible. You can be offended. That's all well and good. And that's fine.

But you can't lie to our kids about our history and the influence that the Bible and Christianity played.

GLENN: Right.

And, you know, I can't remember the name of the big atheist. He was one of the biggest atheists around. He said, you will not understand western culture.

He was not a Bible thumper by any stretch.

He was a die hard atheist. And said, the Bible needs to be taught, or you don't understand Western culture.

That's pretty clear.

MATT: That's exactly right. And that's where I challenged, you know, the left on that. Where, okay. Guys, explain the Pilgrims. If you can't mention the Bible and Christianity. Think of how quickly that morphs into a bizarre argument. And like you said, look, again, you have to understand our history, in order for us to continue as a civilization.

Here's the reality. We know what happens as a civilization. When you teach the next generation.

To hate and reject that civilizational value.

It doesn't continue.

Our young people have to understand, this is where we came from.

This is history. This is how we got to where we are.

This is how we became the greatest country in the history of the world. Again, leave it up to individuals to make their own determinations on what they believe, on what they believe the fast forward is.

But you can't even have a conversation about the path forward. If you don't understand the path.

Look, we have allowed the left to dominate and control education. We've got to fight back against that. Look, the key way to do that.

By the way, you can notice it by their reaction. They don't want the Bible in school. They don't want the Constitution.

Of course, the Federalist Papers. They want people reading about them, not reading them.

So they just want to critique from the 1960s about them. We want all those primary sources in the classroom.

Let the kids read it. Let them understand it. Let them come to their own conclusion. But put those great works in front of our kids.

GLENN: So how is this going to go with teachers? Teaching this.

Because I don't want somebody's view of the Bible, one way or another.

I do want it taught, as history. You know, I don't mind praying in school. I don't mind. You know, whatever.

But I -- I don't want us to go the opposite direction, and say, if you don't believe the Bible is the Word of God, then you are just a Neanderthal.

And I don't have any faith in the teacher's unions being able to teach it, without disdain.

MATT: And look, here's the reality with that.

We have to do this the right way. We've already put out guidance that said, listen, you're not to come out here and push your view of religion on to the kids.

Okay? This is a history lesson. This is understanding as a historical context.

Again, we give these examples as our guidance.

And said, listen, you are to teach it in its historical context, in these specific standards. So we've laid out, this is how you teach it. This is where it is. This is the historical context around it.

Again, if we have somebody in there, attacking religion, trying to push that view on kids, they're not going to teach in the state of Oklahoma.
We're not going to tolerate that. You've seen these leftist activists. We've been crystal clear.

You have educational standards. You will educate, not indoctrinate. And if you cross that line, you will have to find another profession.

GLENN: All right.

Can we talk a little bit about what your thoughts are on the Department of Education, and getting rid of that?

How real do you think this is?

MATT: Oh, I think it's very real. I have several conversations with President Trump about it. And I think he's been crystal clear. It's going to be gone. He wants the plan. He wants the road map for it.

Like Linda McMahon is a great choice, the Department of Ed. She has taken on huge endeavors like this before, head-on.

And look, I think what you do, is you eliminate that agency.

It's got to be a top priority from day one. You walk in. You decimate the -- all the jobs programs out of it.

You get ready to fire a bunch of personnel. They would be packing their bags right now. Then we go into Congress, and we don't need this. Why in the world are we doing this?

And if you want to continue some of those programs, you walk around the state to let them have full authority, on how to spend the money.

But no longer do you go to 5,000 nearly employees in DC and let them attach all these strains. All this indoctrination, all of their woke agenda on to our educational systems. It's up to the state.

So, again, there's some ways to do this. They have some options.

One is a block grant. One is to return it to the state. And say, look, you guys make the decisions of where your money goes.

Solve your own problems. It's amazing to me, Glenn. To listen to the weeping and gnashing of teeth from the left.

I'm like, guys, for over 200 years, we didn't have a Department of Education.

We developed the greatest country in the history of the world. Some of the greatest minds were forged in just a one-room schoolhouse, focused on the basics. Right?

So, look, this is a deviation from American history.

The last 40 years from the Department of Ed, and everything has gotten worse.

So their scare tactics are not going to work. I think President Trump has a clear mandate. I think he's focused to dismantle it. Not to play around the edges, but for Ed to be gone. States have the power, and then we will push states to give the power back to parents like we do in Oklahoma. That's where power rests. That's where God intended it, and that's where we will put it.

GLENN: And how fast do you think -- I mean, President Trump told me, if it doesn't happen in the first 100 days, I'm going to have a hard time getting it through.

You know, I got the impression when Linda McMahon goes in. She's for school choice, blah, blah, blah. But do you get the impression from the president, that this is -- shut this thing down, beginning day one?

MATT: Yes, sir. He's been crystal clear, both publicly and privately. I want it gone.

I have laid a marker down, that agency represents -- it's the belly of the beast. It really is.

This is the training ground for the Deep State, right? So no. Get rid of it in its entirety.

I want the thing to shut down. I want the building bulldozed. Like I want it gone.

I don't want any remnant of a Department of Education.

I think Linda McMahon is there to do just that. I think they've been absolutely working for it. It has to happen fast.

President Trump won a crystal clear mandate in this election. And, Glenn, he laid out. I mean, how clear can he be?

That agency is gone. He wasn't like, hey, we're going to do some things. Congressmen will get on board with that. The American people are sick of watching our kids having a woke agenda pushed on them from Washington, DC.

Our Founders would be rolling over in their grave, if they knew that DC was dictating over the summer.

Hey, all states. You have to allow boys and girls sports. Boys and girls bathrooms.

I mean, I couldn't even imagine explaining that to a George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. Yeah, someone in DC made that decision one morning, and tried to tell us to do it.

I mean, it's just -- the American people are fed up, and they've elected Donald Trump to do that. I think he will absolutely fulfill his promises, as what we saw in the first term. I think that agency is gone.

GLENN: When do these Bibles start to go into schools in Oklahoma.

MATT: Today actually. Actually today. We got the Bibles yesterday. We will start moving them into districts today. We are very excited.

And, again, we're going to make sure our kids understand the role the Bible played in American history, as you pointed out. I don't know how you know American history without the Bible.

You can't. So we're very excited. We want our kids to understand the nation's history. And we want them to be patriotic.

We are unapologetic about that, Glenn. In Oklahoma, we want patriotic opportunities. We want them to love this country. We want them to move forward in the understanding that this country will cease to be great, if the citizens don't understand his principles and advocate for those moving forward.

We're unapologetic about that here.

GLENN: You are also, I believe. The reddest of red states now.

Correct?

MATT: We are. We are. All seven counties went for President Trump here. We love President Trump here in Oklahoma.

GLENN: So what has the push back been like, and what are you expecting coming your way?

MATT: So the unions are just losing their mind, of course. You know, and the Democrats are losing their mind. But listen, hey. We have some week-kneed Republicans up here, and I've just been crystal clear with them. We're moving forward. This is a clear agenda that has been mandated by the people. They want the Bible back in schools. They want their schools back to parents. And back teaching patriotism and love of country.

We're going to do it. So weak-kneed Republicans, you better get out of the way.

Because the reality is -- here in Oklahoma. All 77 counties voted for President Trump.

It is America First agenda here. We are full steam ahead. We will be tip of the spear for President Trump and his education agenda. And, Glenn, he's done laying out the most aggressive education agenda in this country's history. Universal school choice nationwide, to a tax credit.

Patriotic education, and no Department of Education, and prayer back in schools?

I mean, this is exactly the plan to move education back to allowing America to continue to be that greatest country in the history of the world.

President Trump laid it out there. We will absolutely be the tip of the spear in making sure all of those things happen. And, again, RINO Republicans move out of the way. The people are so tired of winning elections. And let's play around the edges.

This is a mandate. This is not -- by the way, Glenn, I've told our folks in Oklahoma. This is not a bipartisan mandate. I don't know where this comes from.

All right. Let's go cut a deal. No, no, no, no. It's full steam ahead.

The American people voted for a clear agenda of America. We're enacting it. This is not a bipartisan mandate. It's a President Trump. America first mandates. We are moving forward. Full steam ahead.

GLENN: Are you being considered at all, for any role in the -- in the end of the Department of Education? Because you've done a tremendous job, in Oklahoma.

MATT: Well, I appreciate that. We've gotten to have some great conversations with President Trump's team. Look, I think they did a great job with Linda McMahon. I think she will be incredibly dialed in.

I think she will absolutely lead the charge to get rid of that agency. I think they've cut a tremendous -- every day, you wake up, and see President Trump's appointees. And think, wow, this is fantastic.

GLENN: I know. And the one thing about it is whether you like it or not. They are all revolutionaries.

They are all -- none of them are like -- no. Let's sit down and talk about this.

I mean, they're clear on what they're going to do. And he's putting the fiercest fighters of the big state. Or Deep State in every single appointment.

MATT: Could be more.

Listen, fundamentalist hear it from the president's own mouth. You're hearing it from his personnel decisions. He's absolutely dead serious.

This agenda that he ran on. That he was crystal clear with the American people on.

The American people overwhelmingly voted for.

It's going to get done. He is clear. These things are going to happen.

I believe Linda McMahon was exactly the right choice to come here.

She's only gotten done everything she's ever done in her life.

I mean, she just literally -- hey, what's in front of me? Got it. And just does it.

So it's going to be done.

And again, you've got to have states step up. And that's what we -- we are so excited to work with President Trump and his team. We told him. In Oklahoma, it's going to get done. Prayer will be back in school. The Bible will be back in school.

We will teach patriotism. We will continue to be the tip of the spear on school choice.

Every state has to have school choice. We have to continue to take on the woke left, with an offensive game plan.

We don't play defense anymore. Okay?

For those Republicans that didn't get the memo. We got it in the last election.

If you need it any louder, the American people want action on a true conservative America first agenda. Let's act. The states enact President Trump's agenda. Let's move the country forward.

And show them what conservative principles look like in action. Here's the reality, Glenn. And we know this. They work.

That's where it's full steam ahead, guys. Get these principles in action. Let's get the policies enacted.

Because the people of Oklahoma will see it, and improve their lives. They will see a better school. They will see a better education system, which will lead to a better society.

Which leads to a stronger state and stronger economy.

Oh, you have to do the thing. You can't just talk about -- President Trump is clearly a man of action. He's the man for the times. Look, I think he's very Churchillian. You look at a guy who is doing it alone. He was standing up against these threats. And you have Republicans going, oh, he's too much. You're going, oh, he's not. He recognizes the threats that the left represents. And now the American people have turned to President Trump. He's the man for the hour.

I couldn't be excited.

GLENN: I think you made a great case on Churchill.

Ryan, thank you so much.

This is Ryan Walters. He is the Oklahoma state superintendent of schools, and Oklahoma is putting Bibles back into schools today. Thank you, Ryan, appreciate it.

“He was one of ours, and he was taken”: Megyn Kelly remembers Charlie Kirk

Glenn Beck and Megyn Kelly remember their friend, TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, a day after he was assassinated at Utah Valley University. They also discuss the manhunt for the killer.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Yesterday was such a surreal day. I was getting to record my special last night. It was in the afternoon. And I'm sitting here in my studio, and I look at the stairs through this glass door that I have here. And my wife is on the phone, and she's standing in the stairway.

And she has her, her hand gripping the stair rail. And I could see it in her eyes, she was on the phone. And I could see confusion, and I could see trouble.

And in my ear, I'm hearing, five, four, three -- and I said, "Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. I need 30 seconds. I need to talk to my wife."

And I motioned for her to come in. And in a confused and dazed sort of way, she kind of stumbles into the room.

And I said, "What's happening, honey?"

And she said, "It's Cheyenne."

I didn't know what that meant. As a dad, you can imagine. I said, "Is she okay? What -- what's happening?"

She meant, it's Cheyenne on the phone.

Cheyenne had just gotten past the crush of the crowd. She called her mom. She said, "Charlie Kirk's just been shot."

"What?"

She sent me some video, and I knew it was true, but hoped for the best until a few minutes later somebody else sent me video that I hope you did not see, of the bullet striking him.

It must have been like what it was when you first saw the Zapruder film, or if you were standing in the Grassy Knoll. You just knew.

I was on with Megyn Kelly, and we were holding on to the hope that he was somehow or another going to survive that. And Megyn said at one point, I don't know why I'm not announcing what everybody else is announcing. But I just can't.

Megyn joins us now. Hi, Megyn.

MEGYN: Hi, Glenn.

GLENN: What a weird 24 hours it has been. Where are you this morning, in unraveling this knot in your head?

MEGYN: I still don't have my arms around it. I -- I don't feel like I've totally digested the fact that he's gone and the way in which he was taken. You know, Charlie truly was such a larger than life figure. We say that term. But it -- it was true about him. At six-five, he truly seemed larger than most of us. And he was, in his gifts, in his tirelessness. And just knowing exactly where the scene. Every story was.

And his raw courage. So many times. We like to think we're courageous in our commentary. You look at Charlie, and you think, now that's try courage. He -- he would just say it like it was.

The things you might be thinking in your head, but you might not want to say explicitly, he said. And he took a lot of slings and arrows for it and was demonized for being all the terrible things, as opposed to people taking him on and saying, "Does he have a point?"

GLENN: You know, I said earlier today, you don't kill the weak. People don't want to try to heal. They just want to speak in anger at times. And anger is part of the grieving process. And I know I'm angry.

But Charlie would face that anger. And what people think is weakness, by showing love and compassion and listening and just having a decent conversation, that's one of the reasons why he was killed. He wasn't -- he wasn't killed because he was weak. Just like Gandhi wasn't weak. He -- he -- he was killed because he was effective.

Megyn, where do we go from here?

She dropped. Can we get her back on the phone. I got an email from somebody today. This morning.

And I want to share the email. I won't share the name. It's short. But I -- I also think I should share the -- my response. Because I think it's how most of us feel.

It -- it comes from a very well-known conservative leader. Glenn, I am devastated this morning.

I am in deep mourning for Charlie. I am in mourning for his family and our country.

And I don't know how to surface from this. I don't know if I do either.

But I would like to share my thoughts with you, a little later on. Megyn is with me.

Megyn, how do we process this? How do we surface from this?

MEGYN: You know, I think as many lost -- we -- we all have to go through the denial and the bargaining. You know, I'm still refreshing my X account, like hoping somehow there's a reversal. You know, like somehow it was all wrong. Somehow we got it all wrong. You know, sometimes the media gets it wrong. It -- it's absurd. We know what the answer is.

But that's a natural reaction when you had a sudden loss in particular. And anger is completely appropriate now too. It's completely appropriate.

You know, we are going to catch this guy. You know, that FBI presser they just held which is very encouraging.

They -- and two things that happened this morning that are of note, Glenn. First, Steven Crowder who is very solid on his law enforcement leak reporting. He has -- he has a proven track history. He's the one that got the manifesto from the trans shooter in Nashville before anyone else. And that's not all.

He's had other leaks, posting a document saying he received from an ATF source on the investigation.

And that says that they retrieved the gun in the would see, behind the campus. Wrapped in a towel. And that there were three unspent cartridges in the gun. That had transgender and antifascist ideology. Something written on them.

Now, that piece of -- that last piece of it was not confirmed by the FBI at the presser they just held, but every other thing was.

The Crowder report was confirmed in every detail, including naming the kind of gun. He had that right. He had the location right. He had the trail and the tracking of the suspect right.

They did not volunteer the business about what was written on the cartridges, nor did anyone there ask. Because those reporters almost certainly don't follow Steven Crowder because those reporters will probably tell you, he's not to be trusted.

Now, this is an early report. And it could turn out to be wrong. But that's the update as far as we know it.

And the FBI revealing that they have a picture of him, that they did, of course, track him on his way to the shooting spot with surveillance cameras, of course, on these college campuses. We would expect that in dorms or class buildings.

And they appear confident. At least to me. That they've got the guy. And if they've got the weapon, Glenn. Well, they may or may not have fingerprints.

But they almost certainly have DNA. They almost certainly DNA, which I'm sure they're uploading right now, into every database, they can.

You know, within we saw -- they're not supposed to use the public databases. Sorry, private like 23andme or Ancestry.com. Though, in Culverter (phonetic), they did. And that is how they found Culverter. Sometimes they do.

And even just a public database of DNA. Can lead you at least to a family member somewhere near a shooter or suspect. And then it's just a matter of charts and a few hours in getting to that person's relative. So I believe they will find the shooter.

And then we'll know the ideology. And then we'll have a place to put some of the anger. Like, an explanation or something that will help us understand what deranged person. And I don't mean that in a clinical sense. Did this yesterday.

I just feel like, I don't know where to go, until I figure out who did this and why.

GLENN: It was about midnight last night, when I talked to the president.

And he was very clear, that we will find whoever is responsible for this. And justice will be served.

He was extraordinarily confident in that. Which gave me an awful lot of hope.

I don't know if you saw his speech last night, that he gave from the oval.

But I thought -- very powerful. Hit exactly the right tone.

Hit exactly the right tone.

But I think the days of us fooling around and nibbling at the edges. I think those days are over.

MEGYN: I agree. And one of the things that Trump said last night that was so good was, he used the word "terrorism." That's exactly right. You know, that's -- that is how a lot of us are feeling.

And I know you've had the same experience I've had in the last 24 hours, Glenn, where virtually everybody I know in the media business has reached out. I think there are a lot of folks who are in Arlene, in particular, in conservative media, who are very rattled by this because he was one of ours.

And he was taken. You know, he -- obviously, we all have concerns about personal security now with the shooter at loose. You know, at large as well. But I just mean that -- like the betrayal and the need to rise up and protect ours. And the people we value and love.

You know, this is like -- I don't want to say a call to arms. Because I'm not encouraging violence. But, I mean, a unifying call for us to stand shoulder to shoulder and stand up.

GLENN: Yeah. It is absolutely a wake-up call. To anybody who thought, you know, "Oh, it's just going to pass us by," it's not. This is -- this is the call of our age. And how we respond, is going to determine the future of freedom in this country. But I have great confidence that we will respond just as we did after 9/11.

We responded with conviction. We responded with an intelligence sort of way. We overreacted in some ways, that I would like to avoid this time.

But we came together as a nation, and did what had to be done.

For the preservation of our nation.

Now, if we can have the moderation lesson learned this time. Perhaps we will be good. But I think the days of Antifa not feeling any ramifications for their work and others, those days are over! As of yesterday.

Megyn -- I just -- go ahead.

MEGYN: Go ahead, Glenn. I was just going to say. One of the things we did after 9/11 was when the stock market opened two days later. We -- we all bought stocks. We just -- it could have been a 5-dollar to being. But everyone did it to send a message that the financial center would stand. And I think we are going to see a reaction on college campuses when it comes to free speech by conservatives unlike we've ever seen before. In a similar vein.

GLENN: I agree. I'm proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you, Megyn. And be in the trenches with you all the time. You are a light in a lot of darkness. And I appreciate our years of friendship. And everything that you've done for the country. Thank you!

MEGYN: Likewise, my friend. Thanks for having me.

“Our country has changed forever”: Charlie Kirk's BlazeTV friends reflect on his death

BlazeTV hosts Liz Wheeler, Steve Deace, and Allie Beth Stuckey join Glenn Beck to reflect on the assassination of their friend, Charlie Kirk. They also discuss where the conservative movement goes from here and what they believe the impact of his death will be.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I spoke to you yesterday. And we were both pretty raw at the time. How are you doing this morning?

LIZ: I -- I am in a fog of grief, Glenn. I think that a lot of us are -- it still feels very unbelievable what happened to our very dear friend, Charlie Kirk. I feel like I'm floating up outside of my body in a sense, watching all of this unfold.

It's quite something to see the reaction, from the American people over this assassination. I think you're correct when you say that our country has changed forever. I think this is one of the most significant -- not just political assassinations, but political events that we've experienced since the inception of our country.

And I think I've been praying about this, since you and I spoke for so long yesterday.

I've been thinking about this endlessly.

Obviously, on my knees, praying for sweet Erica and Charlie and Erica's two babies. But I think one of the things that's happened in the last 24 hours is people in our country, and I don't even want to say conservatives.

I don't want to say right-wingers because it's not just that, have realized that Charlie is so normal. He's not radical. He's not extreme.

He's not bombastic. He's not edgy. He's just a regular guy. And he's kind. And they killed him because of those beliefs and opinions, those principles and values, Glenn, that we share with him.

And you and I work in this industry, and you've written a lot of books about this political enemy that we face, and we talk about it a lot.

But for the majority of the American people, this is the first time, Glenn, that they're realizing, exactly who this political enemy that we face is.

And it's jarring, and it's gut-wrenching. Because they realize, that just as easily as they assassinated Charlie Kirk and are now dancing on his grave, they want to do that to us, too. (crying)

GLENN: Liz, I -- and I know you do. I have such faith in the Lord. And I know -- I don't know how our lives end.

I don't know how things work out. But I know everything that happens is used for his good. There is no way to thwart God's plan. You can make it -- you can make getting there harder. You can make getting there more painful.

But if we trust in him, great and glorious things are going to happen. Because of this.

LIZ: Charlie once said --

GLENN: Go ahead.

LIZ: Charlie once said, when someone asked him what he wanted to be known for the most -- and he wore a lot of hats, so he could have picked a lot of different accomplishments and identities. And he said he wanted to be known for his faith.

And that's -- it's so powerful. You and I are clinging to God right now. Everyone sitting here with us is clinging to God. I'm literally sitting here, gripping a rosary as we talk. Evil happens in our world, and we all ask that question, "Why? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good and innocent people?"

And, you know, as Father Mike Schmitz reminded us yesterday, "When evil happens, that is not God's perfect will. It is God's permissive will, which is very different."

God allowed Charlie's death to happen, but he did not want it to happen. God values human freedom and can bring about a greater good through these allowed events. But God does not allow evil. He uses it to achieve his higher purpose. When sometimes we don't know what that is, and I -- I'm human. I find it very difficult not to have an immediate answer to, "Okay. What is that higher good?"

But it could be testing faith or demonstrating compassion, teaching people how to uphold his perfect will of good.

And if God were to remove evil from the human existence, he would also be removing our free will to love him and to love others. And he knows that despite the evil that he allows to exist in the world, this greater good can be achieved for eternity, which is where Charlie is now.

And, Glenn, there are a lot of bad people online right now. You know, celebrating Charlie's death and saying how ironic it was, that Charlie was killed by a gun when he was a champion of gun rights. But you want to know what the real irony is? The real irony is that Charlie, at this moment in eternity, I guarantee you, Glenn, is praying for those who did this to him.

GLENN: You know, yesterday I said, "I think I might have done the hardest things I've done. I walked to the front gate, and I lowered my flag to half-mast for a dear friend."

And I think that is going to be easy compared to the forgiveness and the compassion and the restraint that is going to be required from all of us in the coming days. I think that's going to be very difficult. And I don't know how you do it, if you don't have God.

LIZ: I don't. I can't imagine moving forward without God. The Bible says, "He is my rock. He is my refuge."

And I can tell you, that that's the only thing that's helping me swim through this fog.

Charlie was such a good man, Glenn. Such a good man. You know, he once actually hired me -- this was a decade and a half ago. He hired me to work for Turning Point USA, but I wasn't going to -- my start date for starting that job wasn't going to be for, like, three months down the road because that's a new financial cycle. And in the interim after we had signed that contract, but before I had started, I got offered my first television job on OIN. And so I preemptively quit on Charlie.

And I remembered talking to him. And saying, "I know this is such a sucky move for me to preemptively quit on you after we had agreed. But, Charlie, what would you do?"

And he was so gracious, Glenn. He was so generous. He said, "You are -- you're going to kill it. You're going to -- you will use this platform to glorify God and save this country."

And he was always so encouraging. Yesterday, I was looking back at our text thread, because for as busy as this man was, he never neglected talking to his friends.

And during some of the most challenging moments in my public life, who was texting me encouragement, but Charlie Kirk? This -- it is hard to think about how to move forward, but one of the things -- and I know that it's hard to articulate clearly in this moment. But one of the things that I know with crystal clarity at this moment. Is we are not going to be silenced by an enemy who harms us.

We are not going to back down. We are not going to be quiet. We are going to honor Charlie's legacy. We are going to care for and love Charlie's families.

We are going to understand in a clearer sense exactly what we are up against. And it's going to -- with God on our side, it is going to lead us to victory, in a way that our country has not yet experienced. Because we do have this binary choice.

The left wants violence. The left wants Civil War.

The left wants to hurt us and kill us.

But what's going to happen instead, is these people in our country. People who are politically apathetic. Or lukewarm liberal. Or maybe right-wing, but not that active in politics, the same thing is going to happen as a result of Charlie's assassination. That happened after the Black Lives Matter riots.

Or after the COVID vaccine mandates. Where people realized that the other side does not want the best for us.

That the other side, during the Black Lives Matter riots, was willing to falsely accuse us of being racists when that wasn't true. Or during COVID, to tell us that we couldn't go to church and worship God. And we had to take their medical products because they said so, and they didn't care about the harm. Glenn, this is that, times one thousand!

People are now looking out across our country, realizing, that there are subversive forces. And not just a radical lunatic madman incident.

There are radical forces who want to kill us. And the awakening that is going to happen, the eye-opening, you are going to see churches filled with people turning to God. You are going to see politics, a swell of good people, who want to stand for normalcy, and common sense. Two million, 5 million, 10 million Charlie Kirks are going to be minted because of this!

And that's hard to picture in this moment, and there will be hard choices to make because we're angry right now and the left is taunting us, but I have so much faith. I have so much faith in what Charlie did and in the prayers that he is going to be bathing our country in now from eternity.

GLENN: I want to spend a few minutes with another friend of Charlie Kirk's and a good friend of our program and -- and mine. Steve Deace, who follows me on Blaze TV. Steve, I know it has been a hard 24 hours. How are you holding up?

STEVE: I'm pretty devastated. I think I have sobbed more, Glenn, in the last 18 hours than I probably did since the night of my own conversion.

GLENN: Hmm.

STEVE: I'm angry, as I know a lot of people are. And there will be a time, after we -- we need to mourn, first, Glenn. Because otherwise the anger will come out destructively. And it needs to come out, but constructively. And I think we have to mourn first. I think Charlie's legacy as a father, husband, friend, patriot merits that. And I think TP USA and his family need that.

In the not too distant future, we're going to have to get the message that was sent here. He was the best of us. We saw him behind the scenes or in public, genuinely kind, generous.

I -- I -- too many pastors and ministry leaders thought they were too good for Charlie and TP USA. Didn't want to get their hands dirty, and claimed they were being super friendly. And yet, he was the one that sought out the seekers. He went to the places that those nicer than God pastors didn't go to. And he took the bullet that, frankly, that's part of their calling. That they're supposed to take. And I hope in a good way, it shames some of them this morning. That they wake up and they realize, that they have slept on the job. And that's judge somebody like Charlie had to do their job for them.

And as Charlie, you know, named his own organization.

This is a turning point. We're never going back to the way things were before. What we do, next, will decide whether or not they are better. And as one of Charlie's biggest -- biggest supporters and donors texted me this morning, we can only pray that out of one, many will rise up.

GLENN: That's a guarantee. That is an absolute guarantee, that that is going to happen.
You know, when the tyrant is killed, his reign is over. When the martyr is killed, his reign has just begun. And make no mistake, for liberty, Charlie Kirk was a martyr. He was assassinated and martyred yesterday.

And -- and, you know, I -- I -- I -- I think -- I hope, that America -- I wish America could know him the way we knew him.

Because he was a -- he was such a generous man.

STEVE: Uh-huh.

GLENN: It didn't matter who you were, or what rank in life you were, if you needed help, he was there. And --

STEVE: Yep.

GLENN: No matter how busy he was, everything stopped.

And he would help you.

And I saw it in him over and over and over again. And I wish people could see that, because it -- you know, this cartoon character, where they're making him into this bomb thrower, he was anything, but.

I mean, he would have the greatest conversations with people. I mean, I could have done it. I couldn't do it. I couldn't sit through that nonsense. But he could!

And he could logically and peacefully have a great conversation, with people who despised him. And that was so important for the healing of our nation. And I really think that that's one of the reasons that he was killed, not just because he was effective at what he did, but because he was healing us. Something that is really vital to happen. He was healing all of those divides.

STEVE: I couldn't have said it better myself. And if you just look on social media and see so many people in our movement, who have such incredible -- people I don't know, people that don't know me, such incredible testimonies of everything you just said in their interactions with Charlie.

You know, we had a very divisive presidential primary. And to be honest, I didn't always handle it well. One of the first people I heard from when it was over was Charlie. And he texted me, and he said, "Don't give up. We need you."

He didn't have to do that, he won. And he's got the bigger platform. He's got the bigger show. He didn't have to do that. But that's the -- those are the kinds of things that leaders do.

And the void that is left here is massive. And at my lowest point I've ever had in my faith, the Lord said something to me, that will stay with me the rest of my life. And he said, "Steven" -- I'm sorry.

"Steven, I need apostles, not assassins."

And I want to share that with your audience because to win the fight that will come after this, that is what will be required. If you know me, this isn't about being a pansy. The apostles rebuke. But they don't seek revenge. The apostles confront. But they don't condemn. The apostles did something that Hannibal couldn't do.

No other civilization in the fertile crescent could do, they conquered the Roman empire. They set the stage for Western civilization. And they did not do it because they were passive, and they sit on the sidelines, and they were nicer than God. And they wear pleated khakis and Hawaiian shirts year around with sweater vests.

They did it because they got their hands dirty. They did it because they did the kinds of things we saw Charlie do: Build infrastructure.
Direct, lead, guide.

I mean, we would have to have a literal conclave, Glenn. And literally, everyone in our business and movement. And come up with divisions to do all the various things Charlie himself was leading and doing in that organization.

I told Charlie at dinner recently, "It's like, you were like, if Rush Limbaugh and the Heritage Foundation had a baby. This is what you and TP USA are."

And that's what it's going to take to fill that void. But I can't -- I'm sure with the size of your audience, my inbox -- my wife is going through it, as we speak, it is full of people. You were right. I have to get off the sidelines. I have to do something. My buddy Sloan over at TP USA texted me yesterday, he goes, "You know, I can't tell you how many pastors we're hearing from. They thought they were too pious for us. Too good for us.
And now the stakes have been raised. They're getting it."

And I'm just so sorry, that it took two little children and their -- and their mom's family away from them for two -- for more people to get the message. And I want to -- I want to specifically challenge my generation, Gen X, no more grunge. No more, we're too cool for school. No more, "Well, everything sucks. Nothing we can do." No more.

That was a 31-year-old man doing the work as a young father and husband, frankly it wasn't his time to do yet. He has other primary duties that he should have been given the benefit of devoting to as a husband father, but our generation has set on the sidelines for too long. We must lead. It is our children now that are grown, that are leaving the nest. We are the ones with the free time.

We are the ones with the discretionary income. It is our time now to leave, to stop bitching and complaining about boomers. And I say that to me more than anybody else.

And to stop looking around like we're still listening to Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots and Sound Garden, and nothing is going to get better. It is time now to lead. This is our moment.

And we are the ones that are in a place to do this with the positions of our families and with our productivity and prosperity. We have to step to the forefront now.

GLENN: Such great good will come out of this, Allie.

I know this is a tough day for you, and thank you for joining me.

ALLIE: Yeah. God is in the business of redemption. He's in the business of thwarting Satan's schemes. He's in the business of bringing beauty out of the ashes. He's in the business of bringing glory to himself, and bringing people to himself.

And if Charlie had had the choice, if someone had been able to come to him and say, okay. This is what your death will accomplish, it will accomplish more people hearing the gospel, it will accomplish more people waking up, I know if Charlie had had that choice, he would have said yes. He would have said, "Yes, Lord, send me." And not only would he have, but he did.

He went into the lion's den, and now he is with the lion of Judah. Now he is with Jesus. And everyone is going to know who he was and why he lived and the gospel that motivated him. And that is the only thing right now that is giving me any hope or any peace or any comfort.

GLENN: I know that all I could think of yesterday was how glorious the greeting must have been on the other side. You know, good -- "Well, done, good and faithful servant."

ALLIE: Yes, absolutely.

And before any of us heard the news, before his sweet wife Erica got the phone call, he was already hearing those words. And I am so happy for him.

I'm so happy that he is with the saints and the martyrs and the persecuted through which the Church of Christ has been advanced for millennia. I'm so happy for him. I'm so sad for us. I'm so sad for us, having gained an incredible person. But we -- we lost a huge presence.

GLENN: That's how I know when people have faith. They don't weep for the dead.

They weep for the lost to themselves and to the world and to the families that are hurting.

They -- they mourn that loss on themselves. But they -- they -- when they think of the person who has died, they know exactly where they are.

ALLIE: Yeah.

GLENN: And with Charlie, I -- I -- I -- I mean, I knew him when he was 17, and he was a good kid, but what a change happened to him.

He -- he was on fire for Christ, on fire for that.

ALLIE: Yes. Absolutely. He grew into over the past five to ten years, such a theologically deep and apologetically astute man of God, as he became a husband, as he became a father, as he became even more of a warrior for truth, and that is really what -- that's what inspired me.

And when I heard the news yesterday, I thought, my thought was, that's it. I'm done. I'm throwing in the towel.

That is it for me. I'm not -- I'm not willing to do this anymore.

And then later after he died, I went through some of the texts that he had sent me over the years. He was always sending everyone. All of these friends. These very encouraging texts.

And he sent me this article from a liberal outlet, that of course, had taken some jabs at me. That had made me anxious. And he said, "Well done. Keep slugging."

And I just know that if he were here, that's exactly what he would say, not just to me, but to all of us.

He would say, "No. You can't get out now. You got to keep going. You got to keep going." That's exactly how he would feel, and that's exactly what he would tell all of us.

GLENN: I've received so many emails from people who have said, "I don't know how to get back up again."

ALLIE: Yeah.

GLENN: And I don't know what to tell them other than, faith in God. Faith in God.

ALLIE: Uh-huh.

GLENN: I think if our side, if you will -- boy, I hate that in this context, but if -- if we didn't have God, we would be very much like the left right now.

We would be mired in anger and -- and screaming for vengeance and it would be a really ugly place today.

ALLIE: Yes.

GLENN: If -- if we didn't have God.

ALLIE: Yes. And if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, like if he wasn't resurrected, then we don't have a hope of a resurrection. If he didn't defeat death, then we can't defeat death. If Jesus didn't live forever, then we can't live forever.

And that's exactly what Charlie always preached. What he always posted on X. What he always said, if you were to be able to text him right now. And say, "Look, Charlie. I've got this really tough thing to talk about today. And I don't know how to say it. I don't know what to say. What are your thoughts on it? What should I say?" I know exactly what he would say, the one word he would text back, and that would be, "Jesus. Just tell them that. Just tell them that Jesus is the only way to fulfillment." That is what he would say. People may not realize that. Every time he went on a college campus, he wasn't just talking about capitalism or Donald Trump, and all those things are important. He shared the gospel.

GLENN: No.

ALLIE: He knew that every single person that walked in front of him, was made in the image of God with a soul that was going to live forever, in one of two places. He desperately wanted the people who hated him to go to heaven. And I just pray that I can have that same boldness for the rest of my life.

Charlie Kirk’s Legacy: Courage in the Face of Hatred

Glenn Beck pays tribute to his dear friend Charlie Kirk following his tragic passing. With raw emotion and deep conviction, Glenn reflects on Charlie’s courage, faith, and unwavering commitment to truth in a world that often rewards lies. Drawing parallels to America’s founders, soldiers, and first responders, Glenn reminds us that Charlie’s life and legacy demand an answer to the question: “If not me, then who?” This episode is both a remembrance of Charlie’s extraordinary life and a call to action for all of us to stand firm in faith, defend truth, and carry forward the torch of courage that he so boldly bore.

Watch Glenn Beck's Full 3-Hour Radio Show from September 11, 2025 HERE