Another lamented, “Is this how we solve our political differences in America?” From the shattered stained glass of Annunciation Catholic School to the crowded fields of Butler County, Pennsylvania, the heartbreaking answer is too often yes.

And yet evil, whether it slinks across a rooftop or slams into twin skyscrapers, is not new. Two thousand years ago, the prophet Hosea watched his own nation, awash in idolatry, turn its back on God and declared a warning from the Lord, writes Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council and executive editor of The Washington Stand.

The admonition was as timely then as it is now. Lawlessness, violence, and bloodshed have become so frequent in American life that very little shocks our collective conscience. Yet the assassination of 31-year-old Charlie Kirk, as he peacefully engaged in dialogue on a university campus, is a loss that has stunned millions of Americans across the political spectrum.

As with tragedies before, the responses are predictable — calls for gun control, demands for more government programs, and appeals for prayer. “I, too, call for prayer. Not because prayer is a slogan to calm emotions, but because genuine prayer positions us to hear God — and when we listen, He reveals the way forward,” Perkins observes.

Shortly after Charlie Kirk took his dying breath, now-former MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd uttered the words on live cable TV that cost him his job, while also providing Americans with a chilling illustration of one of the most common ways the Left legitimizes and thereby encourages political violence against its opponents, according to Mark Tapscott, senior congressional analyst at The Washington Stand.

Shortly after those comments were broadcast, MSNBC issued an apology, followed by Dowd’s termination.

Dowd began his career as a political strategist working for multiple Democrats, but he switched to the GOP to help President George W. Bush win re-election in 2004. More recently, Dowd returned to the Democratic Party and tangled with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) with remarks in 2019 for which he subsequently apologized.

But the vast majority of states and municipalities have no interest in establishing race-based reparations programs. Tapscott warns: “How long before teams of screaming leftists point to the marked absence of reparations programs, condemn American society as irretrievably racist, and incite riots, insurrection, and mayhem in major cities across the country? When it happens, the Left will tell us all that it’s our fault, not that of the rioters.”

So, how do we stop it and return civility to our nation? “First, we must recognize that while our struggle is waged in political and cultural arenas, its roots are spiritual,” Perkins argues. “Without confronting the spiritual decay at the heart of our crisis, no policy or program will suffice. Scripture provides clear understanding to the people of God: the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to pull down strongholds.”

This requires courage — to stand unapologetically for truth, yet to resist the temptation to mirror the bitterness of our age. “We must speak truth with conviction, but also with love that disarms hatred,” Perkins counsels.

Perkins concludes: “If our nation is to heal, we cannot let our righteous indignation at this unspeakable tragedy rule. We must not answer anger with anger or bloodshed with more bloodshed. Justice must be upheld, lawlessness restrained, and truth defended — but the cycle of hatred must be broken. That can only happen when love — rooted in eternal truth — guides our actions.”