(RNS) — Shortly before the speaking program began at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday (Sept. 21) to kick off the massive memorial service honoring conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a group of prominent Christian musicians onstage sang a rendition of the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul.”
As the first notes of song filled the space, thousands of attendees silently began to raise four different signs. Two referenced Scripture, and others referenced Turning Point USA, the political organization Kirk founded. The placards were emblazoned with contrasting colors and assigned to different sections of the crowd, with the ultimate effect of transforming the stadium into precise stripes of red, white and blue — the colors of the American flag, two of which hung on either side of the gargantuan stage.
It was the beginning of what quickly became an unapologetic fusion of conservative Christianity — particularly evangelicalism, Kirk’s chosen religious tradition — and President Donald Trump’s style of conservative politics, sometimes delivered by prominent representatives of the United States government. Over the course of roughly five hours, a who’s who of right-wing figures, conservative dignitaries, Trump administration officials and Trump himself regaled a sprawling crowd of tens of thousands with speeches that mix …
