An AI-generated symbol of Charlie Kirk embracing Jesus. Every other of Kirk posing with angel wings and halo. Then there’s the considered one of Kirk status with George Floyd on the gates of heaven.
When outstanding political or cultural figures die within the U.S., the remembrance in their lifestyles frequently veers into hagiography. And that’s what’s been going down because the grotesque killing of conservative activist and Turning Level USA co-founder Charlie Kirk.
The phrase hagiography comes from the Christian custom of writing about saints’ lives, however the observe frequently spills into secular politics and media, falling below the umbrella of what’s referred to as, in sociology, the “sacralization of politics.” Assassinations and violent deaths, specifically, have a tendency to be interpreted in sacred phrases: The individual turns into a mundane martyr who made a heroic sacrifice. They’re portrayed as morally righteous and spiritually natural.
That is, to some extent, a herbal a part of mourning. However taking a better take a look at why this occurs – and the way the web hurries up it – gives some essential insights into politics within the U.S. lately.
From presidents to protest leaders
The development of Ronald Reagan’s postpresidential symbol is a major instance of this procedure.
After his presidency, Republican leaders often polished his reminiscence into a logo of conservative triumph, downplaying scandals corresponding to Iran-Contra or Reagan’s early skepticism of civil rights. These days, Reagan is remembered much less as a fancy baby-kisser and extra as a saint of unfastened markets and patriotism.
Amongst liberals, Martin Luther King Jr. skilled a related transformation, even though it took a special shape. King’s evaluations of capitalism, militarism and structural racism are frequently downplayed in maximum mainstream remembrances, leaving in the back of a softer symbol of non violent dreamer. The once a year vacation, rankings of boulevard renamings and public work of art honor him, however additionally they tame his legacy right into a universally palatable tale of harmony.
Much more contested figures corresponding to John F. Kennedy or Abraham Lincoln display the similar trend. Their assassinations have been adopted through waves of mourning that increased them into near-mythic standing.
A long time after Kennedy’s dying, his portrait hung within the properties of many American Catholics, frequently adjoining to non secular iconography corresponding to Virgin Mary statuettes. Lincoln, in the meantime, was a type of civic saint: His memorial in Washington, D.C., looks as if a temple, with phrases from his speeches etched into the partitions.
Why it occurs and what it way
The hagiography of public figures serves a number of functions. It faucets into deep human wishes, serving to grieving communities arrange loss through offering ethical readability within the face of chaos.
It additionally permits political actions to consolidate energy through sanctifying their leaders and discouraging dissent. And it reassures fans that their reason is righteous – even cosmic.
In a polarized setting, the elevation of a determine right into a saint does greater than honor the person. It turns a political combat right into a sacred one. Should you see any individual as a martyr, then opposition to their motion isn’t simply confrontation, it’s desecration. On this sense, hagiography isn’t merely about remembering the useless: It mobilizes the dwelling.
However there are dangers. As soon as any individual is framed as a saint, complaint turns into taboo. The extra sacralized a determine, the tougher it turns into to talk about their flaws, errors or arguable movements. Hagiography flattens historical past and narrows democratic debate.
After Queen Elizabeth II’s dying in 2022, for instance, public mourning within the U.Okay. and in a foreign country briefly increased her legacy into a logo of steadiness and continuity, with mass tributes, viral imagery and world ceremonies reworking a fancy reign right into a simplified tale of devotion and repair.
It additionally fuels polarization. If one aspect’s chief is a martyr, then the opposite aspect should be villainous. The framing is unassuming however robust.
A supporter of Charlie Kirk holds banners out of doors State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., all over Kirk’s public memorial carrier on Sept. 21, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
In Kirk’s case, lots of his supporters described him as a fact seeker whose dying underscored a deeper ethical message. At Kirk’s memorial carrier in Arizona, President Donald Trump referred to as him a “martyr for American freedom.” On social media, Turning Level USA and Kirk’s reliable X account described him as “America’s greatest martyr to free speech.”
In doing so, they increased his dying as symbolic of bigger battles over censorship. By way of emphasizing the truth that he died whilst merely talking, additionally they bolstered the concept liberals and the left are much more likely to hotel to violence to silence their ideological enemies, whilst proof displays differently.
The virtual supercharge
Treating public figures like saints isn’t new, however the velocity and scale of the method is. Over the last 20 years, social media has became hagiography from a gradual cultural float right into a rapid-fire manufacturing cycle.
Memes, livestreams and hashtags now permit any individual to canonize any individual they recognize. When NBA Corridor-of-Famer Kobe Bryant died in 2020, social media used to be flooded inside of hours with devotional pictures, work of art and video compilations that forged him as greater than an athlete: He was a non secular icon of perseverance.
In a similar fashion, after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying, the “Notorious RBG” meme ecosystem in an instant expanded to incorporate virtual portraits and products that forged her as a saintly defender of justice.
The similar dynamics surrounded Charlie Kirk. Inside of hours of his assassination, memes seemed of Kirk draped in an American flag, being carried through Jesus.
Within the days after his dying, AI-generated audio clips of Kirk styled as “sermons” started circulating on-line, whilst supporters shared Bible verses that they claimed matched the precise timing of his passing. In combination, those acts forged his dying in non secular phrases: It wasn’t only a political assassination – it used to be a second of non secular importance.
Such clips and verses unfold without difficulty throughout social media, the place narratives about public figures can solidify inside of hours, frequently earlier than information are showed, leaving little room for nuance or investigation.
Simple-to-create memes and movies additionally permit extraordinary customers to take part in a sacralization procedure, making it extra of a grassroots effort than one thing that’s imposed from the highest down.
In different phrases, virtual tradition transforms what used to be as soon as the gradual paintings of monuments and textbooks right into a dwelling, versatile folks faith of tradition and politics.
Towards clearer politics
Hagiography won’t disappear. It meets emotional and political wishes too successfully. However acknowledging its patterns is helping electorate and reporters withstand its distortions. The duty isn’t to disclaim grief or admiration however to maintain house for nuance and responsibility.
Within the U.S., the place faith, tradition and politics regularly intertwine, spotting that sainthood in politics is all the time built – and frequently strategic – can higher permit other folks to honor loss with out letting mythmaking dictate the phrases of public lifestyles.
