The shocking assassination of Christian and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, a devoted father and husband known for his biblical and conservative values, has left Americans reeling. The targeted killing has ignited widespread concern about escalating violence, with many fearing they could be next.

A recent poll underscored this growing unease, asking, “How concerned are you about left-wing extremism in the U.S.?” The results were telling: 61% of all participants expressed some level of concern, with 90% of Republicans, 56% of Independents, and even 38% of Democrats admitting worry about left-wing extremism.

To balance the perspective, the survey also posed the same question about right-wing extremism. The response was as follows: 69% of respondents expressed concern overall. But as Breitbart summarized, “Overall, 88 percent of Democrats are concerned about right-wing extremism despite the fact that recent acts of political violence have been at the hands of the radical left, while 57 percent of independents say the same. Only 34 percent of Republicans are concerned about right-wing violence.”

The poll delved deeper, asking, “Do you think most political violence in the U.S. is committed by people on the left or the right?” The results showed a divided nation: 33% attributed most political violence to the Left, 29% pointed to the Right, and 24% believed it is committed “equally” by both sides. When asked if the country was heading down the right track, 28% said it was “generally headed in the right direction,” while 64% said it was “off on the wrong track.” Only 8% said they were unsure. Republicans, however, were the most optimistic (61% said America was heading in the general right direction) with 96% of Democrats saying the country is going in the wrong direction. Regardless, 67% of all respondents believe the country has become more politically divided in the last five years.

These sobering statistics come in the wake of not only Charlie Kirk’s assassination but also a string of recent tragedies. Just weeks prior, Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was brutally stabbed on a North Carolina light rail, high school students were gunned down in Colorado, and Catholic school children were targeted by a transgender-identifying gunman. These incidents have intensified fears of a society unraveling under the weight of ideological conflict.

And as Family Research Council’s Joseph Backholm, senior fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement, told The Washington Stand, “Secularism offers no hope when circumstances are not great.”

The world, he continued, doesn’t “have an eternity with God to look forward to once sin and death have been defeated. The best it offers is a utopia in this life once the right people are in control. If that’s not going well, despair often sets in.” In such turbulent times, Backholm stressed, “Placing your hope in the wrong things is a great way to be disappointed, and secularism requires us to place our hope in the wrong things — like politics.” Additionally, “when we don’t have a doctrine of sin that helps us understand why the world is broken and our own role in that, we just end up blaming our political opponents for everything wrong in the world, which sets us on a path of disdain and hatred.”

This toxic combination, Backholm noted, creates a fertile ground for violence. “[T]he combination of hate and despair that secularism logically leads to is a recipe for bad things,” he said. While not every secularist turns to violence, “violence is a logical outcome when things are not going well.” He reminded Christians of Jesus’s warning: “Jesus promised us that people would hate us for following Him.” Yet, he urged believers to ensure that any hatred directed at them stems from their faithful witness to truth, not from “behaving terribly.”

Despite the darkness of these times, Backholm emphasized the enduring hope of the gospel. “The gospel is inherently hopeful,” he said. Christians, he argued, do not deny the reality of evil but are called to confront it fearlessly as ambassadors of truth. “Our job is to limit the power and influence of evil by being ambassadors for the truth, but that does not mean we will escape the consequences of the spiritual war we live in,” he added.

From an eternal perspective, Backholm concluded, the cost of engaging in this spiritual battle is far outweighed by its significance. “We’ll recognize it’s far worse to be irrelevant to the battle between good and evil than to suffer the consequences of engaging in the battle,” he said. “When we obey, our joy will be made complete, like Jesus promised. But we are also assured that two things will happen: people will be drawn to Jesus, and the enemies of God will hate us for it. The more effective we are, the more they will hate us. Expect it, but don’t fear it.”