Good morning and welcome to Denison Forum's Daily Article Podcast. It's Tuesday,

September 16, 2025. I'm Connor Jones, co-host of the Culture Brief podcast here at Denison

Forum, filling in for Chris Elkins and narrating today's daily article authored by our co-founder

and CEO, Dr. Jim Denison. To paraphrase Shakespeare, there are times when you need to

fight fire with fire. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, refusing to respond, would only have

encouraged more attacks on Americans. Russia's recent drone incursions in NATO countries, Poland,

and now Romania, are raising fears of war. Poland's prime minister said his country is the

closest we have been to open conflicts since World War II. Ignoring such aggression is likely

to encourage further aggression. However, there are other times when fighting fire with fire

only accelerates the conflagration.

For evangelical Christians in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, this is one of those times.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan on Sunday, I think this could be a turning point for our country.

He urged leaders to turn down the rhetoric, amid a divisive political climate,

saying lawmakers should stop treating public policy disputes as an existential threat to democracy

or the republic. Johnson continued, saying that calling people Nazis and fascists is not helpful.

There are some deranged people in society, and when they see leaders using that kind of

language so often and now increasingly, it spurs them onto action. We have to recognize that reality and address it

appropriately. He added that he's heartened to know that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are

stepping up and saying that and addressing it. Charlie Kirk would agree. A commentator who knew him

personally for many years wrote on the day he was

killed, if I had a single word to capture him, it would be gracious. We could disagree about anything,

and we did, but he would, without fail, engage civilly and explain his point of view.

...