A Christian author and speaker – and witness to the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus the tenth of September – defended the biblical authority to deploy capital punishment upon the assassin as a measure of moral justice. Frank Turek, who has long defended Christian ethics and teachings, argued his position during an appearance on Fox News.
Turek immediately launched into the justified killing of accused murderer Tyler Robinson, rejecting the premise that Jesus Christ commanded his disciples to turn the other cheek. He made the distinction between individuals doing so to minimize future conflict, but that government had a different imperative. In this case, he claimed government could not turn the other cheek.
“Government’s job is not to turn the other cheek. The government’s job is to protect innocent people from evil and punish wrongdoers. An individual may turn the other cheek on an insult so they don’t create this ongoing animosity. But if a government were to turn the other cheek every time a crime was committed, we would not have a civilization,” Turek explained.
He continued on that thought, saying government’s abdication of meting out justice would spell the end of society. “It would be barbarism. It would be anarchy,” he elaborated. “Turn the other cheek is a choice that Christians are urged to take when you’re insulted, but punish wrongdoers is a command to governments, because in order to protect innocent people from evil, the government has to punish wrongdoers.”
An oft-cited passage from the Bible is Romans 13, which Turek further laid out. “In Romans 13, it says that the leader does not bear the sword for nothing, meaning the governor or the king doesn’t bear the sword for nothing. That’s a reference to capital punishment.”
Of course, a defense of the death penalty for heinous crimes does not translate into willy-nilly executions, Turek went on. “Now, obviously we have to do this advisedly. We have to make sure beyond any reasonable doubt, that the person is indeed guilty.”
Citing deterrence as further justification, the Christian apologist likewise appealed to a rational perspective before coupling it with further biblical references. “People would be raped. People would be would have their their livelihood, stolen from them. The Creator grants rights, and the government is supposed to secure these rights, and from a biblical perspective, as we read about in Paul’s letter to the Romans, he says the purpose of government is to punish wrongdoers and to protect innocent people from evil.”
Watch Turek make his case for the justified death penalty in the case of accused murderer Tyler Robinson:
Also defending this worldview was conservative podcaster Matt Walsh, who in an October 2025 episode suggested the pro-life position was pro-capital punishment. He made his case on the grounds that since we are made in the image of God, an act of violence against that demands punishment, as it reinforces the perception of our holy construct.
“In reality, the death penalty is pro-life,” Walsh said. “The death penalty is something that you do because you cherish and value the lives of the innocent people who fall victim to these heinous, barbaric, animalistic predators. OK. That’s — it’s pro-life. If you really value — if you really truly value the lives of these innocent people, then you would call for the ultimate penalty for anyone who takes someone’s life, takes a life of an innocent.”