A Call to Courage, Not to Violence

War and violence are politics by other means, which should trouble us all + thankful that the Indianapolis Star notes how The Soul of Civility inspired the Civility Summit in Carmel next week

Gracious reader,

I have been surprised — even disheartened — to see how many, including some within the Civic Renaissance community, have failed to grasp the gravity of Charlie Kirk’s murder. This is not about endorsing his politics. It is about recognizing what this act of violence means for all of us, and for our free and flourishing way of life.

Carl von Clausewitz once said that war is politics by other means. The inverse is just as true: political violence is war by other means. When bullets replace ballots, when force replaces persuasion, we are witnessing the breakdown of democracy itself.

If we only mourn violence against those we agree with, we have already surrendered to the logic of dehumanization. And if we explain away a killing because we disliked someone’s words, we invite the same justification to be used against us.

That is why the work of Civic Renaissance — and the upcoming Civility Summit in Carmel, September 26–27 — matters so urgently. We are not content merely to condemn violence. We are acting: creating spaces where adversaries become conversation partners, where disagreement is real but human dignity is never in question.

This is a call to arms of a different kind — not to violence, but to courage, imagination, and conviction. To build a culture where words, not weapons, order our common life.

Join us. Be part of the antidote.

If you can’t join us, please consider helping in other ways, such as supporting the mission of Civic Renaissnace: rehumanzing our politics in our deeply dehumanizing days.

The Soul of Civility as the inspiration for the Civility Summit in the Indianapolis Star

Honored to be featured in today’s Indianapolis Star: Leaders from around the country will come to Carmel for 'civility summit.' Why Carmel?

Notable and quotable from the article:

Jeff Worrell was inspired to take up the issue of civility when he read Alexandra Hudson’s “The Soul of Civility,” following the 2023 Carmel mayoral and city council elections. Worrell invited the author to speak at the Carmel library, expecting 30 to 40 residents to attend.

“About 370 people showed up,” Worrell said. "It was overwhelming and what I discovered was that the concept of trying to do better and trying to be more civil was ready to explode.”

…

Hudson, the author whose book inspired Worrell to get things started, will be at the summit to provide her definition of civility.

“Civility doesn't mean perfect agreement,” Hudson said. “In fact, disagreement is a feature of democracy. Sometimes we are going to disagree, and the idea is not to diminish that disagreement. The answer is how can we still like and respect each other after disagreement.”

Hudson, who lives in Indianapolis, wrote her book after moving out of Washington, D.C. She had worked for the federal government but became disillusioned with dysfunction and divisiveness at her job.

"The easy thing to do is to blame others,” Hudson said. “It's real easy to just point fingers. Healing society starts with healing ourselves. Civility is deeper and richer than just being polite. It's an inner disposition of the heart. It's a way of seeing others with dignity and worth, as our moral equals that are worthy of respect."

Hope to see you at the summit!

Worthwhile coverage on Kirk’s murder and political violence

Here are some other thoughtful reflections on Kirk’s murder and political vioence in our moment that I enjoyed and thought you might, too.

Opinion | Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way by Ezra Klein in the New York Times

“The foundation of a free society is the ability to participate in politics without fear of violence. To lose that is to risk losing everything. Charlie Kirk — and his family — just lost everything. As a country, we came a step closer to losing everything, too.”

There Is No ‘They.’ Only ‘We.’ by Jonah Goldberg in The Dispatch.

“Charlie Kirk was murdered. His assassination was evil, indefensible, and injurious to the country. It was also a heinous crime against a wife, two small children, and lord knows how many other family members and friends.

That’s it. I don’t have a “but” to add to that.”

Charlie Kirk’s Murder Is a Tragedy and a Disaster by BEN BURGIS MEAGAN DAY in Jacobin Magazine

“Charlie Kirk has never received a warm welcome in the pages of this magazine. It doesn’t matter now. The assassination of Kirk is a tragedy. Morally, it is unjustifiable. Politically, it is cause for serious alarm. A larger spiral into political violence would be a catastrophe for the Left.”

The Assassin's Veto by Yascha Mounk in Persuasion

“Political violence descends over the land like a heavy curtain falling at the end of a play.

A shooter wounded Donald Trump, and killed an attendee of his rally, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.

A shooter killed Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in midtown Manhattan on December 4, 2024 (and was widely celebrated for this cowardly act).

A shooter killed two attendees of a gala at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025.

A shooter killed Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota state representative, and her husband, and wounded John Hoffman, a state senator, and his wife, in the suburbs of Champlin, on June 14, 2025.

A shooter killed two children, and injured about twenty others, in an attack on a Catholic Church in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025.

Today, on September 10, 2025, a shooter killed the political commentator Charlie Kirk in an attack at Utah Valley University.”