This ritual saved Charlie Kirk’s ‘sanity’ — do it in his honor

The murder of Charlie Kirk has left a gaping wound in the conservative movement and in the hearts of millions of Americans who admired his courage, his clarity and his conviction.

It’s also left behind Charlie’s sixth and final book, set to be released this December — “Stop in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life.” 

That title now reads less like a prescription for individual renewal and more like a legacy, a call to carry forward one of the most essential lessons he wanted to impart: the need to stop, rest and return to God’s rhythm for life.

Charlie was a Christian, but he was candid about how abiding by a traditionally Jewish Sabbath observance — namely turning off his phone, detaching from the frenetic pace of politics and dedicating 24 hours each week to faith and family — transformed his life.

At a recent Turning Point USA event, he and his wife Erika spoke about what this practice meant for their marriage, their sanity and their faith. 

“Turn your phone off for one day,” Charlie urged. “No contact, no social media, no work. Your mental health will improve dramatically.”

“Every Friday night, I take a Jewish Sabbath,” he continued. “Turn off my phone, Friday night to Saturday night. The world cannot reach me; I get nothing from the world. It will bless you infinitely.”

Erika explained what that looked like in practice.

“When he turns his phone off and it goes in that drawer, he’s all on for the family. There are no distractions.

“He finally gets to reset his brain. He finally gets to breathe.

“As a wife, there’s nothing more precious than my husband’s sanity . . . I have seen it change him and impact our family in the most beautiful ways.”

Their testimony was profoundly countercultural.

In a society that glorifies busy-ness, constant connectivity and the illusion that we must always be available, Charlie and Erika preached rest. Not laziness, but intentional rest. 

The circumstances of Charlie’s murder gives this message even more urgency.

He was killed by a young man radicalized by the internet, someone “terminally online,” whose world had been distorted by algorithms and digital echo chambers until his mind turned violent.

Tyler Robinson immersed himself in doing the very opposite of what Charlie modeled.

Logging off, spending time in prayer, going outside, talking face-to-face with family and friends might have saved the killer’s sanity, his soul and his future. 

It certainly preserved Charlie’s.

Now, a week after his horrifying murder, some of those whose lives he touched are following Charlie’s example.

“In honor of Charlie, I will no longer be online from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown,” Charlie’s friend Dave Rubin declared last week in a poignant tweet.

Rubin’s shift is not just a tribute; it’s a recognition that keeping the Sabbath is an antidote to the sickness of our age.

In the Jewish tradition Charlie drew from, the Sabbath is referred to as a “taste of eternity.”

It is a weekly reminder that our worth is not found in our productivity or our tweets, but in being beloved children of God.

It is a rebellion against tyranny, whether the tyranny of Pharaoh in ancient Egypt or the tyranny of the algorithm today.

And make no mistake, Americans today are enslaved.

Enslaved by their phones, by their notifications, by the endless outrage cycle that never stops churning.

As Utah Gov. Spencer Cox put it in urging young people to “touch grass,” the human spirit cannot survive in perpetual digital captivity. 

The Sabbath is not just for the religiously devout, but a lifeline for anyone who wants to reclaim their sanity and their humanity.

Charlie Kirk understood this, lived it, and preached it.

In his life, Sabbath made him a better husband, a more attentive father and a clearer thinker.

In his death, Sabbath may be the single best way to honor him.

Whether you are Jewish or Christian or neither, religious or secular, conservative or liberal, the simple act of shutting off your phone for 24 hours, once a week, could change your life.

As we grieve his loss, we should also take up his challenge.

Take one day. Turn it all off.

Hold your loved ones close. Pray. Walk outside.

Read a book. Play with your children. Let your soul breathe.

Charlie Kirk left us far too soon. But the rhythm he lived by remains.

May we honor Charlie by living it out, week after week, until the day we join him in eternal rest.

Bethany Mandel writes and podcasts at The Mom Wars.