{"id":21704,"date":"2025-09-24T16:54:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T20:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=21704"},"modified":"2025-09-24T16:54:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T20:54:38","slug":"how-charlie-kirk-impacted-this-young-ranchers-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/09\/how-charlie-kirk-impacted-this-young-ranchers-life.html","title":{"rendered":"How Charlie Kirk Impacted This Young Rancher\u2019s Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Left: Gage Skidmore \/ Flickr | Right: Fox News Digital<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Charlie Kirk\u2019s memorial service on Sunday featured a bevy of the country\u2019s top brass sharing how the late Christian conservative had impacted their lives. Speakers highlighted the many ways Kirk lived out his faith and his heart for strengthening the American family. One attendee at the Kirk\u2019s memorial was a young Utah rancher who said Kirk inspired him to drop out of college and focus on building his family.<\/p>\n

Twenty-six-year-old Utah rancher Eli Bangerter shared that Kirk\u2019s message of family and faith encouraged him to do things differently with his life. Kirk was the first person to tell Bangerter to drop out of college, something his family wasn\u2019t too thrilled about. \u201cI was the first one in my family to drop out. It was kind of a disappointment to them, but I was just totally impacted by [Kirk’s] message about families,\u201d he said. Bangerter and his wife have two children, with another on the way. \u201cI know that he preached about God, and it’s a commandment to have kids, so we’ll figure it out,” he said, citing Kirk\u2019s mantra of \u201cGet married. Have more kids than you can afford.\u201d”We love Charlie and his legacy is huge and totally impacted my life and the life of my kids,\u201d he said. \u201cBelieve in God, defend our freedoms and fight for righteousness and for truth and for what’s true and right,” said Bangerter. \u201cThat’s what Charlie fought for, and we love him for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirk\u2019s opposition to universities, which have been sometimes referred to as \u201cindoctrination stations,\u201d was no secret. Kirk, who never graduated from college, referred to college as a scam and even wrote a book entitled, The College Scam<\/em>. \u201cCollege is supposed to provide a pathway to financial security and career success. That promise is true for fewer and fewer graduates,\u201d he wrote in a 2022 op-ed<\/a>. \u201cStudent loan debt is crushing students and their parents, robbing young people of the dream of homeownership, family formation, and financial security. And yet, colleges have profited handsomely off this relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also accused colleges of filling students with leftist ideologies. \u201cI firmly believe that most\u2014if not all\u2014the destructive ideas that are now eating away at the foundation of American society originated on college campuses.\u00a0Critical race theory, radical gender theory, intersectionality, wokeism, Antifa, Defund the Police, white fragility, speech codes, cancel culture, \u2018anti-racism,\u2019 \u2018The Green New Deal,\u2019 and on and on.\u201d Some conservatives have theorized that Kirk\u2019s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, who grew up in a conservative home, might have been radicalized into leftist ideology while he was attending college.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlie Kirk\u2019s memorial service on Sunday featured a bevy of the country\u2019s top brass sharing how the late Christian conservative had impacted their lives. Speakers highlighted the many ways Kirk lived out his faith and his heart for strengthening the American family. One attendee at the Kirk\u2019s memorial was a young Utah rancher who said…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":21707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Charlie Kirk Impacted This Young Rancher\u2019s Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At Charlie Kirk\u2019s memorial, a young rancher shared how Kirk\u2019s message on faith and family inspired him to leave college and build a legacy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/09\/how-charlie-kirk-impacted-this-young-ranchers-life.html\" 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