The assassination of Charlie Kirk is a heartbreaking tragedy. It is devastating for his wife and two children. And it is a terrible moment in our nation.

It is also an important reminder that there are forces in the world that do not fit the rational, humanistic model that modern society has developed. 

The fact is that evil exists.

There are people who do evil. They are not just troubled, misunderstood, or lacking in sympathetic understanding. They are evil.

The horror of Mr. Kirk’s murder — and other recent atrocities — is evidence that the secular, amoral approach to understanding humanity is misleading and useless. Until we are prepared to identify evil, and regard it as such, more terrible things are going to happen.

Hours before Kirk’s killing, another act of evil was carried out at Evergreen High School in Colorado. A 13-year-old murdered two other students before killing himself. When a child can become so corrupted, it’s clear our society is failing us. 

Decarlos Brown Jr. proved the existence of evil by allegedly knifing Iryna Zarutska, a young Ukrainian woman, and leaving her to bleed to death on a train at Charlotte, North Carolina. As far as we know, he had never talked to her. 

Brown didn’t seem to have any quarrel with her. He simply took on the God-like powers of life and death and decided she would die. It was an act of evil. He later told his sister “materials” in his body forced him to do the killing.

The modern secular belief system simply cannot cope. Charlotte’s mayor, Vi Lyles, responded to this horrible murder by calling it, “a tragic situation that sheds light on problems with society safety nets related to mental healthcare and the systems that should be in place.” 

Mrs. Lyles went on to assert the murderer’s mental health problem should be “treated with the same compassion, diligence, and commitment as cancer or heart disease.”

While Brown is reportedly mentally ill — and mental health care is vitally important — the senseless violence he committed was not a symptom of a bad mental health care system. It was a product of a social system that has tolerated evil — and treated evil-doers as equal to the victims they kill, rape, and rob. 

Some 1,169 miles northwest of Charlotte, another act of pure evil occurred at Minneapolis two weeks ago. Robin Westman opened fire on students from preschool through eighth grade during Mass at the Church of the Annunciation. An 8-year-old and a 10-year-old were killed. 

Twenty-one other students and adults were injured. The acting United States attorney, Joe Thompson, said the shooter “expressed hate towards almost every group imaginable.” He specifically mentioned the killer’s hatred toward black people, Mexican people, Christian people, and Jewish people. He said that “the shooter appeared to hate all of us.” 

Of course, I’m writing this unfortunate column on the 24th anniversary of 9/11 — the greatest act of evil ever carried out on American soil. On September 11, 2001, a group of evil men took the lives of 2,996 innocent people. Twenty-four years later, we mourn those who were killed and remain committed to eradicating terrorism.

If recent events teach us anything, it is that evil must be confronted and defeated, or it will metastasize. Our country must abandon its path toward imposed secularism and moral relativism. We must again acknowledge that our success and freedom are dependent upon the love and guidance of a higher power. 

We must also acknowledge that we are responsible for the society we create. We must once again place innocent people above those who do them harm. Laws must be changed to enable swift, decisive justice for those who do evil. We can, and should, update laws to match the modern world. 

When an evil-doer is clearly caught on raw video, for example, there should be an expedited process of indictment, trial, and justice. We do not need to rehabilitate or reform evil. We need to eliminate it. 

Would-be evil-doers must learn that we will protect the innocent — and punish evil. There must be no perverse glory or renown for those who harm or kill others.

In all these cases across America, men, women, and innocent children were lost to acts of profound evil.

We must defeat evil before it defeats us.