Charlie Kirk’s mentor looks forward to Berkeley Turning Point event as free speech battleground
Charlie Kirk’s mentor and friend Dr. Frank Turek spoke with Fox News Digital last week ahead of his appearance at the final Turning Point USA (TPUSA) “This Is The Turning Point” tour at University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Turek is an author of several books — including co-author of “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist” — serves as president of CrossExamined.org and travels the country to present evidence for Christianity at churches, high schools, secular college campuses, and online, according to the organization’s website.
In early 2020, Kirk reached out to Turek to learn more about engaging with students when it came to Christianity.
“He just wanted to get better at presenting the evidence for Christianity and answering questions… So he reached out to me and said, ‘I’ve seen a lot of your work. It’s really helped me do what I do. Can we get together?’ And so, from that point on, we became fast friends,” Turek told Fox News Digital.
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Turek said he was helping Kirk prepare for TPUSA’s “The American Comeback” tour, which has since been rebranded “This Is the Turning Point” following Kirk’s assassination in September.
“The past year or so we spent a lot of time together… so he could get ready for this tour, which began that day, September 10, the day he was murdered,” Turek told Fox News Digital.
He told Kirk that the UC Berkeley stop was the one he wanted to attend.
“If I could go to any one event with him, it would be that one. I wanted to go to UC Berkeley because it is so progressive and liberal in their views, and I wanted to provide evidence that Christianity was indeed true,” he said.
Turek claimed Berkeley has gone from supporting free speech to suppressing it. Posters have been put around the school referencing the upcoming event saying, “Fascists, Zionists, Out!”
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“Berkeley in 1964 and 1965 was very key in getting rid of the suppression of free speech on college campuses. And now it’s come full circle that many people on the Berkeley campus want to suppress free speech,” Turek said, before pointing out the irony.
“I just find that ironic that the people who claim they’re all about inclusion, tolerance, and diversity will not include, and will not tolerate, people who hold diverse views. It’s totally hypocritical,” he added.
A Berkeley spokesman told Fox News Digital the posters were not connected to the university.
“The posters you mention (which have been removed) are connected to an external group that has no affiliation with the university,” Berkeley Asst. Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof told Fox News Digital.
“It is not one of our 1000+ Registered Student Organizations. The university has been absolutely clear: Our student organizations have every right to invite whoever they wish to events on campus. Together with our police force, we will, as always, take whatever measures are deemed necessary to have a safe and successful event,” he continued.
Turek said too many people rely on slogans rather than evidence when it comes to discussions and debates.
To TPUSA’s critics accusing the group of being fascist, Turek highlighted how Kirk and TPUSA allowed critics to ask questions at their events, while fascists attempt to silence speech they disagree with.
“That’s not fascism to have a conversation with somebody and to tell people who disagree with you to come to the front of the line so you could make your case. No, a fascist is somebody who shoots somebody like that,” Turek said.
“It’s the conservatives that want to have conversations and want to interact with people and hear them out. It appears to be many people — not all, we can’t say all — but many people on the left want to shut down. They want to cancel debate. They want to cancel Q&A. They want to cancel reason rather than have questions answered, asked and answered so we can all learn from one another,” he continued.
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Turek encouraged Christians to be bold, unafraid to defend their values, and not shy away from getting involved.
“If you’re concerned about expressing your religious viewpoint and living your religious viewpoint, you have to be involved in [politics] because the laws that are made in Washington, your state, and your local governments, can affect whether or not you can speak out and whether or not you could live your faith,” he said.
“We’re just supposed to do what’s right and leave the results to God,” Turek said.
Fox News’ Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report
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