There is never an opportunity lost to dunk on Christians with Salon’s Amanda Marcotte. Her latest assessment of the TPUSA Make Heaven Crowded Movement goes on to illustrate this.

In her latest, Marcotte uses the Make Heaven Crowded Tour to argue her point-that heaven is not crowded. And, she gloats about this. Is there a heaven? Is there even a God? The smugness is as thick as a smoke-filled Hillsong worship session. Apparently, according to Marcotte, the irony is thick, too:

The irony of this is thick — manufacturing a revival is exactly what Miles is trying to do. The Make Heaven Crowded tour, Miles explains to congregations and the press along the way, was started after a late September memorial service for Kirk, who was killed by a gunman’s bullet earlier that month. At the time of Kirk’s death, Miles had been serving as director of TPUSA Faith for 18 months after serving as the pastor of Nfluence, an Indiana church whose name sounds more like a bad tech startup than a Christian congregation. Miles called the memorial, which was held at the State Farm Stadium outside of Phoenix, Arizona, “the most significant gospel presentation in the history of Christendom,” insisting that 170,000 people showed up and “almost a billion” watched it.

More realistic estimates put the crowd size between 63,000 and 90,000 attendees, and, if one is being generous, 20 million viewers. Still, it’s easy to see how those numbers led Miles and Kirk’s widow Erika, who took over TPUSA, to think they could leverage the moment into a revival tour.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

Now, I am not one for these big, manufactured Christian “mountaintop experiences” with crowded arenas, loose theology and name-it-an-claim-it-self-help shysters talking about how their prosperity can lead to yours if you only dug into your pockets for them. I am not at all against mass revival and a turn towards more Conservative values. In fact, I think our society does need this. If this was the goal of the “Make Heaven Crowded” Tour, so be it. But Marcotte parsing numbers is nothing but illustration and reflection of a petty individual. If only one mind was changed for the Kingdom of Christ out of 63,000 people, the event was worthwhile.

As the name suggests, the tour’s stated goal is mass conversions to Christianity. And while Miles insists this is about sharing the gospel over politics, videos from the event make clear that the hope is also to point voters toward the Republican Party. After all, right-wing politics was Kirk’s life’s work, despite revisionist efforts to paint him as a Christian prophet.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

Umm,no. Right wing politics was not Kirk’s life work. Kirk sought to reach the young people on college campuses with rational debate. Did he pepper in some Biblical truth there? He certainly did. But most of his work involved getting young people to actually think about why they say and believe the things that they believe by logic:

Arguing that abortion is not a form of birth control is a Biblical premise. Killing an innocent child via abortion as a form of birth control should not be considered just a right-wing argument. This should be a human argument and a consideration of the affliction of the human condition. Not once in the above clip did Kirk quote the Bible, though he’s been known to. He instead, provided rational and respectful discourse-an art that has been lost for the most part. More gloating from Marcotte:

These many months later, though, it seems that Charlie Kirk’s heaven isn’t going to be so crowded after all. The tour’s stops have been exclusively at evangelical churches and universities with crowds that don’t look especially different than what you’d get on any given Sunday at those locations.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

Marcotte points out the large amount of the grey-haired and balding audiences. A bunch of old Conservatives who cling to their religion and guns, apparently. Could it be that these tour stops on college campuses were largely blocked by petitions from campus students and administration alike? If the older generation wants to pray for our young people in the safety of their sanctuary, Amanda, or vote to save the lives of children, leave them the hell alone. Ms. Marcotte would be the last of the individuals to slam the retired old, white people attending the No Kings events and making up folk songs.

Perhaps the funniest sign that Make Heaven Crowded isn’t doing so hot? The striking absence of Erika Kirk, who spoke at the kick-off event in Los Angeles but has otherwise been missing in action. She was reportedly scheduled to show up at the Orlando, Florida, stop in February, but that was canceled at the last minute. Kirk also bowed out of scheduled appearances in Plano, Texas, and at Iowa State University. But these absences haven’t received as much attention as her cancellation of a University of Georgia event in April, which left Vice President JD Vance speaking to an underwhelming crowd. While the excuses change — ‘family time,’ ‘security concerns’ and ‘scheduling conflicts’ have been cited — the one constant is that Erika Kirk manages to not appear when the crowds aren’t looking robust.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

Funniest sign. Hysterical sign, even. This is how Amanda Marcotte derives her pleasure-by another woman’s pain. By putting down another woman because her ideals do not match Marcotte’s. A mother, a widow not showing up to an event. Erika Kirk was cast into the spotlight and under scrutiny the moment her husband was brutally murdered. At some point, something has to give and a person has to grieve. And, for whatever the reasons Mrs. Kirk chooses to not appear before crowds of people, they should be respected. But instead, Amanda Marcotte is a laughing mean girl, the witch stirring the pot.

It must be hard to feel morally superior when the leader of their political movement has started a foreign war for no good reason and keeps finding ways to block the full release of the Epstein files. Being told that everyone else is going to hell likely provides that boost of self-deluding self-esteem they need to stay the course. But as a message to bring new people in the fold, ‘the road to heaven is MAGA’ will not work.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

It also must be hard to feel morally superior when you advocate for indiscriminate numbers of sexual partners, murdering babies and mutilating children as your platform. It must be hard to feel morally superior when you want more rights for rapists and murderers who jumped the wall into our country than hard-working citizens who may or may not have been born here. Telling those who are telling you that this is the version of hell and that they are bigots, nazis and deplorables (among other things) must provide the boost of self-deluding self esteem you all need to stay the course.

The road to heaven is not MAGA but it certainly is not self-reliance and faith in The State, as Comrade Amanda Marcotte believes. In fact, faith in the two aforementioned guarantees your utter misery. And, here we are.

Photo Credit: Original Artwork by VG, Darleen Click