Ever since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, attention in the United States and abroad has snapped sharply onto Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and the entanglement between church networks and political activism. Kirk’s sudden death, violent, shocking, and still only partially understood, did more than shake the conservative movement he helped build; it triggered a broader reassessment of how deeply political organisations had embedded themselves within American evangelical life, and how those same networks were extending influence across continents. What once appeared to be a youth-driven grassroots phenomenon now looks, to a growing number of observers, like a complex fusion of religion, nationalism, and geopolitical messaging.
Critics argue that TPUSA’s faith initiatives have been co-opted by state-aligned actors who view the American church as a vehicle for distributing U.S. and Israeli geopolitical narratives. The message is wrapped in revivalist-style worship, saturated with patriotic imagery, and marketed as a moral crusade, a model some describe as “flag-and-faith nationalism,” where spiritual identity merges seamlessly with political allegiance. Supporters of TPUSA reject this claim outright, framing their efforts as restoring a moral compass to public life and inspiring courage in a generation under cultural siege. But Charlie Kirk’s final engagements abroad, and the self-proclaimed Co-Chair of TPUSA Faith Rob McCoy’s participation in faith-based events overseas in the days before his death, have intensified scrutiny of how these networks operate, what messages they spread, and whose interests they ultimately serve.
The aesthetic and emotional architecture of TPUSA Faith, equal parts revival tent, megachurch spectacle, and political rally, has not remained confined to the United States. Variations of the model have appeared in Europe, Africa, and Asia. South Korea, an intensely Christian nation with an evolving relationship between church and state, has seen the arrival of Build Up Korea, an organisation that, on paper, promotes prayer and Christian unity, but in practice embodies American-style conservative evangelical activism, blending worship, ideology, and geopolitical messaging.
South Korea has been engulfed in a sweeping government crackdown on politically active churches, an unprecedented campaign that has led to police raids, investigative seizures, and high-profile arrests. The initial spark came from investigations into the Unification Church, where prosecutors alleged financial misconduct, influence-peddling, and political favouritism facilitated through gifts and donations. The investigation quickly expanded, encompassing multiple denominations and reaching into the broader Christian landscape. One evangelical megachurch was raided in a scene that startled secular and religious Koreans alike. (more...)
