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Why Erika Kirk’s forgiveness matters
By Cortney O'Brien
Published September 09, 2026
Author William P. Young’s new book "Return to the Shack" centers on the power of forgiveness, and he praised Erika Kirk for presenting a strong display of it last year.
Young’s novel "The Shack" tells the story of a father’s healing process after his daughter was kidnapped and killed on a camping trip. The grieving dad, Mack, receives a mysterious letter from God asking him to come to a shack, where he meets an unorthodox Holy Trinity. While considered controversial by some religious readers, the story largely resonated with audiences and was turned into a motion picture in 2017.
Young's sequel focuses on forgiveness as Mack comes face-to-face with his daughter’s killer as he is given a more humanized storyline.
"I think we need to make a distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation," Young told Fox News Digital. "Forgiveness is for the sake of the one who's been harmed, so that you can continue to live your life without the specter of what's on your shoulders. And I mean, you can forgive someone and never trust them again. Reconciliation is the slow, arduous, painful process of learning how to trust. Or taking the risk that you might become trustworthy if you've done the harm. So, reconciliation is for the sake of the perpetrator, much more than forgiveness is."
‘THE SHACK’ AUTHOR EXPECTS MORE CHRISTIAN CRITICISM WITH SEQUEL, BUT WILL TAKE IT IN STRIDE
Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, speaks at a Turning Point USA event at Dream City Church in Phoenix, Ariz., on April 17, 2026. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Making peace is essential, he said.
"Otherwise, you're going to live with a corpse of an event or a situation or some human being who may be dead," he continued. "A lot of abuse was done to us by people who no longer are alive. And if we can't let them go, which is the idea of forgiveness, is that we move our hands from around their throat so that we may hold something other than their throat, like life. And it becomes essential. Otherwise, we're poisoning all the relationships around us."
Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, shocked many Americans when she publicly forgave the man accused of assassinating her husband last year. Kirk was killed while speaking at a Turning Point USA event one year ago at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
"Our Savior said, 'Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do,'" Erika said at her husband's memorial service. "That young man … I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it's what Charlie would do."
Young found it a very powerful example of the message he’s trying to convey.
ERIKA KIRK FORGIVES HUSBAND'S KILLER AT MEMORIAL SERVICE: ‘IT’S WHAT CHARLIE WOULD DO'
Erika Kirk delivers remarks during the memorial service for her husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
"And I think that's what Erika was doing, saying, ‘I'm not going to let what you have done to own me,'" the author said. "I'm not going to enter the same prison that you are now in,’ metaphorically, of course."
"And so, in terms of the human journey, we have this — same with every guy on death row — they don't have, in the deepest places of their heart, a desire to be harmful or to be non-truth tellers or to be unkind," Young continued. "They're human beings and that raises a question is why should that be the deepest places of movement towards a wholeness of what it means to be human by saying, ‘I want to do the work, what it takes to not be addicted. To be a truth-teller, to be someone who is kind and caring.’"
"And part of that is the underlying belief that love is actually more powerful than violence, or love is more powerful than harm," he added.
Author William P. Young's sequel to "The Shack" is "Return to the Shack," out in October. (Photo courtesy of William P. Young)
‘THE SHACK’ AUTHOR EXPECTS MORE CHRISTIAN CRITICISM WITH SEQUEL, BUT WILL TAKE IT IN STRIDE
Young said that is often not the reality and not everyone takes the route Kirk took.
"And we live in a world where it seems like violence is really the power," he said. "In word, thought, or deed, whether we're using it in words online, or we're perpetrating it to the person in front of us, or we're gossiping about someone in order to give ourselves a boost and them a detraction. Love is more powerful, and that's my statement. You know, that's, I'm solidly convinced that it is, because it actually changes things."
Young couldn’t discuss the art of making amends without reflecting on his own years-long journey to forgive his father.
"Violence doesn't change any things," he said. "It only adds to the violence that already exists. And, you know, my dad was an abusive man when I was growing up. And if I thought that treating him with violence was going to be a resolution, I would have been absolutely blind and ignorant."
"It's not violence," Young added. "It's care. It's love. It's listening. It's that people shouldn't take a timeout, and the state offers one if you don't adhere to the rules. But even then, I think that love, God, meets us where we're at and begins to move us in a direction toward our wholeness so that we can learn to love others, and we can learn to love ourselves, and that produces incredible outcomes that would not be available otherwise."
William P Young and his wife Kim Warren. A picture of "The Shack" memorial. (Photo courtesy of William P. Young)
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"Return to the Shack: A Journey into Redemption" will be released in October.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/why-erika-kirks-forgiveness-matters