My news and social media feed has been a churning convergence of anger and fear—and it’s easy to see why. It’s not just that Charlie Kirk was murdered while engaged in peaceful dialogue before an audience of thousands on a college campus; it’s also that, within hours of the announcement of his death, many people publicly celebrated his demise.

Axios reports that, besides Kirk’s slaying and other recent high-profile assassinations, there are three other “ominous trends” including more school shootings, calls for violence and civil war, and the crusade to hunt down and expose anyone who mocked or celebrated the murder of Charlie Kirk. Here is fuel for the fires of anger on both sides of the political spectrum.

The uptick of the phrase “this is war” and the rise of Google searches for “civil war” are enough to tell us that there is a growing mood of rage.

This raises an important question for Christians: what role should anger play in our response to Charlie Kirk’s murder? The short answer is that anger is a right response to evil, but it must be properly directed and expressed. It’s like the check-engine light on the dashboard of your soul: it alerts you to a problem that needs to be fixed, but it’s not designed to tell you exactly what to do next.

To be more specific, anger is our natural reflex to injustice, whether real or perceived. And clearly, a real and foul injustice has been suffered—not just by Charlie Kirk and his family, but by those who value the cause of peaceful, public dialogue, which lies at the heart of a working democracy. Therefore, Charlie Kirk’s murder is a legitimate reason for anger. In fact, it would be morally obtuse not to feel anger about it—and the same applies with varying levels of immediacy to the horrible slaying of Iryna Zarutska, the recent shootings in schools and churches, and the bloodshed in Ukraine.

If you feel unsure that anger is a legitimate response to evil, consider the example of Jesus. When the religious authorities showed more concern about their rules than helping people, Jesus looked on them with anger, “grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:1-6). When his own disciples barred children from coming to Jesus, he was “indignant” and said, “Let the little children come to me” (Matthew 19:13-15). When merchants turned the temple into a place of profit, he drove them out with zeal that could only be described as righteous indignation.

Anger is not only seen in Jesus’ example, but also commanded by the Apostle Paul. “Be angry” Paul writes, “and do not sin,” instructing believers to be prompt in dealing with it: “Let not the sun go down on your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26).

Finally, God himself is angry. Psalm 7:11 declares that “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.” And Romans 1:18 teaches us that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

Yet the thing we must understand about anger is this: Perhaps more than any other human emotion—anger is so easily mingled with the poison of selfishness and vindictiveness that it is rarely, if ever, a reliable guide for our actions. Although God’s anger is perfect, pure, and precisely corresponds with justice, our anger easily runs out of control. That’s why most of the passages about anger in the Bible warn us of its potential for harm, and urge us to deal with it properly.

• “A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression” (Proverbs 29:22).
•  “Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare” (Proverbs 22:24-25).
• “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth” (Colossians 3:8).
• “Human anger does not produce God’s righteousness” (James 1:20).

The Biblical response to anger is neither to suppress it or give full vent to it, but to interrogate it and channel it into constructive, justice-promoting action.

Consider these suggestions.

1. Identify the wrongs or evils you are angry about, and make sure they align with the objects of God’s anger.

Our anger is easily mixed up with selfishness, pride, and petty indignation. Proverbs 6:16-19 gives us a list: “There are six things the Lord hates—no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.”

2. Ask yourself whether you are addressing the violations of justice within your sphere of responsibility and influence—including the wrongs you’ve done yourself.

There’s something that feels validating about being angry at flagrant injustices. Let’s be careful not to let legitimate anger about things outside our control blind us to sins within our control. Positively, in a country where citizens can vote on policies and lawmakers, we can translate indignation into practical actions like voting for politicians who are determined to uphold justice and policies of common-sense human flourishing.

3. Stop fueling your anger and fear by an undisciplined, unscrupulous intake of news and social media.

The proverb quoted above speaks directly to this issue: “[Do not] go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.” Following rage-mongers on the internet is a contemporary way of “going with a wrathful man.” We would do well to put down our phones more often, and just read the Bible and pray. If we prayed more than we scrolled, what better lives we would live!

4. Renounce revenge, and trust God to bring about ultimate justice.

Renouncing revenge doesn’t mean we don’t want the rule of law to be carried out and justice—insofar as humanly possible—to be done. Governments, in fact, have a God-given responsibility to deter wrongdoing and protect their citizens, even if that requires capital punishment where justly applied (Romans 13:1–7). It means rather, means giving up personal vindictiveness—the desire to make “them” (often an ill-defined group), pay for their wrongs. We trust that God will bring every deed into judgment, rewarding good and punishing evil. His justice is far more comprehensive and lasting than anything any individual or government can enact. This conviction restrains us from taking up the sword as vigilantes and allows lawful authority and divine justice to operate as they should.

Is anger a legitimate response to the killing of Charlie Kirk—and to the countless other injustices that have stained the pages of history? Yes. But we must reject unrestrained rage that only escalates conflict, choosing instead righteous indignation: a deep, principled grief over injustice that motivates prayer, reflection, and action toward real justice.