Tucker Carlson’s 2025 Amfest Address Lays Out a Sweeping, Unapologetically Christian Defense of Free Speech, Universal Human Dignity, and an Authentic America First Vision That Rejects Blood Guilt, Collective Punishment, and the Misuse of Faith to Justify Killing the Innocent.

In a departure from typical partisan rhetoric, Carlson presented his argument as a universal moral code, asserting that any ideology, whether progressive or conservative, risks losing its foundational integrity if it strays from these principles.

Free Speech as a Christian Duty

Carlson opened by mocking the spectacle of calls for “deplatforming and denouncing people at a Charlie Kirk event,” noting that this was exactly the “Red Guard Cultural Revolution” style conservatives once fought against. He reminded the audience that Charlie Kirk “stood firm” on the idea that if you believe something is true, “you ought to be able to explain it calmly and in detail to people who don’t agree with you,” instead of defaulting to slogans like “shut up racist.”

From there, Carlson rooted free speech explicitly in Christian anthropology. “We believe people should be able to say what they think because they have souls,” he said. “They’re human beings created by God. They are not slaves. They are not animals. They are not objects. You cannot tell another human being to shut up, even ‘shut up racist,’ because you don’t own him.”

He called each person “an independent, autonomous person created by God as an individual,” then tied this directly to America’s founding, arguing it is “no accident” that the United States uniquely protects speech because its documents were drafted by people who “self-consciously incorporated Christian precepts into their structure of government.”

Rejecting Blood Guilt and All Forms of Group Hate

Carlson then turned to the smear campaign that labeled him an anti-Semite for opposing another “regime change war with Iran,” saying critics refused to debate policy and instead insisted “he’s an anti-Semite” He answered by rejecting blood guilt outright. Not only, he said, is he “not an anti-Semite,” he is “actually opposed to anti-Semitism” and wants groups like the ADL to oppose hatred “aimed at anyone and everyone.”

Expanding the point, Carlson argued that Christianity leaves no room for assigning guilt by birth or tribe. Because every person bears God’s image and can change—citing the biblical transformation of Saul to Paul—the faith forbids punishing people “for crimes they didn’t commit” or condemning entire peoples as irredeemable.

He made clear that anti-Semitism and anti-white racism are both evil and that anyone who tolerates one has no moral standing to condemn the other: “Hate against whites is every bit as bad as hate against Jews. It’s a universal principle, or it’s not a principle. It’s just a preference.” In his telling, human rights belong to individuals, not collectives, and any ideology that weaponizes ancestry or ethnicity—whether in American politics or foreign conflicts—betrays basic Christian and American principles.

“The salvation of America hinges on the recognition that the founding principles of this nation apply universally to every human being,” he stated.

Calling Out Pastors Who Bless the Killing of Innocents

Later in the speech, Carlson issued one of his sharpest rebukes not at secular elites, but at pastors who twist Christianity into a justification for political violence. He warned believers to “be very on guard against people who try to leverage the word of God, the words of Jesus, for political ends,” insisting that “God is not on any country’s side” or party line. Instead, he said, the only faithful position is to choose God’s side, which means defending the innocent everywhere and rejecting blood guilt in every context.

Carlson passionately declared, “Christians cannot justify the killing of innocents. Full stop.” He criticized justifications like “it’s a consequence of war” when civilians, particularly children, suffer from bombings or starvation. He argued that religious leaders who support mass killings or collective punishment—especially against children—violate fundamental Christian teachings such as the Beatitudes, which emphasize mercy, peace, and love for one’s enemies. He asserted, “Excusing the deaths of thousands of children on behalf of any foreign government contradicts these teachings. It’s fundamentally opposed to them.”

Applying this moral perspective broadly, Carlson argued that justifying the deaths of innocents in places like Gaza is as indefensible as excusing violence in American neighborhoods, stressing that ethical standards must be universal to avoid being reduced to tribalism masquerading as faith.

“Do we possess the right to take lives?” Carlson asked, answering emphatically, “Christianity tells us the answer is no.”

A Universal, Authentic America First

Carlson wrapped these themes into a broader definition of America First that goes far beyond slogans and personality cults. He reminded the audience that the “core idea of the Trump coalition” is simple: “America First,” meaning the U.S. government “ought to, in all the decisions it makes, put the interests of American citizens first.” That is not “America only,” he argued, but a self-evident requirement of a democratic republic that “exists for our benefit” and has “no other legitimate rationale” for its power.

By linking free speech to the soul, justice to the individual rather than the tribe, and national policy to the good of actual American citizens, Carlson sketched an America First vision grounded in Christian truth rather than rage or revenge.

His message cuts against those on the right who now flirt with deplatforming and collective hatred just because they have temporarily gained power, and against church leaders who bless the shedding of innocent blood if it fits their geopolitical preferences.

In defending open speech, rejecting blood guilt, and calling pastors back to the Beatitudes, Carlson’s Amfest address stood as a warning: abandon these principles, and the movement that claims to defend America will become indistinguishable from the forces that betrayed it.

Watch Tucker Carlson’s full speech: