In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital after delivering his Red Mass homily to Minnesotas Catholic lawyers and judges, Bishop Robert Barron warned that the brutal murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk represents a cultural breaking point for America not only because of the tragedy itself, but because it symbolizes an assault on free speech and civil dialogue.Barron argued that Kirks killing is resonating so strongly because "he died not with a gun or a knife or a grenade in his hand, but a microphone." To Barron, the attack reveals that something "basic to our civilization is in danger of being lost."Speaking inside St. Paul Cathedral, Barron said Kirks death "shook the foundations" of American civic life because it struck at the heart of free and open dialogue. "Each human being is a subject of infinite dignity, and without that recognition, conversation devolves into violence."Barron described Kirk as "a man of great intelligence, charm, and goodness of heart." Charlie, he said, embodied a tradition of open debate stretching back to the roots of Western civilization.CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION WILL SPARK FAITH REVIVAL AMONG YOUTH, CARDINAL DOLAN PREDICTS"Charlie, as thousands of videos on YouTube attest, was committed to open dialogue, particularly on college campuses."The bishop explained that this tradition rests on two bedrock assumptions: the dignity of the individual and the objectivity of truth."There is a rational structure to the world and moral values to which anyone, by virtue of being a rational creature, can appeal."Both principles, he added, are grounded in God. "Thomas Jefferson knew that human rights were rooted in this divine soil: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights'."EXPERTS WARN LEFTIST CELEBRATIONS OF CHARLIE KIRK'S DEATH SIGNAL A DANGEROUS MAINSTREAM SHIFT IN POLITICSBarron said Kirk himself understood that faith was central: "He always made it clear that the most important thing in his lifethe thing he most wanted to be remembered forwas not his party affiliation or political philosophy but his Christian faith."Citing Pope Benedict XVIs 2006 Regensburg address, Barron warned that when reason is abandoned in favor of willpower and ideology, debate inevitably collapses into oppression and violence."If we make reason subject to the will, dialogue will tend to devolve into oppression and violence were left simply with a clash of wills."He pointed to a disturbing statistic: "34 percent of college students feel that it is sometimes permissible to respond to a speaker on campus with violence." To Barron, that number underscores the urgency of Kirks example."To the degree that we lose touch with the venerable tradition of dialogue in which Charlie stood, we will continue to see the bombs and bullets fly."Barron said one of the "single ugliest" reactions to Kirks killing has been celebratory posts from some professors and government officials. "Without religion, the very conditions for civil conversation are fatally compromised."As more Americans turn to ideology instead of faith, he warned, "a shared sense of human dignity and objective morality are both diminished, and public discourse imperiled."Addressing judges, lawyers and lawmakers gathered for the Red Mass, Barron said part of the noble purpose of law is to protect these very principles."Positive law nests within the natural law, which itself nests within the eternal law the very structure of the divine mind."He noted that Martin Luther King Jr. drew on this tradition in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail.""Law, like reason and speech, is not a function of the will or a tool in the hands of the powerful; it is an expression of the divine Logos who creates and sustains human life and calls us from darkness to light."Barron closed his homily by urging prayer for both the legal profession and the country itself.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"Law has a high moral and spiritual purpose, because without these foundations, we will devolve into violence. And thats, I think, what we saw in almost iconic form in the death of Charlie Kirk and why its had such a resonance around the country."The Red Mass, hosted annually by the St. Thomas More Lawyers Guild at the Cathedral of St. Paul, brought Barrons warning directly to jurists, law students, and public servants.