Many Americans in recent years have returned to religion in a revival that accelerated because of the work of the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, according to Dr. Ben Carson.

Carson, who served under the first Trump administration as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, spoke about Kirk’s legacy in an interview with The Daily Wire on the floor of Turning Point’s AmericaFest conference that ended on Sunday.

An American faith revival has “really been going on for the last couple of years,” said Carson. “I think it accelerated quite a bit with what Charlie was doing.”

The Trump administration alum said that many in Generation Z are finding faith because they recognized that the direction of the country without religious values was “not one that was going to lead to good things.” Many turned to religion after asking how the United States can “be a great nation.”

“The young men in particular are really coming back to church, and the young women will catch up, too,” said Carson, noting that women growing up today are facing complicated choices between balancing a career and having children. The doctor is optimistic that expanding opportunities for virtual work will improve women’s ability to balance both.

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Carson’s think tank, the American Cornerstone Institute, has launched an initiative to aid in the work that Kirk did and to reacquaint young people with the United States’ founding and religious values: the Little Patriots program. Through the program, Carson hopes to set young Americans on a good path early in their education before “Marxists” in the education system corrupt their thinking with leftist and victimhood ideology.

“The two biggest teacher unions are full of Marxists, and so it’s a battle, but I think we have the better message, to be quite frank, and we just have to make sure that we don’t get discouraged and that we’re willing to fight as hard as they do,” he said.

As a veteran of the first Trump administration, Carson said that President Donald Trump’s second term is “incredible.”

“I think the Lord did us a favor by allowing Trump to lose – or at least to be perceived as losing – so that he wasn’t there for four years so he could really think about what happened, what were the obstacles, what were the things that really worked, so that by the time his next term came around, he was ready,” said Carson.

The NCAA’s decision to grant immediate eligibility to James Nnaji, a former NBA Draft pick, marks a potentially transformative moment in the relationship between professional and college basketball.

Nnaji, a 7-foot, 21-year-old Nigerian-born center, has committed to Baylor University and received four years of NCAA eligibility, allowing him to play for the Bears beginning in the middle of the 2025–26 season. This ruling is unprecedented in modern college basketball and has sparked widespread confusion and criticism across the sport.

Nnaji was selected 31st overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, initially by the Detroit Pistons, before his rights were traded to the Charlotte Hornets and later to the New York Knicks in a three-team deal involving Karl-Anthony Towns. Despite being drafted, Nnaji never signed an NBA contract and has not played in an NBA regular-season game. Instead, he has spent several years playing professionally overseas with clubs such as FC Barcelona, Merkezefendi, and Girona, and has also appeared in NBA Summer League games, most recently with the Knicks.

According to reports, the Knicks will retain Nnaji’s NBA rights while he plays at Baylor, effectively creating a situation likened to an NBA team “loaning” a drafted player to a college program. This has raised alarms that NBA teams could now draft prospects, stash them in college basketball, and continue to control their professional futures. Coaches, analysts, and fans reacted strongly, with UConn coach Dan Hurley and former Indiana coach Tom Crean publicly criticizing the NCAA’s lack of clarity and long-term planning. Media members such as Jeff Goodman and Zach Braziller described the decision as evidence that NCAA rules are being improvised without consistent standards.

Don’t be mad at the players , agents, brokers or coaches. Don’t be mad at the current people in charge.
If you’re upset go back and look at every “perfunctory “ committee that was formed to take a path of least resistance and who put them together and participated. Years ago.

— Tom Crean (@TomCrean) December 24, 2025

Santa Claus is delivering mid season acquisitions…this s*** is crazy!! 🤪

— Dan Hurley (@dhurley15) December 24, 2025

It’s hard to blame Scott Drew or any of the college coaches for this if it’s allowed by the NCAA.

But it’s become a complete joke now because there are no rules anymore.

It’s just “make it up as you go” now.

And where does it end? https://t.co/6pGKj8bZoT

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) December 24, 2025

Old enough to remember players being ruled ineligible for accepting a free meal from fans. Now, players can literally get drafted and come back to school. Just a mockery of the sport at this point.

— Zach Braziller (@NYPost_Brazille) December 24, 2025

The controversy is amplified by the NCAA’s own bylaws, which state that a men’s basketball player may jeopardize eligibility by entering the NBA Draft and being drafted. The apparent loophole in Nnaji’s case centers on the fact that he never enrolled in college before being drafted and never signed an NBA contract. Because NCAA draft-related amateurism rules apply only after initial collegiate enrollment, Nnaji was deemed eligible despite years of professional experience overseas.

This decision follows a broader trend of the NCAA allowing former professional players, including ex–G League athletes, to compete in college basketball. With NIL compensation turning top NCAA programs into one of the most lucrative basketball environments in the world, the traditional definition of amateurism has eroded. Critics argue the Nnaji ruling sets a dangerous precedent, undermines the NCAA’s credibility, and could fundamentally reshape the pipeline between college basketball and the NBA.