There was once a time when college was considered a relatively upright place where men went to study, gain knowledge, and become disciplined leaders. Evidently, such a time no longer exists.

As a student myself, I often feel intensely disgusted walking around campus. I hear conversations about parties in which drinking has taken place. I see clothes that would have warranted execution 100 years ago. Most of all, I see the carefree attitudes. Nobody seems to have any problem with the way things are. Even within my right-wing peers, who are so excessively preoccupied with matters of race and immigration, there is zero interest in public morality.

After all, what is the problem? Why take everything so seriously? Why should I care so much about how people dress or what they do on Friday nights? To even ask these questions is insulting! And they warrant a serious discussion about the lack of spiritual literacy in modern society. Especially the misguided attempts at being “spiritual” by certain groups of people and the even more misguided attempts at being “moral” by others.

It really isn’t a question anymore that the course of public morality needs to be corrected. And it is even more apparent that the only ones capable of doing so are religious reactionaries. But before one can declare himself a religious reactionary, one must examine and learn from the numerous phenomena causing mass anti-moral behavior in the first place.

The Devil’s Promise On the Right Wing

I have an unapologetic metaphor of sorts that often puts me at odds with my more ethnonationalist or right-of-center peers. Put simply, if the Devil were to rise from Hell and promise them a nation (made to their liking) in which there were no “foreigners” so long as they renounced their faith in God, they would take the deal.

When I introduce this point to my right-wing friends, they often laugh it off and dismiss it as an unrealistic fantasy. However, the contention is more real than they are willing to admit. It has become very common for racial hatred or certain cultural frustrations to overshadow faith in God and morality so intensely that they become secondary, and this is evident in the contemporary right-wing establishment. Even worse, though, is the total shifting of the bounds of conservatism and the erosion of ideological solidity. Take gay marriage, for example, which was rightfully considered immoral and condemned by the right decades ago. Now? There’s an organization called “Gays Against Groomers,” founded by a deviant homosexual woman, and which has somehow received the glamour of being called “far-right.”

You may say, “The left has these problems, too!” But that is a given. The left rarely values religious moralism and is intrinsically committed to relativism. Of course it would make a deal with the Devil. The very concept of “evil” is ever-changing to a leftist, and of course this lack of objectivity will always serve the immediate human desire — that is, animalistic desire.

But the right wing? This is supposed to be the side of objective, absolutist morality. And yet the behavior of rightists is just as ever-changing as the left in the modern day. How many scandals have been uncovered on the right wing in the modern day? I could fill novels with tales of each one, often a sexual scandal. This fact is incredibly concerning. The left wing is designed to reject public morality in favor of a “whatever I want” mentality, and now the right wing is rapidly becoming spiritually depraved and plagued by the same mindset. If the right wing falls as well, what is left?

Lacking Presuppositions

The right-wing hypocrisy we see today is not even the largest shadow looming over those moral crusaders such as ourselves. The massive barrier between our ultimate goal of public morality and actual public opinion is the total lack of presuppositions.

Let’s use the example of “partying,” as it seems most college students have indulged in this. To the average youth, this is simply a social gathering to hang out with friends and meet people. To a religious reactionary, it is an active source of vice and a breeding ground for sinful behavior. Do you see the disconnect here?

The average youth views partying from a perspective lacking concern for religion entirely and often frames desire as the primary goal. They desire social validation and a dopamine boost, so they go to “meet people” and “hang out,” often engaging in any and every behavior necessary to achieve their desire. The religious reactionary is constantly thinking about being holy and pleasing God. Is that simply their desire? No, it is their duty. It is the duty of the religious reactionary to see sin before it arises, and thus avoid participating in any level of vice entirely.

Notice that the sin is avoided entirely by noticing it beforehand. This exists in contrast to the average Christian lifestyle of “Sin first. Repent later.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about this very reliance on God’s grace to constantly bail one out, and, diverging from orthodox theology temporarily, it’s worth questioning if God simply stops doing so at some point. Many modern Christians live as though God is their personal wish-granter and sin-forgiver rather than their commanding officer. It is unconducive to public morality to use the typical Christian perspective of “God’s children” because it leads to this exact cheap grace. Rather, the religious reactionary must view himself as God’s soldier, following His orders and commands to the letter.

If public morality is to be corrected, and it is to be done by the religious reactionary, then he must embody the very presuppositions that allow us to prevent sin entirely. He cannot simply live in accordance with his immediate desires and assume God will rescue him each time he sins. This will make him permissive; it will make him weak, and he will cease to be a religious reactionary.

The Influence of Degenerate Media

We’ve covered the hypocrisy of the contemporary right wing and the lack of presuppositional prescience regarding sin and vice, but we have yet to cover the third major cause of society’s anti-moral standing: Degenerate media.

Often, the greatest deterrent to religious reactionary ideology is this degenerate media that contributes to its demise. The modern man is extremely pacified by the media, and this is especially true in Generation Z (my own). What young man does not consistently consume modern music, such as those pop songs which sing excessively about love? What young man has not consumed the very movies and shows of today as well, such as “anime” and those Hollywood productions which feature one sexual scene after another? The religious reactionary does not find himself pacified by such media because he does not consume it in the first place.

This is often where every reader realizes they would never wish to be a religious reactionary. If one has to relinquish modern comforts, then what incentive could there possibly be for religious reactionaries? My second point about correcting one’s presuppositions applies here again — what incentive could you possibly seek other than the act of devotion itself? If you seek incentives, then your devotion to God and moral rigorism are clearly downstream from your personal desires, and this is the presupposition you must correct. If your entire concept of living is fundamentally misaligned with religious reactionism, then you are running in circles and chasing your own tail. You would neither understand the ideology nor become a part of it, so attempting to do so is futile in and of itself. To the true religious reactionary — that is, one who truly aligns with the ideology — he who neither seeks to relinquish his comforts nor conform to the asceticism commanded by God is no peer or equal, but a spiritually empty unit of economic use; he is simply an unholy object to be ruled by the holy. The Christian desire to evangelize only hinders one’s own spiritual ascent here, and the religious reactionary recognizes that he who objectifies himself cannot be saved by any un-divine force. Simply put, leave the “saving” to God in the afterlife.

It’s noteworthy that the common concept of “love,” especially as it manifests in both Christianity and leftism, is practically opposed to the religious reactionary ideology and lifestyle. Instead of “loving one’s neighbor,” the religious reactionary is devoted to the duty which leads to greater spiritual prosperity for his neighbor. His devotion is not directed at his neighbor, but rather at God. What good may be done for his neighbor can only come out of doing right with God.

Conclusion

Our critiques of the modern college campus are often rejected entirely. After all, who could reject mass fornicating and drinking alcohol? Isn’t such a thing the very definition of young life which all children strive to one day live? Of course it is not. And I can see this only because I can see the fundamentals, the presuppositions, the hypocrisy, and the degeneracy of modern media. This makes me, and all who see the same, religious reactionaries.

My words are not meant to be permissive on other issues, however, and while it is strictly necessary to spiritually cleanse the public, numerous other rectifications must take place to truly order society as God intended.

But for the religious reactionary, the only rectification needed is that of public morality.

Note: This article is the first in the Ideology & Essays section, which includes theoretical discussions, subjective analysis, cultural commentary, and more that aren’t nonpartisan policy discussions.

The world’s strongest-ever display of soft power, without a doubt, comes from the Sinosphere — the region of Sinic cultural influence roughly encompassing Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. Cultural exports coming from this region, particularly from China, Korea, and Japan, have spread far and wide, influencing culture in regions across the world.

But within the decades-long internationalist ardor inspired by these very cultural influences, a larger problem exists. China’s political apparatus, and by extension, the broader Sinosphere, represents the ultimate realization of utilitarian secular statecraft.

Though the U.S. is often viewed similarly as a secular nation, this is arguably inaccurate, as Christian influence on policy-making is historically certain and remains (to an extent) in modern times. Functionally, Christianity is core to American culture and identity.

Christian moral law can guide the nation toward a divinely inspired destiny, but increasing Sinic influence poses numerous risks to this path. To circumvent these risks, it is necessary to examine the actual features within the Sinosphere that are fundamentally adverse to American religious governance, as well as how they all build off of the secular foundation of the region.

The Illusion of Confucianism

China, evidently, is not guided by any religious dogma. Some may argue that Confucian and Buddhist influences exist in common Sinic culture, but these religions are not dogmatic and are often interpreted flexibly (hence the denominationalism of each one). One might also claim that Confucianism was often functionally dogmatic due to historical state orthodoxy, but even so, it is non-theistic, placing it in opposition to Christianity. That lack of adherence to divine authority also makes it easily co-optable by Chinese state authorities whose Marxian heritage promotes state atheism.

Put simply, the Sinosphere’s philosophical and “religious” heritage is bereft of any divine foundation for human dignity and moral law; therefore, morality itself becomes a matter of utility for the Chinese bureaucratic machine with no motivation other than economic output, state stability (note the state as the top priority, not the nation), and geopolitical power. The result is the culture exported to the United States in the name of “soft power.”

Chinese philosophies like Confucianism and Legalism (among many others), whether dogmatic or not, are considered guiding systems within the Sinic paradigm, and regardless of their practical usage, they instill neither devotion to God nor moral absolutism, placing them in direct defiance of the Christian morality that motivates — or should motivate (in the case of certain other perspectives) — American society.

Soulless Technocracy

Religion and philosophical history aside, China’s bureaucracy is a problem on its own. Sinic non-theism, although indirectly, contributed to a highly technocratic leviathan government ruled by a deeply entrenched political party: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This empty authoritarianism has led to yet another significant cultural barrier forming in opposition to the culture of America: mass surveillance.

China maintains a mass surveillance state unlike anything the world has ever seen. Initiatives like Skynet for urban centers and Sharp Eyes for rural ones ensure that real-time analytics identify individuals, recognize license plates, analyze crowd density, and track movement across cities, all in cooperation with private companies still under the authority of the CCP. It goes without saying that this level of surveillance is unmatched worldwide.

Many argue that the U.S. has a similar apparatus, but that is irrelevant; in the digital age, nearly every major nation has also begun developing its own mass surveillance system. The clash arises in the public cultural response. China has had this system for years, and there has never been widespread outrage over it. Public sentiment there views the system positively due to state control of messaging. In the U.S., however, instances of similar surveillance from private companies like Flock and Palantir, as well as government agencies like the NSA, have been met with nothing but fury from the people.

Thus is the second threat. Such a surveillance state built on secular culture has accelerated the Sinic culture of soulless technocracy — a national direction of numbers and measured output rather than divine providence. American culture, on the other hand, opposes such authority (the very founding of the nation was a revolt against authority) and is far more capable of a religious future. But only through eliminating the incompatible influences of Sinic culture in the American homeland.

Subversion of the Church

The Chinese government subjugates the Christian Church within its borders, and the freedom to worship God is restricted heavily by state authorities. Churches must register with government-approved — and thus, secularly motivated — associations, and clergy must maintain loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and actively promote state ideology. Sermons are censored, authorities select church leaders, and gravest of all, the Bible is heavily edited and altered to fall in line with the CCP’s ideology. All youth under 18 are also banned from participating in religious activities, which prevents children from building a strong devotion to God during their most developmental years and severely damages the spiritual cleanliness of older youth, who no longer have any moral framework and may justify any behavior so long as it aligns with state policy.

It goes without saying that this total control of Christianity in China is entirely antagonistic to America’s freedom of religion, and the encroaching Sinosphere — itself delegated to the CCP — would be detrimental to the entire religious infrastructure of the United States, and it would certainly harm the primacy of Christian ethics as the core of American culture.

An Appeal to Heaven

If American society is to embark on a path of divinely-inspired morality and become “One Nation Under God” as it was always intended to be, then the cultural influences of the Sinosphere must be eliminated, no matter how much consumer resistance there may be. Such a task is monumental, however, and it requires a shift in American perspectives so substantial that it can only be described aptly as “an appeal to Heaven.”

Two core ideas must regain preeminence in American cultural and political discourse if this shift is to occur, and the first is American exceptionalism. America once more needs to see itself as an exceptional nation, unique in the world, and akin to none. Only when America no longer functions as “European-derived,” “Pacific-adjacent,” or “cosmopolitan” can it pave the way for the final step: Christian moral primacy — not necessarily in the modern Christian nationalist sense, which is motivated far more by evangelicalism and lacks the mystical basis needed to overcome Chinese secular influences.

Christian moral primacy: The total authority of Christian moral law within American public life, neither dominating nor dominated by American culture. This idea is the largest undertaking out of the two, and though realistically unlikely, it is spiritually necessary. In addition to recovering absolute morality within American society, Christian moral primacy is also crucial to repairing the atomization of community in the modern era.

Establishing this primacy would not involve undermining the First Amendment (which allows freedom of religion) or any seditious anti-Constitutionalism, but rather modifying the Constitution to promote moral law and begin moving away from secular nationalism to a more mystical spiritual nationalism. For instance, this may include the addition of a Christian amendment, if not as the end goal of incremental amendments.

American traditionalism can arise once more if these two ideas are established to combat liberal influences. But the rising threat of the secular Sinosphere cannot be ignored.