Christian Courage

 

We must have courage (Dennis Prager asserts that it is a rare human virtue and the one most needed if good will triumph over evil, and he is right of course.) to fight evil, in ourselves, around us, in the world, generally.

It is not enough to be virtuous and holy—though these are necessary to be a moral person and to please God—but these virtues are not sufficient personal effort to confront evil in the world; we are to fight evil actively, call it out and oppose it with all our might: that is what God expects us to do.

The head of Prager U, Marissa Streit, interviewed Dennis Prager on 12/17/25 in his hospital room. He looks better and talks eloquently but is a very fragile man right now. The interview lasted over an hour and Prager the Wise was at his best. She asked him about Jacob wrestling with God, a metaphor with how we all interact with God to work out our relationship with De. Dennis pointedly agreed but added that the other half of the story, not usually recorded, is that Jacob, like all of us, is at the same time wrestling with his own human nature, fighting the beast and evil in oneself and in other people.

Marissa noted that Europeans are losing their countries and cultures to Islamist and other immigrants because they do not fight back, that what is special about America is that it fights back against evil, and Dennis agreed that the courage to fight back is rare.

Dennis also pointed out that America has been very blessed by God in part due to its heroic, noble defense of Jews and Israel, that countries that are antisemitic and for Jewish extermination, end up cursed by God, and are ruined by their antisemitism,

Should the American-Firsters and Christian nationalists turn anti-Israel and antisemitic, they will be cursed by God for opposing His chosen people, and America will suffer due to the antisemitism of these Jew-haters.

They both then agreed that it is not the majority that is courageous and fights evil, but it is the outlier, the loner that fights back. Most good is done by the outlier against the majority.

This is support for my stand that the outlier, the individual/individuator/great soul, the egoist and individualist is the one that fights evil, and grows goodness, while each member of the majority, the joiner/nonindviduator/ small soul, altruist and collectivist is either actively evil, or just has done nothing to fight corruption and injustice, taking the selfish, cowardly, easy, pleasurable way out.

Here is an article I got on 12/21/25, I think from Breitbart News, not Townhall.com, and it is about courage and I will comment on the article.

Peter Demos wrote this article and I will refer to him as P after this: “

A Culture in Crisis Needs a Different Kind of Courage

Peter Demos | Dec 21, 2025

Every generation faces its own moral drift, but the one we’re living through carries a special kind of disorientation. Ideas that once anchored families, churches, and institutions now feel negotiable. Moral lines that were clear for centuries are described as “evolving.” And in the absence of clarity, noise fills the void.”

My response: What interests me is that Christians, conservatives and traditionalists all follow some sort of Divine Command Moral theory, that God provides us with moral laws that are objectively true and clearly explicable and understandable.

They do not accept that a secular society of cultural Marxists without God’s guidance can get away with dismissing moral ideas that once anchored families, churches and institutions, that moral ambiguity and relativism are the new norm, and all that we have to live by and up to.

P: “

Public debate has been replaced by performance. The loudest people are often the angriest, and the quietest are often the most fearful. And in that confusion, a question keeps surfacing among believers: How do you stand for what is true without becoming the very thing you’re resisting?

Many Christians try to meet cultural chaos with equal force. The assumption is that if the world is getting louder, we must get louder too. But yelling is not courage. Belligerence is not boldness. And hostility, no matter how righteous it feels in the moment, is not one of the fruits of the Spirit.

Real courage has never depended on volume. It rests on conviction that comes from a deeper place than public approval.”

My response: Peter is right that belligerency and shouting are not the essence of the moral fight to oppose evil in society. He is right that consistent, firm, quiet but publicly shared opposition to evil ways is the way to fight with courage, but it is the real, actually conducted fight, that each person of courage undertakes, to fight back hard and effectively.

P: “

History is full of people who made a difference, not because they were aggressive but because they were steady. They stood their ground with humility, clarity, and a willingness to accept the consequences that came with obedience. When the stakes were highest, they didn’t get louder. They got firmer.

We see the same pattern today. A nurse who refuses to violate her conscience. An athlete who quietly declines a symbolic gesture that contradicts her faith. A citizen who prays where prayer is unwelcome. None of them are attacking anyone. They’re simply refusing to bow.

That’s boldness, but it frequently costs us something when we act with such as a Christian. Sometimes the cost is financial. Sometimes it’s the loss of relationships or reputation. But societies don’t recover from unrighteousness through silence. Renewal begins when ordinary people calmly but clearly say, “This far, no further.””

My response: Once must firmly stand tall and say no.

P: “

Related:

Social media is quick to point out the challenges Christians face from cultural pressure. But the real problems we face are the internal obstacles. Boldness doesn’t come naturally as we want to think. Fear, comfort, and the desire to “keep the peace” work against it. Many believers aren’t silent because they lack conviction; they’re silent because they don’t want to lose the life or livelihood they’ve built in this world.”

My response: People are groupist and enjoy social status, popularity and worldly prosperity by going along to get along, but evildoers take advantage of that to keep the moral silent majority cowed, passive and unwilling to risk it all to publicly fight evil. As egoists and individuators, each moral person would be filled with integrity and courage, so that she would not dare not to fight back against evil, because so capitulating would offend God, and that offense she is most fearful to commit.

P: “

That’s why the solution isn’t to become more aggressive. It’s to grow in boldness before the moment requires it.

Boldness develops the same way faith does through small, consistent choices. A conversation you’d rather avoid. A quiet correction when a line is crossed. A refusal to participate in something that violates conscience. None of these actions make headlines, but they form the muscles needed when the stakes get higher.

Courage does not appear suddenly. It is practiced in private long before it is required in public.”

My response: Yes, we grow courageous in our private lives, and then we take this stance public.

P: “

This matters because the pressures shaping our culture aren’t going away. Schools, corporations, media, and even some churches now promote ideas that contradict Scripture. The result is a generation left confused about what is real. In that fog, we depend on the clarity of truth. Discipleship depends on that clarity. Families, churches, and communities cannot flourish when believers treat truth as optional.

But clarity alone isn’t enough. Boldness must move at the speed of love, not anger. The strongest men and women in Scripture were also the humblest. Their power came from obedience, not outrage. And that is the kind of courage our moment requires.

Our courage does not require noise. Nor combativeness. Nor the temptation to match the world’s hostility. What our culture needs is a steady people willing to speak plainly about sin and grace, who can resist destructive ideas without becoming mirrored replicas of the very darkness they oppose.

The future will not be shaped by those who shout the loudest. It will be shaped by those who stand the firmest. If Christians are willing to take small steps now, daily, simple, ordinary acts of faithfulness, we will be ready when the time comes to stand in ways that matter.”

My response: Be polite but be firm and unyielding to evildoers, take courage and fight back now and hard.

P: “

Peter Demos is the president and CEO of Demos’ Brands and Demos Family Kitchen. A lawyer by trade, Demos is also the author of Bold Not Belligerent, On the Christian Duty of Civil Disobedience, and Afraid to Trust, books that blend Scripture, personal experience and practical insight to help Christians navigate cultural pressure and the call to stand courageously for biblical truth. “