Moral Paralysis

In “Moral Paralysis,” Rushdoony argues that modern society is increasingly incapable of decisive moral action because it has abandoned belief in absolute truth and God’s sovereign law, replacing it with relativism and pragmatism. This results in people who may recognize evil but lack the authority, confidence, or will to oppose it, mistaking moral insight for moral strength and denunciation for righteousness. Without an objective foundation, principles become personal preferences that cannot bind anyone else, producing inaction, cynicism, and drift in both liberal and conservative camps alike. Rushdoony contends that moral vitality comes only from acknowledging a transcendent moral order grounded in God, not from human opinion or state decree. Where relativism reigns, society collapses into either anarchy or statism, both expressions of moral paralysis. True moral action, he concludes, requires faith in God’s absolute law, which alone provides a solid foundation for dominion, reconstruction, and a future worth commanding.