Following the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” With a solemn tone, she urged, “We have got to stop demonizing each other. … We have got to stop with the finger pointing and the scapegoating.”

At first, that sounded like a hopeful statement. Yet my optimism was short-lived. Almost in the same breath, she pivoted to attack Republican policies: “The idea that you could turn the clock back and try to recreate a world that never was — dominated by, you know, let’s say it, white men of a certain persuasion, a certain religion.”

No matter how carefully they frame it, the Left cannot hide its disdain for white, Christian men — men whose convictions give them the courage to stand for truth. I am often asked when I speak across the nation, “Tony, what keeps you up at night?” People expect me to say China, the national debt, or the Left’s anti-Christian, anti-family agenda. And yes, those are serious threats. But my greatest concern is something deeper: a lack of moral courage.

If we have moral courage — courage rooted in conviction and anchored in a transcendent cause — we will confront China. We will address fiscal recklessness. And we will resist the Left’s godless agenda. But without moral courage, we will fold under pressure. That is the most significant void in our culture today.

The nation’s response to Charlie Kirk’s death proves this point. Millions have spoken in honor of his life. Why? Because America is starving for examples of young men who refuse to bow to the so-called intelligentsia. His boldness inspired admiration because it revealed what our culture is missing: conviction matched with courage.

Meanwhile, the Left — on cable networks and even on Capitol Hill — has erupted in anger at the public displays of respect for Charlie. Why? Because they know that when men stand up and fulfill their God-given role, families grow stronger, communities grow safer, and the Left loses power. That is the bottom line.

The attack on masculinity is not new. It has been raging for decades. Yet one group has refused to surrender: Bible-believing men. Despite relentless efforts to emasculate men and de-Christianize our culture, a younger generation is rediscovering truth — and with it, their manhood. They have tasted the emptiness of secularism, and they are choosing something greater.

The Apostle Paul’s charge to the church in Corinth rings out as clear today as it did two millennia ago: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”

This is not a call to arrogance or violence, but to courage — to live as men and women of faith who will not shrink back. In this critical hour, the future of our families, our freedoms, and our nation depends on men and women who will rise with conviction, anchored in truth, and unashamed to act.

Republished from The Washington Stand.