“In a simpler way we may say: he who dictates and formulates the words and phrases we use, he who is master of the press and radio, is master of the mind.” Joost Meerloo - Rape of the Mind.
Most outsiders do not understand the deep cultural and religious mix in which Rangers Football Club exists. They don’t try to understand it either and if they claim to do so, it is inverted, biased and disingenuous. For most of the Scottish (captured) media and some of the left wing British newspapers, Rangers FC are simply a football club with a sectarian problem, or one half of what the discredited media refer to as a cultural artifact of Old Firm rivalry, which does not exist. But that barely scratches the surface. To grasp what Rangers truly represent in Scotland - and why we matter far beyond football - requires understanding the Protestant backbone of Scottish identity, the historical legacy of the Loyal Orange Institution of Scotland (LOIS), and the cultural junction of faith, national memory, and working-class pride.
Modern commentators pretend this is difficult terrain. It isn't very difficult to understand a faith that is centuries old and an Order that spans two centuries and a football club that is more than 150 years in existence - it's all there. It is the cultural spine of Scotland, played a key part in its successful history, and was the established Church of the country - a national religion. The media and politicians have no problem understanding Islam, Judaism, atheism and degeneracy or suggesting an acceptance of halal, kosher and sharia law as part of an ever growing inverted society bereft of indigenous identity.
Scotland is often portrayed through a largely secular, progressive lens. But underneath this image lies a suppressed story: that of the Protestant, Unionist, and working-class tradition of Scotland, and the institutions - like Rangers FC and LOIS - that have preserved it, albeit by being the subjects of egregious attacks. These institutions are not merely nostalgic relics or problematic anachronisms, as the contemporary discredited media would claim. They are deeply embedded structures of meaning for many Scots and Protestant Ulster Loyalists (PUL), offering not just continuity, but a vision of what was once national identity but more so now, it's cultural and moral identity.
As we all know, Rangers FC is not just a football club. For over a century and a half, it has been a focal point of identity for much of Protestant and Unionist Scotland. Rangers provide a foundation upon which a cultural and even moral vision is built. This vision is not religious in the theological sense — I'd hazard that many of our supporters are only nominally attracted to church as we continue towards a more secular society and reduction in church attendance. It can best be described as being community religious, or socially religious. Nothing wrong with this, it just adds context to the current situation. Rangers FC and its founding structure, draws from the aesthetics, and loyalties from the Protestant worldview and a specifically Scottish form of British identity.
In current times just as we find the demonisation of Christianity in Scotland and specifically where Protestantism is being attacked and undermined on a regular basis a revival and riposte is required. Protestant identity (be it from Scotland or Ulster) is steadily being pushed to the margins since the post-war cultural revolution and especially in recent decades under devolution. In many elite circles, it was claimed it was a source of embarrassment - you only have to look at the disgust of David Tennant (the degenerate, trans loving luvvie) to understand what progressives feel and think about having cultural roots within LOIS. It's difficult to avoid when it is the foundational and notional backbone of the country. As if it was some sort of symptom of backwardness - this is a lie and fabrication with the source being progressive political parties and the legacy media which has all but lost any sliver of credibility it has left. It was also the case that Prof Jeanette Findlay labelled LOIS as far right Nazis and the former First Minister, the utterly pathetic excuse for a politician Humza Yousaf, complained that Rangers FC supporters were an absolute disgrace. Add to this the physical assaults on Order members and even Church of Scotland ministers and we don't have to look far.
The LOIS is one of the most misunderstood social and religious movements in the Western world. To many, it is a curious and obsolete organisation defined by parades and flute bands, its members caricatured as bigots, prejudiced and clinging to distant memories. But this perspective is shallow and shaped by media exaggeration. In reality, LOIS represents an ethical and theological tradition rooted in the Reformation, in covenant theology, and in an understanding of liberty as guaranteed by allegiance to divine law. God before kings, Scripture before ideals. The LOIS vision of Scotland and Northern Ireland is not merely political, it is moral. It is a conception of a Godly nation, protected by providence and bound to divine order through the Protestant faith. When Islam and to a lesser extent Judaism expresses these core values it is never criticised and it can be argued, appeased. Why not Protestants?
The Order’s theology sees no contradiction in blending loyalty to crown and country with a fierce spiritual confidence. Its parades are not just cultural expressions; they are ritualistic processions of identity, invoking history, community, and belief. Islamists can march on our streets and chant death to Jews and very little if anything is done. However a LOIS parade and celebration is the peak of antipathy to certain sections of modern Scotland.
There is no understanding of Rangers FC or LOIS without understanding Scottish Protestantism. For centuries, this was the dominant ethos of Scotland, shaping law, education, social movements, and national character. From John Knox to Kirk, from school classrooms to the shipyards, Scottish life was infused with a serious, morally-ordered vision of the world. It was a worldview marked by make-do, sacrifice, discipline, and a reverence for the Bible and God.
That Protestant identity has been dislodged in modern Scotland. The rise of secular liberalism, the undermining and capture of the Church of Scotland by progressives, and the advance of a divisive and destructive Scottish Nationalist Party (all aided by the Roman Catholic church and powerful left wing ideologies) have contributed to a slow cultural amnesia. Yet Protestantism remains latent - alive in habits of thought, in institutions like Rangers FC, and in the continued resonance of Orange culture among tens of thousands. The amnesia, like fog, needs to lift and dissipate. Protestantism, though weakened, is still the unseen moral framework of much of Scottish society. Not secularism, not atheism, not Islam or anything else - Protestantism.
Today Protestant Scotland (the people in charge, not the working class) wrestles with its place in the new cultural order resulting in Protestant identity being subordinated to secular progressive nationalism. In place of the Church, the state now promotes a secular examination of equality, diversity, and moral relativism. This is the new religion they are imposing upon us. But institutions like Rangers FC and LOIS resist this arrangement. They are repositories of a different vision, one that remembers sacrifice, discipline, and affirms a Protestant-British identity that should not bow to every cultural shift because of a moral degeneracy permeating through society.
Naturally, this puts us in conflict with dominant narratives. The Rangers FC support is often portrayed as reactionary and social outlier in this new all encompassing (enforced) progressive Scotland. Orange parades are subject to restrictions and scorn. Yet LOIS continues to offer a vision of Scotland rooted in history, faith, and loyalty which is totally missed by most people either by myopic reasoning or mendacity.
The dynamic plays out among Rangers FC supporters and within the LOIS. I do not think that all participants are practicing Christians; but neither do I think that matters. What matters is the continuation and promotion of cultural Protestants, drawn more by loyalty, heritage, and identity and with some belief. This cultural Protestantism has its own kind of pull and formative power. It binds communities, anchors identities, and promotes a sense of belonging and duty, more than any current social, cultural or political ideology. The challenge is how to turn the collective force of Rangers FC, Protestantism and LOIS into renewed focus.
We have a deep and noble tradition, that at this moment in time is battered and maligned. The Protestant foundations of Scottish life still exist, but they are despised. Institutions like Rangers FC and the LOIS are living testaments to a time when faith, duty, and identity were joined in common cause and to a certain degree (if we can cast a light on ourselves for a moment) taken for granted.
If Scotland is to reclaim any kind of coherent identity, not a grotesque husk of 'joyous, civic nationalism' as promoted by political liars, sexual deviants and embezzlers, then the people who hate us must reckon with our heritage. They want to avoid this at all costs, because they know they will lose if the battle is head on. This is why they resort to clandestine, subterfuge, dishonest tactics and media manipulation and propaganda to discredit the Protestant community and undermine not just us, but Scotland. Even though they try again and again to dent our community and ultimately their goal is to erase it - they must be honest with themselves and the Protestant community in all its forms from devout to cultural to nominal. We are not retreating from our tradition. We need a new Reformation. A Reformation that reminds the progressive political class that we the Protestant people of Scotland and Ulster have an awareness and a profound understanding that we are sui generis.