There is absolutely no salvation for human beings except in the innermost adoption of genuine moral principles in their disposition, and that to interfere with this adoption is surely not the so often blamed sensibility but a certain self-incurred perversity, or as we might otherwise also call this wickedness, fraud. This is a corruption that lies in all human beings and cannot be overcome except through the idea of the moral good in its absolute purity. (6:83)

Here Kant explains his idea that we must actively combat evil in order to become truly good. He says we must reform our own dispositions. Relying on God or Jesus will not help us out of a moral slump. Good, for Kant, is not an abstract that exists outside humans, but an inner resource that we all possess. Therefore, a refusal to be good is a refusal to draw on our own inner resources. Badness is not the fault of a defective personality, Kant says, but "self-incurred perversity," for it is perverse to turn your back on your own capacity for goodness. While we have the capacity for good, however, we also have the capacity for evil. We must draw on our goodness, but we must also believe that "absolute purity" exists, and model ourselves on that.