Religion and Politics in Letter 7

“Let him begin by treating his pacifism or patriotism as part of his religion. And then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit come to regard it as the most important part. And the quietly and gradually nurse him onto the stage where religion becomes merely part of the cause in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it produced…it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity he is ours. And the more religious those terms, the more securely ours.”

It’s amazing that words written specifically in response to the British war effort over 60 years ago can be so relevant to the American political campaign in 2008. Religion and politics are going hand-in-hand this year. I’ve heard people on the right and the left identify religion as a reason why someone should vote for one candidate over another.

The classic contemporary image is that of the Evangelical Christian mindlessly voting for the Republican candidate because of their strong moral values. But that image is quickly fading as those same Evangelicals are feeling disenfranchised by the John McCain nomination while liberals make the case that being anti-war is more of a Christian view than being pro-life.

If you look at the hot topics: healthcare, war, immigration, abortion, gay rights, social welfare, gun control, etc, there are very religious people on both sides of the aisle, and they are not only religious, they make religious cases to justify their beliefs.

I can be a pretty pessimistic guy, so I tend to think that Screwtape is right here. I find more Christians who belief in certain policies and ideals and then use Christianity to convince themselves that they’re right to believe such things, than Christians who honestly explore the person of Jesus, read about his life and teaching, and honestly change their political thoughts to align them with who they believe Jesus is.

I have friends who have so aligned themselves with the Republican Party that they believe an American immigration policy that deports millions of people who fled their country’s poverty is the honest conclusion any thinking Christian would come to. Not that a case can’t be made for this, but to so align this policy with their religious beliefs can only be explained by the process Screwtape described. I, for one, am glad that whoever gets elected in November whether Clinton, Obama, or McCain, the White House will not be pushing to deport the poorest people who live in America back to a life of extreme poverty.

I struggle with how to proceed. I believe that we are called to work towards a just society--one where all people are treated with dignity and respect, in short, like they are images of the divine creator. But how do we work towards a just society without turning religion into a mere tool that we use to bang over people’s heads just to get what we want?

For example, I believe that we should not have the death penalty. My belief, however, is arrived at from a number of angles. From reading Scripture, for example, I believe that the high value God places on people means we should be exceedingly hesitant to take any life, even the life of a known criminal. Furthermore, I know that God can redeem the life of anyone, even the life of a rapist or murderer. Finally, from reading Christian scripture I have learned that the only thing that brings true hope and reconciliation is forgiveness and love, not vengeance. But those aren’t the only reasons I hold the beliefs I do. Statistics prove that it is more costly to put a criminal on death row than it is to incarcerate them indefinitely. (This is because death row inmates are—rightly--entitled to more legal appeals since they are fighting for their very lives. The increased amount of room and board costs of an inmate in jail for life without parole pales in comparison to the exorbitant amount of legal defense fees.) Although that is not much of a religious argument, it is an argument that, I believe, rings true in the same way the more religious ones do.

That said, Christians who read the 13th chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans where Paul clearly states that God has ordained governments and does not expect them to “bear the sword in vain.” That, along with the laws of Moses which detail dozens of circumstances when the Hebrews were commanded by God to kill people who committed evil give those who support the death penalty an equal--if not greater--claim to saying they hold “the more Christian” position. This is coupled with evidence that societies with a more strictly executed death penalty system have less evil perpetrated makes a pretty strong case.

How do we decided which path is more just? How do we weigh the social, economic, and religious ideals and evidences? Whatever the answer, I’m sure simply as Screwtape shows, using Christianity to prop up your own ideas, is not the answer--though I suspect neither is ignoring religious beliefs all together.

Letter 4

To be completely candid, I find Screwtape’s comments on prayer in Letter 4 to be personally relevant. Focusing prayer is very difficult for me. Perhaps it’s because I’ve watched too much television and developed ADD from playing too much Super Mario Bros. More likely, it’s probably because I haven’t devoted myself to actually praying as much as I probably should have. I certainly have embraced Screwtape’s suggestion of making prayer “spontaneous, inward, informal, and unregularized.”

Whatever the cause, my prayer life is probably one which Screwtape would rejoice over. I can rarely identify with the experience Screwtape describes saying that “once thoughts and images have been flung aside...and the man trusts himself to the real, external, invisible presence there with him in the room…the incalculable may occur.”

Often times I’ve heard people say that prayer is primarily helpful because it makes the person praying into a more humble, spiritual, or selfless person. I’m sure prayer does these things, but it’s clear that Screwtape is more concerned about prayer provoking “the Enemy” to action.

I think C.S. Lewis is using Screwtape’s warning to advance his apparent belief that prayer is actually affective in actually accomplishes something. According to Lewis, when people pray and God often actually responds. God doesn’t just listen to prayer, God uses prayer as a means to undo evil’s grip on the world. That would be pretty awe-inspiring if it’s true.

Just think. According to Screwtape, “whenever there is prayer, there is danger of his immediate action.”

Accordingly, if you were to get down on your knees and pray, trusting yourself to God, the maker of the universe will actually not only listen to you, but may act immediately in light of your prayer.

That’s an astonishing claim--a claim that isn’t too far off Bible stories. In Genesis, Abraham pleads for the lives of everyone in Sodom, ultimately getting God to change God’s mind. Likewise in Exodus 32, Moses pleads for the lives of the Hebrews on the foot of Mt. Sinai and God relents from God’s actions.

I don’t know how a God who claims to be sovereign can also change plans in light of requests made by God’s own creatures, but there are millions of people wiser than me, from all walks of life and different faith traditions (Christian and non-Christian) who have found this to be true. There are intelligent men and women who have theories, attempting to break through this paradox and make it less mysterious. I’m not sure any of them are really successful in explaining it--though If someone claimed to fully explain the works of God, than I’d have to doubt them since no finite being could fully explain the infinite.

So, if God wants to listen to my prayers and somehow (while cloaked in mystery) act in light of them, I’m humbled. I’m also resolved to give more attention to spiritual actions like prayer for others who are in greater need than I am.

Letter 1

I wonder what it would be like to be in a world without propaganda. Imagine a world where filmmakers, pundits, novelists, and preachers were telling stories without any spin. Imagine if everyone from politicians to parents just told things like it really is, instead of their perception of things.

Screwtape points out how we are surrounded with a flood of philosophies, e.g., materialism, skepticism, pragmatism…blaah! Who cares! There are so many and they all lead to different conclusions and ways of seeing reality.

Perhaps that is why people today seem to be like Screwtape describes. There are so many ways of thinking, many of which we’ve unconsciously have “dancing about together” inside our heads, that we had to stop thinking of them “as primarily ‘true’ or ‘false’.

I have to wonder if C.S. Lewis, through Screwtape, is onto something when he says, “Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defense against Christianity.” Philosophers can have great insight into the world and truth, but at the end of the day philosophers’ arguments just have to make sense. Scientists, however, have to not only make sense, their ideas about reality have to be testable in the physical realm. Perhaps the best way to find the truth isn’t to think about it and write a paper on the results, but to actually live it out in the physical world.

Maybe—just maybe—that is why the God of the Old Testament, who never had a fully physical body within creation never said, “I am the truth” but Jesus, who believed himself to be the incarnation of that God, could say those very words. Perhaps Jesus’ experience in the physical realm gave him the right to say that not only is he promoting the ideas, he’s living them out in reality and testing them. And if his ideas do turn out to be true, than perhaps he’s not just another pundit, but a real (and rare) straight-talker.