A Demon’s Guide to the Election Podcast by John Stonestreet for Break Point
In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis imagines how an experienced demonic operative might advise a younger, less experienced understudy in the intricacies of counter-Christian spiritual warfare. In one passage especially relevant right now, Lewis describes how politics could be used to tempt and thwart a Christ-follower. The setting is World War II Britain. “Uncle Screwtape” says it this way:
“Let [your patient] begin by treating … Patriotism or Pacifism as part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the ‘cause,’ in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favour of the British war-effort or of Pacifism.”
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Note the progression: first, politics is part of religion. Then, politics is the most important part of religion. Then, religion becomes part of politics. It’s genius.
To be clear, Lewis never advises that Christians ought to abandon political engagement or political causes. He does, however, warn just how easily the enemy can use political engagement to confuse what are ends and what are means. Or, to use language we often employ at the Colson Center, when it comes politics, especially the high-stakes kind that defines the current climate, American Christians have a history of losing the Story in the chaos of the moment.
