Theocracy

[altivo]

A very interesting quote from none other than C. S. Lewis that we ran across this week. It is taken from an essay called "Lilies that fester" and he was speaking of the possibilities of a theocracy being established in "modern England." Of course, Lewis died before Middle Eastern theocracies were so much in the news, and before the powerful movement toward fascist theocracy had taken root so strongly in the United States.

I fully embrace the maxim ... that 'all power corrupts.' I would go further. The loftier the pretensions of the power, the more meddlesome, inhuman, and oppressive it will be. Theocracy is the worst of all possible governments. All political power is at best a necessary evil: but it is least evil when its sanctions are most modest and commonplace, when it claims no more than to be useful or convenient and sets itself strictly limited objectives. Anything transcendental or spiritual, or even anything very strongly ethical, in its pretensions is dangerous and encourages it to meddle with our private lives. Let the shoemaker stick to his last. Thus the Renaissance doctrine of Divine Right is for me a corruption of monarchy; Rousseau's General Will, of democracy; racial mysticisms, of nationality. And Theocracy, I admit and even insist, is the worst corruption of all.

He goes on to say he thinks there is no danger of theocracy in Western society (how little he realized) and that the real threat is from what we today call "political correctness." Ironic, that.

Comments

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

I find myself agreeing with C.S. Lewis. I suppose there is a first to everything, but then, I've mostly come across his various (and admittedly well-written and elegant) defenses of Christianity before. I also completely share his view that Rousseau's General Will is a repugnant, terrible idea; an idealistic and authoritarian corruption of democracy which has nothing to do with the real world.

[corelog.livejournal.com]

In that day and age, I'd say, he was probably correct about political correctness being a greater danger than an established theocracy. But times change.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That they do, often much more quickly than we expect. I never would have believed that in my lifetime I would see the US sliding so deeply into fascist principles. It's quite horrifying, the moreso since most people don't seem to see it at all.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

At the moment, these two forces hold each other in check.

The surest way to destory religion in America would be to
embrace a State Religion. Say, the Baptists.

The resulting internicine conflict among various denominations
would ensure the end of any kind of fundementalist influence
in the country.

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

I agree with Lewis about theocracy being very dangerous. Theocracy has never worked as a fair and ethical form of government. I don't think the U.S. today is anywhere close to a theocracy, even though traditionaly religious beliefs heavily influence the decisions and standards of the country.

Tivo, do you know if C.S. Lewis wrote this when he was an agnostic or when he was a Christian? I'm just curious.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That essay was published in Twentieth Century in April of 1955. I don't know the exact date of his conversion, though he was certainly writing Christian apologetics by that time.

In fact, doesn't the space trilogy date to the years right after the war? 1947 or something?

I went and checked. The Screwtape Letters is 1941. So certainly he was already a Christian when he wrote this.

[kaysho.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, power with no pretensions whatsoever probably isn't going to accomplish much. Power driven by an idea has advantages over power that merely comes from the barrel of a gun. It's when those with power use that idea as an excuse to do harm to those who disagree with that idea that the trouble starts.