Coffee Conversations with C.S. Lewis: On the Nature of Politics

I love coffee. I love long, meaningful conversation. I love sitting long hours at the back corner table in every cafe. And I have a running list of people, dead and alive, that I could only dream of taking out for coffee. Second on the list, just behind Jesus Christ, is C.S. Lewis.

I love C.S. Lewis for a hundred reasons I could hardly explain. My favorite reason being that in all that I have read, his fiction and nonfiction alike, I have been left hungry. Left with a desire for deeper understanding of the gospel strong enough to send me on my own pursuit of Jesus. In his pieces, he often writes humbly and sometimes humorously, of how he may not even know what he’s talking about. So whenever I finish one of his books, in a cafe at the corner table, I can almost picture him sitting across from me with a sparkle in his eye saying, “but what do I know anyway?”. The beautiful thing is that C.S. Lewis’s ideas are not even his own, he only retells the reality of the Bible in ways that are most familiar to the common man. How well does one have to know the gospel in order to imaginatively and intellectually retell it over and over again? How well does one have to know human nature in order to make those retellings connect so deeply with broken people of all ages? C.S. Lewis’s achievements are astounding.

Lewis was no politician, but many look to him as one who understood the depravity of man so well that I often wonder what he would have said of public issues. While I could ramble on of my love for Lewis forever, the purpose of this blog is to explore some advice that Lewis would give us on politics today.

First and foremost, from my understanding of Lewis, I believe he would have been less concerned with the amount of corruption that is within the government, and chiefly concerned with the amount of corruption in can cause within you and I. If social issues produce in you anything other than the character of Christ than Satan is using politics as a distraction keeping you from right relationship with God and with others. A person’s approach to politics should be one that is quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry (James 1:19). For those of you that would come to me and say, “well what about the righteous anger that Jesus displayed when He flipped the tables in the temple?”. And to that I would say, is the White House God’s holy temple? The Supreme Court God’s place of worship? I would be EXTREMELY surprised if Christ was walking the earth today and decided to waste His time flipping tables on Capitol Hill or tearing down monuments He didn’t like. Actually, I think He would be kicking in the doors of churches that ARE in fact His place of worship and ask of His people, “how could you let the economic downturn, the Supreme Court decisions, or any one group or one man’s political agenda allow you to live in despair? How could you have turned My house into a place of self-righteousness, civil war, and hatred?”. And I think that when it came down to the individual, with eyes of mercy He would sit across from you or I, at the back corner table, and say, “I have intentions to make you perfect. Don’t allow anything to cause you to lose sight of that”. In his piece, Mere Christianity, Lewis talks about how we hardly can fathom what God intends to make of us, but that He has perfect and holy intentions. But I think it’s safe to assume that Jesus knew that changing individual hearts was the first step towards changing the entire world. In the same way should our approach to politics be. Do not lose hope or live in despair, we should make sure that our heart remains fixed on Christ when addressing social issues

Here is a quote from an article written by Art Lindsley who has studied C.S. Lewis quite thoroughly to transition from my first point to my next talking point. “One of the political implications Lewis discerned from studying human nature was that men and women would always face the temptation to turn our destiny over to the state, a desire that often ignores the realization that some will take charge of others. These will simply be men and women, “none perfect; some greedy, cruel, and dishonest,” as Lewis wrote in “Willing Slaves of the Welfare State.” The more that people in government control our lives, the more Lewis encourages us to ask “why, this time power should not corrupt as it always has done before?”” Lewis was indeed able to discern that sin would inevitably make its way into the political system, because it was created by sinful people. In the same way, the Israelites were never intended to have a king, God was supposed to be their only King. But the people begged to appear like the other nations, so God gave them what they asked for. In 1 Samuel 8, Samuel tells the Israelites that they can have their king but warns them that this earthly king will be only human, he will take things from them, he will tax them, force them to work, force them to die for him in battle. The Israelites chose a king none the less, though they were warned that they were going to wish they had never chosen one. They were warned that their king would only be human and that merely human was never going to be good enough. The writer above, would argue that C.S. Lewis may have been a voice similar to Samuel. Power apart from God will always be corrupt, just like it has always been. The only person that is to “play god” and control our lives as such would be the Great Giver of life, God Himself. So one would be foolish to look to the government as their savior, or as a system that could somehow serve them. The mission of the government is not the mission of the church.

There are two different ways to approach that statement.

C.S. Lewis saw public matters through the lens of theology, and allowed his understanding of the fallen human condition be the foundation to which he explored politics. This is the first approach. Do not buy into the lie that politics and religion are separate matters. There may be a separation of church and state, but that does not mean that Christians should not be charged with viewing all of life through a Biblical lens. C.S. Lewis held the view that men were created for freedom from the broken political system. He believed that part of this freedom included economic independence and the freedom to choose an education apart from government control. He argued that men could truly be happy then, in a richer sort of way (Linsley). But Lewis observed that his fellow countrymen were particularly willing to compromise their freedoms for security. Or what seemed like security. On further reflection, I would say this is true of our country as well, particularly those already roped into the government system. Most would say that Lewis’s ideas are “old and traditional”. But does that diminish the merit of the idea? Lewis was progressive in every way. However, another concept found in Mere Christianity is this: sometimes the quickest way to move forward is to turn around. Because if you have turned down the wrong road, to press on down that road would only move you further in the wrong direction. You must start back at the beginning. Maybe there is room for the “old and traditional” in a so called “progressive society”. And while the mission of the government is not the mission of the church, maybe the church could begin to influence government by raising up leaders that could take on political roles. To empower people to not be simply a “Christian candidate” but a candidate that is Christian. Huge difference. A candidate that is Christian would come to the table with ideas empowered by study and education but be fueled by his or her personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To produce logical ideas though study of sociology, anthropology, and political science and apply those ideas in light of a Biblical perspective.

A second, slightly different approach would be this: though politics and religion are not separate matters, as argued above, you may find that it is easier to separate yourself from politics altogether rather than get involved. This is an acceptable approach, however I believe that Lewis would tell you sternly that if you aim to contribute not an ounce of spiritual guidance to the political agenda for society, expect the government to contribute nothing to your spiritual agenda for society. Lewis himself was known to have steered clear of politics. While he had ideas with political implications, the paragraph above did not necessarily reflect Lewis’s own involvement in government but merely advice that he would give someone who believed strongly that one should be involved in government. C.S. Lewis was quite critical of the government, for obvious reasons. But he was primarily critical of “morals legislation”. He did not believe that it was the job of the government to criminalize homosexuality no more than he thought it was the job of the government to promote Christian marriage (Wehner). Lewis offers Christians today a reminder to be consistent. Again I make the statement, if you aim to contribute not an ounce of spiritual guidance to the political agenda, expect the government to contribute nothing to your spiritual agenda.

In closing. I’d like to quote an article by Peter Wehner, who is an American political writer who holds a Biblical perspective. He writes, “Like water that refracts light and changes the shape of things, politics can distort and invert Christianity, turning a faith that at its core is about grace, reconciliation and redemption into one that is characterized by bitterness, recriminations and lack of charity. There is a good deal of hating and dehumanization going on in the name of Christ. Followers of Jesus aren’t doing a very good job of living faithfully in a broken world, perhaps because we’re looking inward instead of upward. “Aim at heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in,’ ” Lewis reminded us. “Aim at earth and you will get neither.””

Another reminder to pay less attention to the corruption within the government and fix our eyes on Jesus, preventing the inevitable corruption of the world to create corruption in us.

Bibliography

Wehner, Peter. “The Political Magic of C.S. Lewis.” The New York Times, The
New York Times, 24 Sept. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/opinion/sunday/the-political-magic-of-cs-lewis.html
Lindsley, Art. “C.S. Lewis on Human Nature, Economics, and Politics.” Institute For Faith, Work & Economics, 29 Sept. 2016, tifwe.org/cs-lewis-faith-human-nature-economics-politics/