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Thinking about Trump, young evangelicals, The New York Times and ... Screwtape
If you have heard of the great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis, then you have probably heard of three things — a land called Narnia, "Mere Christianity" and a demon named Screwtape.
The format of the bestseller "The Screwtape Letters" is unique, to say the least. In this painfully clever book, a senior demon named Screwtape offers guidance to a young tempter — his nephew Wormwood — on the art of steering a human soul into the land of "Our Father Below."
Now, the purpose of this think piece is not Christian apologetics.
Instead, it is to consider one of Screwtape's most famous observations and what it has to do with — brace yourself — Donald Trump, modern evangelicals and The New York Times.
Yes, this is linked to that much-discussed Times feature that ran with this headline: " 'God Is Going to Have to Forgive Me': Young Evangelicals Speak Out." How did this piece come to be?
With just days left before the midterm elections — two years after President Trump won the White House with a record share of white, evangelical support — we asked young evangelicals to tell The Times about the relationship between their faith and their politics.
Nearly 1,500 readers replied, from every state but Alaska and Vermont. Hundreds wrote long essays about their families and communities. They go to prominent megachurches as well as small Southern Baptist, nondenominational and even mainline Protestant congregations. Some said they have left evangelicalism altogether.
Yes, 1,500 young evangelicals is an impressive number. At the same time, as several digital correspondents told me, it's amazing the degree to which the voices in this unscientific survey that ended up in print — in the world's most powerful newspaper — sound exactly like you would expect young evangelical Times readers to sound.
Please read the Times piece for yourself.
Then turn to this friendly commentary about this Times feature written by one of America's most outspoken #NeverTrump evangelical scribes — religious-liberty expert David French, a Harvard Law School graduate who writes for National Review.
But before we get there, please think about this snippet from Letter 25 by master Screwtape, a letter with tremendous relevance for Trumpian evangelicals of all ages as well as the leaders of the growing evangelical left:
Tagged: David French, The New York Times, evangelicalism, think piece, Screwtape, C.S. Lewis
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Are demons going to start sending us links to that Washington Post exorcism essay?
It's perfectly understandable why many journalists are fascinated with the subject of exorcisms, especially when the Roman Catholic Church gets involved. For starters, we are talking about battles on the front lines between the material and the supernatural, encounters that raise eternal questions about free will, the love of God and the existence of ultimate good and ultimate evil. And then, of course, there is Hollywood.
So you will not be surprised that your GetReligionistas have taken a look at quite a few mainstream news stories about this topic. Click here and do some surfing, if you wish.
But this post is not about a news piece. Yet, over the past week people have sent me the URL to this Washington Post essay more than any other. At this point, I have begun to wonder if the demons are sending it to me. Why, well you know what C.S. Lewis said about demons (speaking through the voice of Screwtape, his great demonic professor).
We are really faced with a cruel dilemma. When the humans disbelieve in our existence we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism and we make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them materialists and sceptics. At least, not yet. I have great hopes that we shall learn in due time how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, belief in us, (though not under that name) will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy. The "Life Force", the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis, may here prove useful. If once we can produce our perfect work -- the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping, what he vaguely calls "Forces" while denying the existence of "spirits" -- then the end of the war will be in sight.
The headline on the Post piece, written by New York Medical College professor Richard Gallagher, was this: "As a psychiatrist, I diagnose mental illness. Also, I help spot demonic possession."
I should note that this is a sequel, of sorts, to his 2008 essay -- "Among the Many Counterfeits -- A Case of Demonic Possession" -- that ran in the journal The New Oxford Review, a very small-o orthodox Catholic publication (and one with a high digital wall around its content).
Here is the opening of the new Post piece:
Tagged: Exorcisms, The Washington Post, Richard Gallagher, William Blatty, The Exorcist, Hollywood, C.S. Lewis, Screwtape, Satan