C.S. Lewis on How Christians Should Engage the Political Realm
Wise Words from C.S. Lewis & an Ancient Christian Letter (Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus)
“For C.S. Lewis, the biggest danger of a two party system within a nation full of Christians is that it can distract us from engaging the Real War going on in heavenly places and within our own hearts and homes.”
Because Christians are spread throughout the whole world, there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” strategy to political engagement or voting. For most of church history, Christians had their political leaders chosen for them whether that be an emperor, a king, or a governor. Even today, there are still many Christians who live in lands where their rulers are not elected by them.
So how should these kinds of Christians engage the political realm when so much seems out of their control?
The simple answer is that they are to keep acting like Christians, which means having children and raising them to love Christ. It also means constantly feeding them with Christ in Word and Sacrament so that they can evangelize and sanctify the world for His glory. The persecuted Christians of the first few centuries actually left a large impact on their rulers, some who eventually became Christians themselves. Listen to an early Christian writer defend the political and international identity of Christians in contrast to everyone else:
“For the Christians… dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven (see Philippians 3:20). They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all..” (The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus written sometime between 130 AD to 200 AD).
This is a beautiful description of how the first Christians lived out their lives and should inspire many of us to greater holiness whether we are living under a dictatorship or democracy.
Q. How should Christians specifically engage the democratic process?
C.S. Lewis reminds us that we must first grasp what government’s role is in society before electing people to serve it. In Mere Christianity, he writes,
“It is easy to think the State has a lot of different objects—military, political, economic, and what not. But in a way things are much simpler than that. The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden—that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong those moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc. are simply a waste of time.”1
His understanding of the State isn’t to take over all aspects of human life, but to guard the beautiful aspects of ordinary life. In his essay “Equality” (1943) (see the book, Present Concerns), he reminds us of the limits of a democratic state:
“A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they are not true. And whenever their weakness is exposed, the people who prefer tyranny make capital out of the exposure. I find that they’re not true without looking further than myself. I do not deserve a share in governing a hen-roost, much less a nation. Nor do most people—all the people who believe advertisements, and think in catchwords and spread rumors. The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows.”2
For Lewis, democracy is the best of all options, because it exists to restrain the evil of unchecked power. However, Lewis is quite aware that it is the role of the Church and not the State to create a new world and new humanity in Christ.
A Warning from “That Hideous Strength”
In his book ‘That Hideous Strength,’ Lewis also gives us a spiritual warning about a 2 Party system:
“I’ve been told so many things that I don’t know whether I’m on my head or my heels,” said Mark. “But I don’t see how one’s going to start a newspaper stunt (which is about what this come to) without being political. Is it Left or Right papers that are going to print all this rot about Alcasan?”
“Both, honey, both,” said Miss Hardcastle. “Don’t you understand anything? Isn’t it absolutely essential to keep a fierce Left and a fierce Right, both on their toes and each terrified of the other? That’s how we get things done. Any opposition to the N.I.C.E. [A scientific administration trying to run the country/world] is represented as a Left racket in the Right papers and a Right racket in the Left papers. If it’s properly done, you get each side outbidding the other in support of us — to refute the enemy slanders. Of course we’re non-political. The real power always is.”3
Though this scene can give the appearance that Lewis is proposing a ‘Deep State’ conspiracy theory, he is actually challenging Christians at a much deeper level. Just as he does in ‘The Screwtape Letters,’ he wants believers to wake up to the fact that our enemy ultimately wants to distract us away from Gospel Living.
“For Lewis, the biggest danger of a two party system within a nation full of Christians is that it can distract us from engaging the Real War going on in heavenly places and within our own hearts and homes.”
Most of us are simply happy to vote on policy change but have very little desire to change how we actually live out our lives. We modern Christians have a lot to learn from the ancient Christians on how to transform society at a grassroots level. Here are a few examples:
The early Christians were not only known for being against abortion and infanticide but also for their radical approach to adoption and rescuing children from Roman parents who had abandoned their infants to exposure.
The early Christians were not only known for feeding the poor but also providing housing and guest bedrooms in their own homes for poor immigrants passing through.
The early Christians were not only known for caring for the sick but also for creating hospital campuses that systematically cared for them as well as the ‘untouchables’ such as the lepers.
The early Christians were not only known for befriending all but also for leading all people to Christ and their worshiping Christian community where people could also be fed and healed spiritually.
So let’s be careful this election cycle that we do not become so overly distracted with the political battle that we forget to engage the Real War going on around us. ‘Distraction’ is actually Satan’s ultimate weapon in hijacking the spiritual life.
Be entirely His,
Kyle King
1-16-2024
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 171.
C. S. Lewis, “Equality,” The Spectator 171 (27 August 1943), 192.
C.S. Lewis, "That Hideous Strength," chapter 5.