Tyranny in the world today

C.S. Lewis said it well:

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)

We here at TPOL would disagree with the esteemed Mr. Lewis about the likelihood of these nanny-tyrants going to Heaven. There are too many scriptures that condemn both their actions and their attitudes. Although many modern “christian” religious groups seem to fit into either this category of enforcing morality by implied or mental force – or actual force. Or simply have abandoned any idea of morality save for situational ethics.

But he points out one of the most common kinds of tyranny found both in these States and the world today.

It is often counterintuitive to view that those who love us and believe that they are doing their best to help us are worse tyrants than the brutal and demanding authoritarians who are in it for power and wealth. Ignoring those who lie to us about their motives, believing that we can be forced to do things for our own good.

Honest and true lovers of liberty and lovers of God do not force people to take care of themselves, to do good, or even to not do bad things to others – except in defending themselves and others against those trying to do bad things. But in today’s world, even many who claim to be christians and who claim to be lovers of liberty all too often accept force or even promote it.

We must recognize and plan to deal with such tyranny.

Read More…