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{"id":4734,"date":"2013-11-01T13:24:24","date_gmt":"2013-11-01T17:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/?p=4734"},"modified":"2013-11-01T14:15:02","modified_gmt":"2013-11-01T18:15:02","slug":"but-its-for-your-own-good-c-s-lewis-on-tyranny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/2013\/11\/but-its-for-your-own-good-c-s-lewis-on-tyranny\/","title":{"rendered":"“But it’s for your own good.” C. S. Lewis on tyranny"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>I was having a productive day until a friend of mine sent me the following famous quote from C. S. Lewis in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics<\/a><\/em> $\"\"$ ,\u00a0which appeared today (11\/1) in the Wall Street Journal on page A17. Now I\u2019m all riled up and I won\u2019t get any more work done.<\/p>\n

My contention is that good men (not bad men) consistently acting upon that position [imposing \u201cthe good\u201d] would act as cruelly and unjustly as the greatest tyrants. They might in some respects act even worse. Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive<\/strong>. It would be better to live under of robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some points be satiated; but those who torment us for their own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience<\/strong>. They may be more likely to go to heaven yet at the same time likely to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult<\/strong>. To be \u201ccured\u201d against one\u2019s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on the 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

Abuse of power in Christian contexts justified on the basis of \u201cit\u2019s for your own good\u201d is uncomfortably common. As \u201ctyrannical\u201d as this may be when even \u201cgood men\u201d (as Lewis says) engage in such behavior, it is all the worse when guardians herd the masses toward the \u201cright\u201d conclusions under some sort of explicit or veiled threat, claiming \u201cit\u2019s nothing personal,\u201d but only in service of the greater \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>\n

I hope it goes without saying that leaders do indeed have the\u00a0responsibility to lead, and there is often a fine line between leading and coercion. But\u00a0I am reflecting here, as is Lewis, on the dehumanizing abuse of power that crosses far past that fine line and is, at least as I see it, more common than it should be in the church.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure many of you can fill in the blanks from your own experience.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"