In C.S. Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters," senior demon Screwtape writes to his nephew Wormwood:
Let [your patient] begin by treating … Patriotism or Pacifism as part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then, quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the “cause,” in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce...Once you have made the World an end and faith as a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades matter more to him than prayers and sacraments, and charity, he is ours.
In this week's podcast, we discuss a piece from the Christian Post about how easy it can be to replace faith with political views, God with your favorite candidates, and scripture with bullet points.
We also spend some time talking about Paula's recent article about Trump's abortion positions. Has he been trying to woo single-issue women voters? Is he trying to find a happy medium between pro-life and pro-choice, or is he thinking about the long game when it comes to addressing the problem?
For that matter, should the pro-life lobby be happy with the progress it has made under Trump, and is it okay to question your candidate's position even if you still intend to vote for him? Will Trump approach abortion the same way he did during his first term? Jonathan Van Maren at First Things posits that Trump may govern differently in his second term than in his first, particularly since he has added RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard to his campaign.
The association, the National Religious Broadcasters, wants to know why non-profit newspapers can endorse a candidate and not violate the Johnson Amendment, but they are in trouble for hosting Donald Trump at the NRB convention. The paper in question, the Philadelphia Inquirer, is a for-profit company. However, the non-profit Lenfest Institute for Journalism owns it. The NRB doesn't just want answers; it is suing the IRS.
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