All entries for Monday 12 December 2005

C.S. Lewis… a manipulator?

Another entry on religion…

Was (again) listening to Radio 4 recently and heard a debate between a Christian and an atheist about C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. The atheist said he had really enjoyed 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' when he'd read it as a very young child but that he'd felt utterly manipulated by the author when he became older and realised the Christian message behind it.

We live in a free country, thought I! Every author we read writes from a certain point-of-view and puts forward his own opinions through the medium of text. Should we ban any writing that is any way persuasive? In that case the removal of advertisements should be at the top of the list for risk of influencing people!

Are people not capable of reading the opinions of others and assessing them, thus coming to their own conclusions? The atheist is not crediting human beings with much intelligence. He had, himself, read the story and yet still come to the conclusion that he did not believe in God. He was clearly not 'manipulated' sufficiently to change his mind.

Why do we apply different rules to Christianity than to any other religious, or other, idea? Noone would ever think to criticise a Hindu or Buddhist for writing something that enabled people to understand their religion better, or in a different way. Why are so many people desperate to purge the persuasive media of the Christian message?

: 12 Dec 2005 18:01 |  Tags: Religion |  Comments (8) |  Close comments |  Report a problem