Screwtape’s Secret Letter
Truth is often best captured in the form of a story. As a mom and author I’ve found few storytellers as sharp as C.S. Lewis, the renowned Christian writer of The Chronicles of Narnia.
In today’s current climate, where it seems truth can be thwarted even with video evidence, another Lewis classic comes to mind: The Screwtape Letters, wherein a senior demon gives advice to his underling—revealing insights into human nature along the way.
Taking inspiration from Lewis, what if Screwtape was writing his new underling, Dee Struction, on how to ensure a child grows up to disregard the precious value of every life? It’s a thought experiment to follow to its logical conclusion.
My Dear Dee Struction,
You’ve done quite well with your patient, who still professes apathy to the pathetic cause of “protecting life” even though she recently brought a new baby into the world. Little humans bring such risk, all that spontaneous emotion! It’s like the helpless rug rats have a direct line to the enemy.
As you’ll be assigned to both for the time being, I have outlined three tactics to ensure the patient and her little human remain unaware of our strategy that has eliminated so many millions of them so far.
Dehumanize! You are living in the 21st century, when science does not support our mission to destroy life. In the good ol’ days, the 20th century, we were able to easily dupe humans into believing that the life inside of them was just a “blob of tissue” or “fetus.” They believed our lies when we stated that the “fetus” did not resemble a human baby.
The 21st century brings tough times for those of us trying to snuff out the lives of babies. The invention of the 4-D ultrasound proves that these fetuses indeed look like babies. These 4D ultrasounds display the fetuses with characteristics that humans find adorable like clapping of hands, smiling, and even sucking of thumbs.
I urge you, as your mentor: Convince humans to use words like “specimen,” “product of conception” and “fetus,” which dehumanize the unborn baby. Never allow little humans to touch a pregnant woman’s stomach, lest they feel a gentle kick, which would confirm life and might awaken one’s conscience. You do not want anyone to think that, in the enemy’s pitiful words, a “fearfully and wonderfully made” life is growing.
Devalue! Talk to your little human only of the importance of lions, trees, whales and dogs, while avoiding at all costs the importance of human lives. Of course, protecting animals and the environment is what the enemy wants; yet we must inflate their importance above human life. Then our humans are so distracted that they spend all their time and money protecting animals, while more than 2,800 lives in the womb are aborted every day.
Convince your little human that babies are an expensive annoyance, while pets can bring all the comfort and joy they need. You must reduce the importance of every human life.
Don’t let parents expose the little human to stories like Horton Hears a Who nor any other reading material on such themes. It’s very dangerous to fill heads with such ideas!
Desensitize! God who? Ensure your little human thinks everything in nature has accidentally evolved by an explosion of stars billions of years ago. They are not to believe that they are made in the enemy’s image and have priceless value to Him. The humans must never know of the sacrifice made by our enemy, so that whomever believes in Him will have eternal life. The horror!
Our little humans are less likely to feel shock or distress at scenes of cruelty, violence or suffering if they believe all things are randomly evolved without purpose from the backs of crystals in pond scum. They must not believe that God—er, the enemy—gives them worth and uniqueness. They must believe life is of little value.
My dearest Dee Struction, remember your 3 D’s: dehumanize, devalue, desensitize! This will ensure that your little human grows up to disregard the loathsome value of every life.
For Death,
Screwtape {eoa}
Reprinted with permission from Bound4LIFE.
Carla D’Addesi is the author of the Julia Series, fully illustrated books and coloring books introducing children to pro-life ideas. A radio host of ‘Your Family Matters’ in Philadelphia, she starred in TLC’s ‘Surviving Motherhood.’ She currently sits on the board of national adoption agency Bethany Christian Services and her local crisis pregnancy center. Married for 19 years, Carla and her husband, Len, raise their three daughters in the Philadelphia area.
