C. S. Lewis--The Decline of Religion is a Good Thing!

In the mid-1940s, there was a cry that religion was in decline. But was this such a bad thing? C. S. Lewis in his essay in God in the Dock, entitled, "The Decline of Religion," points out that if the kind of religion that sported large numbers was forced upon the populace, then it would be hard to tell who was there because they really wanted God. An example he cites was the requisite chapel attendance at Oxford around 1900, which by 1946 had shrunk, as it turns out, at "the precise moment when chapel ceased to be compulsory." This was typical all over England, he claims. This change, he further claims, has been taken to indicate that the nation as a whole has "passed from a Christian to a secular outlook." But he points out that if one were to derive any clue from the novels of the late 19th century, one would discover that they were as secular then as during the mid-1900's.

Again--Is This A Bad Thing?

Lewis would say, "No." Why? As he said,

". . . The religion which has declined was not Christianity. It was a vague Theism with a strong and virile ethical code, which, far from standing over against the 'World', was absorbed into the whole fabric of English institutions and sentiment and therefore demanded church-going as (at best) a part of loyalty and good manners as (at worst) a proof of respectability. Hence a social pressure, like the withdrawal of the compulsion, did not create a new situation. The new freedom first allowed accurate observation to be made. When no man goes to church except because he seeks Christ the number of actual believers can at last be discovered. . . . The decline of 'religion', thus understood, seems to me in some ways was a blessing. At the very worst it makes the issue clear. . . . When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or Mordred: middle things are gone (emphases mine).

Thus, false believers were no longer forced to hide beneath a cloak of conformity. Their true colors were allowed to show. Legalistic churches still do this in mass numbers, allowing people to pay lip-service to God while denying the very heart which he requires of all true followers! That needs to be exposed and repented of in the church.

It is not so good for the world. As Lewis avers, there is a sense in which such a decline is worse for the 'World', in that religion tends in some degree to purify a country, aids in the "comparative humanity of her police, and the possibility of some mutual respect and kindness between political opponents." But, as he adds, "I am not clear that it makes conversions to Christianity rarer or more difficult: rather the reverse. It makes the choice more unescapable."