# C. S. Lewis on the tyranny of busybodies



## Reformed Covenanter (Feb 24, 2021)

... Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth.

Their very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level with those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals. But to be punished, however severely, because we have deserved it, because we “ought to have known better”, is to be treated as a human person made in God’s image.

In reality, however, we must face the possibility of bad rulers armed with a Humanitarian theory of punishment. … And when they are wicked· the Humanitarian theory of punishment will put in their hands a finer instrument of tyranny than wickedness ever had before. For if crime and disease are to be regarded as the same thing, it follows that any state of mind which our masters choose to call “disease” can be treated as crime; and compulsorily cured. It will be vain to plead that states of mind which displease government need not always involve moral turpitude and do not therefore always deserve forfeiture of liberty. ...

For more, see C. S. Lewis on the tyranny of busybodies.

Reactions: Like 5 | Amen 1


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## Taylor (Feb 24, 2021)

C. S. Lewis must still be alive somewhere and watching American news on TV. I almost refuse to believe this was written 60 years ago.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Jeri Tanner (Feb 24, 2021)

Taylor said:


> C. S. Lewis must still be alive somewhere and watching American news on TV. I almost refuse to believe this was written 60 years ago.


There is nothing new under the sun!

Reactions: Amen 1


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## A.Joseph (Feb 24, 2021)

I wonder if online discernment ministries and social media warriors can fall into this trap too - even with an appearance of orthodoxy.


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## ZackF (Feb 24, 2021)

A.Joseph said:


> I wonder if online discernment ministries and social media warriors can fall into this trap too - even with an appearance of orthodoxy.


Possibly. Though I think he was speaking about statecraft and bureaucracies, I think Lewis's points have application even more directly into the local church. Busybodies can suck the life out of the church, turning grapes into raisins in short order. It is something, as a deacon and overall committed churchman, that I wish to guard against. A closely related sin, I think, is gossip. Gossips are busybodies and busybodies are gossips. Peas in a pod. Just because I am privy to some information does not mean my wife is. I also do not necessarily need, nor even want to know, the content of her conversations with others in the church. I wish to celebrate what God is doing but do not need every piece of knowledge so I can "pray" for every single thing my wife is. Also, the session is addressing good and bad things that I don't need to know about. Sometimes I'm brought in. Other times I'm not.

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