I just this week finished Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson's book Blinded by Might. Solid book, nothing extraordinary and nothing new or enlightening, but they put good information forth, and to me it carried more weight as they had been a part of the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition in its heyday. In their chapter entitled "Better Weapons," however, they hit a home run when they quote Lewis' Screwtape Letters:

Let him begin by treating patriotism...as a 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 religion becomes merely a part of the "cause," in which Christianity is valued chiefly becaues of the excellent arguments it can produce...once you have made the world an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end his is pursuing.

Of course, they are using this quote to point a finger at the religious right for their wrongful ways over the past twenty five years. And they are right. But the religious left has learned that faith can put you in office and they have begun to put their faith forward and are succeeding, with their main argument focusing on the social justice movement. As I've said before, I'm all about helping the poor and needy, in many ways I've dedicated my life to it and wish I could do more, but I also understand that we do live in a fallen world and true, cosmic justice will only come with the reign of Christ. I interpret Lewis' statment, "the world an end, and faith a means" as what the religious left is engaging in now, and it sickens me as much as the binding of religion and politics used by the right. This world is not the end, and faith is not a means, God's Kingdom is among us, the Father is at work, and the faithful are humbly pressing into the work of God in their lives and in this world. Nothing more, nothing less.