Plan of attack

I hope not to offend anyone with this post. This has been in my head for weeks now and in a moment of weakness I've decided to post it. I'll preface it by saying that as I read D&C 134:4 today, which says that "We believe that religion is instituted of God; and that men are amenable [responsible] to him, and to him only, for the exercise of it," I was reminded that others (including those in the legislature and judiciary) are not responsible for living the religion that I believe is true. So, perhaps our laws currently allow what I believe to be sin and will allow more of what I believe to be sin in the future, and maybe that's the way a democracy has to work. At any rate, this piece reflects how I've been feeling (my apologies to C.S. Lewis, who is a lot more talented than I am):

My dear Wormwood,

I wish to congratulate you on receiving your new patient. Cases such as this can be most rewarding, as, due to all of our previous preparations these last fifty years or so, securing her safely in the house of Our Father below will likely secure the safety of generations. And, at twelve years of age her mind is bound to be much more supple than the minds of so many of the older humans. Thankfully the Enemy insists upon taking even the most conservative humans out of this world when their time expires. But I digress.

I'm sure you are well aware of the general instructions from headquarters concerning your most important plan of attack. Your working in concert with all other tempters is sure to aid in Our Father's goal, however how lofty, of bringing about the entire disintegration of that hated unit called Family. If I may, I would like to draw upon my centuries of experience to impart a few pointers of my own.

First, take advantage of all that our special entertainment media group has accomplished. If your patient is typical, at her age she will be especially susceptible to the beauty and confidence exhibited by those actors and actresses we have so strategically placed throughout much of these humans' entertainment venues. Since she is still so young and since Marstang, her mother's tempter, so successfully caused your patient to be raised in a generally single-parent home, your patient will likely actually believe that hogwash we so delicately put into those beautiful actors' mouths. Get her to believe that being "grown up" is about sex, and that sex is about pleasure and never about real love. Luckily for you, she has very seldom seen romantic love in her real life, and so you should be very successful in getting her to believe what is portrayed by so many of our extremely successful sitcoms. Let those beliefs settle in her mind. With a few years of media reinforcement, you should be able to lead her to action.

I trust that in these next few years Marstang will successfully keep your patient's mother so distracted with her career that she will not take the time to talk with your patient about any of the things she will have learned from those beautiful people about sex. Use this to your utmost advantage. As long as your patient believes that her life will be exciting and successful if she is sexy, it won't be long before curiosity will accomplish more for you than you may now realize.

About the next generation, I know you are aware of our inter-generational attack and I am sure you appreciate the work that Marstang has done in your behalf. You must similarly help the tempters of the next generation. So remember, as we have been so careful to portray it this way, your patient must be induced to believe that sex is about pleasure and has nothing to do with the biological, emotional, and financial consequences it may bring about. Try to encourage an unplanned pregnancy whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Concerning our broader goals, as you know, we have all worked very hard to devalue the importance of marriage, and our work in the areas I've mentioned above has done wonders towards accomplishing this end. Currently marriage is seen by many of our humans as "a legal show of long-term commitment towards a loved one" having nothing to do with sex and bearing children. We have done very well. It won't be long before we're able to convince these humans that they can legally show their loving commitment to anyone or anything and that they have a right to do it! Before long, we will have done away with the original intention of marriage entirely. And then, my dear Wormwood, our jobs will be oh so much easier with those next generations of humans. Their little heads will grow up so confused and with so little knowledge of the ways of the Enemy that we won't have to do much at all to lead them to Our Father below. I'm looking forward to that - sounds like the break I've been waiting for for centuries.

Now, my dear Wormwood, please don't underestimate the important part you play. If only a few more of our humans saw things more clearly our plans may completely unravel. Be on guard always until we have done it.

Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape