Enemies of C. S. Lewis

deretour: Notes on Asimov, Isaac · Assorted retorts from yahoo boards and elsewhere: Enemies of C. S. Lewis

Q

What are some reasons why some people dislike C.S. Lewis and/or his works?
https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-reasons-why-some-people-dislike-C-S-Lewis-and-or-his-works/answer/Hans-Georg-Lundahl-1

Hans-Georg Lundahl

avid reader back when I had better sleep than now

5.III.2023

1. Some are not Christian at all and hate Christianity and hate him for being (in identifiable, though incomplete ways) Christian;
2. Some are Puritan and believe he was too lax on certain questions (including but not limited to writing fantasy);
3. Some are very woke, and believe he was wrong for endorsing monarchy and traditional gender roles - some Leftists who are strongly “Anti-Fascist” would class him as “Fascist” or “Fascistoid” on such issues - even though he didn’t even support Franco - and this would also include Freudians, because he attacked Freudianism;
4. Some object to fantasy and science fiction in principle;
5. It seems there are Catholics who would not just disagree with him on certain issues (he was not Catholic, but Anglican), but actually dislike him, but in these cases it seems to be about certain misunderstandings. Some mistrustful of Jews think Lewis means Levi, when it means the same as French Louis or German Ludwig. Some have heard his works were on the Index librorum - they were never on the Index librorum of the Catholic Church, but have been on similar lists used by Leftist Librarians’. Some have concluded that the Inklings were some Masonic Lodge, when they were a group of friends. Or that Inklings wrote with a secret agenda, when they simply agreed to write as Christians.

I

1 year ago

Ian J. A. Green

Woke has lost all meaning of it is being used in an answer about C. S. Lewis.

Will Massey

i would second what Ian J.A. Green said about woke culture had lost all meaning when it come down to CS Lewis because technically there was no such thing as woke culture in the 40s, 50s and 60s there was only women`s suffrage, feminism and the hippie movement

19.XI.2025

Hans-Georg Lundahl

Did you notice the “dislike” present tense in the question?

It’s why some dislike him now!

II

St. Cecilia

22.XI.2025

B. K. Neifert

What do you mean by “Lewis didn’t mean “Levi” or “Jews” and he meant Luis or Ludwig?”

Hans-Georg Lundahl

Here are my exact words, with explanatory insertions:

Some [people who are] mistrustful of Jews [and like to detect them]
think
“Lewis means Levi,” [so they would go “(((C. S. Lewis)))”]
when [in fact] it means the same as French Louis or German Ludwig.

I mean some Rad Trads (am one myself), who actually have basically said so to me. It’s a known fact, I am an age old fan of CSL, so, they have made this a grief against me.

B. K. Neifert

What would be the problem if he were Jewish?

24.XI.2025

Hans-Georg Lundahl

To some Catholics, that implies a Jewish agenda.

Like Talmudic and perverted and so on … I think they even connect Lewis Carroll in this connection.

B. K. Neifert

That’s anti semitic.

Hans-Georg Lundahl

Some anti-semitism in the sense of anti-Judaism is inherent in Catholicism, since they are rival religions, rival claimants to continue or fulfill the Law of Moses and up to Second Temple Judaism.

That attitude is however a bit over the top.

B. K. Neifert

I don’t know. You might know some people like that. They’re trying to corrupt you with stupid ideas. Not many Catholics are like that. If any at all, you might know a few lunatics.

Hans-Georg Lundahl

It’s more like they boycott me with stupid ideas.

I’m Rad Trad and of partly Jewish extraction, and well, in France most Rad Trads have a nostalgia for Pétain, including, which I don’t, the second half, from 1942 to 1944.

I tend to draw the line in 1942, before Vel d’Hiv.

B. K. Neifert

I don’t even know what that means. It sounds like you got connected to some bad ideas, there. Just remember what you knew at first. Don’t lean to the left or the right.

Hans-Georg Lundahl

Vel d’Hiv or Vélodrome d’Hiver is the scene and nickname for the first deportation of French Jews to the camps.

I knew from the first that, before that, because of the Free Zone in the South, Pétain had actually helped to save Jews, whether he intended it or not.

I don’t have that from Rad Trads, I have that from an encyclopedia called Bonniers Konversations-Lexikon, which I read well before becoming Rad Trad or even Catholic. And Bonniers are in Scandinavia pretty much what Springer is in Germany etc — a concern run by people with Jewish background which is wildly successful.

Pétain also had (this time with certain intention) the good quality of banning freemasonry.

B. K. Neifert

You got too many disorganized stories in you. Breathe, and find the basics. And build from that foundation.

Rad Trad, Holocaust Liberationists, Jew Hunting… I don’t understand what you’re talking about. None of it is coherent. I don’t know the link between any of it.

So, know World War II was evil, and Hitler persecuted the Jews and other minorities, and some people helped liberate the Jews. And that was a good thing. And of course Catholics were persecuted, too, in the Holocaust.

25.XI.2025

Hans-Georg Lundahl

I’m sorry, but your ignorance doesn’t equal my incoherence.

I’m not disorganised because you are ignorant.

Persecution of Jews and Gipsies, mercy killing of handicapped and eugenics were clear evils.

But before you go to persecution, you have some mistrust.

Now, certain people had a distrust of Jews, these had (as had others) a loyalty to Pétain and some of their heirs are the demographic basics of French Rad Trads. They have since 1945 been persecuted, which is also evil.

I can’t demonise someone for liking Pétain, since he helped to save Jews. I can’t renounce being Rad Trad, because it makes doctrinally sense.

B U T … some French Rad Trads have, and this is the bad news for me, a capacity of the same mistrust for someone for just Jewish origins, as their parents or grandparents had in 1940.

I can’t build from a non-extant foundation just because you think it exists. Pétain and Franco were basic to my conversion to Catholicism.

B. K. Neifert

It does exist. I just am not making the connections you want me to make.

I get that the holocaust was bad, and that Pétain saved Jews, but why would Lewis being Jewish matter to a Catholic?

Hans-Georg Lundahl

To a specific type of Catholic.

Pétain saved Jews, but he also discriminated against them. After the Germans left, Pétain people got persecuted.

So, Rad Trads in France are basically all for Pétain, but some go so far as to be wary, not just of Jewish confession, but of Jewish origin, like what Pétain collaborated with.