A Danger of "Progress"

I have almost finished a book of compiled essays by C.S. Lewis titled, God in the Dock.  Throughout the book I have encountered passages which in our day have proved almost prophetic as Lewis shared thoughts and insights.  After hearing the frantic claims of politicians quoting scientists concerning how swift action must be taken on climate change, what Lewis wrote years ago is relevant today.  In an article printed in 1958 titled "Is Progress Possible," C.S. Lewis had this to say concerning government control and overreach in the name of science:

Again, the new oligarchy must more and more base its claim to plan us on its claim to knowledge.  If we are to be mothered, mother must know best.  This means they must increasingly rely on the advice of scientists, till in the end the politicians proper become merely the scientists' puppets.  Technocracy is the form to which a planned society must tend.  Now I dread specialists in power because they are specialists speaking outside their special subjects.  Let scientists tells us about sciences.  But government involves questions about the good for man, and justice, and what things are worth having at what price; and on these a scientific training gives a man's opinion no added value.  Let the doctor tell me I shall die unless I do so-and-so; but whether life is worth having on those terms is no more a question for him than for any other man...I believe in God, but I detest theocracy.  For every Government consists of mere men and is, strictly viewed, a makeshift; if it adds to its commands "Thus said the Lord', it lies, and lies dangerously.

On just the same ground I dread government in the name of science.  That is how tyrannies come in.  In every age the men who want us under their thumb, if they have any sense, will put forward the particular pretension which the hopes and fears of that age render most potent.  They 'cash in'.  It has been magic, it has been Christianity.  Now it will certainly be science.  Perhaps the real scientists may not think much of the tyrants' 'science' - they didn't think much of Hitler's racial theories or Stalin's biology.  But they can be muzzled...We must give full weight to the claim that nothing but science, and science globally applied, and therefore unprecedented Government controls, can produce full bellies and medical care for the whole human race:  nothing in short, but a world Welfare State.  It is a full admission of these truths which impresses upon me the extreme peril of humanity at present. (Lewis, C. S., and Walter Hooper. God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014. pages 350-352)

When I hear campaigning politicians quoting unnamed scientists as if there is a unified consensus amongst them - of precisely what the problem is and what we must do or sacrifice to rectify it - I am most wary.  These plans seem to always include taxes and vast sums of money, basically a grant given to forward a political agenda by citizens to "research" or implement what is already outdated or deemed too expensive for practical use.  From a biblical perspective, to say there are only 10 years left for the United States to address a global issue is rubbish:  do we think so much of ourselves to go beyond the Word of God?  This is my issue when such time-sensitive assertions of global catastrophe are made.  According the the Bible at any given time there is (after the visible return of Jesus and establishment of His kingdom) at least 1,000 years to go until God dissolves this planet and universe.  Jesus Christ has not yet come in judgment, as He is not sitting on the throne in Jerusalem ruling nations with a rod of iron.  Jesus has created all things, sustains them, and He will someday unmake all to make way for the new heavens and earth where only righteousness dwells.  Do I think we should be good stewards of this earth God has created and entrusted to our care?  Certainly.  But I do not for a moment think man wise or powerful enough to know how to save a world God created (and we have done our best to destroy - even by application of scientific discoveries like the hydrogen and nuclear bomb) and still He upholds all in His wisdom and might--regardless what scientists supposedly claim.

I will gladly allow C.S. Lewis to conclude with the final flourish of his article:  "What assurance have we that our masters will or can keep the promise which induced us to sell ourselves?  Let us not be deceived by phrases about 'Man taking charge of his own destiny'.  All that can happen is that some men will take charge of the destiny of the others.  They will be simply men; none perfect; some greedy, cruel and dishonest.  The more completely we are planned the more powerful they will be.  Have we discovered some new reason why, this time, power should not corrupt as it has done before?" (Ibid, pg. 353)