C.S. Lewis' 77-Year-Old 'Christmas Sermon' Warns of 'Post-Christian' World That Doesn't Know Right From Wrong

The world had just emerged from World War II when 20th century author and armchair theologian C.S. Lewis penned what he called “A Christmas Sermon for Pagans,” a message to British readers about the dangers of a world yielded no longer to objective truth but one lost in a sea of relativism.

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Lewis’s words in December 1946 — which first appeared in the erstwhile Strand Magazine — warned that “post-Christian” thought, a way of thinking that rejects absolute rights and wrongs, leads to nihilism.

He wrote, in part:

As for the ideologies, the new invented Wrongs and Rights, does no one see the catch? If there is no real Wrong and Right, nothing good or bad in itself, none of these ideologies can be better or worse than another. For a better moral code can only mean one which comes nearer to some real or absolute code. One map of New York can be better than another only if there is a real New York for it to be truer to. If there is no objective standard, then our choice between one ideology and another becomes a matter of arbitrary taste. Our battle for democratic ideals against Nazi ideals has been a waste of time, because the one is no better than the other. Nor can there ever be any real improvement or deterioration: if there is no real goal you can’t get either nearer to it or farther from it. In fact, there is no real reason for doing anything at all.

The lengthy essay, written for readers in 20th century Britain, is eerily relevant in today’s culture, particularly in the wake of Hamas’ deadly attack against Israel on Oct. 7.

“There is no objective Right or Wrong: each race or class can invent its own code or ‘ideology’ just as it pleases,” Lewis wrote. “[N]ow if the post-Christian view is the correct one, then we have indeed waked from a nightmare.”

Lewis, who died in November 1963, is at the center of a new Advent series from Hallow, a faith-based prayer app with a four-week Christmas series featuring Lewis’ writings on faith. The devotionals are narrated by Hollywood actor Liam Neeson, who voiced Aslan in “The Chronicles of Narnia,” and Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in “The Chosen.”

Alex Jones, the founder and CEO of Hallow, told CBN Digital that Lewis’ writings “changed my life radically.”

“He does this really beautiful job of bringing to life things that are really hard to bring to life,” Jones said.

As for how the partnership between Hallow and Neeson came about, Jones explained that the “Taken” star eagerly signed on to the project as he began reading Lewis’ writings for himself.

“They were incredibly moving to him,” he said.

The “best pitch” for collaborations, Jones noted, “is just Jesus: it’s just the words that either Jesus has spoken or that other people have written about Him.”

You can watch our entire interview with Jones below:

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