I come here today not to bury my Republican Party, but to save it. God willing, we might succeed. 

In the mid-90s, after I went kicking and screaming to the Walk to Emmaus, I inadvertently stumbled onto a spiritual metamorphosis and the cerebral C.S. Lewis. My walk has stumbled many times since, but I guess “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion ...”

Invited to be the Ultreya dinner speaker soon after, I chose “The Screwtape Letters” as my theme. I concluded with, “Every Christian should read that book at least once a year.” In our current social climate, I believe it more now than ever.

I recently watched Lewis’ “The Most Reluctant Convert” with my walk sponsor Dave Beemer and his son Braxton. Where do C.S. and GOP converge, you ask? Well, keep your pants on; I’m gettin’ to it.

I rarely wax political in print since I’m alternatively accused of being a godless leftist or a racist right-winger. It rotates every four years or so, proof that I’m a dying breed: a red state, pure independent. As my late sister Wanda — an outnumbered conservative among her Pennsylvania pinochle group — and I agreed, “Right is right and wrong is wrong. Political party has no bearing.”

Case in point, I didn’t disagree with Trump’s assessment of George W’s Iraq war as America’s greatest foreign policy disaster, launched for all the wrong reasons. He claims it was based on lies; I prefer “convenient cherry-picking.” Trumpers hated my opinion, but gave their king a pass.

I equally believe Obama’s ISIS-friendly reactions to mass beheadings was indefensible. For that, Barackers eviscerated me. I also realize both Bill Clinton’s and Trump’s policies produced positive results, but Bill was sleazy and Donald every bit his equal. I coulda been hung from the highest tree in Portland or Cody respectively for that balanced analysis. Apparently only half of that was hogwash.

Trump cultists insist all his female accusers were liars seeking fame — his boast of habitually grabbing gals by the nether regions just “locker-room talk.” Clintonians recall Bill’s Oval Office peccadillo as harmlessly consensual and impeachment for sex a joke. Republicans, falling back on Plan B, declare straight-faced, “It was never about the sex, but the lying!”

Another hypocritical curiosity: Why is Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin a sincere, principled hero for following his heart versus party loyalty, while John McCain, Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney are disgusting turncoats for doing the same?

Screwtape loves that kind of convoluted logic, telling Wormwood: “Whole-heartedly encourage this ‘hate list’ hypocrisy. Should either side ‘respectfully disagree’ in that disgusting spirit of love our enemy cherishes, we have failed miserably. Never forget dear Wormwood, hate is lovely in all forms, but ‘divinely-ordained hate’ is hate in its purest form.”

We balanced conservatives — often angrily designated “RINOs” by purists — gain inspiration from the ageless Al Simpson. My jaw slackened when a Christian friend said he likes Al personally, but lost all political respect because of his good friendship with (don’t gasp) Ted Kennedy. Now that is red meat for Screwtape and a life lesson for young Wormwood.

“Hate between the so-called ‘Christian party’ and their nemesis is vital to our mission, Wormwood. Work diligently to convince our enemy God loves only them. Otherwise, the disgusting God-people could easily influence potential atheists.”

A recent edition of The Dispatch, forwarded to me by fellow independent-minded Braxton B., focused on a tweet by J.D. Vance, a prominent Christian politician from Ohio running for the U.S. Senate. It read, “Dear Twitter, let Trump back on; we need Alec Baldwin tweets.” He obviously refers to liberal actor Baldwin’s tragic, accidental shooting of a movie set adviser. As The Dispatch’s David French asks, “Can you imagine carrying the weight of an accidental killing on your heart? Vance wants to see Baldwin publicly and relentlessly mocked by the once-most powerful man in the world.”

French concludes, “I highlight Vance’s comments not because it is exceptional, but because it is all too typical of a kind of public, Christian engagement in the age of Trump. Non-political Christians don’t see or experience how the Christian public square is consumed with a kind of resentful, vengeful rage that is extraordinarily difficult to square with the words and example of Jesus Christ.”

If you angrily disagree, you desperately need to read “The Screwtape Letters” again. Don’t make Wormwood’s job any easier than it needs to be.