12.09.2005 | Always Winter and never Christmas

Sounds sort of like the kind of joyless scene that would be set were a certain type of nanny-statist, eco-freak, politically correct band of liberals in charge. Praise be to God that they are not, but, if they pine for their goddess, she does a star turn as the White Witch in the just-opened Narnia.

As usual with C.S. Lewis, "always Winter and never Christmas" is descriptive beyond its few words. Narnia is in the iron grip of WW, who has the really neat trick of being able to turn folks, human and otherwise, into stone statues. She's a good stand in for He Who Must Not Be Named, oh, sorry, wrong fantasy, for Satan.

Narnia is about what a fantasy kingdom's Christ might look like, and anyone who claims that it is merely a ripping good morality tale has not been paying close attention. It is about how Christ died for our sins, was resurrected from the dead, and returns to rule His kingdom. And the very important concept that our redemption is totally unearned. Now, to be sure, you may read Narnia and claim that there is no Christ in it. But you would be wrong.

All of which is to say: so what? Just sit back and enjoy a fantasy world in which good and evil are known, temptations exist (Turkish delight, yummm...), and faith in the King of Beasts, Aslan, will be rewarded.

Of course, this kind of message really, really, annoys members of the liberal elite. Consider this overwrought quotation, as reported via the Washington Post yesterday:

"Here in Narnia," writes Polly Toynbee in the Guardian newspaper, "is the perfect Republican, muscular Christianity for America -- that warped, distorted neo-fascist strain that thinks might is proof of right."

If this is what being a Republican means, thank you, Polly Toynbee. I'll take it.