What happens in Letter VII – Pacifism and Cowardice of The Screwtape Letters?
In Letter VII, Screwtape advises Wormwood on how to take advantage of the patient's growing interest in pacifism during wartime. Screwtape doesn't care whether the patient becomes a pacifist or a patriot; what counts is that he holds either position for the wrong reasons. If the patient chooses pacifism, Screwtape aims for it to stem not from true moral conviction but from cowardice disguised as principle. He outlines a demonic strategy that keeps humans fixated on the "Historical Point of View"—pushing the patient to judge Christianity's truth based not on its merits but on its origins and cultural context, effectively diminishing its impact. He also highlights the importance of keeping the patient's commitments unclear and driven by emotion, so that when challenged, they fall apart. The letter concludes with Screwtape reminding us that Hell's aim isn't to make men overtly wicked but to create confusion—leaving them unable to act on clear moral reasoning, constantly distracted by appearances rather than the underlying truths.
Analysis
Lewis sharpens Screwtape's characteristic inversion here: the demon's indifference to which political stance the patient adopts reveals that the true target is the quality of moral reasoning itself. This is one of the letter's most skillful moves—Lewis neither endorses nor condemns pacifism outright. Instead, he uses Screwtape's amoral pragmatism to suggest that sincerity and intellectual honesty are more important than any particular conclusion. The tone subtly shifts in this letter; Screwtape's voice takes on a nearly instructional quality, delighting in the classification of human self-deception with a connoisseur's enjoyment.
The "Historical Point of View" section serves as a sharp satire of a specific type of academic relativism—the tendency to explain away belief by putting it in context, leading to an endless deferral of engagement with truth. Writing in 1941, Lewis clearly critiques a genuine intellectual trend he noticed in Oxford common rooms just as much as in Hell.
Themes of disguise and mislabeling permeate the text: cowardice posing as principle and self-interest cloaked as theology. The letter also enhances the novel's structural irony—every piece of advice Screwtape offers the reader acts as a warning. Lewis expects the reader to recognize the inversion without explicitly stating it, which keeps the prose concise and the satire vibrant. The letter's brevity reflects its argument: clarity, not elaboration, is Hell's adversary.
Key quotes from Letter VII – Pacifism and Cowardice
“We do not want men to think that Diabolism is dangerous and exciting; we want them to think it is old and shabby.”
Screwtape explains the demonic preference for making evil seem dull and outdated rather than glamorous, so humans never bother to guard against it seriously.
“The Historical Point of View, put briefly, means that when a learned man is presented with any statement in an ancient author, the one question he never asks is whether it is true.”
Screwtape praises a mode of scholarship that perpetually defers the question of truth in favour of context and origin, rendering genuine belief impossible.
“Whichever he adopts, your main task will be the same—to keep him feeling that the real issue is one on which good men may differ.”
Screwtape instructs Wormwood that the patient's specific political conclusion matters far less than ensuring he never arrives at it through honest moral conviction.