“Satan in the New Testament should be regarded as holding the equivalent of such positions as Prime Minister, or Attorney-General, or Head of MI5, or Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and as no more evil than many zealous holders of these positions here on Earth,” says a Californian who wants to rehabilitate the devil’s public face. He’s written a book about that star who fell from heaven. The Times of London headline for the story: “Forget Judas, let’s have sympathy for the Devil.”
I should ignore this kind of foolishness, but it’s just so . . . foolish.
It’s all part of the culture of equivocation. First we state that all men are created equal, which is a useful political fiction. Then we decide that all people should begin with equal rights, which is a good and just policy. Then we start to think that behavior and choices must all be guaranteed equal consequences, which is perverse. Finally we come to believe that all ideas and principles are equally good, which is a Satanic lie. The end is a vindication of Satan, which was his intention all along.