Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters was published in 1942 and dedicated to J. R. R. Tolkien. It is written in a satirical, and is largely about temptation (and resistance to it), sin and spiritual warfare. It takes the form of a series of letters from a senior devil, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood, a junior tempter, whose job is to secure the soul of a man known as “the Patient.” God is referred to as “the Enemy.” Here is a portion of one of the letters, this one regarding prayer.
My dear Wormword,
I have received your letter where you raise your alarm about your patient’s resolve to pray regularly. The best thing, where it is possible is to keep the Patient from the serious intention of praying altogether. Thus, your first strategy is to keep the patient’s heart and mind entirely out of his prayer. Teach him that simply mouthing flowery words is all that is necessary. Do not let him think about what he is saying, and certainly do not let him notice how he feels while praying. Teach him that just saying the right words is the important thing.
A second strategy is to ensure that the patient does not come to understand that intent matters. For prayer… teach him that it is a duty, something that must be done. If handled carefully, you can turn it into a bothersome and even resented obligation.
The third card in your hand is to keep prayer distant from any sense of belief or expectation. You must teach your patient to wonder about “how it all works.”
Taken all together, these strategies sum up to “settling.” Teach the patient not to expect anything; to settle. His church will teach him to be humble. You show him that humility means not expecting anything, settling for what you get. He must be taught that expecting anything to really happen is not realistic. Teach him that discontent is “sin.” As long as the patient is content where he is, he is unlikely to take any serious steps that might lead to disaster for you.
Diligently apply yourself to neutering his prayers in hopes that he will eventually find them tiresome and give up the whole undertaking. I need not remind you of the penalty you face should you fail in this.
Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape