In his essay on morality in the book, “Mere Christianity”, Lewis made a strong argument for the worth of the individual in light of Christianity’s teaching that people are eternal and not simply ceasing to exist when they leave this world.
“If individuals live only seventy years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilization, which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual. But if Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of a state or a civilization, compared with his, is only a moment.” MERE CHRISTIANITY, C.S. Lewis, ‘Christian Behavior’, Macmillan Pub., 1943