Ayn Rand or Jesus
“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
In this morning’s post (sounds quaint but actually found it on-line) came an article that reined me up short as I considered it. The title is Does America Need Ayn Rand or Jesus? by Onkar Ghate, a senior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, California.
To understand where I am going with this in asking you to read this article, please cogitate for a moment on CS Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters, as a frame of reference. What Lewis did was cleverly share biblical truth on human nature, sin and temptation by use of a mental mirror to reflect the opposite side, the side of the devil and evil. We will read this article with that mindset–to hold up a mirror to error to see the reversed image of truth. What we are reading is a primer on the philosophy of Egoism.
So why do all this and show what the Randites or the Egoites think? We do this to understand the social, spiritual and political landscape that we reside in here in America. Why bring theology into it? We bring in theology because theological/religious, political and philosophical thought are truly co- joined whether we are cognizant of it or not.
We as Christians cannot afford in this complex world and age to check our brain at the door and shop for ideas uncritically. The magazine, Consumer Reports, attests to the fact that people are willing to shop carefully for products but many seem to accept ideas without doing the same due diligence on those ideas. Ideas are not smoke that blows away but are tsunami waves, possessing tremendous power and force.
Ideas have consequences.
Ayn Rand’s political philosophy of the virtue of selfishness is woven in fabric of ultra-conservative political thought these days and is currently the driving force philosophically of our governor and legislature. Of late members of Congress and conservative political pundits had raved about the critical impact of Rand’s Egoism. It is rugged individualism on steroids.
The following is a portion of the article in question…
Ayn Rand is everywhere and her political opponents are growing nervous.
Rand of course is a champion of individual rights, including property rights, and an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism. Walk through any Tea Party gathering and you’ll see signs such as “Who is John Galt?,” “Rand was right” and “Read Atlas Shrugged.” Paul Ryan says of her, accurately in my view, that “Ayn Rand more than anyone else did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism.”
Whatever the rhetoric of Republicans and Democrats in the past, they agreed on the basic goal: more and more government controls are necessary to rein in businessmen, “manage” the economy, and minister to those in need.
No matter which party was in power, therefore, we got things like Sarbanes-Oxley, bailouts of GM and Citibank, a huge prescription drug “benefit” and ObamaCare. Politics was a squabble about the efficacy of any proposed controls, not a dispute about the morality or immorality of imposing controls in the first place. As Krugman observes, in years past everyone “accepted the legitimacy of the welfare state.”
But now its advocates sense that this is no longer true, that some Americans are beginning to question the moral legitimacy of the welfare state. To strangle this questioning in the crib, supporters of government controls are trying to persuade their opponents to abandon Rand.
A rational morality, Rand argued, teaches us the crucial values that make up a successful and happy life. Above all else, it instructs us to uphold reason as an absolute in our lives, as our only source of knowledge and only judge of values, and to achieve self-esteem in our souls. True self-esteem is the knowledge that by your own choices you’ve created a rational mind “competent to think” and a personal character “worthy of happiness.”
In terms of virtues, Rand’s is a moral code that upholds rationality not emotionalism or faith; intellectual independence not authority or obedience; earned pride not humility or the belief in man’s inherent sinfulness.
In Rand’s argument, morality is not about subordination or service to others or to some “higher power”; it is not about self-sacrifice. Hers is a morality that upholds egoism and individualism: it seeks to teach you the difficult task of pursuing the values that achieve your own individual self-interest and happiness.
Only an explicit or implicit individualist and egoist, Rand held, will understand and demand the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence: his inalienable rights to his own life, his own liberty, and the pursuit of his own happiness. He will demand his political freedom and reject all government controls designed to restrict his liberty and make him sacrifice for the “public interest.” He will oppose the welfare state.
Given her positive teachings, Rand must reject what is usually taken to be the core of Jesus’ moral teachings, the Sermon on the Mount. But before you dismiss this as unthinkable, ask yourself the following question. Did Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers not reject the Sermon’s advice in creating America?
As I’ve written before…we face…stark choices. If we are to reject the welfare state as immoral and thereby restore the American dream of individualism, don’t we need a rational morality that challenges the centuries-old creed of self-sacrifice and instead argues for the individual’s moral right to his own life and happiness?
In other words, don’t we need Ayn Rand?” 1
As attractive as it may be in some ways when I read it I smell smoke from the pit of hell.
Now let me say this: Conservatism is that house in which I most comfortably reside. I am most comfortable with, if anything, a libertarian perspective. However if you took the libertarian perspective to it’s logical conclusion there would have been, for example, no anti-slavery movement, no anti-child labor movement, no civil-rights movement…I can go on and on. Although in my natural state I am more comfortable with “you mind your business and I will mind mine”, as a Christian I cannot be a true, complete libertarian. Jesus did not give me that option. We are called to act as our older brother does.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan found in Luke chapter 10 the question was posed to Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”
A clear point made in the parable is that ignoring the sufferings of others who are in terrible need is un-Godly. If we are so busy we have no time for others in need, or so concerned with ourselves and our own desires that we ignore the needs of others we truncate the message of Jesus. The whole reason for the incarnation of God in Jesus, the cross and the resurrection is God doing for the spiritually dead what they could not do for themselves. In the concept of the parable of the Good Samaritan, God saw us broken and wounded on the side of the road and He came to us in our need. If we take the spirit of Ayn Rand and apply it to God we would still be dead in our trespasses and sins. Rand panders to the very sin nature that Christ died to redeem.
This political and personal construct that Ayn Rand stated (she didn’t create it, after all it happened first in the Garden) if boiled down to its’ barest essence is: BIG I, little you. Put another way: “I have what I need for my life, the hell with you!” Again, where would we be in God had said,” I am holy but too bad about those people I created; they will all just have to burn in hell”?
You may certainly be a social conservative, but please carefully consider the fruit of modern political conservatism if this is your bent. Think critically about the underlying assumption of the construct that drives the politics. Don’t drink kool-aide for any political construct but examine it in the light of God’s word. I say consider both sides because the liberal construct for social action has created a host of problems as well. This sword cuts both ways. The issue of moral bankruptcy in the political parties is not in play here right now in our discussion. Any political movement because it usually begins with men and women is suspect and must be proved in fire as a precious metal.
Please allow me another point or two as this is important. The writer of the article writes the following and I ask you to look at it with extreme care:
“A rational morality, Rand argued, teaches us the crucial values that make up a successful and happy life. Above all else, it instructs us to uphold reason as an absolute in our lives, as our only source of knowledge and only judge of values, and to achieve self-esteem in our souls. True self-esteem is the knowledge that by your own choices you’ve created a rational mind “competent to think” and a personal character “worthy of happiness.” In terms of virtues, Rand’s is a moral code that upholds rationality not emotionalism or faith; intellectual independence not authority or obedience; earned pride not humility or the belief in man’s inherent sinfulness.”
Who is on the throne here? I will give you a hint: it isn’t God. This Egoist mindset has created the most terrible and evil tyrants in our history. The Christian response to Rand’s construct is that our treatment of what Jesus calls ‘the least of these’ is a matter for the Day of Judgment Amy Sullivan writing for TIME magazine wrote the following, “Richard Cizik, a former top official at the National Association of Evangelicals, says the ad is necessary to remind politicians that “being consistently pro-life requires more than caring for the unborn, it requires following the Biblical call to care for the poor and the downtrodden.” Cizik continues, “People of faith are embracing this full definition of what it means to be pro-life. If our leaders ignore the needs of the poor or favor the rich at their expense, they reject pro-life values. It’s that simple.” 2
Next week we celebrate Independence. I am most thankful to live in these United States but a word of caution…we must not deify any political system, philosophy or party. Government, and by extension, politics, is needful because we are fallen people and cannot live without government rule. The sword Caesar carries is by divine appointment. Democracy is a most precious gift; it is not divine. This world is not our home rather we are sojourners. We are citizens of Heaven and we should march with Heaven’s standard or flag first and foremost. Be a patriot for America, absolutely but for the Christian our patriotism binds believers to Christ above all other considerations and we cannot forget that. The most fearful words I have ever read in the Bible are these, “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:33)
Christ is LORD, not the Republican Party, not the Democratic Party, nor the Independent parties, nor Caesar. Politics, by its nature, does not address the critical issue for people: the issue of their eternal soul. We cannot serve two masters.
1. Onkar Ghate, Does America Need Ayn Rand or Jesus, Fox News Op-Ed 6.29.11
2. Amy Sullivan, Ayn Rand, the Godless Philosopher, TIME, 5.13.11.
FAITH MATTERS…A DEVOTION FOR YOU is a ministry of Brian Bailey at ThreshingFloorMinistry.com. Please see our books from Brian: Ruth A Guide for Life’s Troubled Times and A Great Cloud.