I find it extremely ironic to occasionally encounter Christians that laud atheist Ayn Rand, whose Objectionist philosophy was developed as a direct and scathing rebuttal not only to Socialism, but also to Christianity.
I came across this article in Politico about the prevalence these days of all things Ayn Rand and I feel compelled to respond. I don’t want to get into a big treatise about her philosophy of Objectivism here, nor do I really want to argue the various merits or follies of her beliefs or the influence she’s had on the American psyche since her “revolutionary” new ideas hit the scene in the early-to-mid 1900s. I’m not really qualified to do so right now, and I’m too busy finishing up my 4th book to launch into the study it would require. So, I’ll just speak briefly about what I can recollect of my personal impressions of her.
I read The Fountain Head and Atlas Shrugged when I was in the Peace Corps eight years ago. I have to admit right off the bat that I LOVED the books. They were awesome reads from the perspective of story and character. I couldn’t put them down. On the surface they were fun and inspirational, powerful and compelling. Rand is a champion of the individual human spirit, and her protagonists’ rise to the top of the food chain within drab, stagnated regimes of repression and oppression are incredibly exciting. Ayn Rand is a product of having grown up in Communist Russia, if I remember correctly, and her own journey to the U.S. (when 18?) and her rise to influence is a story that eerily mirrors the champions of her novels. It’s not at all surprising that she would compare early 20th century Russia to the USA and come to the conclusion that it’s better to celebrate individualism over the common good.
But when I scratch under the surface of her Objectionist philosophy, and when I look at those two novels from a more analytical viewpoint, I become at best incredibly alarmed or, at worst, appalled. In my opinion, she takes the celebration of individualism over the common good of the community to an extreme by suggesting that people are better off when they act and think for themselves at the express exclusion of considering others.
In general, this is clearly antithetical to Christian values and the message of the Gospels.
Indeed, her philosophy had never really existed before she espoused it, precisely because it fell so far out of the prevailing paradigm of social understanding, informed, in large part, by Christiandom. By naming this idea and arguing it the context of Communism vs Capitalism and making it so entertaining and compelling in her novels, she gave countless people around the world permission and justification to be utterly selfish to a degree that had never before been permitted by the dictates of religious decency.
Before Rand lovers cry fowl I should address a major point: (I think) she would argue that when a person strives for their fullest potential and fights tooth and nail for their own interests and success, that they inherently help society, and that this attitude, in the aggregate, lifts everyone up.
We’ve all been around the block enough times to see how this is true to an extent. I HOPE that we’ve all been around the block enough to recognize that in its purest formulation, though, Objectivism has serious flaws from a stand point of social justice. My principle criticism of Fountain Head, for example, is that she holds her protagonist up as this superhero of innovation and success without ever acknowledging in any way that while that works great for the Fords and the Trumps of the world, it doesn’t do a damn thing for everybody as a whole. (Imagine a world in which EVERYONE was just as successful and innovative as Donald Trump. There’s just no room for it!) She never addressed this concern to my satisfaction.
Again, there are entire institutions whose aim it is to debate and calibrate these ideas (The Rand Institute comes to mind). I don’t want to get mired in that morass, here. I’m simply trying to remind Christians that they tread on extremely precarious ground when they lean too heavily on the notion that you can best help others by being single minded about your own success. It is completely outside the context and spirit of Jesus’ teachings. I’m reminded of Mathew 25, where Jesus runs down a long list of things that we should be doing for “the least” of our brothers and sisters. There are countless biblical passages to point to that suggest Jesus advocates for caring for others, even–and sometimes especially–at our own personal expense.
Ayn Rand was a proud atheist who saw concern for others as a weakens brought on by a silly preoccupation for the afterlife. She had no patience for those that advocated for and served others. Her philosophy is clearly at odds with the very fabric of Christianity.
That is why I find it absurd to see so many “Tea Partiers” holding up her name with pride as they go about their business of protesting the Government. (From the Politico article linked above:)
Tea party protesters hoisted signs reading “Ayn Rand was right” and “Who is John Galt?” at the Sept. 12 taxpayer march. …South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) penned a piece on Rand’s newfound relevance for Newsweek.
To be sure, there are probably many Tea Partiers who are not Christian at all, but there are countless examples of Christians who praise the merits of Ayn Rand. I personally know of some. And in fact, in the Politico article quoted above, Mark Sanford, the disgraced Governor of South Carolina (hardly a model Christian, I know) is a fan of Rand.
Most Christians, I suspect, who really understood that Ayn Rand developed her philosophy of Objectivism as a rebuttal to Christ’s very ethos, would never hold up a sign that says, “Ayn Rand was right.”
In my next novel I’ll explore what might happen to our faith traditions if their relevancy were challenged by the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. I believe that our world religions will adapt to the new paradigm, even if it requires some kicking and screaming along the way. I can’t speak authoritatively for other faiths, but according to my philosophy of “Both/And” Thinking, there’s no intrinsic contradiction between my Christian beliefs and the potential for sentient life on other worlds.
But I am working diligently on a novel! I very much hope to finish it before the end of the month, too. Unfortunately, it’ll clock in at 330 pages or so (110,000 words) and I started it years ago.
Occasionally, though, the muse hits me hardest when my lights are already out. Early in college I wrote a novella called Ice Capsule about a National Geographic photographer who uncovers some very unsettling goings-on while visiting a science station in Antarctica. Everything about that story (I have to dust that one off and polish it up one of these days, now that I’m thinking about it) originated from a very clear dream I had in which I was far below the earth in a deep shaft of ice. In the dream I was looking up toward the the surface at a disk of milky sky, the shaft walls glistening with swirls of blue, watching a piece of paper float down toward me. When it reached me I realized it was a note. I read the note and immediately awoke from the dream and scribbled down what it had said: 
I hold Karen Armstrong in very high esteem and I deeply respect her ability to critique religion without vilifying it. I don’t agree with all of her conclusions, but I trust her intentions. This review of her new book, The Case for God, struck me as a great starting point for a “Both/And” conversation on Laustinspace about the utility and meaningfulness of spiritual practice and organized religion in modern times. 
docking here at 
