Why Christians Should Stay Away from Ayn Rand

Joel Miller writes about the essence of Ayn Rand’s anti-Christian philosphy:

Rand’s disdain for altruism is at root a protest against the cross. Christ’s crucifixion was immoral for Rand not because people took Jesus’ life, but because he volunteered it. And worse, because he sacrificed his perfect life for our imperfect lives. As she told Playboy:

Christ, in terms of the Christian philosophy, is the human ideal. He personifies that which men should strive to emulate. Yet, according to the Christian mythology, he died on the cross not for his own sins but for the sins of the nonideal people. In other words, a man of perfect virtue was sacrificed for men who are vicious and who are expected or supposed to accept that sacrifice. If I were a Christian, nothing could make me more indignant than that: the notion of sacrificing the ideal to the non-ideal, or virtue to vice.

2 thoughts on “Why Christians Should Stay Away from Ayn Rand”

  1. She’s got it. The death of Christ is *supposed* to be an outrage – and then there can be only two responses.

  2. I agree. I see conservatism in this country, which used to be Christian-flavored, gradually becoming Randian-flavored. I may be left without a political party at all.

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