Christians Vs. Republican Party’s Worship of Atheist Ayn Rand’s Philosophy of Selfishness

Left: Ad from Christian group attacking Republicans over Rand’s influence in the party; right: Democrats’ ad depicting Republicans tossing Granny off a cliff

Here’s a new and welcome twist. Christians are attacking Republicans on moral grounds, targeting the decidedly un-Christian influence over the party of Ayn Rand, a best-selling author of novels in which she advocated atheism and what she called the “virtue of selfishness.”

These Christians are particularly critical of the GOP’s 2012 budget bill which was authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, who is both a Catholic and an outspoken proponent of Ayn Rand’s cult of godless individualism. The Christians say Ryan based his “toss Granny off a cliff” kill-Medicare plan on Rand’s “every man (woman and child) for himself” philosophy.

Ryan’s bill passed in the House in April with 253 Republican votes. All the Democrats and three Republican members voted against it. It failed in the Senate last month with all Democrats and five Republicans voting against it and 40 Republicans voting for it. Despite the draconian cuts in Ryan’s bill, including its provision to kill Medicare for everyone 54 and younger, had it passed and been signed into law, it would have still added as much as $6 trillion to the debt over 10 years.

It’s about time that true Christians — that is, those who believe in Christ’s message of compassion and forgiveness and who follow his admonitions to care for the poor, homeless and sick — called out the Republican Party over its moral degeneracy on Christianity’s most fundamental values. The GOP and its tea party base make a practice of putting the interests of their corporate sponsors — for example, the health insurance industry — over the needs of their brothers and sisters — for example, the uninsured — all the while depending on the votes of right-wing evangelicals to cling to power.

On Friday, as Rep. Ryan left a right-wing religious conclave sponsored by Ralph Reed, the Christianist leader who was disgraced by his dealings with the Bush-era GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, he was caught on video being approached by a Catholic protester who tried to give him a Bible. Ryan refused to take it.

Amy Sullivan at Time Magazine:

I am fairly certain that when Paul Ryan first decided to publicly share his admiration of Ayn Rand, he could not have imagined it would lead to him speed-walking to his SUV to avoid a young Catholic trying to give him a Bible and telling him to pay more attention to the Gospel of Luke. But that’s what happened Friday morning in downtown Washington after Ryan spoke to the surprisingly smallish crowd gathered for Ralph Reed’s Faith & Freedom Conference.

The protests are being coordinated by the American Values Network, which provides these quotes from Ryan about Rand and her absurdly simplistic novel, “Atlas Shrugged,” on its website:

REP. PAUL RYAN: “Ayn Rand more than anyone else did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism — it is the morality of what is going on right now and how it offends the morality of individuals working toward their own free will that is under attack and it is that that I think Ayn Rand would be commenting on that we need more than ever.”

RYAN: “It’s that kind of thinking, that kind of writing that is sorely needed right now.”

RYAN: “I give out Atlas Shrugged as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it.”

A Republican House leader who gives books promoting atheism as Christmas presents — and it’s liberals who are at war with Christmas?

AVN also says “Ryan posted other videos on his Facebook page praising Rand, and he said Ayn Rand is the reason he entered politics and came to Washington.”

Rand left no doubt that her philosophy was a rejection of Christian principles and faith, which she described as “evil”:

AYN RAND: “According to the Christian mythology, [Christ] died on the cross not for his own sins but for the sins of the non-ideal 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. And it is in the name of that symbol that men are asked to sacrifice themselves for their inferiors. That is precisely how the symbolism is used. That is torture.”

And:

AYN RAND: “[Faith] is a sign of a psychological weakness. . . I regard it as evil to place your emotions, your desire, above the evidence of what your mind knows. That’s what you’re doing with the idea of God.”

In the end, however, Ayn Rand proved there are no free market ideologues in fox holes. According to an executive at the Ayn Rand Institute, in 1974, Rand, a lifelong two-pack-a-day smoker, found that treatment for her lung cancer under the United States’ capitalist medical system had drained her finances dry.

What did she do? At age 69, she went socialist, applying for and receiving both Social Security and Medicare.

Similarly, of course, Rep. Paul Ryan and nearly all his tea bagger colleagues in the House rely on a socialist health care provided by the government.

AVN has a list of right-wing thought leaders — including Rush Limbaugh, Speaker John Boehner, Sen. Rand Paul and other anti-Christian degenerates — expressing their adoration of Ayn Rand here. Be sure to check it out.

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