Christianity is Compatible with Ayn Rand

Townhall.com ^ | September 10, 2012 | Katie Kieffer

[what's up]

How is Ayn Rand saying "What's good for me is right" compatible with Christianity?

Aspects of personal blessing are certainly compatible with Christianity.

100% sacrifice is not.

The left has preyed on the "guilt complex" of millions of Christians which has developed into social justice.

When one realizes that grace is the Christian message, one can discard the guilt/sacrifice aspect (Christ already did that!) and walk in the knowledge that God looks upon one as righteous...not upon one with demands to earn your salvation. Such a positive attitude will many, many times lead to prosperity.

You have to remember that Rand was a young girl in Russia at the time of the Revolution. She saw the Orthodox Church crumble before the advance of communism and was forever turned off by the weak "sacifice/guilt" message of the church she saw around her.

I doubt that Rand ever studied the messages of grace in the Bible.

[Tired of Taxes]

It's interesting how atheism has led to both Karl Marx and Ayn Rand.
Marx and the socialists of his time (and later) were dogmatic atheists who believed only atheists could be true socialists.
And then, a hundred years after The Communist Manifesto, Ayn Rand gives us Atlas Shrugged.
The main idea shared by both seems to be that man is the highest power.

[Tired of Taxes]

A discussion on another thread in the religion forum have several of us bemoaning the FACT we can't find a parish in our midst that is not hell bent on social justice.

As a Catholic who (after a long period of atheism) recently returned to the Church, I found myself cringing at the words "social justice," too, spoken by priests at different parishes. But, I figured the Church's definition for that term might be very different from the socialist definition. So, I hung in there.

And then the HHS Mandate happened, and it was no secret where the Catholic Church stood on that issue. There were homilies on the abuse of power by government, and protests, and so on... Since then, at every Mass, we've been led in this prayer: "That the government may always respect our First Amendment rights..." "Lord, hear our prayer..."

So, I'm HOPING that I'm right - that their definition of "social justice" is a bit different from the socialist definition.