I think the difficulty with this statement comes when you get to the issue of religion. The Bible states, "no greater love has any man shown than that he lay down his life for his friend.....
Romans 5:7 "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
By your definition stated here, the event that the Bible declares the greatest act of love would have to be considered the greatest evil.
Not trying to start an argument, just pointing out why some people would have a problem with Rand's philosophy on altruism.
That’s true it would be the greatest evil If Jesus did it for the sake of others, but did he? Jesus’s act was profoundly selfish in that he loved those he was dying for and his greatest desire was to do his father’s will. Plus he was giving up a lesser value, his life as a man on earth, in exchange for a greater value, his desire to do his fathers will and take his place in heaven which I’m sure you would agree was a greater value. Jesus had the sure and certain knowledge, according to the Bible that his act was in his own self interest so Jesus’s actions on the cross would not meet the definition of altruism but instead would be considered a selfish act. Had Jesus decided not to go through with it, had he gone to the pharisees and the Romans to plead for his life and renounce all that he had said and done then THAT would have been a sacrifice. Of course I understand why many people disagree with the philosophy and as I stated in my post I don’t mind that. My only reason for responding to the article was to point out the error of the author who seemed to be misrepresenting objectivists as uncaring of fellow human beings and only caring about profit or money. I don’t mind people disagreeing so long as it is Objectivism they are disagreeing with and not a misrepresentation of it.