A liberal group is attacking Republican fans of Ayn Rand
for supposedly undermining Christianity. “Christians Must Choose:
Ayn Rand or Jesus,” the new
campaign by the American Values Network. Specifically it is
targeting Congressman Paul Ryan, Senator Rand Paul, Rush Limbaugh
and others who have praised Rand’s brand of Libertarianism. The
network is headed by sometime Democratic Party strategist Eric
Sapp. Board members eclectically include former
Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Townsend, former Democratic
Party National Committee Chair Don Fowler, Huffington Post
religion editor and Princeton religion associate dean Paul
Raushenbush, and former pastor to the Clintons and United Methodist
ethicist Phil Wogaman.
“GOP leaders and conservative pundits have brought upon
themselves a crisis of values,” the network explains. “Many who for
years have been the loudest voices invoking the language of faith
and moral values are now praising the atheist philosopher Ayn Rand
whose teachings stand in direct contradiction to the Bible.” The
network complained that “GOP leaders want to argue that they are
defending Christian principles” while also praising
Rand.
Rand, of course, was a Russian émigré intellectual who
wrote novels like The Fountainhead and Atlas
Shrugged that championed ardent individualism
against oppressive big government and cultural conformity. The
former was a famously classic film featuring Gary Cooper as the
hero. The latter was recently turned into a movie that largely
flopped at theaters, though Rand devotees and many other diehard
Libertarians dutifully watched it. Rand denounced all religion and
portrayed her own version of reason and self-initiative as a worthy
substitute.
Network chief Sapp told Religion News Service of
Congressman Ryan’s ostensible hypocrisy for admiring Rand:
“You’ve got a guy who is a rising Republican star, and who
wrote the budget, saying he’s read her books and Washington needs
more of her values. If you’re a Christian, you’ve got to ask some
serious questions about what’s going on here.” According to the
report, the network aims to divide conservative Christians from
Libertarian activists, especially in the Tea Party, by highlighting
Rand’s impieties. Sapp reported that he will mail his anti-Rand
video to over 1 million Christians in
Wisconsin, presumably in an effort both to
weaken Ryan in his home state and to help Democrats’ overturn Gov.
Scott Walker’s historic budget as they move to recall Republican
state senators who backed it.
Sapp
promised in the Huffington Post that his
campaign against Randian Republicans could be a “a
game-changer” because “it uncovers the heartless GOP and Tea Party
wolves who’ve been parading around in sheep’s clothing among the
Christian flock, leading them astray. Christians, especially
conservative ones, know what to look out for.” He and his network
point at an anti-Rand video by evangelical prison ministry icon
Chuck Colson, who derided Rand and her followers as the “cranks”
and “crypto-cultists” that conservative maven William Buckley
strove to ostracize from mainstream conservatism. Buckley’s
National Review famously published Whittaker Chambers’
damning review of Atlas Shrugged, whose ultimate message
he surmised was “you, to a gas chamber — go!”
Joining the campaign to save Christians from Ayn Rand is
Faithful America, a group originally created during the 2004
presidential campaign by the National Council of Churches when
headed by former Democratic Congressman Bob Edgar. Faithful America
was founded as a liberal interfaith group and once even touted the
prayer of one of its Wiccan supporters. It’s now promoting a
petition campaign titled “Ayn Rand vs. The Bible,” which
implores: “As a Christian, I am concerned
that so many of our political leaders are taking their cues from
the radical philosopher Ayn Rand. Citizens, especially people of
faith, need to know the truth. I commit to telling 3 friends about
Ayn Rand’s incompatibility with Christians ethics.” The petition
includes a sidebar with Bible quotes that supposedly illustrate how
Congressman Ryan’s budget plan contradicts Christianity.
It’s touching how liberal, religiously pluralistic groups
like Faithful America and American Values Network are suddenly very
concerned that Christians specifically remain faithful to the Bible
and to Jesus. Their respective boards are populated with activists
and clergy not themselves known for careful adherence to Christian
orthodoxy. Rev. Wogaman, from the network’s board, has been one of
United Methodism’s most liberal theologians, across the decades
expressing doubt about the miracles in the Bible like the virgin
birth. Bob and Elizabeth Dole, long time attenders at
Wogaman’s Foundry Church in Washington, D.C., very publicly quit
the church in 1995 because of the pastor’s liberal politics and
theological heterodoxies. Chuck Colson at least has the theological
and spiritual pedigree to question why Christians would admire
Rand. It’s uncertain how religious pluralists effectively ostracize
an atheist intellectual.
And it’s uncertain whether average evangelical Christians,
along with traditional Roman Catholics, will become greatly
exercised over some Republican admiration for Ayn Rand. But we’ll
maybe know more after Eric Sapp and his network mail their video
supposedly to over 1 million Wisconsin Christians.
