Saturday, September 25, 2010

Stephen Colbert, Silly Congressional Tool


Stephen Colbert testified before the House on Friday on migrant farmworkers (the video of his testimony is below). Really this was a testimony to California Democrat Zoe Lofgren's (pictured left) feelings on her work in Congress- Lofgren invited Colbert to speak after he spent one day as a migrant worker. That is just great.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Ayn Rand and Christianity: Glazing Chicken, Not Sausage-Making

Clearly not all Christian thought is in line with Randian thought- however its possible there are ideas that A.) Rand would sympathize with and B.) that Christians can sympathize without being heretics. In fact, its perfectly reasonable for Christians to appreciate free markets, dislike government intervention, and find value in individual decision making while simultaneously loving God and loving thy neighbor.

There is obvious tension between Randian and Christian thought, but there also seems to be a fair amount of overlap to this Venn diagram. Sure, Freeman can cherry pick Rand quotes and they sound bad, but agreeing with the whole body of Rand's work is unnecessary to find sympathy for Rand's ideas on markets and individual choice.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Ayn Rand and Christianity- Creating Loving and Selfish Sausage

Freeman here.


I am feeling a bit sheepish. A friend gave me a copy of Christianity Today this week and the front cover said Ayn Rand's Alternative Religion- the article was titled "Ayn Rand: Goddess of the Great Recession" written by Gary Moore, founder of The Financial Seminary. Generally, I have always liked Rand, her literature and her relatively ridiculous philosophy "objectivism" because it prized the individual and placed a high value on hard work and self-determination. I was a typical, perhaps naive, Christian that thought I could easily mix her economic opinions with my faith, and separate out ideas that were anti-thetical (or anti-Christian) to my beliefs. Undoubtedly the article points to Randian ideas that are much closer to Nietzsche, Marx or Hegel than Jesus Christ or St. Paul.

Friday, September 3, 2010

A Conversation Hardly Worth Having: On Ron Paul, Mosque Locations and Soccer Fields

A couple weeks ago, some friends and I had a collective discussion about Ron Paul's comments on the location of a Ground Zero mosque. It was interesting to me because we are normally in agreement on many political issues. I have published the email conversation below with the permission of the participants.