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.

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.