From The American Spectator
By Mark Tooley on 6.6.11 @ 6:07AM
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.
Mark Tooley is
president of the Institute
on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C. and
author of Taking Back the United Methodist Church.
--
"There
is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and
there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician
who portrays himself as "caring" and "sensitive"
because he wants to expand the government's
charitable programs is merely saying that he's
willing to try to do good with other people's
money. Well, who isn't? And a voter who takes
pride in supporting such programs is telling us
that he'll do good with his own money -- if a gun
is held to his head."--P.
J. O'Rourke
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
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