The Choice Of No Choice and the Religious Left?

Ayn "rhymes with 'mine'" Rand.

Oh Lawdy (rhymes with 'toddy') they are at it again. One of the million gazillion reasons why peeps become atheist is control. Religion wants so badly to control: believe our specific, particular God and not others, only certain sex is allowed-with certainly no sexual freedom, women can not make their own choices about their own bodies, and now...don't believe the ideals of a writer if that writer is an atheist (GASP).

Recently certain Republicans have embraced the writing of Ayn Rand and specifically the book "Atlas Shrugged." This is a total "no, no" to liberal Christians. They believe that House Budget Committee Chairperson, Paul Ryan's budget is too Ayn Rand-y and not bible-y enuff. This is not about the specific details of the proposed budget as much as it is about bad 'ol religious thought control. Read the actual budget here, but I'm a gonna focus on religions attempt, this time liberal Christianity, to make the rules and to tell individuals what choices to make.



The title of this Youtube clip says it all. "Paul Ryan Refuses Bible From Faithful American." Believe what the collective believes or else. I guess Ryan's Catholicism is not devout enuff for this young man and/or that he publicly has embraced some (deff. not all) of Ayn Rand's ideals and philosophy. The controlling nature of religion is what creates more and more members of Team Atheist.

"...you can follow Ayn Rand or Jesus, but not both." Eric Sapp. He continues, “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,” said Eric Sapp, executive director of the American Values Network, which produced the video. “If you’re a Christian, you’ve got to ask some serious questions about what’s going on here (RNS).

Likewise, if you are a normal peep, one that does not attempt to control others, you have to ask WTF. Why can't dude read and believe who and what he wants...is it because she's an atheist(?).The makers of the video, American Values Network, object to Ayn Rand's philosophy co-wink-a-dinkaly called, Objectivism.

Objectivism is a philosophy defined by the Russian-American philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand (1905–1982). Objectivism holds that reality exists independent of consciousness, that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception, that one can attain objective knowledge from perception through the process of concept formation and inductive and deductive logic, that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational self interest, that the only social system consistent with this morality is full respect for individual rights, embodied in laissez faire capitalism, and that the role of art in human life is to transform man's widest metaphysical ideas, by selective reproduction of reality, into a physical form—a work of art—that he can comprehend and to which he can respond emotionally (Wiki)."

The part that confuses me is that many on the right embrace and promote Ayn Rand's ideals, like small non intrusive government-even tho she is an atheist. The Repub-Right is known for intolerance, not so much the Religious Left (I didn't even know that there was a religious left) Such famous righties include Rush "bro, score me some pills" Limbaugh, Teabaggers in general, Alan Greenspan and Supreme Court Justice Clarence "yea I'm black and have a blond wife with a big booty, so sue me" Thomas. Are the liberal Christians just blindly against anything Republican, because that would be dookie. That is what we are supposed to say about them. Does it come down to "we are the true Christians and you are not."

"Rand’s anti-religious views, however, are not as well known as her novels. By highlighting them, Sapp and liberal Christians hope to discredit the GOP budget, and drive a wedge between the conservative Christian and Tea Party wings of the Republican Party (RNS)."

Divide and conquer is classic and great military strategy, and it looks to me that the religious are doing the work for us (thanks Team Belief). The choice of no choice is one of the many reasons why Team Atheist is growing, while Team Belief is shrinking. Liberal Christians don't like Ryan reading and believing in an atheist writer when he is supposed to make all his decisions based on the bible.

I think it's about being able to separate one's political beliefs from one's religious beliefs. Surprisingly, it is the religious left that is bible thumping this time, traditionally the domain of the religious right. 

* I frackin' quit. I've been writing this for four hours-shoulda done it in half an hour. Howz that for focus and concentration...NOT. Oh well, have a great weekend everyone. I think I'll take a blog day off tomorrow. Le sigh.

Heart, Kriss