• • • Does America Need Ayn Rand or Jesus?
Onkar Ghate, FOXNews.com Altruism |Atheism |Atlas Shrugged |Egoism |Individual Rights |Individualism |Objectivist author | Rand’s moral teachings are fundamentally different from Jesus’teachings. A rational morality, Rand argued, teaches us the crucial values that make up a successful and happy life. Above all else, it instructs us to uphold reason as an absolute in our lives, as our only source of knowledge and only judge of values, and to achieve self-esteem in our souls. True self-esteem is the knowledge that by your own choices you’ve created a rational mind “competent to think” and a personal character “worthy of happiness.” In terms of virtues, Rand’s is a moral code that upholds rationality not emotionalism or faith; intellectual independence not authority or obedience; earned pride not humility or the belief in man’s inherent sinfulness.