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| Ryan |
Atheism, a favorite whipping boy of
religious conservatives, has been injected into the presidential campaign. Rep. Paul Ryan, the putative Republican
candidate for vice president, told reporters that author Ayn Rand was his
inspiration, unaware (he said) that she was an atheist. What he liked were her views about
capitalism.
In her novels, she promoted the free
enterprise system, but one without regulations or restrictions of any
kind. Unfettered capitalism, of course,
led to the 1930s Depression and the recent recession, but the concept still
intrigues wealthier members of society and fills their heads with sugarplum
dreams of untold riches.
Ryan’s Rand-inspired concepts
include the end of Medicare and the disbandment of government regulatory
agencies, but definitely not atheism.
Actually, he’d be far better off supporting a belief in no god than a
government with no rules.
Just for starters, atheism and the
anti-regulators have a lot in common.
Atheism has no requirements of any kind: no rituals, no holidays, no
sacred books or clergy. It’s harder to
reduce restrictions any further than that.
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| Rand |
In addition, atheism places no
onerous requirements on its followers: no fasts, no circumcision, no long
pilgrimages, no distinctive clothing. In
fact, atheism would eliminate much of what Ryan objects to and allow society to
achieve the ultimate level, as Denis Diderot, the editor of the first
encyclopedia, noted: “Men will never be
free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last
priest."
Ryan definitely would not favor
disemboweling priests, at least not any of his Roman Catholic faith, but he
definitely wouldn’t mind eliminating the regulators and letting each person be
“king” of his own investments, including Social Security.
Atheism is also about
individuals. There’s no church or
centralized authority. Every atheist acts alone without any concern for someone
else’s beliefs. For example, even humanist
organizations contain agnostics and theists.
In parallel, Ryan’s economic world is based on the rugged individual
enduring despite regulatory chains.
He once spoke on that subject to a
group of Rand supports and told them, “The fight we are in here is a fight of
individualism versus collectivism.” If she were alive, he said, Rand would do
“a great job in showing us just how wrong what government is doing is.”
Atheists are also extremely
moral. They have no guidebook to model
such behavior, no fear of eternal punishment.
However, they recognize that, without some form of morality, society
cannot function. And, who would be the first people blamed if society
collapses? That’s great incentive to be
very moral.
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| Aquinas |
Ryan, too, stresses morality, even
though he ties it to religion. After being
criticized for his link to Rand, Ryan promptly told the conservative National
Review that he actually was guided by Church Father Thomas Aquinas and the
“Catholic principle of subsidiarity, which holds that issues should be handled
at the most local level possible.” That
contrasts with Rand, who said Christian values injected into government polices
create “the best kindergarten of communism possible” and are inherently
corrupt.
Besides, since our country adamantly
separates church and state, Christian values have no place in government
decisions any more than Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist or other faiths’ values
do. That’s an atheist theme, too.
On top of that, Ryan’s views on the
military coincide nicely with those of atheists. In the spring, as chairman of the House
Budget Committee, Ryan suggested that the Pentagon was “deliberately misleading
Congress” and that only Congress could be trusted to determine proper military
spending. Atheists have no truck with
military leaders either.
Ryan never spent a moment in
military service, which fits perfectly into atheist ideals. No atheist has ever started a war. The same cannot be said for true believers. Atheists definitely picked up weapons when
their country called, unlike Ryan or Mitt Romney, but didn’t initiate a single
battle.
As a final reason, Ryan will need
votes. He won’t get them by endorsing
Ayn Rand, who would have rejected him anyway for his anti-abortion views and
insistence in trying to dictate morality.
Rand, a Russian refugee, knew too well the dangers of that approach and
insisted that “individuals must be free from government interference in their
personal lives.”
Instead, Ryan should embrace
nonbelievers, the so-called “Nones,” who now represent 19 percent of
Americans. Based on a steady growth
pattern, the Nones should eclipse the conservative Christian wing in short
order.
No doubt about it: Ryan and atheists
could create the perfect civil union.
Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history. He also speaks at various
religious organizations throughout Florida.
You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net. He is the author of the famed Unauthorized
Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel
Writers Get Their Information; Noel:
The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative
Religion. His books are available on Amazon.com,
Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.
He can also be followed on Twitter.
You
can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at
http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1
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