News release of the day

Worldwide Pablo gets news releases ... lots of news releases. Here's one from today's in box, from Ayn Rand. She may have died more than 20 years ago, but the crusade for the philosophy known as objectivism still lives on at the Ayn Rand Institute:

"MAN FOUND INNOCENT IN DEATH OF CHRIST"

IRVINE, CA--When the makers of "The Passion of the Christ" tell us explicitly that the meaning of their film is that "we're all culpable in the death of Christ" we should be horrified, says Dr. Onkar Ghate, senior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute.

"How," asks Dr. Ghate, "can anyone know, without evidence of our specific choices and actions, that you or I are guilty? How can you or I be responsible for the death of a man killed some two thousand years ago?

"The answer given by Christian doctrine is that man is innately evil. It damns man for every virtue and value that keeps him alive: from the quest for knowledge -- remember the story of Eve? -- to the discovery of new knowledge -- remember Galileo? -- to the creation of wealth -- remember that Jesus tells us it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter 'heaven'? -- to the resulting pride one feels from achieving happiness and prosperity.

"For the anti-Semite, to be Jewish is to be evil. For the devout Christian, to be human is to be evil. Only such a view of man's nature can begin to explain the accusation of universal guilt for Christ's crucifixion.

"Against so monstrous a view of man, any person of self-esteem should rebel."

Talk amongst yourselves.

Comments

[PanchoPdx]

Gotta hand it to the Randians. They call 'em like they see them whether they are describing Bible thumpers or communists.

I loved this article because it is one of those examples where self-evident observations contradict pervasive cultural myths.

It would make a great Onion article:

"Legal Experts Conclude that no Living Persons were Culpable in Death of Christ"

[brett]

When I was in high school, I used to regularly get into it with some friends who were into Young Life and all that evangelist crap. (No offense to anyone here.) I checked out a book from the library called the Atheist Debater's Handbook. Great stuff for those lunchtime sessions. One of the points in that book is that man has never consented to be tarnished with this original sin. The contract between God and Man, as some Christians have it, is that in exchange for the expiation of the original sin and a lifetime in paradise, we are obligated to follow the 10 Commandments, pray, and whatever else a good Christian does. I don't recall agreeing to this; doesn't a contract require both sides to agree on its contents? Isn't an involuntary contract more properly labeled slavery? Anyway, mostly OT, but this item reminded me of that book.