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Interview with Ayn Rand on Religion in Playboy

(Playboy Magazine March 1964)

Playboy: say that you have made the following comment, "The cross is the symbol of torture, the sacrifice of the ideal to the nonideal. I prefer the dollar sign." Do you really think that two thousand years of Christianity can be summarized with the word "torture"?

RAND: To begin, I never said that. It is not my style. Neither literarily nor intellectually. I do not say that I prefer the dollar sign - that is cheap nonsense, and please leave this text. I do not know the origin of that quote in particular, but the meaning of the dollar sign is evident in Atlas Shrugged. It is the symbol clearly explained in the history of free trade and, therefore, of a free mind. A free mind and a free economy are corollaries. One can not exist without the other. The dollar sign as a symbol of the currency of a free country, is the symbol of the free mind. More than that, regarding the historical origin of the dollar sign, but has never been proved, a very likely scenario that represents the initials of the United States. So much for the dollar sign. Now he wants to talk about the cross. What is correct is that I consider the cross as the symbol of the sacrifice of the ideal to the nonideal. Is not that what it means? Christ, in terms of Christian philosophy, is the human ideal. Personifies what men should strive to emulate. However, according to Christian mythology, did not die on the cross for their sins, but for the sins of people non-ideal. In other words, a man of perfect virtue was sacrificed for men who are vicious and who are supposed to expect or accept that sacrifice. If I were a Christian, nothing could be more indignant than that: the notion of sacrificing the ideal to non-ideal, virtue vice. It is in the name of that symbol that men asked to sacrifice themselves for their inferiors. This is precisely how to use symbolism. That is torture.

Playboy: not there is any religion that in its opinion, has ever offered any constructive value to human life?

RAND Religion as such does not - in the sense of blind belief, belief without basis and contrary to the facts of reality and the conclusions of reason. Faith, as such, is extremely harmful to human life: is the negation of reason. But remember that religion is a primitive form of philosophy, that the first attempts to explain the universe, to give a coherent framework of human life and a code of moral values, were made by religion, before men grow and develop enough to have philosophy. And, as philosophies, some religions have very valuable moral points. They can have a good influence or proper principles to inculcate, but in a very contradictory context and, with a - what I can say this? with a dangerous and malevolent base: a base of faith.

Playboy: Then you would say that if I had to choose between the cross symbol and the symbol of the dollar, the dollar would you choose?

RAND I do not accept that option. Put another way: If I had to choose between faith and reason, I would not even consider the option conceivable. As a human being, one chooses the right.

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Music - Federal Aid - Johnny Rebel

While most of the lyrics to Johnny Rebel songs are tiring for racial segregation, there are also some anti-statist jewel :

DOWNLOAD THE SONG HERE

Federal aid, federal aid,
We hear it all the time.
But it's not really federal aid,
Cause the money's yours and mine.
The money's yours and mine.

I read in the papers
In real big print
About a sugar coated speech
Made by our President.
With federal aid
He thinks he'll win our trust
But, federal aid, hell,
The money belongs to us.

He puts taxes on this,
Taxes on that.
Just any kind of tax
To keep the government fat.
He says he's gonna give us
Federal aid or bust.
But, federal aid, hell,
The money belongs to us.

Federal aid, federal aid,
We hear it all the time.
But it's not really federal aid,
Cause the money's yours and mine.
The money's yours and mine.

He started a new program
The anti-poverty school
I think it's a good idea,
Nobody wants to be a fool.
Now he says he's running short of funds
And that ain't no joke.
But it ain't the government that hurtin',
It's us that's going broke.

Now, if we could just keep
Most of the money we make
There wouldn't be much reason
To have federal aid.
I believe in helping the poor,
I think it's a must.
But it's not federal aid, hell,
The money belongs to us.

Federal aid, federal aid,
We hear it all the time.
But it's not really federal aid,
Cause the money's yours and mine.
The money's yours and mine.

Now, why should the President
Take all the credit,
When the money we donate
Is what makes up his debit.
Each time a disaster
Strikes our great land,
Federal aid take the credit
For lending a hand.

Now, I'd like to think
That my dollar helped out.
And so would everyone else
Without any doubt.
Cause it's really our money
We placed in their trust.
So federal aid, hell,
The money belongs to us.

Federal aid, federal aid,
We hear it all the time.
But it's not really federal aid,
Cause the money's yours and mine.
The money's yours and mine.
The money's yours and mine.
The money's yours and mine.
The money's yours and mine.