Ayn Rand on God, Reason and Atheism

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and special guest Robert Mayhew discuss Ayn Rand’s views on God and religion.

Among the topics covered:

What Ayn Rand meant when she said that religion “is a primitive form of philosophy”;
What differentiates philosophy from religion;
How the rise of philosophy influenced and antagonized religion;
Why Objectivism is intransigently atheistic but not militant;
Why Rand thought of religion as an unworthy adversary to her philosophy;
Whether people believe in God because of arguments, or use arguments simply to rationalize a prior belief in God;
Why the concept of God and of the supernatural are an attack on reason and reality;
Whether liberty-oriented people (including the Founding Fathers) are fundamentally religious, and communists and socialists fundamentally atheistic;
The movie Life of Brian and its message regarding religious belief.

Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World” and the entries “Atheism,” “God,” “Faith,” “Reason” and “Religion” in the Ayn Rand Lexicon.

This podcast was recorded on June 9, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.