 | No rational observer will deny the role of religion in history. Ayn Rand herself argued that ideas serve as the engine that moves history. The core ideas of religion -- supernaturalism, mysticism, self-sacrifice, tribalism -- have influenced human action since man first walked the earth.
Shortly before her death, Ayn Rand noted with trepidation the rise of religion in politics with the infiltration of the Religious Right into the Republican Party. Attempting to understand the mindset of these new fundamentalists would benefit everyone concerned with the state of American culture. The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren certainly offers a profound insight into the souls of such religious zealots.
Warren runs a powerhouse of Christian worship called Saddleback Church located in Lake Forest, California. His book The Purpose-Driven Life draws from his many years of ministerial experience in that church. For fundamentalist Warren, every human being on earth has a fivefold purpose. He divides the text of his book into five corresponding sections:
- Purpose #1: You Were Planned for God's Pleasure
- Purpose #2: You Were Formed for God's Family
- Purpose #3: You Were Created to Become Like Christ
- Purpose #4: You Were Shaped for Serving God
- Purpose #5: You Were Made for a Mission
Throughout his book, Warren glibly snatches various Bible verses out of context and in whatever translation happens to fit his preconceived mold. Like all fundamentalists, Warren treats the Bible as the complete, literal, divinely inspired, unerring Word of God. Anyone familiar with the historical origins of the Bible will know that this amounts to nonsense. Numerous critics such as Robert Price, well versed on this history, have publicly condemned Warren's scholastic dishonesty in this matter.
However, for Objectivists, such criticisms miss the bigger picture, namely the preposterous notions of God, supernaturalism, miracles, demons and other primitive, superstitious fantasies. While Warren and his critics squander time arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, Objectivists can readily see that such arguments over nothings waste the most precious human commodities: time and energy. But wasting human time and energy on unearthly matters exactly describes Warren's overarching purpose.
Like his soul mates in the Dark Ages, Warren sees this life as merely a preparation for an eternal afterlife. He admonishes his readers to keep every fiber of their existence focused every waking moment on Christ and the afterlife. In that sense, he exhorts readers to cultivate a hatred of the visible and proven and a love of the invisible and unproven. Further, he denigrates individualism in favor of tribal collectivism, demanding that each reader see himself as simply part of the body of Christ. He states that no Christian can consider service as optional and thus demands sacrifice for the sake of others on earth as well as for the sake of God and an afterlife.
Cults keep members so occupied that that have no time to think their own thoughts. In their footsteps, Warren chides readers to spend every spare moment in service to the church in some fashion. In that sense, Warren advocates a form of insidious mind control.
This book became a national best seller and has garnered over 25 million dollars for Warren. He has taken that money and plowed it into his ministry to further his vile message. That so many otherwise intelligent readers can fall for such archaic rubbish should give Objectivists cause to pause and assess how best to combat Rick Warren and his ilk.
For further reading:
"Rick Warren: Master Assimilator for the Christian Collective" by Mister Swig
The Reason-Driven Life by Robert Price |
The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren
