# Is Objectivism a Religion? By Albert Ellis **URL:** **By** Robert Masters **Published:** August 1, 1974 --- “One of the greatest attractions of Ayn Rand’s philosophy is its defense of personal happiness against the claims of religious duty.” One of the greatest attractions of Ayn Rand’s philosophy is its defense of personal happiness against the claims of religious duty. Yet those who try to apply the Objectivist system to their lives often find that it becomes a psychological straitjacket almost as paralyzing as religion. How is this possible? Albert Ellis’ book, _Is Objectivism a Religion_?, provides some of the answers. Unfortunately, separating the wheat from the chaff in this book requires considerable patience. Much of Ellis’ reasoning rests on confusions and misunderstandings; much of it is downright illogical. His long chapter on economics can only be described as silly. (Consider, for example, this argument: “If capitalism is so uniquely appropriate to the requirements of human survival, why should Ayn Rand and her associates have to keep beating the drum in its favor? Obviously, it should win out completely on its own accord.”) He devotes far too much space to purely terminological issues, and his style is often boisterous, sensational, and unserious. For these reasons, one can understand why libertarians have not paid much attention to Ellis’ criticisms of Objectivism. Yet he does make some deeply insightful points. Particularly devastating are his comments on the Objectivist theory of self-esteem. > A human being can. . . fully accept his existence and the desirability of his finding happiness and freedom from anxiety without his giving himself any rating whatever. He will still have to rate his performances—since if he doesn’t, for example, acknowledge the fact that he is a poor automobile driver, he will very likely kill himself. But he doesn’t have to rate, evaluate, or esteem his self. . . . \[T\]he usual kind of self-rating which virtually all humans—unfortunately!—do. . . almost invariably leads to conscious or underlying anxiety. Thus Ellis emphatically rejects Miss Rand’s dictum that “one must earn the right to hold oneself as one’s own value by achieving one’s own moral perfection.” Similar considerations apply to Objectivist views on justice, moral judgment, and punishment. Judging other people’s actions, Ellis argues, is useful and necessary, but the Objectivist practice of passing judgment on people themselves is invalid and destructive. Throughout the book, Ellis criticizes the absolutistic manner in which morality is discussed in Objectivist literature. He points out numerous passages in which it is flatly asserted that man “must” live by moral principles, “must” avoid contradictions, “must” respect others’ rights, et cetera., as if these were categorical imperatives. There are no policies one "must" follow, Ellis insists; there are only guidelines that help one to increase one's chances for happiness. (Probably Ayn Rand would agree with him on this; he is probably criticizing only her formulations, not the substance of her actual views. Still, the formulations are dangerously misleading.) Also of interest are Ellis' comments on ritualism, unrealism, intolerance of opposing views, "antibiological" attitudes, deification, and antiempiricism in Objectivist theory. All these discussions are of a very mixed nature, but they all include useful insights. Documentation is always provided. Ellis' final chapter, an account of a 1967 debate between himself and Nathaniel Branden on "Rational-Emotive Psychotherapy vs. Objectivist Psychology," provides a dramatic concretization of his whole case. The Objectivists who attended that debate, Ellis states, exhibited such a degree of dogmatism and moralistic intolerance as to prove themselves "one of the most irrational, unscientific, puerile, people-condemning, and devoutly religious groups that now exist." Here, as in the rest of the book, Ellis surely exaggerates. _Is Objectivism a Religion?_ cannot be taken as a balanced, or even particularly accurate, critique of Ayn Rand's philosophy. Read critically, however, it can be of considerable value. _Reviewed by Robert Masters / Psychology (319 Pages) / BFL Price $5.95_