Religion and Morality Theme Analysis

Ayn Rand was an atheist and believed that religion was contrary to reason and rationality, which she held in the highest regard. In The Fountainhead, Howard Roark is an atheist, too, but he experiences moments of almost spiritual rapture at the idea of human beings reaching their full potential, as exemplified by the Stoddard Temple that he builds as a paean to the human spirit. Rand describes Objectivism as a philosophy that focuses on “the concept of man as a heroic being,” and it is this heroism that the novel claims is worthy of worship. Religious notions of self-sacrifice and the benefits of suffering are portrayed as impediments to happiness and morality, and they are even more harmful when Toohey incorporates these ideas when preaching socialism. Rand argues that it is possible to lead an ethical life by focusing solely on one’s own potential and happiness, as exemplified by Roark.

Rand suggests that working on something one is passionate about and reaching the height of one’s potential is a sort of religious experience. Roark approaches his work with religious zeal and is in awe of the human spirit, which is what he makes the focus of the Stoddard Temple. Hopton Stoddard, his client, is a man who approaches religion “in the form of a bribe,” an attitude that Rand mocks—to atone for his various sins, Stoddard wants to build an interdenominational cathedral. Stoddard, on Toohey’s advice, tells Roark that he can tell he is a “profoundly religious man” just by looking at his buildings. Roark immediately agrees with him, because what he feels when he is working is something akin to religious rapture; Roark perceives doing his best work as a sort of religious act. When working on the Stoddard Temple, he constructs a building full of space and light, with a statue of a naked Dominique at its center to symbolize human heroism. Instead of constructing a place that inspires meekness and humility, Roark builds the temple as a celebration of humanity’s highest potential. When Stoddard finally sees it, he is shocked, and Toohey slams the building as “an insolent mockery of religion” since one can’t prostrate oneself in it. But to Roark, to prostrate himself would be a demeaning act he’d never stoop to, since his idea of religion is the exact opposite of prostration. 

When Dominique and Gail Wynand discuss how they feel when looking at the skyscrapers of the New York skyline, they, too, describe the experience as religious rapture. Wynand says it is “the thought that made them” and “the will of man made visible” that he thinks is worthy of worship. He mocks the “pilgrimages to some dank pesthole in a jungle” where people go to pay homage to “a crumbling temple” and a “leering stone monster.” It seems irrational that people would go there to find the sublime when it is laid out in front of them in the skyscrapers of New York. Just like Roark, they, too, believe that there is no external, spiritual power worthy of worship.

While Ellsworth Toohey preaches ideas that seem very similar to traditional Christianity—including the virtues of suffering and selflessness—he has incorporated these ideas into his socialist propaganda, which, according to Rand, is even more toxic than religion. At an early age, Toohey realized that he could manipulate people and prey on their insecurities by offering them his sympathy and praising their suffering. While he initially thought he would be a minister, at “the age of sixteen, Ellsworth lost interest in religion. He discovered socialism.” Compared to socialism, even religion is too egotistical for Toohey. He preaches that religion “[breeds] selfishness” since it emphasizes “the importance of the individual” and “the salvation of one’s own soul.” He pushes instead for complete selflessness—a loss of oneself in the masses.

Via Toohey’s scheming, Rand demonstrates that selflessness is impossible to achieve, and that people like Toohey use the idea as a means to gain control over people by humiliating them for failing to attain a supposedly perfect state of being. Roark also points out that by sympathizing with suffering, one views the sufferer from a pedestal and treats him or her with condescension. He says that the nature of altruism is to “wish to see others suffer” so a person may feel virtuous. Thus, Rand argues against not only Toohey’s socialist philosophy but also against ideas that are fundamental to most religious thought.

While Roark is a self-proclaimed atheist, he is nevertheless a very ethical person. His complete selfishness makes him unconcerned with people around him and immune to petty thoughts like jealousy and insecurity. For instance, when Roark wants to hire the sculptor Steven Mallory to make a statue for the Stoddard Temple, he finds that Mallory has no money or work. Mallory had tried to shoot Toohey, an incident that was followed by a much-publicized court case, after which he hasn’t gotten any commissions. Roark doesn’t care about this, only believing that Mallory has talent and that he therefore should make the statue. Mallory sobs, seeing in Roark “the calmest, kindest face—a face without a hint of pity. It did not look like the countenance of men who watch the agony of another with a secret pleasure[.]” Thus, Roark’s selfishness makes him a moral person, since he does not feel superior to Mallory when he encounters him in pain. Similarly, when Keating asks for Roark’s help with the Cortlandt project and Roark agrees, Keating says that if the situation were reversed, he would have behaved despicably. He tells Roark that he is “the most egotistical and the kindest man” he knows, which seems like an anomaly to Keating because he thinks one can’t be egotistical and kind at the same time. Roark explains that since he is so egotistical, he doesn’t compare himself with anyone. Since he doesn’t feel superior to anyone, he isn’t condescending, and since he doesn’t feel inferior either, he isn’t insecure.

Through Roark, Rand insists that to be truly ethical, one must reject traditional religious (and socialist) teachings that value selflessness and suffering. According to her, selfishness is the path to an ethical life.