"There is a great, basic contradiction in the teachings of Jesus."

"There is a great, basic contradiction in the teachings of Jesus. Jesus was one of the first great teachers to proclaim the basic principle of individualism--the inviolate sanctity of man's soul, and the salvation of one's soul as one's first concern and highest goal; this means one's ego and the integrity of one's ego. But when it came to the next question, a code of ethics to observe for the salvation of one's soul--(this means: what must one do in actual practice in order to save one's soul?)--Jesus (or perhaps His interpreters) gave men a code of altruism, that is, a code which told them that in order to save one's soul, one must love or help or live for others. This means, the subordination of one's soul (or ego) to the wish-es, desires or needs of others, which means the subordination of one's soul to the souls of others.

"This is a contradiction that cannot be resolved. This is why men have never succeeded in applying Christianity in practice, while they have preached it in theory for two thousand years. The reason of their failure was not men's natural depravity or hypocrisy, which is the superficial (and vicious) explanation usually given. The reason is that a contradiction cannot be made to work. That is why the history of Christianity has been a continuous civil war both literally (between sects and nations), and spiritually (within each man's soul).

"The solution? We have a choice. Either we accept the basic principle of Jesus—the pre-eminence of one's own soul—and define a new code of ethics consistent with it (a code of Individualism). Or we accept altruism and the basic principle which it implies—the conception of man as a sacrificial animal, whose purpose is service to others, to the herd (which is what you may see in Europe right now [at the end of a World War]—and which is certainly not what Jesus intended)....

"One may approach my philosophy from either one of two angles. If we assume that man was created by God, then man must live on earth according to his nature and to the rational faculty which God gave him as his distinguishing attribute and his only means of survival. Therefore, accepting an Individualist code of ethics, one would carry out God’s will and be a truly religious and moral person. Or we may assume that there is no God, that all we know is that we are men, we are here on earth, and it is up to us to enjoy it or to destroy ourselves. Then we still must live according to our nature and our rational faculty, and accept the highest perfection of man (defined by our reason) as our standard of morality. My code of ethics will apply and will hold in either case."

~ Ayn Rand in a letter to a fan, July 9, 1946, collected in Ayn Rand Letters