He wrote: “Ayn Rand has no place for mercy whereas Christianity has mercy at its heart.”… This is a scurrilous, false accusation. Rand did not include mercy as a value or a virtue because it is neither. Merriam Webster defines “Mercy” as leniency shown to an offender wheras Rand defines Justice as getting what one deserves meaning punishment or making restitution which is in conflict with the idea of not being punished which means mercy cannot be a value or a virtue to be worked towards or achieved. Certainly one can forgo punishment and have mercy on an offender but a philosophy needs to identify fundamentals, not secondary consequences. Her 7 virtues were: Rationality; Independence; Integrity; Honesty; Justice; Productiveness, and Pride based on her values which were: Reason, Purpose and Self-Esteem. Mercy is nowhere to be found. That does not mean there is no such thing as mercy, only that Mercy is not a Virtue or a Value but Clergyman John Piper disagrees and finds his entire religion is based on a non-value and a non-virtue.
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