In the introduction to Anthem, Leonard Peikoff states, "She was claiming for man and his ego the sacred respect that is actually due not to Heaven, but ot life on earth. An anthem to the ego is blasphemy to the pious, because it implies that reverence pertains not to God, but to man, and above all, to that fundamental and inherently selfish thing within him that enables him to deal with reality and survive." This passage means that Anthem's use of biblical symbolism really intends to mock religion. In Ayn Rand's Anthem, Prometheus and Gaea's expulsion from society mirrors the banishment of Adam and Eve