I think you may be stretching here a little. Realizing that you have been an idiot and that your actions are coming back to haunt you is not confined to a religious context. It might happen more often to religious people and less often to nonreligious people, but that does not support a direct link between the two.
Agreed. As an example, it is not necessary to be religious, or even a theist, as I am not, to observe the existence of self-awareness, and from that a conscience, as separating humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. The Garden of Eden and the Fruit of the Tree are simply pretty allegories presented to describe the supposed origin of that fact.
Sometimes I think we try too hard to find cracks in Rand's atheism, by showing her use of allegories similar to those of the Bible and the New Testament. If we accept those, as I do, as instructional arguments, why should we be surprised when another writer uses the same techniques?
Kirk