[OldNavyVet]

"Without the church and the family, there is no conservative movement..."

Familly OK, but ... Church?

Ayn Rand acolytes are essentially near-perfect conservatives, and most of them have no ties to any religion.

[circlecity]

"Ayn Rand acolytes are essentially near-perfect conservatives, and most of them have no ties to any religion."

A corrupt "near perfect conservative" is just as deadly as near perfect liberal. And we are all corrupt. There must be a transcendent ethic to hold a people togeather. History tells us that the Randian ideal more often comes in form of Nietzsche's Ubermensch than as Hank Reardon. Nihilism is the only alternative to Theism. There's no way around it.

[donna]

Ayn Rand had a religion:

Ayn Rand said:
I am done with the monster of “we,” the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: “I.”

Lucifer said:
Isaiah 14:14
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.