“There are a number of things I don’t approve of about Ayn Rand—first of all that her objectivist philosophy requires atheism.”
Exactly. Many Christians love Ayn Rand while completely disagreeing with her on certain key issues.
I like to think of it this way: On federal policy and government, I am at least 95 percent in agreement with Rand, except that I am pro life. In particular, it’s scary to read bits of Atlas Shrugged in light of the current administration’s addition to regulation, vague statues, extraordinary power to government and quasi-government employees, etc.
On local government, I am closer to 80 percent in agreement.
For my personal relationships, I am about 50 percent in agreement, maybe less.
On my relationship with God, I have zero agreement.
There are no "requirements" other than rational thinking to Objectivism. Ayn Rand [and I'm a big fan] has or had no right or ability to insist on blind belief in every word she spoke. Now, she was quite the egotist and probably would have liked that, but, still, she couldn't enforce it.
I disagree sharply with Rand on a couple issues -- issues where I believe her personal feelings overcame her objective reasoning [abortion is one of those.] Nonetheless it's no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater, as they say.
Philosophy should teach you how to think, not what to think.
I think that's probably not true. I don't think Rand would care about your relationship with God any more than she would care about anything else you did that didn't violate the freedom of others. She might find your beliefs peculiar, but in the final analysis would recognize that her opinion of your religion didn't really matter.
Hank