An Ayn Rand Diversion

OK, a little break from the nws of the day, and a point that's been rattling around in my brain for a few days:

Ayn Rand is a mid-20th century novelist and philosopher, much revered by many on the Right.  She was the leader of a movement at that time called Objectivism, which as I understand it posited that morality should not be based on traditional religion, but rather people should do what benefits themselves without regard to others.  From the Ayn Rand Institute:

1. Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.
2. Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses) is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
3. Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
4. The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man’s rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders. In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.

As you can see, religion, Christianity or otherwise, doesn't get any emphasis here.  In fact, this philosophy seems completely antithetical to Christianity with its emphasis on charity to the poor and loving one's enemies.  Which makes it so puzzling that the Randian philosophy has taken hold so strongly with politicians from the Republican party.  Paul Ryan is said to be a strong devotee, as is Newt Gingrich.  Both also claim to be Christians, espousing strong pro-Life abortion views based on their beliefs in God.

There's just no way to square this circle.  Ayn Rand was an atheist.  She was actively hostile to the ideas of Jesus and pretty much any other religion.

I'm not a Christian either, so I'm not offended by any of this.  But the extent to which the Evangelical Christian Right has been sullied by support in the churches for government policies that are the exact opposite of the teachings of Jesus is just staggering.  By their strong support for two pieces of their agenda (abortion and gay rights), Republicans have pulled this whole community over to an economic philosophy that a Christian theologian would never countenance.