[arderkrag]

I know that many Christians read Rand and want to stand up and cheer, but at the same time are racked with guilt because of her atheism and decidedly anti-church professions.

Anti-church? Hardly. Anti-organized, dogmatic institutions, regardless of origin? Absolutely.

[Jim W N]

Rand was right -- reason is our only absolute, because Reason is God Himself.

I've only read your article here and haven't seen this movie, but I would argue that Rand is not necessarily correct in this statement. As Aquinas, Coke, Blackstone, and others discussed, there are various types of reason and not all are tied to godly reason. Reason is a subset of God. You could say reason is a subset of truth. You could also say reason is a subset of faith. Reason is not absolute, but God Himself, of course, is.

Oswald Chambers has said (sans my additions in italics), Reason without faith is rationalism (what we have a great deal of today) and faith without reason is fanaticism. God's life is not without reason, of course, but His life reaches beyond the comprehension of our reason where only faith can go. We ultimately walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7) and are to trust in the Lord with all of our heart and lean not to our own understanding (Prov 3:5). So reason is our servant, not our master, and certainly not "absolute" because our reason is fallible and can be exercised apart from God Himself. We are to be ultimately ruled by God Himself, not by our reason.

[Hoffer Rand]

Anti-church? Hardly. Anti-organized, dogmatic institutions, regardless of origin? Absolutely.

Good distinction. Same thing may be said of Eric Hoffer. Have you read Hoffer's "The True Believer"? He discusses this very thing.