When asked about religion, Rand said: "Faith, as such, is extremely detrimental to human life: it is the negation of reason. But you must remember that religion is an early form of philosophy, that the first attempts to explain the universe, to give a coherent frame of reference to man's life and a code of moral values, were made by religion, before men graduated or developed enough to have philosophy. And, as philosophies, some religions have very valuable moral points. They may have a good influence or proper principles to inculcate, but in a very contradictory context and, on a very - how should I say it? - dangerous or malevolent base: on the ground of faith. "

I think that pretty much sums up the common ground for me. Objectivism and Christianity both teach "valuable moral points", but Christianity abandons reason and logic in favor of faith.

That said, this book may be of value to non-Objectivist in showing them that the main stream media perception of demonizing Objectivism is false and why.

This is a needed book. One of the most frequent excuses people have toward Objectivism is that they believe they must be anti-God to understand the philosophy. There is a lot to be learned from religion and comparitive mythology that is very important. Although Objectivism says that you cannot just blindly have faith in something that defies reason, it does not mean that there isn't important aspects of the Bible and in religion generally, to learn from. Those who are most likely to enjoy the philosophy of Ayn Rand are also the same type of people who often find value in Bible stories, which is why both the Bible and Atlas Shrugged are two of the most popular books on the market over time. I'm glad somebody finally wrote this book.

I'll add it to my reading list.

Awesome.
I seem to have encountered someone of similar thinking. He calls himself The Christian Egoist, and his blog is all about how Christianity and Ayn Rand's philosophy are more aligned than you might guess. Not by compromise, but by a singular truth that both current 'interpretations' touch on.

I am still learning about his ideas but I want to share this here since it seems relevant and I'm curious to know what Objectivists and Christians alike think of this.

Perhaps the original 'Atlas' is...God? What do you think of his reasoning? He is a Christian who despises altruism and irrational faith. Check it out!

http://thechristianegoist.wordpress.com/...