From It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand, by Jerome Tuccille:
Shortly afterward, it became known that Rothbard’s wife, Joey, was a devout Protestant, a practicing Christian who actually believed that faith and altruism had a positive moral value. When the last tremors caused by this revelation finally faded away, a pall of silence fell over the living room. There was a Christian in the house. Not a renegade Christian who acknowledged the sins of her past and was ready to make amends for them. Not an apostate Christian who had forever forsaken the principles to which she formerly adhered. But a real, live, breathing Protestant who admitted belief in the existence of a Supreme Being! A heretic such as this was occupying the armchair in Ayn Rand’s living room. And was married to one of Rand’s most gifted protégés, no less, who now sat beside her with a look of villainous unconcern on his face.Well, if Murray Rothbard’s wife was a Christian there could only be one logical explanation of it: she had obviously never read Ayn Rand’s proof that a Supreme Being does not, did not, will not, and could not exist. Ever.Branden hustled her into an adjoining room and sat her down at a desk with a handful of Rand’s anti-God essays. Joey, relieved to be out of earshot of all this talk of second-handers and floating concepts, pored over the pamphlets while the meeting continued in the other room. When she completed her assignment and returned to the gathering, the drone of conversation suddenly stopped and she found herself skewered by some twenty pairs of drilling eyes.Branden took the initiative. “Well?”“I found it all very interesting, Nathan.”“She found it very interesting,” Branden repeated the information to the others at no extra charge. “Anything elze?”“The arguments are very good, but I’m still not an atheist if that’s what you’re getting at.”Rand decided to take over. This was unquestionably a matter that demanded her personal intervention. “You haf read ze proofs?”“They’re all very good and throught-provoking, Ayn. But you don’t shake a lifetime of religious faith with a few articles. I’ll have to think about it for a while.”“You haf read ze proofs and you ztill inzist on wallowing in your mindless myztizizm? Faith is irrational which means…”“Which means zat faith is immoral,” said Branden.“Which means it is anti-life,” said Peikoff.“Which means it is anti-man,” said Hessen.“Which means it is anti…anti…” said Barbara Branden, searching for a suitable phrase.“Enoff!” said Rand, clapping her hands. “Zere has been enoff zmall talk for vun night. Do you haf anymore questions to ask me?”This was the signal that the meeting was adjourned for the night. No. No one had any questions. Ayn was getting a headache. It was time for everyone to go home.
A few minutes of reading arguments should be enough to change your mind completely! You haf read ze proofs, yes? Her “philosophy” makes so much more sense when you realize that her understanding of basic human psychology was a couple millimeters deep. And yet you can still find otherwise intelligent people who credit a master of nuanced psychological insight like Nietzsche with being an influence on her (admittedly a minor point in an overall excellent article, but still).