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FROM NOVELIST TO PHILOSOPHER, 1944–1957
was characteristically direct, telling him in her thick Russian accent, “You
arrh too eentelligent to bihleef in Gott!!” 17 Buckley was both amused and
offended. He sought the advice of other libertarians, including Isabel
Paterson, as he pulled together National Review, the fl agship magazine
of American conservatism, but Rand became one of his favorite targets.
Rand was not the only libertarian to reject the new supremacy of
religion. The combination of conservatism, capitalism, and Christianity
was a virtual hornet’s nest on the right, sparking battles in the pages of
FEE’s The Freeman and among members of the Mont Pelerin Society. 18
By decade’s end secular libertarianism would be overshadowed by the
religious New Conservatism, but it never disappeared altogether. Rand
and those she once sought as allies testifi ed to its continued vitality.
Rand’s opposition to religion grew stronger as she wrote Atlas
Shrugged. The book originally included a priest, Father Amadeus, among
the strikers. He would be her “most glamorized projection of a Thomist
philosopher,” a character who would “show theoretically the best that
could be shown about a man who is attracted to religion by morality.”
Over the course of the story she intended Amadeus to realize the evil of
forgiveness, and in an important scene he would go on strike by refusing
to pardon one of her villains. Eventually Rand decided that the priest
undermined her larger points about rationality. All of the other fi gures
were taken from honorable professions that she wished to celebrate.
Including a priest in this company would be tantamount to endorsing
religion. She cut Father Amadeus from the novel. 19
Despite the disappointments of Read, Lane, and Paterson, when she
fi rst returned to New York Rand was still interested in fi nding “reactionary”
friends. Her California activism and years of letter writing kept her
fi rmly embedded in multiple libertarian networks. Now she was again an
active presence on the New York scene. Newly cautious in her approach,
Rand eschewed formal organizations or partnerships. Never again would
she fi nd herself “committed to any idea that [she] didn’t believe in.”
Instead she would be part of “a common intellectual front in an informal
way.” 20 Through her work for HUAC Rand had met J. B. Matthews,
a dedicated anti-Communist who assisted Congressman Martin Dies
and Senator Joseph McCarthy in their hunt for subversive Americans.
Matthews included Rand in numerous conservative dinners and parties.
At these events she met a group analogous to her Willkie associates. In
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