Is Paul Ryan a closet atheist?

[RogueBeaver]

Hell no.

[Supersonic]

-facepalm-

He is a devout Catholic. Just being a fan of Ayn Rand doesn't mean you're automatically an atheist.

[Yelnoc]

Hell no.

Why are you defending him so vehemently?

[Maxwell]

I love that people still think that Obama isn't a christian... The church he belongs to is WACKY, so I highly doubt that he is anything but a christian. Same with Ryan. You can enjoy Ayn Rands philosphy on free markets, but still not feel her in terms of religion.

[Themistocles18]

Umm...no.  I've watched interviews with Ryan where he quoted papal encyclicals.  As you can imagine, this is something atheists aren't wont to do. 

[mondale84]

This is how I rank the candidates in terms of most religious to least:

1. Romney
2. Biden
3. Ryan
4. Obama

That being said, I think that the last two are fairly non-religious. Like most Americans, religion is a thing they "do" not something that they are part of or is part of them.

[All Along The Watchtower]

I love that people still think that Obama isn't a christian... The church he belongs to is WACKY, so I highly doubt that he is anything but a christian. Same with Ryan. You can enjoy Ayn Rands philosphy on free markets, but still not feel her in terms of religion.

Oh?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I love that people still think that Obama isn't a christian... The church he belongs to is WACKY, so I highly doubt that he is anything but a christian. Same with Ryan. You can enjoy Ayn Rands philosphy on free markets, but still not feel her in terms of religion.

Oh?

I think he's referring to Wright's church, which Obama doesn't belong to anymore. I believe Wright's church was technically UCC (albeit not the kind of UCC you find most anywhere else), and I don't think anybody in their right mind would characterize the UCC as a whole as 'wacky'.

[All Along The Watchtower]

I love that people still think that Obama isn't a christian... The church he belongs to is WACKY, so I highly doubt that he is anything but a christian. Same with Ryan. You can enjoy Ayn Rands philosphy on free markets, but still not feel her in terms of religion.

Oh?

I think he's referring to Wright's church, which Obama doesn't belong to anymore. I believe Wright's church was technically UCC (albeit not the kind of UCC you find most anywhere else), and I don't think anybody in their right mind would characterize the UCC as a whole as 'wacky'.

Ah, well, I don't find most of what Wright said in his infamous sermons objectionable.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I love that people still think that Obama isn't a christian... The church he belongs to is WACKY, so I highly doubt that he is anything but a christian. Same with Ryan. You can enjoy Ayn Rands philosphy on free markets, but still not feel her in terms of religion.

Oh?

I think he's referring to Wright's church, which Obama doesn't belong to anymore. I believe Wright's church was technically UCC (albeit not the kind of UCC you find most anywhere else), and I don't think anybody in their right mind would characterize the UCC as a whole as 'wacky'.

Ah, well, I don't find most of what Wright said in his infamous sermons objectionable.

I find some of it objectionable but 'wacky' is still not one of the words I'd use. It's clearly within a recognizable Christian theological tradition.

Apparently Obama's current minister and confessor is a nondenominational Navy chaplain.

[Stranger in a strange land]

It's impossible to believe in Objectivism without rejecting the entire meaning of Christianity: not only is Jesus's moral teaching totally incompatible with Objectivism, but His self-sacrifice to redeem humanity for it's sins is even more so. A political movement that claims to follow both Ayn Rand and Jesus of Nazareth is eventually going to have to face up to the contradiction.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I don't care.

[BaldEagle1991]

I love that people still think that Obama isn't a christian... The church he belongs to is WACKY, so I highly doubt that he is anything but a christian. Same with Ryan. You can enjoy Ayn Rands philosphy on free markets, but still not feel her in terms of religion.

Oh?

I think he's referring to Wright's church, which Obama doesn't belong to anymore. I believe Wright's church was technically UCC (albeit not the kind of UCC you find most anywhere else), and I don't think anybody in their right mind would characterize the UCC as a whole as 'wacky'.

Ah, well, I don't find most of what Wright said in his infamous sermons objectionable.

I find some of it objectionable but 'wacky' is still not one of the words I'd use. It's clearly within a recognizable Christian theological tradition.

Apparently Obama's current minister and confessor is a nondenominational Navy chaplain.

Who is he? I don't really think he's that much Christian anymore, perhaps Agnostic.

[J. J.]

Isn't Obama usually keeping his religious beliefs in the closet, usually praying in one while facing Mecca? 

A little bit more seriously.  I would argue that Christianity, and Judaism, were initially more of a community based religion.  They were more about the community than the individual.    That had largely changed, even for Judaism prior to 70 AD, where it became a personal religion.  It went from the community being Christian or Jewish, to the individual being Christian or Jewish.

You can argue that Rand was very strongly opposed to the community aspect of anything, but I would not call it in conflict with Christianity (or Judaism) as the have been practiced since the First Century AD.