They turn against Catholicism

Ayn Rand is in several respects a typical Jew and Objectivism a typical Jewish philosophy. First, her radical defense of individualism. Second, her rebellion against all forms of authority (except her own as she was quite an authoritarian and intolerant person). Third, her radical rationalism. Fourth, her admiration for material achievements in life. Fifth, her sense of living in a ghetto: she formed a group of intellectuals called The Collective, most of them Jews (former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan included) who saw themselves as revealing the truth to the World in the face of generalized hostility towards them.

However, the most interesting aspect of Rand's Jewishness has to do with her atheism. Having been born in a Jewish family, at the age of sixteen she wrote in her diary that she had decided to become an atheist. Indeed, she remained a self proclaimed atheist for the rest of her life. As with all converts, she actually would become ferociously anti-religious in her adult life.

The interesting point is the following. If this conversion to atheism had occured, say, with a Portuguese person born in a Catholic family, her anti-religious sentiments would have been directed against the Catholic Church, the Pope and the priests, Catholic sanctuaries and miracles. Do not expect the same from Jews. When they become atheists, usually they do not turn against Judaism. They turn against Catholicism. Ayn Rand was no exception.