1960 Was a Long, Long Time Ago

Reading Before the Storm, Rick Perlstein's book on the 1964 Goldwater campaign. Perlstein describes (p. 106) the founding meeting of Young Americans for Freedom in September 1960. The most contentious issue at that meeting was whether the group's manifesto should mention God. The attendees split, 44-40 on that point (in favor of mentioning God). The 40 on the short end were largely atheists and agnostics.

Read that again. At a conservative meeting, almost half of the attendees were non-believers! I wonder what the ratio is today?

Now almost certainly, those atheists were hardcore Randians. Are those people still atheists? Do they still consider themselves conservatives? Maybe Wilson can shed some light on this question?