The Nature of Mathematical Genius.

In the book, _The Poincare Conjecture:  In Search of the Shape of the Universe_ by Donal O'Shea the author describes the commonly understood notion of mathematical genius.  Here, the romantic notion of mathematical genius is of the solitary genius heroically wrestling understanding from an uncaring cosmos. While this may not apply to many modern mathematical discoveries which were made "upon the shoulders of giants", this "great man" view of history is the traditional perspective.  As is, it applies to Grigori Perelman who was able to prove the Poincare Conjecture.  This is the finest the human species has to offer for this era.

The Relationship of String Theory to Medieval Theology.

Modern string theory has been related to medieval theology in that it poses the possibility of multiple universes.  We may see this as the rise of a new "ironic science".  Sheldon Glashow opposes string theory for this reason and claims that it is a tumor on the larger body of physics.  Other instances of ironic science may be seen in relativistic theories of worm holes and time travel and applications of Godel's results to scientific theories.  Stanley Jaki maintains that Godel's theorems show the futility of providing a universal self contained theory of everything or final theory.  Murray Gell-Mann echoed these claims but only after he had been shown this by Jaki which Jaki maintains he was later to deny.  Other instances of ironic science involve the understanding of consciousness by Roger Penrose, various applications of artificial intelligence, and in particular the theories of Ray Kurzweil regarding a singularity.  In particular, the "simulation theory" is in accordance with classical medieval metaphysics or the notion of a "brain in a vat".  Other instances include the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the transfinite numbers of Cantor, modal logic, and the possible worlds of David Lewis.

The Brave New World of Science and Religion.

In a strange twist of fate a new synthesis of science and religion has been made possible.  Schools such as Caltech and MIT once traditional bastions of scientific empiricism and materialism are now offering courses on Bible study and courses on robotics and God.  The relationship between religion and science has always been a conflicted one but now it appears that religion has broken through into these prestigious science institutions where it had been absent since the nineteenth century in this brave new world.
I question some of this account however because when I was at Caltech I remember a strong Christian presence on campus.  Many of the students and especially some of the Asians (among whom Christianity appears to be growing) were strong Christians.  Also, at the founding of Caltech prominent members like Robert Milikan were actually Christians.

The Witch Mania.

The European Middle Ages witnessed the rise of the witch mania resulting in various forms of persecution for witchcraft.  The truth of these claims was often dubious, though in recent times similar claims regarding interaction with demons and the Devil have been substantiated.  During this time various missives appeared alleging that the witch craze constituted a return to a period of darkness and attempted to shine light on the reality of the world.

Jaki's Comments on Human Consciousness and Computers.

Stanley Jaki in his book _Brains, Mind, and Computers_ considers the role of computers in understanding the brain but argues against physicalism and the notion of artificial intelligence.

One interesting consideration of Jaki's is the idea of David Hartley that W = F^2/L meaning that the magnitude of man's love of the world W is indicated by the relative strength of F man's fear of God and man's love of God L.  Jaki rewrites this as L = W X F^2 to show that man's love of  God is the product of man's love of the world and man's fear of God showing a contradiction.

Jaki also considers the role of computers and maintains that Godel's incompleteness results show that it is always possible for the human mind to "out-Godel" a machine by constructing a Godel sentence.  This demonstrates that human intelligence and the human mind cannot be reduced to mechanical algorithm.   This result was first discussed by Lucas.

Jaki considers the role of a series of intelligent machines each designing another intelligent machine.  Jaki maintains that such shows the necessity of a First Designer or an Undesigned Designer arguing in lines with Aristotle's and Aquinas's argument for an uncaused cause.

Cosmism and "Cosmic Loneliness".

Bertrand Russell describes philosophy as a means of alleviating "cosmic loneliness" in his _History of Western Philosophy_.  Indeed this cosmic loneliness was long revealed to man from his earliest existence in the wild of brute savagery.  It was long recognized that it was impossible to leave the earth, and until the voyages of Columbus and the explorers it was even believed that nothing existed beyong the oceans.  Pascal was horrified by the thought of wide open spaces filled with the void and thus sought solace in religion and mysticism.  Modern thought sees little hope for alleviating man's cosmic loneliness as revealed by his place in the universe.

Mysticism as a Natural State.

Mysticism can be understood in many respects as a union of the soul or mind with the Absolute, the Universe, the One, the All, Being, or God.  This may be felt as cosmic feeling of oneness, as a blissful "oceanic feeling" at the source of all Being.  This may be understood in terms of immanence and transcendence in the forms of animism, pantheism, panentheism, and divine union.  In quantum mechanics, there exists an interaction between the observer and the wave function.  This interaction indicates an interaction between consciousness and the universe at some fundamental level.  This interaction may be seen in the revelation of the universe to the human being through the Divine Source of all Being.  The prevalence of true mystical systems, as opposed to false mysticism seen in illusionism and nihilism, indicate a further development and unfolding of the universe.  The heat death of the universe my be understood in this manner as man achieves greater mystical awareness until the entire universe becomes a conscious entity.

Psychedelic Drug Use, the Mind, and Society.

The rise of a drug culture, and in particular the rise of conciousness expanding drugs, as it existed and developed in the 1960s signified a decline in the civilization of Western society.  In primitive societies, drug use had been common and the shaman served as the vehicle by which drugs were made available to society at large.  With drug use came a drug culture, a sort of hedonic version of asceticism.  This further indicates a case of cultural decline.

Existentialism as Final Philosophy.

The rise of existentialism and the philosophy of consciousness and possibility serves to indicate the development of a final philosophy.  This can be seen in the degradation of the world order through the process of entropy.  Primitive philosophy sought to understand the universe in terms of cosmic essences.   Existentialism maintains that existence is final and precedes essence.  This indicates a nihilisic approach to the universe and offers the final philosophy of the end of time, the end of history, the rise of socialism and the decline of man, and the heat death of the universe.

Have Scientists Ever Burned Anyone At the Stake?

I recently saw a remark made by an atheist that scientists had never burned anyone at the stake, that this was only done by the religious.  I question this remark.  It is quite strange to see modern "scientists" expressing a militant atheism and exclusionary philosophy.  Why are "scientists" engaged in protesting and political action.  Have scientists ever burned anyone at the stake?  I am not sure if historically they have (though I suspect it quite possible), but they certainly may in the future.

The Abuse and Persecution of Insanity.

Throughout history there have been various persecutions carried out by authority figures against dissidents and heretics.  Perhaps the best known persecutions carried out by authority figures were those made against heretics and witches in the early medieval period.  The witch craze was continued in the United States when puritans singled out women as witches to be tried.  In the United States persecutions were pursued in the twentieth century first against communists and anarchists in the Red scare, then against fascists in the Brown scare, and again against communists under McCarthyism.  In any society, various individuals may adopt postures counter to the prevailing trends and customs.  Often these individuals are eccentrics and often harmless though quite frequently harrassed.  Mental illness has become a defined concept and eccentrics are frequently labelled as mentally ill if their behaviors become inappropriate.  For example, Ezra Pound was to engage in acts of treason against the United States  government in his support for Fascism under Mussolini.  For this he was determined to be insane.  Too often then, insanity is used simply as a way to get rid of dissidents as opposed to a clinical definition rooted in biological disorder.

In recent times a new coalition has formed that advocates liberalism.  All American institutions are liberal and the establishment is liberal.  To be part of the establishment is to be considered a liberal.  However, in modern times individuals who dissent from the establishment are now persecuted and labelled insane.   Some of this persecution exists in the form of sensitivity training especially against racists or those who do not adhere to a liberal principle.  The religious are now an especial target for being labelled insane as their beliefs are claimed to be un-scientific. Science has taken up a new persecutory zeal against "pseudo-science" which it has done ever since it became codified and professionalized but has recently continued to do.

Ironically, however, one group remains immune to the charge of insanity and that is homosexuals.  While during the Victorian era homosexuality was a crime, leading to many famous trials including those of Oscar Wilde, today homosexuality has become normified behavior.  During the Victorian era homosexuals such as Wilde were daring aesthetes, today too often they are bland and boring individuals who make excessive demands upon the heterosexual majority.  Today's homosexuals are armed with a vindictive agenda of victimization, especially against Christians in that they see Christianity as the principle obstacle to their agenda.  Today's homosexual lobby is powerful and even the president of the United States, the U.S. military, and important leaders in business including the CEO of Goldman Sachs are now homosexual advocates.  In older times homosexuality was seen as immoral and sinful.  This was replaced by the view that homosexuals were mentally ill which existed until the 1970s when under pressure from homosexual lobbies, homosexuality was purged from the list of mental illnesses.  Today, not homosexuality but homophobia is seen as the mental illness.  This shows the increasing strain trends have posed and the gradual decline of society under liberalism as today's culture reflects a bizarre liberal ideation.  Ironically, then it is not homosexuals which are seen as mentally ill but rather the outside society and especially Christians in today's society.

One group that is never considered is solitaries or single heterosexuals.  These individuals are by far the most hated of all groups and frequently condemned to insanity for no reason at all.

The Conflict Between Science and Religion.

The conflict between science and religion is best exemplified in recent times in the desecration of the Catholic church made by the biologist P Z Myers of the University of Minnesota.  Myers was able through theft to obtain a consecrated host from a Catholic church.  In an attempted effort to show that the consecration is not a true reality, Myers attempted to damage the host.  This spawned a widespread outrage from Catholic groups and even led to some death threats against Myers.  This illustrates the continuing conflict between some prominent atheists and religious groups.  It should be noted that Myers intends only to bring down Christianity and especially the Catholic church as that is the principle article of his ire.  He has little intention of attacking Jewish, Islamic, or other groups which also adhere to a non-materialist worldview.  Atheists such as Myers claim to speak for all of science in their demands that one follow a materialist worldview.  It should be noted that many of these prominent atheists are in fact evolutionary biologists and that their careers hinge on the validity of the Darwin theory.  Their attacks on religious groups (especially on religious believers who often are minding their own business) are disturbing in that they show that the two worldviews of materialism and non-materialism can no longer operate in seperate sectors of society but now must bleed into one another.  Materialists and atheists have long accused religionists (and especially their favorite bugbear "the religious right" and "fundamentalists") of playing an undo part in government.  This melding of religion and the state is seen to be disturbing.  (It should be noted that one question that needs to be asked is whether or not religion and the state can ever be totally seperated).  However, now materialist and atheist groups also advocate through the state, often impingining on believers.  They demand that only the Darwin theory of evolution be taught in classrooms and no other (insisting that other alternatives such as Intelligent Design are in fact "cloaked creationism" only because they want to keep them out of schools).  They also demand that sex education become an important part of school curriculum despite the opposition of traditionalists and the religious.  Thus, it is becoming more and more apparent that the two worldviews cannot co-exist and that one must over-ride the other.  And increasingly it is becoming apparent that secularists are more miltant and demand their worldview over-ride all others in the United States.  In other nations it may be different, but the United States is witnessing an enormous decline in that the original population no longer occupies a position of prominence and is increasingly displaced by both minorities and elites who do not share the traditional worldview.

Anti-Semitism.

Anti-semitism has a long and ancient history going back to the time of Christ when the Sanhedrin ordered Christ be killed in exchange for the life of a thief.  Herod the Great a prime leader to the Jews was single handedly responsible in the ordering of the deaths of all the first born.  When Christ was crucified the Jews were cursed for having his blood be placed upon them.  From this time forth, Christians came to regard the Jews with suspicion for their role in the murder of Christ the deity.  A second cause of ancient anti-Semitism was the involvement of Jews in black magic, deviltry, demonolatry, and satanism.  This form of anti-Semitism was provoked by Jewish desecration of Christian images, Jewish devil worship, and the nefarious activities of the Kabbalists.  Along with witchcraft which was often linked with Jewish devil worship, this form of anti-Semitism proliferated throughout the middle ages.  Jews were seen as sorcerers who practised evil arts and were viewed as enemies of the Christian faith.  However, it was precisely because Jews were known to be sorcerers that kings and rulers often sought them out to serve in their courts as physicians, astrologers, and advisers.  This prompted a third form of anti-Semitism in which people viewed the Jews with suspicion because of their involvement with kings and rulers.  Further, Jews were seen as barbaric in their rites of purim and were frequently blamed for blood sacrifice, desecrating the host, and ritual murder which they often were involved in (especially in Eastern Europe and Eastern Germany).  Jews were related to ghouls and vampires, legends from Eastern Europe who haunted graveyards and conspired against the villagers.

Modern anti-Semitism began in accusations against Jews which took two forms.  First, it became clear that Jews were involved in radical activities and revolutionary movements.  This was seen especially in Russia as the ideas of German Jewish philosophers (such as Marx and also others) were brought into Russian society in an effort to overthrow the Russian tsar.  Jews were linked up with the Illuminati and other Freemasons who had been responsible for the French revolution and advocated anarchy against all earthly governments, kings, and popes.  Russian Jews came to embrace Bolshevism and posed as a new intelligentsia (given the natural Jewish intelligence).  Thus, Jews came to be seen as a driving force behind radicalism, socialism, and communism when they emerged and were seen this way especially by the Nazis and other right wing movements (even in America following the Second World War and during the Cold War).

A second reason for modern anti-Semitism concerned the involvement of Jews in finance and internationalism.  In the late medieval period, as Jews had come to play a new role in their involvement as advisers to kings and nobles it became clear that a certain group of Jews were coming to take on the characteristics of an elite caste.  In the late medieval period and throughout the Renaissance, gold came to take on an obsessive characteristic.  This was seen in Spain and Portugal especially in which gold became an obsession and monarchs commissioned voyagers to travel across oceans to obtain it.  In both these nations, Jews came to play an important role, but were persecuted by the church during the Spanish Inquisition.  This led many Jews to take on Christian names, some even joining the church or becoming priests and bishops to escape persecution.  These Jews became known as crypto-Jews or Marranos and hid themselves from religious persecution.  During the Renaissance in Italy, nobles became obsessed with gold and much gold was attained by the Vatican.  In the Crusades the Knights Templar had gone to the middle east and had come back with forbidden knowledge which they used to become involved in the banking industry.  In those days in Florence and Venice a merchant class began to appear and thus it became necessary for banking to evolve.  Jews of course were to play a principle role in the importance of banking.  In Europe, major Jewish families became involved in banking and finance.  One of the richest families to emerge from the middle ages was the Rothschild clan (which still continues to play some role in world affairs even in our day).  The Rothschilds moved to London and became rich through stoking the flames of war by betting on both sides (and were blamed for betting on both sides of the Franco-Prussian war).  London became a center of finance (and later New York City) and Jews were heavily involved in both sides in the financial sector.  During the First and Second world wars, populist opposition emerged to Jews in New York and London as it was claimed they were stoking the flames of war.  This populist and pacifist opposition to Jews sprang from an ancient tradition.  Many of these pacifists came to embrace the Nazis in their opposition to international Jewry.  Jews were seen as international conspirators who at once were heavily involved in finance and stoked wars by investing in both sides to be assured of winning through bloodshed as well as being involved in radical movements and communism in Russia.  Jews were blamed for killing the Russian tsar and creating a communist dictatorship in Russia.  Jews were also blamed for socialism and labour unrest during the heyday of industrial capitalism.

In the modern day, another form of anti-Semitism has arisen in that Jews are seen as having played a large role in the construction of nuclear weapons and thus as having played an important role in destroying the environment.  Radical environmentalists blamed Jewish physicists following the Second World War for bringing on nuclear catastrophe.  Further, the nation of Israel was deemed as harmful to world religions and cries against Zionism arose.  The Palestinians and other Arabs blamed the Jews for their troubles and Zionism was seen as a cause of world unrest and the source of war.

All of these forms of anti-Semitism may be seen in the modern world playing out.  Jews have long taken on a mythical nature in their claim to be God's Chosen people.  This mythical significance of the Jews is reflected in modern anti-Semitism which traces back to ancient times.

Famous Nobel Prize Winners, Scientists, Writers, and Philosophers Who Believed in God.

The following is a list of famous individuals who believed in God.  This list is intended to refute the arguments made by atheists of their intellectual superiority.

Albert Einstein	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Jewish
Max Planck	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Protestant
Erwin Schrodinger	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Catholic
Werner Heisenberg	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Lutheran
Robert Millikan	Nobel Laureate in Physics	probably Congregationalist
Charles Hard Townes	Nobel Laureate in Physics	United Church of Christ (raised Baptist)
Arthur Schawlow	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Methodist
William D. Phillips	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Methodist
William H. Bragg	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Anglican
Guglielmo Marconi	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Catholic and Anglican
Arthur Compton	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Presbyterian
Arno Penzias	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Jewish
Nevill Mott	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Anglican
Isidor Isaac Rabi	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Jewish
Abdus Salam	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Muslim
Antony Hewish	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Christian (denomination?)
Joseph H. Taylor, Jr.	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Quaker
Alexis Carrel	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Catholic
John Eccles	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Catholic
Joseph Murray	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Catholic
Ernst Chain	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Jewish
George Wald	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Jewish
Ronald Ross	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Christian (denomination?)
Derek Barton	Nobel Laureate in Chemistry	Christian (denomination?)
Christian Anfinsen	Nobel Laureate in Chemistry	Jewish
Walter Kohn	Nobel Laureate in Chemistry	Jewish
Richard Smalley	Nobel Laureate in Chemistry	Christian (denomination?)
PART II. Nobel Writers (20-21 Century)
T.S. Eliot	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Anglo-Catholic (Anglican)
Rudyard Kipling	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Anglican
Alexander Solzhenitsyn	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Russian Orthodox
François Mauriac	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Catholic
Hermann Hesse	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Christian; Buddhist?
Winston Churchill	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Anglican
Jean-Paul Sartre	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Lutheran; Freudian; Marxist; atheist; Messianic Jew
Sigrid Undset	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Catholic (previously Lutheran)
Rabindranath Tagore	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Hindu
Rudolf Eucken	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Christian (denomination?)
Isaac Singer	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Jewish
PART III. Nobel Peace Laureates (20-21 Century)
Albert Schweitzer	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Lutheran
Jimmy Carter	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Baptist (former Southern Baptist)
Theodore Roosevelt	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Dutch Reformed; Episcopalian
Woodrow Wilson	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Presbyterian
Frederik de Klerk	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Dutch Reformed
Nelson Mandela	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Christian (denomination?)
Kim Dae-Jung	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Catholic
Dag Hammarskjold	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Christian (denomination?)
Martin Luther King, Jr.	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Baptist
Adolfo Perez Esquivel	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Catholic
Desmond Tutu	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Anglican
John R. Mott	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Methodist
Part IV. Founders of Modern Science (16-21 Century)
Isaac Newton	Founder of Classical Physics and Infinitesimal Calculus	Anglican (rejected Trinitarianism, i.e., Athanasianism; believed in the Arianism of the Primitive Church)
Galileo Galilei	Founder of Experimental Physics	Catholic
Nicolaus Copernicus	Founder of Heliocentric Cosmology	Catholic (priest)
Johannes Kepler	Founder of Physical Astronomy and Modern Optics	Lutheran
Francis Bacon	Founder of the Scientific Inductive Method	Anglican
René Descartes	Founder of Analytical Geometry and Modern Philosophy	Catholic
Blaise Pascal	Founder of Hydrostatics, Hydrodynamics, and the Theory of Probabilities	Jansenist
Michael Faraday	Founder of Electronics and Electro-Magnetics	Sandemanian
James Clerk Maxwell	Founder of Statistical Thermodynamics	Presbyterian; Anglican; Baptist
Lord Kelvin	Founder of Thermodynamics and Energetics	Anglican
Robert Boyle	Founder of Modern Chemistry	Anglican
William Harvey	Founder of Modern Medicine	Anglican (nominal)
John Ray	Founder of Modern Biology and Natural History	Calvinist (denomination?)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz	German Mathematician and Philosopher, Founder of Infinitesimal Calculus	Lutheran
Charles Darwin	Founder of the Theory of Evolution	Anglican (nominal); Unitarian
Ernst Haeckel	German Biologist, the Most Influential Evolutionist in Continental Europe
Thomas H. Huxley	English Biologist and Evolutionist, Famous As "Darwin's Bulldog"
Joseph J. Thomson	Nobel Laureate in Physics, Discoverer of the Electron, Founder of Atomic Physics	Anglican
Louis Pasteur	Founder of Microbiology and Immunology	Catholic
Part V. Great Philosophers (17-21 Century)
Immanuel Kant	One of the Greatest Philosophers in the History of Western Philosophy	Lutheran
Jean-Jacques Rousseau	Founder of Modern Deism	born Protestant; converted as a teen to Catholic
Voltaire	French Philosopher and Historian, One of the Most Influential Thinkers of the Enlightenment	raised in Jansenism
David Hume	Scottish Empiricist Philosopher, Historian, and Economist, Founder of Modern Skepticism	Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)
Spinoza	Dutch-Jewish Philosopher, the Chief Exponent of Modern Rationalism	Judaism; later pantheism/deism
Giordano Bruno	Italian Philosopher, Astronomer, and Mathematician, Founder of the Theory of the Infinite Universe	Catholic
George Berkeley	Irish Philosopher and Mathematician, Founder of Modern Idealism, Famous as "The Precursor of Mach and Einstein"	Anglican
John Stuart Mill	English Philosopher and Economist, the Major Exponent of Utilitarianism	agnostic; Utilitarian
Richard Swinburne	Oxford Professor of Philosophy, One of the Most Influential Theistic Philosophers
PART VI. Other Religious Nobelists
60 more Nobel Prize winners are listed (32 scientists, 17 writers, 11 Nobel Nobel Peace Laureates)
PART VII. Nobelists, Philosophers, and Scientists on Jesus
Quotes by 16 individuals about their beliefs about Jesus - Alexis Carrel - Albert Einstein - Arthur Compton - Robert Millikan - Francois Mauriac - Sigrid Undset - T.S. Eliot - Mother Theresa - Albert Schweitzer - Theodore Roosevelt - Frederik de Klerk - John R. Mott - Kim Dae-Jung - Martin Luther King, Jr. - Jimmy Carter - Blaise Pascal

Albert Einstein	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Jewish
Max Planck	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Protestant
Erwin Schrodinger	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Catholic
Werner Heisenberg	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Lutheran
Robert Millikan	Nobel Laureate in Physics	probably Congregationalist
Charles Hard Townes	Nobel Laureate in Physics	United Church of Christ (raised Baptist)
Arthur Schawlow	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Methodist
William D. Phillips	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Methodist
William H. Bragg	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Anglican
Guglielmo Marconi	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Catholic and Anglican
Arthur Compton	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Presbyterian
Arno Penzias	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Jewish
Nevill Mott	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Anglican
Isidor Isaac Rabi	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Jewish
Abdus Salam	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Muslim
Antony Hewish	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Christian (denomination?)
Joseph H. Taylor, Jr.	Nobel Laureate in Physics	Quaker
Alexis Carrel	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Catholic
John Eccles	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Catholic
Joseph Murray	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Catholic
Ernst Chain	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Jewish
George Wald	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Jewish
Ronald Ross	Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology	Christian (denomination?)
Derek Barton	Nobel Laureate in Chemistry	Christian (denomination?)
Christian Anfinsen	Nobel Laureate in Chemistry	Jewish
Walter Kohn	Nobel Laureate in Chemistry	Jewish
Richard Smalley	Nobel Laureate in Chemistry	Christian (denomination?)
PART II. Nobel Writers (20-21 Century)
T.S. Eliot	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Anglo-Catholic (Anglican)
Rudyard Kipling	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Anglican
Alexander Solzhenitsyn	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Russian Orthodox
François Mauriac	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Catholic
Hermann Hesse	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Christian; Buddhist?
Winston Churchill	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Anglican
Jean-Paul Sartre	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Lutheran; Freudian; Marxist; atheist; Messianic Jew
Sigrid Undset	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Catholic (previously Lutheran)
Rabindranath Tagore	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Hindu
Rudolf Eucken	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Christian (denomination?)
Isaac Singer	Nobel Laureate in Literature	Jewish
PART III. Nobel Peace Laureates (20-21 Century)
Albert Schweitzer	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Lutheran
Jimmy Carter	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Baptist (former Southern Baptist)
Theodore Roosevelt	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Dutch Reformed; Episcopalian
Woodrow Wilson	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Presbyterian
Frederik de Klerk	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Dutch Reformed
Nelson Mandela	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Christian (denomination?)
Kim Dae-Jung	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Catholic
Dag Hammarskjold	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Christian (denomination?)
Martin Luther King, Jr.	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Baptist
Adolfo Perez Esquivel	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Catholic
Desmond Tutu	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Anglican
John R. Mott	Nobel Peace Prize Laureate	Methodist
Part IV. Founders of Modern Science (16-21 Century)
Isaac Newton	Founder of Classical Physics and Infinitesimal Calculus	Anglican (rejected Trinitarianism, i.e., Athanasianism; believed in the Arianism of the Primitive Church)
Galileo Galilei	Founder of Experimental Physics	Catholic
Nicolaus Copernicus	Founder of Heliocentric Cosmology	Catholic (priest)
Johannes Kepler	Founder of Physical Astronomy and Modern Optics	Lutheran
Francis Bacon	Founder of the Scientific Inductive Method	Anglican
René Descartes	Founder of Analytical Geometry and Modern Philosophy	Catholic
Blaise Pascal	Founder of Hydrostatics, Hydrodynamics, and the Theory of Probabilities	Jansenist
Michael Faraday	Founder of Electronics and Electro-Magnetics	Sandemanian
James Clerk Maxwell	Founder of Statistical Thermodynamics	Presbyterian; Anglican; Baptist
Lord Kelvin	Founder of Thermodynamics and Energetics	Anglican
Robert Boyle	Founder of Modern Chemistry	Anglican
William Harvey	Founder of Modern Medicine	Anglican (nominal)
John Ray	Founder of Modern Biology and Natural History	Calvinist (denomination?)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz	German Mathematician and Philosopher, Founder of Infinitesimal Calculus	Lutheran
Charles Darwin	Founder of the Theory of Evolution	Anglican (nominal); Unitarian
Ernst Haeckel	German Biologist, the Most Influential Evolutionist in Continental Europe
Thomas H. Huxley	English Biologist and Evolutionist, Famous As "Darwin's Bulldog"
Joseph J. Thomson	Nobel Laureate in Physics, Discoverer of the Electron, Founder of Atomic Physics	Anglican
Louis Pasteur	Founder of Microbiology and Immunology	Catholic
Part V. Great Philosophers (17-21 Century)
Immanuel Kant	One of the Greatest Philosophers in the History of Western Philosophy	Lutheran
Jean-Jacques Rousseau	Founder of Modern Deism	born Protestant; converted as a teen to Catholic
Voltaire	French Philosopher and Historian, One of the Most Influential Thinkers of the Enlightenment	raised in Jansenism
David Hume	Scottish Empiricist Philosopher, Historian, and Economist, Founder of Modern Skepticism	Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)
Spinoza	Dutch-Jewish Philosopher, the Chief Exponent of Modern Rationalism	Judaism; later pantheism/deism
Giordano Bruno	Italian Philosopher, Astronomer, and Mathematician, Founder of the Theory of the Infinite Universe	Catholic
George Berkeley	Irish Philosopher and Mathematician, Founder of Modern Idealism, Famous as "The Precursor of Mach and Einstein"	Anglican
John Stuart Mill	English Philosopher and Economist, the Major Exponent of Utilitarianism	agnostic; Utilitarian
Richard Swinburne	Oxford Professor of Philosophy, One of the Most Influential Theistic Philosophers
PART VI. Other Religious Nobelists
60 more Nobel Prize winners are listed (32 scientists, 17 writers, 11 Nobel Nobel Peace Laureates)
PART VII. Nobelists, Philosophers, and Scientists on Jesus
Quotes by 16 individuals about their beliefs about Jesus - Alexis Carrel - Albert Einstein - Arthur Compton - Robert Millikan - Francois Mauriac - Sigrid Undset - T.S. Eliot - Mother Theresa - Albert Schweitzer - Theodore Roosevelt - Frederik de Klerk - John R. Mott - Kim Dae-Jung - Martin Luther King, Jr. - Jimmy Carter - Blaise Pascal

Nobel Prize Winners in Science.

Nobel Prize Winners in Physics.

Albert Einstein
Max Planck Nobel Laureate in Physics Protestant
Erwin Schrodinger Nobel Laureate in Physics Catholic
Werner Heisenberg Nobel Laureate in Physics Lutheran
Robert Millikan Nobel Laureate in Physics probably Congregationalist 
Charles Hard Townes Nobel Laureate in Physics United Church of Christ (raised Baptist)
Arthur Schawlow Nobel Laureate in Physics Methodist
William D. Phillips Nobel Laureate in Physics Methodist
William H. Bragg Nobel Laureate in Physics Anglican
Guglielmo Marconi Nobel Laureate in Physics Catholic and Anglican
Arthur Compton Nobel Laureate in Physics Presbyterian
Arno Penzias Nobel Laureate in Physics Jewish
Nevill Mott Nobel Laureate in Physics Anglican
Isidor Isaac Rabi Nobel Laureate in Physics Jewish
Abdus Salam Nobel Laureate in Physics Muslim
Antony Hewish Nobel Laureate in Physics Christian (denomination?)
Joseph H. Taylor, Jr. Nobel Laureate in Physics Quaker

Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine and Physiology.

Alexis Carrel Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology Catholic
John Eccles Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology Catholic
Joseph Murray Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology Catholic
Ernst Chain Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology Jewish
George Wald Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology Jewish
Ronald Ross Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology Christian (denomination?)

Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry.

Derek Barton Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Christian (denomination?)
Christian Anfinsen Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Jewish
Walter Kohn Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Jewish
Richard Smalley Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Christian (denomination?)

Nobel Prize Winners in Literature.

T.S. Eliot Nobel Laureate in Literature Anglo-Catholic (Anglican)
Rudyard Kipling Nobel Laureate in Literature Anglican
Alexander Solzhenitsyn Nobel Laureate in Literature Russian Orthodox
François Mauriac Nobel Laureate in Literature Catholic
Hermann Hesse Nobel Laureate in Literature Christian; Buddhist
Winston Churchill Nobel Laureate in Literature Anglican
Jean-Paul Sartre Nobel Laureate in Literature Lutheran; Freudian; Marxist; atheist; Messianic Jew
Sigrid Undset Nobel Laureate in Literature Catholic (previously Lutheran)
Rabindranath Tagore Nobel Laureate in Literature Hindu
Rudolf Eucken Nobel Laureate in Literature Christian (denomination?) 
Isaac Singer Nobel Laureate in Literature Jewish

Nobel Peace Prize Winners.

Albert Schweitzer Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lutheran
Jimmy Carter Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Baptist (former Southern Baptist)
Theodore Roosevelt Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dutch Reformed; Episcopalian
Woodrow Wilson Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Presbyterian
Frederik de Klerk Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dutch Reformed
Nelson Mandela Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Christian (denomination?)
Kim Dae-Jung Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Catholic 
Dag Hammarskjold Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Christian (denomination?)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Baptist
Adolfo Perez Esquivel Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Catholic
Desmond Tutu Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Anglican
John R. Mott Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Methodist

Famous Scientists.

Isaac Newton Founder of Classical Physics and Infinitesimal Calculus Anglican (rejected Trinitarianism; i.e. Athanasianism believed in the Arianism of the primitive church)
Galileo Galilei Founder of Experimental Physics Catholic
Nicolaus Copernicus Founder of Heliocentric Cosmology Catholic (priest)
Johannes Kepler Founder of Physical Astronomy and Modern Optics Lutheran
Francis Bacon Founder of the Scientific Inductive Method Anglican
René Descartes Founder of Analytical Geometry and Modern Philosophy CatholicJohannes Kepler Founder of Physical Astronomy and Modern Optics Lutheran

Nicolaus Copernicus Founder of Heliocentric Cosmology Catholic (priest)

Francis Bacon Founder of the Scientific Inductive Method Anglican
René Descartes Founder of Analytical Geometry and Modern Philosophy Catholic
Blaise Pascal Founder of Hydrostatics, Hydrodynamics, and the Theory of Probabilities Jansenist
Michael Faraday Founder of Electronics and Electro-Magnetics Sandemanian
James Clerk Maxwell Founder of Statistical Thermodynamics Presbyterian; Anglican; Baptist
Lord Kelvin Founder of Thermodynamics and Energetics Anglican
Robert Boyle Founder of Modern Chemistry Anglican
William Harvey Founder of Modern Medicine Anglican
John Ray Founder of Modern Biology and Natural History Calvinist (denomination?)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz German Mathematician and Philosopher, Founder of Infinitesimal Calculus Lutheran
Charles Darwin Founder of the Theory of Evolution Anglican
Ernst Haeckel German Biologist, the Most Influential Evolutionist in Continental Europe
Thomas H. Huxley English Biologist and Evolutionist, Famous As "Darwin's Bulldog"
Joseph J. Thomson Nobel Laureate in Physics, Discoverer of the Electron,
Founder of Atomic Physics Anglican
Louis Pasteur Founder of Microbiology and Immunology Catholic

Famous Philosophers.
Part V. Great Philosophers (17-
Immanuel Kant One of the Greatest Philosophers in the History of Western Philosophy Lutheran
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Founder of Modern Deism born Protestant;
converted as a teen to Catholic
Voltaire French Philosopher and Historian, One of the Most Influential Thinkers of the Enlightenment raised in Jansenism
David Hume Scottish Empiricist Philosopher, Historian, and Economist,
Founder of Modern Skepticism Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)
Spinoza Dutch-Jewish Philosopher, the Chief Exponent of Modern Rationalism Judaism; later pantheism/deism
Giordano Bruno Italian Philosopher, Astronomer, and Mathematician, Founder of the Theory of the Infinite Universe Catholic
George Berkeley Irish Philosopher and Mathematician, Founder of Modern Idealism,
Famous as "The Precursor of Mach and Einstein" Anglican
John Stuart Mill English Philosopher and Economist,
the Major Exponent of Utilitarianism agnostic; Utilitarian
Richard Swinburne Oxford Professor of Philosophy,
One of the Most Influential Theistic Philosophers PART VI. Other Religious Nobelists

60 more Nobel Prize winners are listed
(32 scientists, 17 writers, 11 Nobel Nobel Peace Laureates) P


 Quotes by 16 individuals about their beliefs about Jesus
- Alexis Carrel
- Albert Einstein
- Arthur Compton
- Robert Millikan
- Francois Mauriac
- Sigrid Undset
- T.S. Eliot
- Mother Theresa
- Albert Schweitzer
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Frederik de Klerk
- John R. Mott
- Kim Dae-Jung
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Jimmy Carter
- Blaise Pascal
Nobel Laureate in Physics Jewish

What Are We?

Throughout history all great thinkers have attempted to understand what the nature of a human being is.  This type of thinking culminated in Christianity with its understanding of a human person in the Catholic philosophers.  In modern times, existentialism replaced this understanding.  Recently a vulgar materialism has taken over (a true decline in culture as all materialist societies self destruct) in which humans are seen as nothing more than raw matter or even nothing more than monetary values.  This sort of idiotic philosophy is taking over the internet in which human life is seen as nothing more than a set of numbers and monetary value.  Ironically many of the people promoting this philosophy seem to maintain that they are religious, although it is obvious that they have no true understanding of religion whatsoever.

The Rise of Illiteracy.

At one time, in Europe, high languages and especially Latin and perhaps Greek, were regarded as the languages of the church, but also the languages of the aristocrats and nobility.  Low languages, especially German and its derivatives were regarded as the vulgar languages of the masses (at the time in the wake of the decline of the Roman empire, Germans were seen as barbarian hordes who had raided Rome in the past).  Until the Reformation, Latin was considered the language of the church and the Bible was written in language by monks who slaved over its formulations.  These monks were an elite caste as well devoted entirely to knowledge while the German hordes were seen as barbaric.  Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press which was used by Lutherans to spread the Luther Bible, written in the vulgar language of German.  This was the first attempt to steal power from the elite caste of priests and give to the masses.  In later history, languages such as high Spanish and French (derived from Latinate origins) were seen as those of Spanish and French aristocrats as opposed to vulgar German and English.  In modern times, all these distinct languages have been replaced by English which has become the universal language since the advent of the British empire.

In modern America, English has long remained the universal language.  However, at one time, the upper class WASPs in America spoke an entirely different (and distinctly North Eastern) version of English from the rest of America.  This language spoken by the WASPs was elitist and closer to the language spoken by the British elite who were also trained in Latin and Greek.  The rest of the United States spoke another version of English and constituted a farming class.  However, for the last half century, this language has declined to be replaced by ever further forms of vulgarity.  Perhaps you doubt this, but individuals from another era would be horrified by even the highest forms of expression expressed today by our elite.  On the other hand, slang and speaking English have taken over for the masses, with much emphasis on pop culture.  This was the state of the world until about 20 years ago.  Then with the advent of the internet and a crude mass media,  even this form of speaking English was replaced by a grosser form of English often including much slang and vulgarity even of the crudest form. You can see this especially on the internet in which the original form of hackerspeak which often required some cleverness of expression has been replaced by vulgar, crude, and cutesy forms of expression including especially crude and vulgar talk and cursing which has even appeared on mainstream television.  This is added to the rise of pornography that encapsulates a large sector of the internet, whereas in the past this never would even have been allowed on television.  You can see the effects of this process when even theoretical physicists at Caltech, Kip Thorne and James Preskell are discussing popular culture.  Further, scientists once an elite caste in early America have become populist and taken to the masses, with individuals more often than not reading their popular books than understanding their actual papers.

In America, illiteracy has taken over with perhaps 23% of the population being illiterate.  As people spend more and more time on the inernet reading mere snippets of information often written by anyone in crude an vulgar form, they become further illiterate.  The old elite of ancient times was replaced by a new  American elite.  The American elite of old WASPs who were ultra-conservative was replaced by a liberal elite who entered the elite university system.  Today these elite liberals are being replaced by a crude form of culture (though their own form of culture was indeed crude).  Scientists who have been replacing the traditional priestly elite for centuries are now appealing to mass culture and few people understand true science, let alone the traditions of the priestly elite which are now all but forgotten.

The Folly of Crowds.

During the Middle Ages crowds came to play a large role in the state of society.  Mass warfare such as the Crusades or the revolutionary movements that occurred in the late middle ages spawned by revolutionary protestants against the papacy or against nobility illustrated perfectly the role of crowd psychology.  These revolutionary movements culminated during the 18th century in the French revolutionar, a sordid and bloody affair which offended the sensibilities of traditional conservatives and was much discussed by the intellectual class.  Counter-revolutionary thinkers emerged to challenge the French revolutionaries noting the violence and bloodshed that had occurred.  These thinkers included Edmund Burke and Joseph de Maistre leading the Catholic counter-revolution.  These were followed later by a new class of intellectuals such as Alexis de Toqueville, Gobineau, and especiallly Gustav le Bon, artistocrats who attempted to explain crowd psychology.  In more modern times, following the rise of the Russian revolution, the Soviet tyranny, and later the Nazi revolution and the role of the world wars, conservative intellectuals further lamented the role of unleashing the mass mob on society.  Thinkers such as Ortega y Gassett commented on these events and proclaimed the rise of the mass man (something that would only reach extraordinary proportions in the modern age).  One thing to note about these early thinkers is that they were all uniformly opposed to the role of the crowd, viewing crowds as largely prone to irrationality, even insanity, and perhaps violence.  Instigators played an important role in rousing crowds often towards violent ends.  Warfare was seen as a culmination of crowd psychology, though as time passed on wars became more technocratic.  These early thinkers praised the lone individual and the human person, the artistocrat and aesthete above the vulgarity of the mob.

However, with the rise of modern society and technocracy a new form of thinker arose.  These thinkers studied crowd psychology and many came to argue that the crowd or group could achieve results not achieved by individuals.  These thinkers were different from those of the past, in that those of the past had a nineteenth century understanding of science, while the new thinkers relied on calculative reasoning often bolstering their results with advanced science, psychological studies in group psychology.  These thinkers maintained that groups could achieve effect results or that the "crowd had wisdom" that the individual did not possess.  These thinkers were also active in the early promotion of the internet, when the internet became a mass movement.  The digital crowd or more aptly as seen today the digital mob, was promoted early on  as a way to achieve mass knowledge.  However, if anyone looks at the internet today, as opposed to the internet of only 10 or 20 years ago one can see the net effect of this mob psychology.  For one thing, by allowing entry to anyone, it has led to an increased stupifying effect in which an entropy on information flow has led bad information to overcome good.  Further, the effects of the mob are all too often nasty and are becoming nastier.  On social network and media sites, the mob rules absolute and individuals engage in nasty polemics against each other that would likely result in violence in real life.  By promoting politics and controversial issues and then opening up "free speech" and comments to anyone with no proof of identy, the internet and media sites have allowed for a mass mob based in brutality to arise.  Thus, we see confirmed again the folly of crowds as originally considered by the early crowd theorists of the nineteenth century.  Further, we see another aspect of the folly of crowds in the increasing vulgarity of taste, often arising through mass illiteracy, and an excessive reliance on false forms of mass media.  We also see the role that the internet has played in mobilizing recent mass movements including riots and flash mobs in America, riots in Russia, and populist movements against the financial sector (often leading to violence) in America and politicians in Russia and the Middle East.

The Dead Worldview Promoted by Modern Computers and the Internet.

One of the earliest criticisms of the development of computers is that they resolved upon calculative reasoning (reduced to its simplest form that of binary notation) and thus could not adequately reflect the true capacities of human consciousness despite the fact that they could be programmed to perform calculative feats.  As programming developed however these criticisms seem to begin to pale as computers became more advanced.  However with this progress, it should be noted that computers became easier and easier to use.   One no longer had to know how to program them or even how they worked (or today even much of anything) to be able to use one.  With the rise of the mass internet in the 90s, the role of blogs and information sites such as amazon.com and wikipedia, programming seemed to be cast aside in favor of social networking and mostly discussion of politics.  On these sites, you can see countless individuals spending days at a time arguing politics, including being excessively nasty to each other and saying things that would ordinarily likely result in fights or even physical violence all unsupressed by moderates of such sites.  Facebook is an even newer innovation that is supposed to be used for social networking but too often leads to a voyeuristic type of society in which anyone can witness your thoughts and activities.  This has led to complicated issues.  Further, the openness of internet forums and comment sections to the entire society has led to both the role of mob behavior and mass stupidity as well as the rise of a criminal class.  One thing I notice about these recent developments in computers is that they pose a dead worldview to society.

The early criticisms of computers which became more expressed as computers became more complicated and thus perhaps capable of challenging our absolute superiority, are now no longer expressed.  These early critics would today appear as unkempt luddites.  However, with the advent of the internet, the role of television (and the increasing similarity of the internet to television on a mass scale), and other issues, the criticisms of the early luddites may become more important.  I notice that the internet poses a dead world view.  Human life is reduced to that of money when politics is argued.  Further, comments reduce individuals to words on a screen and their entire being becomes stored as a comment in a social networking site.  Many of the comments are violent and would likely result in physical violence in the real world.  On sites such as amazon.com reviews for books not only reveal the contents of old and important books, but have become disgraceful, nasty, uncouth, and a chance for anyone to pursue a hateful agenda or campaign.  Peoples reputations have been ruined by these events.  This further adds to the disgraceful climate of the internet.  But worse, I believe these internet companies are promoting a dead worldview.  With the rise of atheism and materialism which seem ubiquitous on the internet, we can see how the dead worldview has become encapsulated.  Further, most mainstream internet sites seem to be promoting a form of Social Darwinism and human life is no longer a main value for modern society.  Challenges proposed by issues such as war and overpopulation are no longer addressed.  Traditional Christian beliefs of mercy and justice have been replaced by stone cold and hard beliefs allowing for no deviation from set norms and no tolerance for abnormalcy.

Further Signs and Indications That We Are Approaching a New Dark Age.

One of the interesting effects of the internet is that it has led to an entropic loss of information.  Good information and good content has been driven out by uniformly bad content.  By allowing masses of people to post anything to the internet, and allowing for a dumbed down mass of people, good content is quickly driven out.  This can be understood as the heat death of the internet, in that originally the internet was used by physicists for exchanging scientific papers, but today is used by hoodlums to harrass and heckle innocents.

The excessive reliance individuals now make upon tools such as google and wikipedia is another sign of a decline in knowledge.  Whereas in the past individuals had to commit large amounts of material to memory, including learning multiple languages and difficult mathematics, today individuals can simply rely on google or wikipedia to achieve these same feats.  The mass communication throughout the world between all kinds of individuals has not led to an increase in knowledge or learning.  Instead, it has led to the triumph of ignorance in which the mass mob and the crowd blocks out any true understanding.

The decline in knowledge may further be seen in the mass media which is not only bland and insipid, but also features brutal, disgusting images.  These violent images spawn mental disturbance in the weakest individuals.  The mass media is irrational and constitutes the role of a surveillance society.

The decline in general knowledge is perhaps best illustrated by the events of a recent French tv quiz show.  A contestant was asked whether the moon revolved around the earth.  Unable to answer this question, the contestant turned to the audience who answered the question incorrectly.  The contestant then maintained that the audience was also wrong and responded with an indepedent incorrect choice.  While many educated people may scoff at this contestant, very few educated people would actually be able to demonstrate that the moon revolved around the earth given that they have only "learned" this fact from text books and teachers.  Examples such as this illustrate a further decline in general knowledge.

Some individuals of the Darwinian persuasion seem to now argue that doubting Darwinism amounts to heresy and that those who doubt Darwin are responsible for the decline of Western civilization.  It is to be noted though that these arguments are rarely or never used for those who doubt other aspects of modern Western science such as atomic or germ theory.  Further, the Darwinian foundations appear to be weakening which may explain the over-enthusiastic zeal of such people.  Finally, there is the opposition to religion and the recent rise of a militant atheism among certain individuals.  Very few of these atheists however discuss science and mostly focus their ire on ridiculing all religion.  Alternatively, the advances in cosmology (the rise of the Big Bang theory pointing to a point singularlity as origin of the universe), quantum mechanics (the role of the collapse of the wave function and the interaction between physical reality and the conscious observer that takes place there), neuroscience (the understanding of the human brain and its relation to mystical states of consciousness), and finally mathematics (the role of the Godelian incompleteness results and the understandings developed behind the notion of a Turing machine) all seem to point to a refutation of a strict physicalist viewpoint.  Further, developments in the field of parapsychology add to this understanding, though this field remains controversial.  All of these developments plus the apparent decline of the Darwinian account seem to strengthen the idea that the nineteenth century view of materialistic and mechanistic science is false.  Unable to deal with these facts, its proponents have become zealots and rabid atheists.  The rise of this militant atheism (which denies not only a creator deity but all morality) actually is a problem for Western civilization in that it allows for the rise of dictatorship and mass immoral behavior (which is best illustrated in the behavior of atheists such as these as witnessed through their actions and comments).

Interpretations of History.

History is seen as a vast panorama in which world events play out their course.  From ancient times, one particular view of history regarded the world as in a state of decline from a past golden age.  In a prehistoric Eden, mankind had vast powers (including psychical powers) and unlimited freedom.  However, something occurred which caused mankind to fall from grace and to be passed off into a never ending historical cycle.  This cycle was to culminate through successive stages in the destruction of the human race in an apocalypse.  In the late 1980s with the advent of chaos theory, various methods were used to try to understand historical development through cyclical history.  History ebbed and flowed according to chaos theory which explained its underpinnings.  According to chaos theory small perturbations in initial conditions could give rise to large perturbations in final conditions.  Thus, small events in local historical time could lead to large macro-events in later times.  Examples of this were seen from history in which small determinations led to large scale wars or intellectual developments.  These furthered the course of history.  In the book _Hamlet's Mill_ it was explained how the ancients understood the precession of the equinoxes which played a large role in the development of their myth.  These precessions allowed them to understand history in terms of cycle.  In modern times, this view has been largely forgotten.  However, it should be noted that even in ancient times it was well know that the earth was round and not flat.  The modern myth of the flat earth was incorporated later in the nineteenth century when "science" came to be seen as an all-encompassing worldview over the dark ages of superstition and medieval mysticism.

The Changes That Have Taken Place in Society and Education.

Jim Marrs notes several interesting alterations that have taken place in American society since 100 years ago and explains how he sees these as creeping trends towards socialism.  To begin with, he explains that 100 years ago an individual was born as a person.  Today an individual is a person but carries with him a set of numbers which must be presented to authorities.  This reduction of a human person to a set of numbers which follow him throughout life marks the incursion of socialism.  In the socialist and totalitarian societies of the past, individuals were deprived of their individuality by the state.  The individual became subordinate to the state and all individual activity was controlled by the state and elite  controllers (those who occupied positions within the state).  Thus the entire form of human existence became subordinate to the state and all human activity was initiated by the state.  This collectivist hell (ironically termed collectivist paradise by its expounders such as Marx) gave rise to a grey world syndrome in which creativity, diversity, and inviduality was stifled by the state, so that the individual  existed solely for the  purpose of maintaining the state.

Marrs also considers the role of state education and the continuing mediocratization of society through education.  Marrs notes that 100 years ago, education involved much more difficult exams that relied on heavy usage of memory.  Students learned difficult languages like Latin and Greek and exams consisted of difficult mathematics problems.  This type of education had existed since the Middle Ages when the schoolmen were required to commit large biblical passages and passages from other text to memory.  (With the internet, reliance on memory has become even more outmoded than it was just 20 years ago before the advent of sites like Wikipedia).  This reliance on memory and difficult feats of mental calculation kept the mind sharp.  Further, the language spoken by persons of years ago was much more refined and sophisticated.  Today's language is choppy and written in short paragraphs.  But the language of back then was long winded and relied on excessively abstruse philosophical terminology even for everyday conversations.  Language continues to decline in polite conversation and individuals resort more frequently to slang and even foul language (which is increasingly becoming just a familiar norm in our society).  Further, computers continue to erode language even further in which individuals have reached a point where they cannot even think and express thoughts by means of texting and superficial code terms which differ from original hackerspeak in that original hackerspeak involved clever usage.  Marrs explains how education today is designed to produce effective employees (usually for large corporations) and  workers not thinkers.  Thinkers pose a problem for society so must be shunned and corporations offer a standardized form of political correctness that exceeds that imposed by the government.
 
Marrs notes the stifling effects of education and the continued development of a new dark age.  In a recent broadcast on a French quiz show a contestant could not even explain that the moon revolved around the earth.  To add further irony to this, he asked the audience who did not know this either.  In honesty though, while educated people do know this fact, very few even educated people would be able to tell you how this fact has been derived.  In other words, they just accept this fact as knowledge based on teachers and textbooks (or more likely a quick look towards wikipedia) without ever considering how this fact came about.  Examples such as this illustrate our continued decline into further idiocracy and irrationalism.

Marrs further sites examples in which quakery has now become accepted practise.  If one watches television one quickly notes the many quack cures peddled on there, including ads for medicines promoted by pharmaceutical companies.  These types of ads illustrate the lack of standards in medicine and the decline in medical power, to be replaced by pharmaceutical corporations that appeal to mob psychology.

Marrs discusses the role of psychology noting its origin in ancient philosophies, but its more modern development in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth century through psychoanalysis.  Marrs explains how psychiatry was incorporated along with the field of eugenics and the role it played in Nazi and Communist tyrannies.  Marrs notes that in today's world psychiatry is commonplace and a given, though just 20 years ago it was first being popularized when it reached mainstream tv in the form of talk shows and self help books.  Former generations would have seen such open confessions as shameful.  These types of shows also illustrate our increasing loss of privacy in which all concerns are aired before the public.  In the Victorian era, sex could not even be discussed, soon perhaps pornography will be shown on mainstream television.  Pornography has become mainstream through the internet and pornographers now are even beginning to play a role in politics disturbingly.

Marrs also notes the role of a surveillance state, in which cameras occupy every corner of society.  The corporate media has become omnipotent and it now reveals our inner flaws for all to see, including the military secrets we once guarded so closely during the Cold War.