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The anti-clericalism of the leading Enlightenment thinkers contained within it the potential for a new clericalism more authoritarian and murderous than that which it superseded, with intellectuals as its priests.

I've said as much in my Fourth of July 2009 Tea Party Speech. These intellectuals have become the 'clergy of oppression' as R. J. Rummel so clearly described them. They are directly responsible for mass murder, slaughter, atrocity and savagery that beggars the imagination. the blood of millions - MILLIONS - is on their hands. They are monsters and they are all without exception unfit to live in a free society.

This reminds me of Mordecai Plaut’s series, “The Pagan Roots of Modern Thought,” in Dei’ah ve Dibur. The links can be followed backward, but the final installment is at

http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5769/bamidbar/apagan7bmd69.htm

Abstract: Modern intellectuals, especially those who base their world view upon science, pride themselves on being totally separate from the sphere of religion. They believe their view of the world to be based on empirical data and built up with reason alone, leaving them entirely distinct from all religion. This pride is unfounded. In fact their approach and conclusions are grounded in one of the major old- time religions, namely, paganism.

Many of the ideas, and probably all of the intellectual skills, that characterize the modern secular world were once integral parts of a way of life one of whose prominent features was the worship of idols. All of the Western world is built upon the foundation of paganism. Although paganism and Christianity were open rivals for hundreds of years, eventually they seemed to have made their peace. The truth is that the conflict moved underground, and paganism eventually triumphed so thoroughly that important characteristics of the ancient religious world are no longer familiar or even understood.

We are discussing how the non-religious ideas of paganism were adopted first by religious Renaissance figures, but later they undermined the entire edifice of Christian culture. The Church actively resisted the religious elements of paganism, but did not perceive the secular elements as being the threats that they really were. In this final part we discuss some of the specifics of those threats.

That the cult of the expert — itself an outgrowth of the Enlightenment's enthroning of human reason above all — should appeal to intellectual elites is unsurprising: It is a form of the revenge of the nerds whose superior qualities were unnoted by the pretty girls in high school."

"An expert is some guy from out of town."

~Mark Twain~