EDITORnThomas FlemingnEXECUTIVE EDITORnScott P. RichertnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, jr.nASSISTANT EDITOR .nAaron D. WolfnARI’ DIRECTORnH. Ward SterettnDESIGNERnMelanie AndersonnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,nGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,nPhilip Jenkins, j.O. Tate, MichaelnWashburn, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDING EDITORSnJanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,nDonald Livingston, William Mills,nWilliam Murchison, AndreinNavrozov, Jacob NeusnernFILM EDITORnGeorge McCartneynFOREIGN-AFFAIRS EDITORnSrdja TrifkovicnLI;GAL-AI”EAIRS II:DITORnStephen B. PressernRELIGION EDITORnHarold O.J. BrownnCIRCUIJVI’ION MANAGERnCindy LinknPUBLISHERnThe Rockford InstitutenA piibiicatiou ofTlic i^ockforcl Instihilc.nEditorial and Ad’crtisiiig Offices: -n928 North Main Street. Rockford, IL 61103.nWebsite: v’vw.chroiiiclesiiiagaziiie.orgnEditorial Phone: (815)964-5054.nAdvertising Phone: (815) 964-5813.nSiihscription Departinent: P.O. Box 800,nMonnt Morris, IL 61054. Gall 1-800-877-5459.nCopyright© 2001 by The Rockford Inslitiitc.nAll rights rescn’cd.nChmitides: A Magazine of American Culturen(ISSN 0887-5731) is published monthly for $39.00n(foreign .subscripHons add $12 for surface deli’cr’,n$48 for Air Mail) per ‘car hv Hie Rockford Institute,n928 North Main Street, Rockford, IL 61103-7061.nPreferred periodical postage paid at Rockford, ILnand addihonal mailing offices. POST’MAST’ER:nSend address changes to Clironicks. P.O. Bo.x 800,nMount Morris, IL 61054.nThe views ex]3ressed in Chronicle.’! are thenauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflectnthe views of’Phe Rockford lustitrite or of itsndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot benreturned unless aeeoin|5anied by a self-addressednstain|)ed envelope.n4/CHRONICLESnChroniclesnVol. 25, No. 6 liiiic 2001nI’rintel ill lire lliiilcci Smics ofAnicinOn the CatholicnConspiracynPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESnE. Michael Jones’ article on Adam Weisshauptnand the Illuminati (“A Room Withna View: Debunking the Wliig Theor)’ ofnHistory,” Views, March) was extremelyninteresting and informative, but seriouslynflawed in some areas. Jones is hoisted onnhis own petard when he suggests thatnWeisshaupt was demoted at the Universit}’nof Ingolstadt and subsec|uendy indictednby the Bavarian government based onna “public hue and cry over secret societies”nand an edict forbidding membershipntherein. Ihis sounds like the verynWliig theor)’ of histor)’ that Jones derides.nWliy not instead consider the obvious—nnamely, the Catholic Church’s conspiratorialnrole in instigating the whole affair?nProbably the Church viewed Weisshauptnas a budding heretic or troublemakernbased on word of his activities and then”radical Enlightenment books” he orderednfor the universit}’ librar’. My guessnis that the books never made it into thenstacks.nI agree with Jones that Weisshaupt andnthe Illuminati were immortalized inadvertentlynby Bavaria’s publication of theirnpapers in 1786. He also makes a goodncase that the Orwellian system of organizationalncontrol and internal spyingnmakes the Illuminati the precursor ofnthe Soviet system of control. But thenCatholic Church’s system for self-promotionnand self-presen’ation is extreme, too,nexcept that the public is not able to recognizenthe pervasiveness and oppressivenessnof something they have seen, generationnafter generation, as a requisite partnof their daily life, regardless of how inimicalnit might be to their well-being, comparednwith other models that are not allowednto see the light of day.nOne might infer from Jones’ articlenthat, because Weisshaupt et al, were enamorednof Enlightenment thinkers, theynwould have been likewise enamored ofnhim. I doubt it. Certainly, most of thesenthinkers would have rejected Weisshaupt’snnotion that man, at some point,nshould be “no longer in need of government.”nIn fact, Jones’ article seems morenof an attack on the Enlightenment thannon the Illuminati perse: He speaks of then”crude materialism of most well-knownnnnEnlightenment thinkers.” He states thatnthis type of thinking, because it emphasizesnliberty and deemphasizes religion,nleads necessarily to the loss of morals, thencreation of social chaos, or —in an attemptnto create order—the imposition ofndraconian social controls such as thoseninitiated within Weisshaupt’s organizationnand implemented subsequentiy bynthe Jacobins, communists, and fascists.nJones badly overreaches on this subject.nThinking people are tired of the incessant—albeitnhighly effective —propagandanof Catholics and Protestants alike,nwhich insists Hnat a person cannot have anpure naturalist/materialist view of thenworld and still be moral, or that, if a personnis moral but does not believe in thendivinity of Jesus, he will be sent straight tonhell, there to burn eternally. It is moralnfor the naturalist/materialist to devise andnlive by laws, ethics, and mores for thenpurpose of harmonious interactions in ansociety with threats of jail, fines, or ostracizationnfor infractions. It may come as ansurprise to those steeped in Christianndogma, but virtually all naturalists/materialistsndesire this.nIt is cynical and immoral for Christiannpriests and followers to continue to perpetuatenthe notion that a person can bengood only because of the promise ofnheaven or the threat of hell.nAs to the “social chaos” that Jones concludesnto be the logical outcome of Enlightenmentnthinking, if everybody wasnon board the Christian ship and thenpriests ruled, there might be a certain ordernto living. But histor}’ shows that this isnimpossible short of using the terror tacticsnthe Church has used in the past. Itnwould (and could) not be any differentnfrom the means advocated by tiie Illuminatinand used by the Jacobins, communists,nand fascists. Christianity could, innfact, be said to be a major cause of then”social chaos” Jones worries about, innthat the New Testament mandates thatnpeople “follow Jesus” at the expense ofnfamily, friends, community, and nations.nI do not subscribe to the view of Jonesnand other Christians that morality and socialnorder would be restored if the Westernnworld were rid of Illuminati and Enlightenmentnthinking. To the contrarv’, ifnthe Western world were rid of religion,nmankind would have more opportunitynto cooperate on a large scale and to focusn