If you are reading this after Wednesday September 10th, the world did not end. On that day, CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, tested the Large Hadron Collider and finally put to rest doomsday theories that claimed the 17-mile particle accelerator near Geneva, Switzerland, would produce mini-black holes to swallow us; or "stangelets" that would transform our island Earth into a dead mass of "strange matter." Either way, we'd be goners. At least that's what physics conspiracy theorists said.

For the well adjusted, conspiracy theories, especially the more sensational ones, are a source of entertainment. For the malevolent, on the other hand, conspiracy theories can inspire acts of great evil or excuse them.

When Germany surrendered to the allies, ending World War I, a conspiracy theory arose that said domestic segments within German society hastened the defeat by not coming to the county's aid. The theory, called the "the stab in the back," was exploited years later by the Hitler to galvanize political support. The result was a second world war and the Holocaust.

Not long after the 9/11 attacks, conspiracy theories, some advanced by a group called the "Truth Movement," claimed the events of that dark day were not the work of Islamic Jihadists but minions of the Bush administration.

"… Military war games planned long in advance and held on the morning of September 11th included scenarios of a domestic air crisis, a plane crashing into a government building," says Truth Movement's website, "There is evidence that the war games created confusion as to whether the unfolding events were 'real world or exercise.' Did war games serve as the cover for air defense sabotage, and/or the execution of an inside job?"

For conspiracy aficionados, reality is never random. Every event, in their world view, is carefully scripted and planned. Nothing, not even natural disasters, as was the case for hurricane Katrina in 2005, occur without the sinister hand of powerful conspirators.

"I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach," said Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan of collapsed New Orleans ' levees. "It may have been blown up to destroy the black part of town and keep the white part dry."

Of course, many areas of New Orleans , including white areas – were devastated by Katrina's wrath. Having lived through several hurricanes myself, I can I attest to the fact that hurricanes are color blind when dealing out death and destruction.

Conspiracy theories are the outward expression of the secular search for an omnipresent force operating in the world; and for many, that force is government. What is odd about the nihilist sub-sect of the conspiracy theorist is their schizophrenic belief that government – seen as the only legitimate agent for good – is equally responsible for perpetrating all that is evil. Their god, in effect, is home in both heaven and hell. This illustrates the moral confusion associated with relativism. Conspiracy theorists twist the already flawed adage "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom-fighter" into "one man's terrorist is also his freedom-fighter;" It's classic Orwellian doublethink.

Or, as G.K. Chesterton put it, "When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing – they believe in anything."

The ability to separate what is true from what is false – the ability to make distinctions – is God's great gift to Adam's descendants. When that ability is lost, insanity soon follows. Or it could be that Dick Cheney and the military-industrial-complex are toying with me.

--Mr. Curmudgeon