Frederich Nietzsche, who was influenced by the philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who believed in an individual’s power against conformity and also shared similar ideas of religion as a construction of higher authority as a form of control. Nietzsche is clear within his essay “Morality as Anti-Nature” that he also shares Emerson’s belief of religion being used as a form of control among societies leaders. Nietzsche, who was a former Lutheran minister, similar to Emerson argues that religion is founded on a general principle of “Do this and that, refrain from this and that – then you will be happy!” which is what in turn creates a common loss of individual thought, similar to brainwashing, among the followers of religion, primarily Christianity. He believed that Christianity “emphasizes the wrong value for mankind, preferring weakness, a herd mentality, and false morality to strength, individual genius and honesty” (DeBoer); as well as being inimical to truth-seeking, scientific inquiry, and sensuality” (Deboer). THESIS.…show more content… What Nietzsche refers to is an idea of the ‘herd mentality,” which consists of “making decisions based upon the actions of others” (Nauert). According to Nauert, it takes only a minority of just five percent to influence a crowd’s position, with the other ninety-five per cent following without realizing it. Psychologist, Robert Cialdini, a specialist in the science of influence, confirms these arguments: “this is something that doesn’t require a lot of cognitive capacity in order to trigger the conformity. All you need to do is to see what those around you, like you, are doing”