Both readings today speak of the merits of faith. For some intellectuals, particularly those of the 18th century, faith was viewed as a silly way of attaining knowledge because it could not be verified by reason based on material evidence. Reason became the ultimate test for viability of a fact and if could not be proven by a material analysis of the facts, information gained by faith usually was viewed as suspect. This rebuttal of faith became the cornerstone of the Age of Reason which reached full bloom among many intellectuals and their schools during the 19th century. The rejection of knowledge by faith and dependence on the material laws of nature led to an acceptance and implementation of such ideas as survival of the fittest, a world view that had a profound effect on social and political life in the 19th and well into the 20th centuries. The Jesuits saw this denial of faith for what it was, an attack on the nature of God and the ability of human persons to support the truths of faith by reasoned argumentation. It was for this reason that Christian philosophy was held in such high esteem by the Jesuits and used as a tool in their schools to rebut the inadequate argumentation of a material world view. Although the truths of faith cannot be proven, Christian philosophers have demonstrated how clear thinking takes us to the truths of faith as the strongest logical conclusion to those questions that cannot be answered simply by an analysis of the material world.