That said, Christian influence was always superficial. Society retained its old values deep down, but the success of Christian memes meant that it was taboo for people to advocate, say, pederasty. These things were pushed 'behind a veil.'

I think (here is where I move into speculation) that the upper classes of society never did accept Christian morality even superficially, they just thought they needed to play by its rules because the Church was influential and the Church espoused Christianity. Within this ruling set, who still believe in 'classical' (i.e. pre-Christian), there exist a network of perverts who see in Laissez-Faire liberalism an opportunity to make sexual perversions, con artistry, theft, murder and fraud legitimate again. This is effectively the real illuminati, a group of perverts who actively encourage the vices that were accepted before Christianity. You can see their influence in how murderers are treated like rock stars, books are written about how to become a sociopath, etc.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2394589&forum_id=2#24288202)