5 Reasons Why Christians Must Reject Conspiracy Theories

Once the hallmark of gnostic mystery cults and tabloid magazines, conspiracy theories have recently gained an alarming level of acceptance among a large subset of otherwise sane Christians. These so-called “theories” are at their best speculative in nature and bear a tenuous connection to reality. At their worst, they are outright and egregious falsehoods. Most often, they are manifested as the latter. Homing in on a more precise definition, conspiracy theories purport assumptions about events (historical or contemporary), individuals, people groups, or phenomena that are contrary to prevailing narratives and connect them to a singular nefarious cause with little or no evidence at all. 

As Christians, we profess that God is the source of all truth. We are a people of truth--radically committed to the unconditional love of truth, above political ideology, and cultural affinities. Divinely called to live in the truth (Romans 3:4; Psalm 119:30) as we are, our relationship to the truth is not just about integrity but about the very nature and destiny of our eternal soul. Thus we are to reject falsehood and approach the spurious with guarded skepticism. Conspiracy theories, by definition, do not rise above the level of falsehood or the speculative and must not be a part of one’s spiritual and theological formation. 

Previously, conspiracy theories resided exclusively on the lunatic fringe of Christendom. The refuse of fundamentalism and apocalyptic fear mongering has now seeped into the mainstream. Even Catholics, long the victims of vile anti-papal Protestant conspiracy theories, have not been immune to succumbing to the folly. One can hardly attend a Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), even in a regularized or diocesan context, without hearing a priest espousing conspiracy theories or giving credence to them in allusions and innuendos peppered throughout his homily. Throw a water balloon in a TLM church during Sunday Mass in America and you are pretty much guaranteed to wet someone who believes as an article of faith that the 9/11 terrorist attacks or the atrocities of the Holocaust were a hoax, the 2020 US presidential election was “stolen”, staged moonlanding, the idiocy of Q Anon, or some other nonsense. 

For those who have sunk so deep into the mire of conspiracy theory BS to the point that their spiritual identity is defined by a religious zeal and allegiance to it, I offer my prayers and bereavement. At such a point where reason has no effect, something akin to cult deprogramming may be more appropriate. The passages on how to deal with a madman detailed in the second chapter of G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy may be relevant in that effort. 

For those who may have just sipped the Kool-Aid of the hilariously self-identified “based and red-pilled” but whose discernment is still intact, I offer five reasons why Christians should reject conspiracy theories.

1. Conspiracy theories are not intellectually sound
   
   From ancient polymaths like St. Paul and scholastic luminaries like St. Thomas Aquinas to the accessible genius of C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton, the Christian intellectual tradition is rich and vibrant with serious bona fides. Being the beneficiaries of such a blessed inheritance means that Christians need not take leave of their senses in their apprehension of the divine. Faith and reason are wed together, and what God has joined let no man put asunder. Conspiracy theories, however, are a pathetic attempt at a divorce between faith and reason. Pathetic in their lack of any intellectual merit, and a reliance upon logical fallacies. Conspiracy theories do not correspond to any established lineage of intellectual heritage. They are the bastard children of spurious sources, propaganda, rumors, and political opportunism. When one applies even the most rudimentary methods of scrutiny or analysis, conspiracy theories dissolve like pastries dipped in coffee. They cannot stand the heat of serious inquiry and no sane or sound mind can arrive at conclusions purported by conspiracy theorists without a crucial lapse in their methodology or a predisposition to the conclusion offered.
   
   
2. Conspiracy theories harm the credibility of the Christian evangelical witness
   
   Given the first reason provided, it is evident that conspiracy theories alienate anybody with even a modicum of intellectual aptitude. Just as no one will ever find serious literature in the Wal-Mart book section, nobody seeking serious answers to life’s deepest questions will ever find them in conspiracy theories. Integrating conspiracy theory ideology with Christian belief harms the credibility of the believer and turns off truth seekers. Furthermore, if conspiracy theories are espoused and proffered as matters of dogma, they may be conflated with requisites to Christian belief. Any individual is free to believe whatever they so desire, and if one wants to entertain conspiracy theories as a matter of private belief that is their prerogative. However, a more serious problem arises when conspiracy theories are promoted as part and parcel of Christian belief when they are most certainly not. This is even more harmful when they are presented as such from behind the pulpit or by a media figure with a large audience. If conspiracy theories are embraced and demonstrably integrated into the life of your church, small group, or private witness, your credibility is shot, and no one of sound mind is likely to take your witness seriously or find it attractive or engaging.
   
   
   
3. Conspiracy theories invite strange and toxic bedfellows

Adjacent to the argument for reason #2 is the reality that embracing and propagating conspiracy theories will often put you in ideological alliance with unsavory and dishonest figures who are either indifferent or hostile to the gospel message. While there is a benefit to referencing the wisdom of those outside of the Christian tradition and those thinkers who predate it, the figureheads largely responsible for the popularization of conspiracy theories have little wisdom or intellectual substance to offer (see reason #1). Whether its Russian propagandists, antisemitic traditionalist Catholics, violent misogynists, white nationalists, or unhinged media personalities, we have all seen otherwise discerning Christians cozy up to discredited figures without critique or accountability. Such is the power of cult-like devotion to conspiracy theories above the virtues of prudence and justice.

4. Conspiracy theories are inherently uncharitable and dehumanizing
   
   A common thread running through disparate versions of conspiracy theories is the scapegoating of a specific group of people or a high-profile individual. From Pope Francis to Bill Gates, to the Jewish people and everyone in between; all may be purported guilty by conspiracy theorists of some nefarious plot or high crime without any evidence or justification. This is the sin of calumny, and an act of slander. To forgo the judgement of charity, and impudently attribute malice to a whole swath of people and even to an individual is an offense against truth, justice, charity, and our Lord. Christians are morally obliged to not take part in the calumny and slander of conspiracy theorism. Adhering to St. Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesians, as well as St. Peter, we must “put away falsehood” and “all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander” (Ephesians 4:24-25; 1 Peter 2:1). Additionally, conspiracy theories are almost always charged by racial animus and ethnic dehumanization. One only needs to briefly ponder the tragic history of genocide and ethnic cleansing to notice the connection between conspiracy theory ideology and the horror of such atrocities. This violent patrimony lives on in contemporary antisemitic conspiracy theories and racist fear mongering such as the so-called “great replacement” theory (the insipid and maniacal fallacy that caucasians are currently threatened by extinction from other races).

5. Promoting conspiracy theories is a form of lying 

As established in reason #4, conspiracy theories instantiate the sins of calumny and slander and thus the promulgation of them constitutes the offense of lying. Lying not only in the manner of improperly aligning with the truth in word and deed but even more gravely to the defamation of others. To present material as fact that is speculative at best and erroneous most often is immoral and deceptive. As Christians, our relationship to the truth matters, for we bear a unique bond to it that must be maintained even at great personal expense. This goes beyond integrity and is essential to our very identity and the fate of our eternal soul. 

The five reasons thus given are limited to this specific number only for the sake of brevity. Truly, one is enough, and five is far too few to list. “Broad is the road that leads to destruction” (Matthew 7:13) and many are the fallacies and sophisms that lead an unbouoyed mind astray. The salacious errors of conspiracy theorism are cheap and ubiquitous and offer easy answers to complex questions. Grappling with the often difficult truths of Christian revelation is the narrow path that leads to life but is far less crowded as few find it and even less stay on it.