Conspiracy Theories & The Truth Of Christianity

In the last twenty or so years, a flurry of conspiracy theories have gained widespread acceptance. QAnon, Birtherism, the stolen Trump Election, chemtrails, flat earth, and a host of others surrounding COVID. According to two different studies (here and here), evangelicals are more likely to believe in such conspiracies. For instance, 25% of evangelicals believe in some form of QAnon conspiracy, that the government, media, and financial worlds in the US are run by a small group of people involved in a global sex trafficking ring. I’ve heard countless others make claims about the COVID virus and how a mysterious group “out there” wants us sick to pump us with certain vaccines so “they” can have more control over us. Conspiracy theories are like clouds (or chemtrails), they come in all shapes and sizes.

So what is a conspiracy theory? The dictionary defines it this way: “A theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators.” This is pretty straight forward. A good example of a conspiracy theory (that hopefully isn’t overly controversial to my audience) is the moon landing. The theory states that the US Government and NASA conspired to make it look like we landed on the moon even though we didn’t. This was in an effort to exert our perceived dominance over Russia during the Cold War.

Sometimes, however, people wrongly accuse others of believing in conspiracy theories. For instance, if someone is skeptical of the effectiveness or safety of the COVID vaccine, this doesn’t mean they believe in a conspiracy theory. This just means they are skeptical of a claim made by certain authority figures. This skepticism may or may not prove valid, but it certainly isn’t a conspiracy theory. However, if the vaccine-skeptic also added the belief that health officials know the vaccine isn’t effective and safe, and they are pushing it anyway to accomplish some other covert mission (and have all the doctors and the media in their power), now we have a conspiracy theory.

The problem with conspiracy theorists is that they aren’t skeptical enough. They have grown distrustful of various people or groups in power (or some other authority figure or group) and this distrust makes them open, or perhaps motivates them, to adopt other theories. But rarely are they as skeptical of their new position as they are of the old one. This hyper skepticism soon leads to a certain level of gullibility. Nearly all conspiracy theories struggle from the issue of complexity. The simplest explanation is nearly always the best explanation. Sure, someone could have planted the criminal’s blood at the crime scene, and stole his shoes to make footprints, and scribbled a confession note and left it at the criminal’s house. Yes, we can always come up with a “possible” alternative explanation. But we can see on the face of it that reason requires the simpler explanation. We are not after what is possible, but what is plausible or reasonable.

Christians and Conspiracy Theories

There are two problems with Christians believing in most conspiracy theories. First, it makes Christians look unreasonable. Most conspiracy theories are unreasonable. Christians, of all people, should be a reasonable people. Ignorance and irrationality are not virtues. Our reasonable God, who made us in his image, is glorified in the right use of our reason. If we expect a world to believe the incredible claims we are making about Jesus and the Scriptures, we cannot afford to let them think we make our decisions in an unreasonable manner. Why should I trust a man who cannot use basic reason in one area to tell me what is true about the ultimate reality?

The second, and perhaps more significant problem with Christians believing in conspiracy theories, is the same logic used to support those theories would also undermine a rational belief in the resurrection. From a historical standpoint, the bodily resurrection of Jesus is both the best and simplest explanation of the data. Skeptics offer theories of mass hallucination, the disciples stole the body, Jesus never really died, and others, all to sidestep the simple and best explanation: Jesus really did rise bodily from the grave. There was not some mass conspiracy that pulled the wool over the eyes of hundreds or thousands. Christian must be mindful of how their thinking and reasoning in one area of life would affect other beliefs they hold. Don’t let an unwarranted and irrational skepticism in one area of your life grow, or it soon may lead you down the road of conspiracy regarding the resurrection.