Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories and Young-Earth Creationism

Ha, no worries, I’m done. I actually (no really) don’t want to bash Christianity. I just want Christians to own the problems that the religion is creating.

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Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!

Aye Jay. Bought his collected works, read the first page and a voice in my head said ‘NO!’. To his.

I remember an evangelical Anglican youth group leader warning against the Matrix trilogy 15 years ago because it was postmodern.

Nihilism is rational.

If you refer to christianity as the belief that Jesus is God of course and you call that destructive i have to step in and say that it is a bash againdt the core belief of Christianity and i think it breaks the community guidelines to bash our faith here. But since you cleared out that refer only to evangelical Christians (a particular sect) thsn its fine and you have my apology.

Oh tell me about it.

The gaslighting that I see coming out from the young earth cults is so extreme that I routinely get accused by Bible college teachers on Facebook of espousing some kind of “liberalism” or “materialism” or “foundationalism” or various other weasel words ending in “ism” merely for stating that facts are facts and not opinions. It’s almost as if there’s some kind of all-out war going on trying to destroy our very concept as Christians of what is real and what isn’t. And all in the name of “believing the bible” (sic).

Fortunately I have other friends on Facebook who come along and encourage me by telling me that what I am saying needs to be said and thanking me for taking a stand on these things. They remind me that there is a form of Christianity that is firmly grounded in the Real World and that following Jesus doesn’t mean having to invent your own alternate reality. But they tend to be professional people with advanced degrees and many years of experience in careers in the Real World where treating facts as if they were opinions results in people getting fired or worse.

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It’s sickening, and there is a war going on – an all-out war against the truth and every individual/institution dedicated to truth-telling.

Interesting topic…but the end-times issue will eventually go on to other “signs” if Jesus does not return before the COVID pandemic ends. And not all who believe in the return of Jesus are YEC folks. He did say that He will return some day. He just did not say when and was very hazy in His response to those who asked for a sign. “But concerning that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Matt. 24:36 ESV)

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Yes, there is a war going on, bit it is not a war of science against theology. It is a war of bad theology against good theology. Thank God that good theology is as close as John 1:1. “In the Beginning was the Word.”

This weekend I discovered that Karl Barth wrote these words in 1934, “Jesus Christ as He is attested for us in the Holy Scriptures, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.”

It is up to us to be faithful and to work with all who are seeking Truth. It is always darkest before the dawn so there is no ne3ed to despair. God will to make things right. This Sunday is Pentecost. Jesus is Coming Again when the time is ready.

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Are YEC folks promoting conspiracy theories about the corona virus? I looked on four websites representing mainstream YEC thought. None of them have a hint of conspiracy theories in respect to the corona virus, but three had thoughtful responses that most of us could appreciate. One had nothing on covid that I could find. Ken Ham says that yes, the coronavirus is a sign of the end times, but so are many other events since Jesus’ time, when we were told in scripture that the end times had already begun. Or as David Jeremiah said. “Is the covid crisis a sign that the end is near? I can’t say that it is. I also can’t say that it isn’t.” So Todd is not an outlier–he is representative of YEC on this issue. So sure, some YEC may think there is a conspiracy involved, as do a lot of other people, likely even many evolutionists. These are the outliers, not Todd, who is well in the mainstream.

The main issue that sets Christian thought apart from others during the pandemic is that we know our earthly life is not the only life we will experience. We will spend eternity with God in the home he has prepared for us. That does not make us reckless or uncaring of others, but it does give us an eternal perspective. And for conservatives in general, they tend to be concerned about a balance between mortal life and liberty, and would be more reluctant to take the most drastic measures.

And I think that all of us need to be aware: the corona virus is deadly, but so are poverty and despair. So it is not just “life vs. money.” It is in some important ways life vs. life. The difficulty is to find the balance. When this is all over, we will probably understand better where that balance could have been found.

One main promotion was not on the website, it was in an email to subscribers.

As one example, several days ago, a senior leader at a prominent Christian organization sent out an “urgent” email about the pandemic. He made the disclaimer that he’s not speaking for his employer in this, but his platform and credibility for his audience comes from there. His 2700-word email was full of all-caps warnings and conspiracies about the “very evil people” pushing “fake science and fake medicine.” His main argument is that Dr. Anthony Fauci and others are engaged in a demonic “globalist hoax” to deceive and control the population to lay the groundwork for a “new world order.” Add in further links like a lecture on the Illuminati, (“this is not conspiracy theory , but conspiracy fact ”) and a self-filmed exposé under a QAnon banner, and…well, you have quite an email.

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I notice that many conspiracy theorists often develop their own narratives and may see themselves as challenging the “official” narrative. It got to the point that I now think of a conspiracy theory as “conspiracy story”, a story that pits the protagonists against the antagonists in some kind of conflict, perhaps a secret war, a cosmic war, or something pretty grand. The believers are the protagonists who know the truth, and the enemies, however they are defined, are the antagonists.

I feel very appalled when reading anti-Semitic conspiracy stories promulgated by Christians during the cultural and political conflicts of late 19th and early 20th century Europe. During the Dreyfus Affair, many Catholic Christians in the third French Republic believed that the French Jewish officer committed treason and that the people supporting his innocence were traitorous republican atheists trying to destroy the army, the church, and/or the nation. Many members of the Romanian Orthodox Church during the Interwar Period felt so shocked by the Russian Revolution that they believed they were living in the end times and must fight a final, climatic battle against the “Judeo-Bolsheviks”.

All these late modern Christian conspiracy theorists shared a dark, conspiratorial view of the their opponents. They not only felt bewildered and dislocated by societal changes caused by industrialization, urbanization, secularization, and modernization in general but also existentially threatened by what they believe their enemies represent, so they found some refuge in conspiracy stories which they used to make sense of the world they lived in. These stories also adapted Christian eschatology to their time periods, but the ultimate antagonists they used were of course Jews. A lot of present-day conspiracy theorists, even oddly some flat earthers, still incorporate anti-Semitism into their stories.

Narrative is a powerful thing. I can find myself almost getting engrossed into a historical drama or epic, despite having a little bit of history education and knowing that the story is not the most factual thing. I think a partial solution is better history education. Facts may not change a person’s mind unless the person change their way of thinking, and a good history education will open up different ways of thinking. (I can’t think of anything better to say, but something may come up.)

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Interesting observation @cewoldt and I think it shows a difference in YEC and right wing evangelicalism. The former is concerned primarily in Bibical interpretation, whereas the later is focused on politics. To some extent, both are concerned with self interest.

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I agree! I don’t think anyone has a bad intent. We’ll learn as time goes on-with God’s help.

JPM “Interesting observation @cewoldt and I think it shows a difference in YEC and right wing evangelicalism. The former is concerned primarily in Bibical interpretation, whereas the later is focused on politics. To some extent, both are concerned with self interest.”

Thanks. Could you explain the “self interest” comment? How is YEC concerned with self interest, at least any more than any other group including EC? And when you speak of “right wing evangelicalism”, again, are you inferring that evangelicals are by definition are “right wing”, or referring to a subset of evangelicals?

I find that EC, OEC and YEC are fairly helpful descriptive terms. But “right wing” and to some extent “evangelicals” are often unhelpful labels. Depending on the person or group, and depending on the labelers understanding of the terms and the individuals involved, these labels may be far from accurate, and lead to unnecessary misunderstandings. If we abandon the labels, and take the effort to find out what a particular individual, or even a church believes on a particular issue, we will often find that we are much closer to agreement than we thought.

Take our church. Some of the people there would call themselves evangelicals; others wouldn’t even know what that means. And even those who consider themselves “evangelical” will have different understandings of what that means. Same with “right wing.” There are certainly many in our fellowship that are either apolitical or are not “right wing” by any definition of the term, although they attend what most consider an “evangelical” church. (For example, does the “Evangelical Lutheran Church of America” (ELCA) fit what you consider "evangelical?)

Good points, and I should have been more descriptive and less cryptic. Admittedly I do that on occasion to encourage others to fill in the blanks, and perhaps a bit to provoke.
The self-interest comment refers primarily to the organizational interests they are protecting, and it di stills down to money most of the time. The big YEC player is interested in their donor base and their theme park receipts. Politics while important if they can benefit from support is secondary to their theological stance, and their theological interpretation is essential to their finance.

In contrast, the far right religious leaders seem to me to have an unhealthy attraction to the power of politics both in and out of the church as their link to self interest, and it seems that many of their followers also value things like the economy, their business interests and retirement funds over Christian ideals. In other words, the financial concerns and power derived are valued over the theology. That is admittedly painting with too broad a brush, as there are many committed Christians intermixed as well, as there are in all divisions.

As to elaborating on the meaning of “right wing evangelicals,” that is a whole discussion by itself. I still consider myself to be an evangelical, though I do not claim kinship with the many of the prominent “leaders” cozying up to our political leaders. Perhaps those like me are searching for a new term to call ourselves. I would say your description of your church could easily apply to the one I attend, so do not lump all evangelicals into that group. So, while imperfect, I think the term “right wing evangelical” is a fair one, as it superimposes politics over the religious belief, which is what has happened in many cases. The politics tend to drive the theology rather than the theology driving the politics.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I guess we disagree on an issue or two. I had a relatively wealthy boss–owner of the business I worked for–that said that the money was important only in respect to the good the money could do. (He made his modest millions wholesaling Christian books.) I will be generous enough to allow that Ken Ham (I think you are referring to him–and I am no fan of his) is interested in donors and money to use to get out the message he thinks is important. I doubt he is getting personally rich out of this.

Regardless of what viewpoint we are speaking of, there are people getting wealthy on it. I imagine that Richard Dawkins has made a ton of money as an evolutionist, but that in no way argues for or against evolution, and he is entitled to the royalties that come from his book writing effort.

I am glad that you are concerned about painting with too broad a brush stroke. I share that concern. And I am glad to see that you differentiate between “right wing evangelical” and the ordinary evangelical. For every mega church pastor with a high salary, there are likely a hundred evangelical pastors living on a modest income.

I didn’t say their official websites were promoting coronavirus conspiracies. My point was that their followers have been conditioned to believe a huge conspiracy about the age of the earth, thanks to decades of anti-science, anti-expert propaganda, and now those chickens have come home to roost. When the pandemic hit and people needed to listen to doctors and scientists, YEC fundamentalists were immune to their advice. Lacking any discernment, they turned to crackpots and social media.

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No generalization is perfect, but I have mixed feelings on your statements here. Part of me agrees with what you wrote, but another part of me also recognizes that YECs absolutely trust some scientists if they think they agree with their YEC beliefs. YECs do have a strange relationship with science where they try to discount naturalism on one hand but try to attain scientific support for the YEC beliefs on the other. For many YECs, faith in their YEC beliefs isn’t enough and they try to seek out scientific evidences to bolster those beliefs. Others, such as Todd Wood and Kurt Wise, have fully embraced their faith-based position and don’t seem worried about the science quite as much as other YECs.

I don’t think it is as simple as saying YECs are anti-science, but then again nothing is simple when it comes to human psychology.

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Sorry I took so long to reply. I would agree with your observations, especially on the oddity of YEC taking its stand on “literal Scripture” yet desperately trying to find “scientific support” for its view. That’s precisely why Wood and Wise are outliers. They build a wall between their faith and their scientific work and keep them in mentally separate compartments. Few can do that.

I think anti-science is a fair descriptor when the movement rejects the consensus conclusions of whole swaths of scientific study. It’s true that they wholeheartedly embrace the few scientists who believe as they do, but does loving 1 geologist and rejecting 999 of them mean that YEC loves geology? haha

After thinking about it further, young Earth creationism rejects the scientific method. Ultimately, the conclusion comes first and data is ether accepted or rejected based on its fit with the conclusion. I would agree that YEC is anti-science. It is this type of attitude that can be dangerous if it leaks into other areas of science and public policy. Data can either be rejected or accepted based on preconceptions and politics surrounding the pandemic, as one cogent example. Much of the same thing is seen in the anti-vax movement.

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