Some of that is reminiscent of (at least it reminded me of ; - ) Psalm 15:2…
[Blessed is the one who]…speaks truth IN his heart.
Psalm 15:2
Most conspiracists don’t entirely?
Excellent post, Matthew. In expounding on why it seems Christians are more susceptible to conspiracy theories, there seems to be a strong element of Gnosticism in the evangelical church these days. A sense that the physical world in bad, that we are only here in a holding pattern waiting for the new creation, I think the rapture theology plays into that a lot. Also, the idea that we have special knowledge, hidden from others. Hum, sounds like conspiracy theories as well.
It is frustrating, as church people also seem to be susceptible to scams and such as well for similar reasons.
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That is, misinformation that was convincing people to not get a vaccine that was saving lives. Twitter has the right to remove nonsense from their site, such as the nonsense of the “inventor of mRNA therapy” saying anything.
Which they are fully in their right to do as a company.
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And here is another possible implication of various theologies that might affect one’s predilections towards conspiracy: what is your ‘default’ appraisal of the human race?
If humanity is seen as utterly depraved and fallen, then the holder of such a view may be predisposed to always assume the worst of everybody in power or anybody disseminating education. To these folks, the default view of humanity would look more like low-life scum, maybe with the occasional exemplar of virtue thrown in (who will nearly always be the persecuted underdog of the ever-vigilant and controlling evil powers of course.)
If humanity is seen as mostly decent, of course always with a few bad eggs thrown in, but they are more the exceptions than the rule - then you might be less predisposed to think in terms of widescale malevolent conspiracy.
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I don’t think this is the case. For the conspiracy theorist, they judge people by their beliefs. If someone believes in the conspiracy theory then they are trustworthy, no matter what the actual facts are. I have seen numerous conspiracy theorists claim they don’t trust scientists, and then in almost the very next breath cite a scientist that they think supports their conspiracy theory.
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Ditto, here.
I appreciate your humble approach to the parsing of conspiracy theory. Narcissism appears to be putting our faith and security in the temporal–which we all do!
Here’s a thread that briefly reviewed the similarities, too.
Compare and Contrast Faith and Conspiracy Theory - Faith & Science Conversation - The BioLogos Forum
Lee McIntyre also wrote this about conspiracies, which makes me think:
Various psychological theories have been offered, involving factors such as inflated self-confidence, narcissism, or low self-esteem. A more popular consensus seems to be that conspiracy theories are a coping mechanism that some people use to deal with feelings of anxiety and loss of control in the face of large, upsetting events. The human brain does not like random events, because we cannot learn from and therefore cannot plan for them. When we feel helpless (due to lack of understanding, the scale of an event, its personal impact on us, or our social position), we may feel drawn to explanations that identify an enemy we can confront. This is not a rational process, and researchers who have studied conspiracy theories note that those who tend to “go with their gut” are the most likely to indulge in conspiracy-based thinking. This is why ignorance is highly correlated with belief in conspiracy theories. When we are less able to understand something on the basis of our analytical faculties, we may feel more threatened by it
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Meteorologists are getting harassed, and it is not just an American phenomena.
Murderers’ and ‘criminals’: Meteorologists face unprecedented harassment from conspiracy theorists
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‘Liking’ that is a non sequitur. It is not just an American phenomenon, it’s an internet and social media phenomenon?
Not as a company that is a platform not a publisher.
Why? Shutting someone down and not giving them a platform is the responsible thing to do if they are promoting dangerous falsehoods.
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Platforms have legal protections that publishers don’t have. That is the distinction.
And, unfortunately, much censorship of truth has occurred, falsely labeled.
Citations please. How about conspiracism and Pizzagate? Sandy Creek? Jade Helm? Germanwings 9525? The Boston Marathon bombing? Alex Jones. Antivaxxers. COVID deniers. Ivermectin. Clorox IV. 
And on and on.
“The lab leak is a debunked conspiracy theory.”
“The Hunter Biden laptop is Russian disinformation.”
And so on.
That’s only two, and we’ve beaten the lab leak issue to death, you have apparently forgotten, only to bring it up again.
You asked for citations.
You did not ask for ones you like.
And neither issue is dead. Both continue to be very important.
You are absolutely right.
I’m going to guess sometime in the 1980s.
That itself would be a conspiracy theory, no?
Most weekdays when I am home I watch the BBC morning news.
For the first time I recall, the BBC is now reporting the Covid lab leak as a serious possibility. It was one of the lead stories on this morning’s televised news. So I checked the website:
Saying we should consider if there was a lab leak- good science.
Saying it was a lab leak based on only conjecture- conspiracy theory.
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