THE GOSPEL IN AN AGE OF CONSPIRACY THEORY
Extreme ideas are becoming a normal part of life. That’s the argument of Julia Ebner in her book ‘Going Mainstream’ (Ithaka Press, 2024); and conspiracy theories lie at the heart of them.
It is easy to ridicule most conspiracy beliefs (the British Royal Family being covert lizards must be right up there) but they grow in a particular seed bed. Low trust in institutions and public leaders is part of this, especially in the so called mainstream media. The Covid pandemic has amplified conspiracy theory; research has shown that the single biggest cause for believing in a conspiracy is belief in another conspiracy, and Covid has spawned a number around the origins of the virus and the safety of the vaccines. Or, to put one of them in bald terms: the belief that the pandemic was engineered by global elites who then developed vaccines that would kill people.
In ‘Among The Trolls’ (Atlantic Books, 2024) the BBC’s Disinformation and Social Media correspondent Marianna Spring interviewed several people devoted to conspiracy theory. Given the appalling levels of trolling she herself has been subject to, Spring is sensitive to the reasons why some prove so credulous. They see a world that seems to be spiralling out of control and they worry it will take them with it. As with Julia Ebner’s analysis, there is an almost complete loss of trust in sources once taken for granted; and a need to see a pattern behind the apparently random outcomes of life.
Technology has played a huge role. Only a few decades ago, it would have been hard to find other people who believed in strange conspiracy theories because the tools to connect people did not exist. Joining people across the world on niche subjects is both a blessing and a curse. The curse is the way it enables people to find utterly untrue stories and others who believe in them; to find a community among likeminded people. Loneliness is known to be a factor in succumbing to conspiracy. And at all times, social media algorithms oblige in efficiently directing us to particular content, irrespective of whether it is true or false, good or evil.
Julia Ebner notes the growing number of coalitions involved. She speaks of ‘hybrid ideologies such as eco-fascism, Satanic misogyny and QAnon inspired nationalism’. The extreme right has bought into a pro-Russian Putin narrative about decadent western liberalism and this is being exploited by the Kremlin. As Ebner says, the link between Russia and QAnon is not fully explored and perhaps never will be; but its outcomes have served Putin well.
The impact of a conspiracy can be shocking, as Sandy Hook shows. This was one of the worst school gun massacres in history, with most of the victims young children, but this did not stop the alt-right talk radio hot Alex Jones for persisting in his claim that those involved were ‘crisis actors’ – literally, paid people acting out the whole thing. Parents whose children were murdered then faced horrific levels of abuse online from people who said it was made up. British people tempted to think this was a peculiarly American phenomenon should bear in mind that 14% of people in one poll believed the same of the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. Clearly, there are subterranean developments some of us are unaware of.
Marianna Spring shows that some people can be persuaded of the falsehoods they once believed, but it is the extracting from an online, supportive community of likeminded people that is complicated. There is a need for sophisticated media literacy training in all schools – something that Finland has done well. But digital migrants are just as, if not more prone, than digital natives to being deceived. One study has shown that Facebook users over the age of 65 share seven times more links to fake news sites than younger users.
To disagree on issues is inevitable, but as Spring observes, once objective truth is beyond us, we are in trouble. People who identify as Christian come from the length and breadth of the nations they belong to and will disagree with one another on lots of things. But we should resist the postmodern subjectivity that lies behind recent cultural developments. Just because we believe something does not make it true, and we should resist presenting it this way to others. The story of salvation is rooted in a large number of historical figures and events, giving us sufficient evidence on which to base what we believe.
Helping others to examine this foundation is part of our faith sharing, as is the seeking of patterns in God’s dealings with us. These exist and are a way of the Lord showing us love and grace. That they exist should give us sympathy for those who see patterns in their conspiracy theories, but also give us reason to express those patterns cautiously and in the light of scripture, tradition, our powers of reasoning and the impact of these patterns on the wellbeing of others. The Gospel is no conspiracy; it is, as Leslie Newbiggin said, an ‘open secret’. It is not hidden, but if we reserve it for ourselves to receive benefits others do not, keeping it from them, the Gospel starts to look more like a conspiracy. The very opposite of Jesus’ intention.
