How should Christians respond to conspiracy theories?
Conspiracy theories bubble up everywhere, and are particularly prolific online. Explore what might seem an interesting angle on a particular story, and the algorithm will rapidly lead you down the rabbit hole. We are not talking your run-of-the-mill UFO and Kennedy assassination and man-walking-on-the-moon stuff. It might not be QAnon, but a whole range of conspiracy theories travel in that direction.
These are often mixed up with what is casually referred to as ‘fake news’. Distressingly, a lot of this material uses Christian (or Christian-ish) vocabulary or imagery, is spread by people happy to push an agenda under a Christian-cultural flag, or is promoted by undiscerning and untaught Christians. Books like Revelation provide fertile ground for all kinds of unfounded speculation and assertion.
The first challenge in answering your question is working out what is really a conspiracy. We are hindered by the fact that we live in a world full of ignorance and deceit, some of it unwitting, some of it deliberate. In recent years this seems to have fostered an unusual level of suspicion, in which almost any story is presumed to be a pretext or have a subtext. Artificial Intelligence produces images hard to distinguish from real recordings. We are living in a Cretan culture: ‘“Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true’ (Titus 1:12-13). Many lies have a spiritual dimension, distracting and diverting believers from their true and proper concerns.
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding - Proverbs 4:7
