Why Some Christians Still Love Conspiracy Theories

John H. Armstrong June 26th, 2007

Some months ago I read an intriguing editorial in the Wall Street Journal that got me to thinking about what I have seen in the church over the course of my lifetime. The editorial addressed a story about a University of Wisconsin lecturer, Kevin Barrett, who believes that the U. S. government actually staged the September 11 terrorist attacks. The response, when the story became public, came in two forms: 1) Fire him! 2) Is this guy really nuts?

The Wall Street Journal argued that the more relevant and compelling response would be to explain, very patiently and carefully, why he is simply wrong. But why bother when there are a number of indicators that many Americans actually agree with the professor? You think I'm kidding don't you? Read on.

The Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University found that 36 percent of people responding to their survey said they thought it was "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that "people in the federal government either assisted in the September 11 attacks or took no action to stop the attacks because they wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East." The figure sounds preposterous to me, until I think about the American cultural context a bit further. I am prone to say, "You've got to be kidding!" But 1,000 people were questioned in this sophisticated survey. Maybe, the Wall Street Journal noted, some of those surveyed simply wanted an opportunity to share their deep skepticism about the people who lead this country, especially the President. But it still gives you real pause and makes you ask, "Do a lot of Americans actually believe that their government was complicit in, or directly involved in orchestrating, the events surrounding 9/11?"

Americans Do Love Their Conspiracy Theories

The editorial reminded the reader that Americans have always loved conspiracy theories. After Pearl Harbor many believed that FDR, and his top military advisors, knew the attack was coming but allowed it to happen so that they could lead us into World War II. (This theory remains to this day and is still defended by some relatively serious writers.) And then there was Lee Harvey Oswald. Multitudes still believe he did not act alone no matter what the research and massive study shows. Have you been to the Texas Book Depository in Dallas? I visited the museum there a few years ago, and the alternative story tellers remain on the streets to this day, explaining various conspiracy theories about how President Kennedy really died.

The Wall Street Journal notes that "no doubt there is some kind of audience for the September 11 conspiracy theory. Several hundred people gathered at a recent Chicago conference to hear folks such as Steven Jones, a Brigham Young University physicist who is studying the idea that the World Trade Center towers were brought down by explosives detonated from inside." And there is still all of this interest in spite of the fact that the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and other independent non-governmental groups, concluded that the massive fires caused by the crash of the hijacked planes were enough to bring the buildings down.

So what's really going on here? Why do Americans love these conspiracy theories so much? The Wall Street Journal suggested that we are prone to accept conspiracies at certain times in history when things seem unsettled and topsy-turvy. Prominent historian Richard Hofstadter, in an essay titled "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" written a year after the Kennedy assassination, argued that we often lack a crucial sense of "how things do not happen."

Christians Also Buy Into These Conspiracies

I got to thinking again about Hofstadter's statement a few weeks ago. I asked why so many Christians buy into conspiracy theories about cataclysmic events when they profess a settled faith about their own future, and that of the world? Such a faith, I reason, should lead Christians to reject such theories as preposterous since we should know "how things do not happen."

Consider the impact that popular interpretations of the apocalypse have held on Christians since the first century. These interpretations, and the debates that surround them, are interwoven into Christian history. Take as one example, the second century teacher Montanus' vibrant millennialism. It spawned a mass hysteria that led many followers to believe that the ancient city of Perpuza, in Asia Minor, would become the apocalyptic New Jerusalem. The results of this conspiracy theory were more than harmful to the Christian witness. Even the famous North African theologian and apologist Tertullian (160"“225) became a convert to this sort of teaching before his death, demonstrating that extremely bright and devoted people can be taken into fantasies. Tertullian clearly remained orthodox in almost every essential doctrinal area, except for his separatism. This separatism, which runs rampant among all conspiratorialists, eventually led to a sect called the Tertullianists, a group that formally died out with the death of Montanus, though vestiges of this sect existed into the fifth and sixth centuries.

Then there was the philosopher/mystic Joachim of Fiore (1130"“1202). He was an abbot who created an order approved by the papacy. His central conception was that human history unfolded in three overlapping dispensations, one for the Father, one for the Son and one for the Holy Spirit, a kind of pre-modern dispensationalism. Joachim taught things that were rejected by mainstream theologians but eventually his work gave great impetus to the apocalyptic visions that became the pop conspiracies of his time.

During the Protestant Reformation there was a radical German by the name of Thomas Müntzer who was appointed to his ministry by Martin Luther himself. (Luther, for a very brief season, was also tempted by radical conspiratorial visions that were floating around in his time.) Müntzer, a stirring preacher and a compelling figure, fostered a brand of apocalypticism that created great confusion in the church among ordinary Christians. It eventually led him, and many of the so-called Zwickau Prophets, to fight in the Peasants' War (1524). Müntzer was later captured and executed following this conflict. With his death another conspiracy came and went, again harming the missional focus of the church in the world.

And the beat goes on, right down through twenty centuries of church history. Today we have a new version of these radical prophets who risk their lives, and that of their devoted followers. One thinks of the late David Koresh. And then there are a good number of lesser known charismatic types who convince people of a number of other dangerous conspiracies. More importantly, within mainstream fundamentalism there are multitudes who remain deeply fascinated by the books and prophetic teaching of men like Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, John Hagee, Jack Van Impe, Grant R. Jeffrey, Pat Robertson and a multitude of lesser-known teachers. These writers all assure us that they really know and understand the real meaning of the Scriptures. But have you noticed that when these teachers make predictions about the direction of current events they are very often wrong, often badly wrong? (Hal Lindsey's assurances about the timing of the terminal generation, which he said would come in forty years, comes to mind since I heard him say the end was very near nearly forty years ago when I was a college student in the 1960s.) Yet I have never heard a serious mea culpa, just more new bizarre prophetic interpretations about what will surely come to pass in "these last days." Having once bought into this approach to the Bible, as a freshman college student, I can tell you that this stuff dies slowly when you are assured that these men really know the Bible. Face it, nothing creates a buzz among church groups like a great discussion about the end-times. To question this is to be seen as not really believing the Bible literally. And who wants to have a low view of the Bible if they love Jesus and the Scriptures?

Fantastica Fornacatio

Many Christians engage in the kind of scriptural exegesis that the theologian St. Augustine appropriately called fantastica fornicatio. (I'll leave to your mental image what the great theologian had in mind.) The simple facts are clear–history is littered with people who tried sincerely to interpret the Book of Revelation and went badly wrong. Some even went mad, and some turned to violence. Regardless of your millennial view of Revelation 20 you must realize, sooner than later, that fantasizing about God's plan in the world is a real problem and can only lead to dangerous choices and actions.

The apocalyptic texts of the Old and New Testaments tend to tempt us to become preoccupied with signs and wonders, with secrets and mysteries. Those who assure us that they understand them have an insight the rest of us lack, so we think. They know that the end is near. We are not as well versed or insightful as they are. The problem comes when these fantasies lead to conspiracy theories that actually cause believers to seek God's will through their teaching and actions and thus to try to "hasten the end-times," as Jonathan Kirsch puts it. But Kirsch, who is clearly not a real friend to evangelical religion, is also correct when he adds, "both Jewish and Christian redactions, plainly instruct us to put aside the pursuit of "˜secret things' and call on us to answer the urgent needs of the hungry and the homeless, the prisoner and the patient, all in the here and now" (Jonathan Kirsch, A History of the End of the World. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 2006, 255).

Many "true believers" are willing to fight over their understanding of the meaning of the prophetic Scriptures. Such people can be found in almost every conservative church I know. They watch television preachers, read popular books on prophecy, and follow the events of the Middle East waiting for the end.

What Harm Is There in This?

You could say, "What's the harm in a little innocent speculation, or such conspiracy thinking?" The short answer is that this conspiracy business keeps people from living the really important eschatological aspects of biblical teaching, especially a critical truth like the already/not yet tension of the kingdom of Christ. And if we remain focused on all these conspiracies we will miss the present opportunity "to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8). I am convinced that most Christians who are preoccupied with conspiracies, whether the secular or religious variety it does not matter, will be rendered fairly useless to the real work of the church in the world today. They have no deep and abiding interest in the missional mandate of Jesus.

Face it, conspiracy works. It sells books. And it apparently has a huge following in America, a nation deeply influenced by the Bible and prophetic ideas. The same Scripps poll that found out our views about 9/11 also uncovered information that suggests that 38% of Americans believe the government is probably withholding proof that there's intelligent life on other planets. What next?

John H. Armstrong is founder and president of ACT 3, a ministry for the advancement of the Christian Tradition in the third millennium. He is a former pastor and church-planter, of more than twenty years, the author/editor of eight books, and the author of hundreds of magazine, journal, and Web based articles. John has served as the editor-in-chief of ACT 3 Review: A Journal for Faith, Church and Culture since its origin in1992. But most importantly, he is our go-to professional religionist.

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