The United States Supreme Court is weighing in now on whether President-elect Barack Obama is a native-born American citizen and thus qualifed to serve in the Oval Office. A highly-credentialed journalist is questioning whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin actually gave birth to her son Trig. One conspiracy theory is for the Right, another for the Left. It’s kind of sad.
We’ve all seen the forwarded emails about our new President. He was trained in a radical Islamic school in Indonesia, they say, or he forged his birth certificate or he’s a Manchurian candidate who’ll turn America into another Saudi Arabia or USSR.
And the Left has buzzed for a while with the story that Gov. Palin was covering up her daughter’s pregnancy, stuffing pillows under her (non-Republican National Committee-funded) suits until her secret grandchild could be born.
Please.
We all know where these conspiracy theories are going: nowhere. But why do people enjoy them so?
First, all people are aware that there really is a conspiracy out there. They’re designed to pick up on the fact that there’s a cunning foe with principalities and powers at work with him. If men and women aren’t finding the real cosmic conspiracy, they’ll usually find another one…in their offices, their churches, or among the celebrities and politicians they watch on television.
Secondly, conspiracy theories are often simply a form of gossip writ large. It relieves boredom to pass around whispered slanders about people we don’t like.
I don’t mind seeing conspiracy theories in the outside world. It’s a sign of hope, in some ways. People who know there are conspiracies afoot are, perhaps, closer to hearing that they’ve been “blinded by the god of this age” (2 Cor 4:9) who has captured by him to do his will (2 Tim 2:26).
Conspiracy theories in the church are another matter. They’re often simply a tool, using words as a weapon, often lies or innuendos as a weapon. That’s never a fruit of the Holy Spirit. They’re often, furthermore, a symptom of a paranoia, a kind of anxiety that doesn’t quite believe that God is Father of the church and King over history.
Our God tells us through the prophet Isaiah: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread” (Isa 8:12-13).
Sure, there are conspiracies out there, human as well as demonic. But there’s a real danger of a cowering and cunning conspiracy theorizing. Let’s confront real injustice where there’s real injustice. But let’s be the last people to whisper with raised eyebrows, “Well, I heard…”
We shouldn’t fear the Bushes or the Clintons or the Rockefellers or the Hiltons, whatever they are or aren’t up to. We should fear the One who’ll one day uncover all our whispered conversations, all our forwarded emails, all our hateful thoughts. There’s nothing conspiratorial about that.
