Back in 2017, the anonymous Q and Q’Anon started gaining notoriety. Conspiracy theorists and other fringe groups don’t really have to present facts because they write in cryptic messages and deal in vagueness. Followers might admit they don’t believe everything prescribed, but the ambiguity of the whole process makes it easy to mold the messages into whatever cause that other groups are trying to promote.
This might be okay for people to have a hobby of chasing wild theories. After all, I’m a big fan of asking questions and doing research (see my last post). Willful ignorance is not okay. But why would anyone stay nested on obvious lies and falsehood, believing such things as Hilary Clinton runs a pedophile ring in pizza shop in Washington D. C.? Why would groups demonize the other side to such an extent that they were ready to kill members of the legislative branch of government based largely on these unfounded theories and lies told by Donald Trump?
My assumption is that we have been taught to do this by religion.
In the white, evangelical world that I came from, we were taught to look for demons under every rock. Gays were the enemy, abortionists were the enemy, and certainly anyone that disagreed with us politically wasn’t simply wrong or uninformed, they must be evil and dangerous! Promoting these types of ideas creates an urgency. Christians promote and fuel the idea that the world will end if the wrong person is elected or we don’t pass certain legislation. Narrow theological views lead to the need to control all aspect of the empire so much that, eventually, storming the Capitol can seem like the right thing to do.
Unfortunately, these actions are based on all the wrong things – it’s not Christian anymore, it’s anti-Christ. When we begin with fear, our need for control goes overboard and we can justify the most ungodly things like condoning killing a member of the Executive Branch because he won’t break the law for our cause. People that disagree with us aren’t simply wrong they are evil and dangerous and certainly must be stopped NOW or the country is doomed. It’s messaging, it’s not reality.
I would like to blame all this on the evil out there, but it’s mostly rooted in white, evangelical fundamentalist Christianity. Because the entire belief system starts with fear and isn’t willing to discuss issues and intends to demonize the other, it is doomed from the start. The experiment that Jerry Falwell Sr. and others started 40 years ago has failed and it needs to be abandoned. It has reached its tragic end and needs to be totally re-imagined.
Christianity is my roots, so I’ll never stop being concerned for her. But I feel she must die in a way before she can be reborn. I think it is happening already.
Be where you are, be who you are, be at peace,
Karl Forehand
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