The myth of god and religions are the longest–running, most successful conspiracy theory ever. Let’s define ‘conspiracy theory in the usual way; ‘an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy by powerful and sinister groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable’.
Crucial to this definition must be an addendum which states that proper evidence is anathema to conspiracy theorists. Evidence must now be defined as well: ‘the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid.’ That’s what acceptable evidence is, now, let’s state what good, acceptable evidence is not; conjecture is not evidence. Intuition is not evidence. Wild claims and personal anecdotes are not evidence. Hearsay is not evidence. Distortions of the truth, misapplications of scientific principles, wishful thinking and lies are not evidence.
Anytime a ‘Believer’ claims that they have ‘evidence’ or ‘proof’ of a god, it turns out to be nothing more than ‘look at the trees’ or ‘I have a feeling’ or a rehash of an argument from the Middle-ages. If not those, then the ‘Believer’ will recite one or more of examples of poor evidence such as ‘personal anecdotes’ or ‘intuition’. None of these are evidence. Anyone waiting for the ‘Believer’ to provide decent, sufficient evidence is wasting their time.
None is ever forthcoming because no proper, acceptable evidence is existent. Nevertheless, the ‘True Believer’ will vehemently mouth one or more of the assertions which they feel in ‘their heart’ is sufficient evidence of ‘god’. Moreover, once the proffered twaddle is refuted as worthless by the skeptic (the non-Believer), the Believer will whinge and whine that there is no evidence that will be accepted by the skeptic. The ‘Believer’ will not accept the standard of evidence defined by the skeptic or might peevishly ask what the skeptic might accept as evidence.
Quite often a ‘Believe’ will moan as to why a skeptic would be concerned about the beliefs of the ‘Believer’. A typical query might be; ‘What does it matter?’. The answer should be readily apparent; if one simply accepts nonsense and non-evidence as fact, then other nonsensical ‘beliefs’ can and will be internalized by the ‘Believer’. There is a heuristic failure which leads to further failures in cognition and critical thinking. The adherence to other conspiracy theories are a usual result of such heuristic failure though often tis particular heuristic is reserved for the god claim and religious dogma.
The conspiracy that there is an all-powerful deity which constructed and designed the universe and who is particularly interested in the sexual proclivities of humanity is such a failure. The failure is further compounded by the acceptance of religious authorities which hone the dictates of the pre-supposed deity and require subservience and submission to not only the deity but to the authority of the religious clerics. Not surprisingly, the religious authorities (e.g. preachers, priests, pastors, prophets, etc.) demand a steady source of funds from the ‘Believers’ to finance the life-style and ostentatious real estate of the religious authorities.
If you dare, ask a flat-earther or one who buys into any of the 9-11 conspiracies, or the conspiracies swirling around the JFK assassination, or the iron grip of the Rothschilds or the infamous Area 51 to provide evidence of their claims. (I strongly advise against such inquiry.) Akin to the balderdash and deflection offered by theists, one finds a very similar use by other conspiracy junkies of non-evidence spiced with pseudo-science, the misapplications of scientific principles and outright lies and distortions of fact which indicate a heuristic failure.
This heuristic failure is at the core of the MAGA cult and the worship of Donald J. Trump in the USA and beyond. All evidence to the contrary of the preposterous ‘beliefs’ of flat-earthers and other conspiracy theorists are refused or discounted. Quite often, the evidence refuting the conspiracy is given credence to support the notion that a conspiracy is hiding the ‘truth’ (i.e. the claims of the conspiracy theorist.)
The Pentagon is concealing the ‘truth’ of Roswell, the White House is hiding the facts of JFK’s assassination, the Central Bankers obfuscate monetary policy deemed nefarious. The Jews, the Vatican, the Teamsters, the scientists, the ‘Blacks’, the ‘Gays’, etc.; any group or faction can be cited as obstructing the clear understanding of the ‘truth’ declared by the conspiracy community.
It is the ‘atheist’ who is accused of being the obfuscator of ‘truth’ in the case of theism. As no decent evidence from ‘Believers’ has ever been forthcoming, the skeptic is railed against as the one who befuddles the minds of the faithful and under-cuts valid argument for the existence of a deity. This is simply demonization and often includes the assertion that the skeptic is the witting or unwitting agent or stooge of Satan, the enemy of ‘god’. Such dismissal is prevalent in the heuristic failure of conspiracy nuts.
The success of the god conspiracy is quite evident in history. The Christian conspiracy – based on the questionable activities and historicity of a ‘man from Galilee’ – has been dominant for 2000 years. This dominance has been imposed by the violence of the Crusades, the slaughter of heretics (such as the Albigensians), the suppression and execution of natural philosophers such as Giordano Bruno, the murder of women indicted as witches, the abominations of the various Inquisitions, the burning of all texts deemed heretical or non-canonical (the gospel of Marcion, the Gnostic gospels, etc). The Islamic Faith is no less stained by similar violence and oppression.
Yet, the ‘god’ claim predates Christianity and Islam. The Greeks and Romans had their gods and ceremonies. The Assyrians, Akkadians, Sumerians and Babylonians had their pantheon of gods. The Egyptians had their gods and notion of after-life’ So, too, the people of the Indus Valley, China, Africa, Japan, Mesoamerica, and so on all had a god or a pantheon of gods replete with ceremony and rituals of worship, often bloody and murderous.
It is this prevalence, this predilection which is provided by ‘Believers’ in lieu of evidence for a god. The thinking goes that ‘If humanity has always had a deity or a selection of deities, then there must be a god’. This line of thinking is fallacious and circular. It is an appeal to nature and it is the band-wagon fallacy attempting to validate an extraordinary claim by citing the prevalence and popularity of the claim.
The conspiracy theorists depend on incredulity; depend on logical fallacies and unsupported pseudo-evidence for their claim. The same tactic is used by ‘Believers’ to falsely substantiate guff, clap-trap and gobbledygook. Once you get people to believe in an invisible sky genii, you can get them to believe anything outrageous.
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