Christians and the conspiracy theories that helped fuel the Capitol mob
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” features analysis, fact checking and top headlines from the world of faith. Subscribe now to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr. at therossnews@gmail.com.
(ANALYSIS) Nearly 20 years ago, I wrote a column for The Oklahoman headlined “Internet deception runs wild.”
In that July 2001 piece, I highlighted the claim that an atheist group formed by the late “Madeline Murray O’Hare” had collected 287,000 signatures and was pushing to remove all Sunday morning worship service broadcasts.
“The good news is, the prayers have been answered — many times over,” I wrote. “Since the false petition related to the late Madalyn Murray O’Hair (that’s the correct spelling) began circulating in the late 1970s, the Federal Communications Commission has received more than 35 million signatures asking it to block her efforts.”
The cover of the Religion section in the July 21, 2001, edition of The Oklahoman.
Two decades after that column ran, well-meaning religious people’s susceptibility to conspiracy theories has not waned.
If anything, the rise of social media has made it worse. Much, much worse.
“This last year has just been one giant conspiracy theory about everything — the pandemic, the civil unrest, the election — and it all sort of culminated with this terrifying scene we saw on Jan. 6. That was an army of conspiracy theorists, pretty much,” Tea Krulos told Religion News Service’s Emily McFarlan Miller this week.
Krulos is the author of the book “American Madness: The Story of the Phantom Patriot and How Conspiracy Theories Hijacked American Consciousness.”
Last week, I referred to President Donald Trump — who has repeatedly claimed he won an election he lost by 74 Electoral College votes and 7 million popular votes — as the nation’s conspiracy-theorist-in-chief.
In the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol — egged on by Trump — a leading evangelical theologian told NPR this week that it’s time for a Christian reckoning.
“Part of this reckoning is: How did we get here? How were we so easily fooled by conspiracy theories?” said Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Illinois. “We need to make clear who we are. And our allegiance is to King Jesus, not to what boasting political leader might come next.”
In a May 2020 essay titled “Christians Are Not Immune to Conspiracy Theories,” The Gospel Coalition’s Joe Carter traced the problem all the way back to Satan spreading lies in the Garden of Eden. Carter’s take remains a must read.
Finally, in his “On Religion” column last week for the Universal Syndicate, Terry Mattingly interviewed Daniel Darling, author of the book “A Way with Words: Using Our Online Conversations for Good.”
“Today's mobs are not found on the streets with sticks and stones; they're dressed nicely in office cubicles, sitting quietly in church pews and sipping coffee in the comfort of air-conditioned homes. The mobs are — us,” said Darling, the National Religious Broadcasters’ senior vice president of communications.
“It is intoxicating. So intoxicating that we are tempted to immediately post something without stopping to consider if what we are communicating is true. And we often fail, in these split-second decisions, to consider the humanity of the person or organizations we are joining a mob to crush.”
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. For insurrectionists, a violent faith brewed from nationalism, conspiracies and Jesus: “As insurrectionists began the attack on the Capitol, a banner waved above the throng,” writes Religion News Service’s Jack Jenkins. “It read: 'Proud American Christian.’”
At The Tennessean, religion writer Holly Meyer reports that symbols brought to the Capitol raise questions about the role of Christian belief in the riot.
For more on “Flags, faith and fury,” check out my Christian Chronicle story.
2. Charismatics are at war with each other over failed prophecies of Trump victory: In mid-November, Julia Duin profiled the Pentecostal and charismatic leaders still prophesying a Trump election victory — two weeks after his defeat to Joe Biden — and refusing to back down.
Her latest viral report for Religion Unplugged details “prophets and their thousands of followers (who) are slugging it out in an orgy of self-blame, recriminations and fantastical hopes that somehow before Jan. 20, God will bring about a victory for Trump.”
3. Biden plans to be sworn in as president with a massive family heirloom Bible dating back to 1893: Exactly how big is the Bible that President-elect Joe Biden will use to take the oath of office?
Business Insider’s Ashley Collman notes:
In 2013, Obama's inaugural committee said that Biden's family Bible is five inches thick and has a Celtic cross on its cover, according to USA Today.
During that second swearing-in, the size of Biden's bible became a focal point on Twitter.
"Inside the Biden family Bible are all his Amtrak tickets," Twitter user Helder Gil joked at the time, referring to Biden's well-known love of train travel.
More Top Reads
• Josh Dickson: The evangelical behind Joe Biden’s outreach to religious voters (by Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Washington Post)
• Anti-Semitism seen in Capitol insurrection raises alarms (by Elana Schor, Associated Press)
• Most evangelical Trump voters didn’t turn on Mike Pence (by Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today)
• Why one man’s Supreme Court case is uniting the ACLU with the Catholic Church (by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News) Update
• Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell gets six years in prison for fraud scheme involving worthless Chinese bonds (by Robert Downen, Houston Chronicle)
• How The Epoch Times became a pro-Trump propaganda machine in an age of plague and insurrection (by Simon van Zuylen-Wood, The Atlantic)
• What four strangers of different faiths learned while living together during a pandemic (by Alejandra Molina, Religion News Service)
• How House chaplain calmed tense hours in besieged Capitol with prayers for ‘God’s covering’ (by Jack Jenkins, RNS)
• Pixar adviser and theologian Suzan Johnson Cook on how they came to define ‘soul’ in the film (by Adelle M. Banks, RNS)
• The one missing fact: How EWTN misreported the Viganò letter (by Paul Moses, Commonwealth)
Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines
After eight years, Daniel Burke is moving on from his role as religion editor for CNN.
In a Twitter post, Burke said he plans to write a book about Buddhism.
Charging Station: In Case You Missed It
Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from Religion Unplugged.
• Religious freedom is central to the epiphany (and condemns the Capitol violence) (by Chelsea Langston Bombino)
• One in eight Christians worldwide live in countries where they may face persecution (by Ewelina U. Ochab)
• A mansion built by Jerusalem’s most notorious mufti slated to become a synagogue (by Gil Zohar)
• Televangelist Bob Rodgers ‘curses’ those who voted on the ‘wrong side’ in ‘stolen election’ (by Mattie Townson)
• 'We must all repent': Pastors address their flocks after Capitol siege (by Hamil R. Harris)
• Pope Francis changes canon law: What it means for the Catholic Mass (by Clemente Lisi)
• Catholic Church releases rules for pandemic Ash Wednesday (by Timothy Nerozzi)
• The solution to Christian nationalism? Better theology (by Thomas K. Johnson)
• Q&A with Rev. Paul Abernathy, an Orthodox priest combatting vaccine skepticism (by Mladen Aleksic)
• Nigerian archdiocese still doesn't know why their bishop was kidnapped (by Timothy Nerozzi)
• 'A republic, if you can keep it': How Benjamin Franklin's response Is still applicable post 'Capitol coup' (by Michael Metzger)
• Capitol violence calls us to recommit to redeeming institutions, not tearing them down (by Rev. Khary Bridgewater and Chelsea Langston Bombino)
The Final Plug
How consumed are we by politics?
So much so, it seems, that a really big interview this week went mostly unnoticed.
“Wow,” my friend David Duncan said after seeing that tweet. “Who would have thought the Second Coming would happen in Boston?”
Bobby Ross Jr. is a columnist for Religion Unplugged and editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 15 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.
Earlier in this Collection
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The possibility of President Trump winning a second term is looking dimmer and dimmer as election results show President-Elect Joe Biden eking out a victory even in traditionally GOP states such as Arizona and Georgia. But these modern-day prophets aren’t taking no for an answer.
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As the mob swarmed the Capitol steps, climbed the inaugural scaffolding and even scaled the building like it was a gym climbing wall, the now commonplace red, white and blue “Trump 2020” and “Make America Great Again” flags flew alongside flags and banners with a range of Christian symbols, including a white flag with a pine tree inspired by the Old Testament and used in the Revolutionary War.
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Catholic clergy showed concern for the future of the United States and displayed a rare public patriotism after an insurrectionist mob broke into the Capitol building and resulted in the deaths of at least five people.
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On the first Sunday since a pro-Trump insurrectionist mob sieged the U.S. Capitol, pastors offered comfort and some rebuke to their congregations concerned for the future of American democracy. "The American nation will be healed when the American church repents. We must repent for making the person who occupies the White House more important than the one who occupies our hearts," said Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference who became known for his support of Trump.
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A day of reckoning has come for modern-day "prophets" in the Pentecostal/charismatic movement who falsely foretold a victory for President Trump in 2020. Privately and on social media, these prophets and their thousands of followers are slugging it out in an orgy of self-blame, recriminations and fantastical hopes that somehow before Jan. 20, God will bring about a victory for Trump. Others who’ve apologized for getting it wrong have gotten accusations, curses and even death threats.
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(OPINION) This season of Epiphany, which we are now in, affords us the opportunity to honor Christ’s manifestation and ministry in the world. Epiphanytide invites us to reflect on the role of religious freedom and religious literacy in Christ’s manifestation to the world. This is perhaps even more relevant in light of the Capitol violence last week.
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As thousands rallied in Washington to support President Donald Trump’s unproven claim of a stolen election — a protest that turned deadly as an insurrectionist mob stormed the U.S. Capitol — many carried signs and flags linking the Republican political leader to their Christian faith.
Up Next in this Collection
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in explores why Christians seem so susceptible to conspiracy theories. Plus, as always, check out the best reads in the world of faith news.
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Mike Lindell, MyPillow CEO and now-popular Trump supporter, appeared on the Eric Metaxas Radio Show to discuss more “proof” he’d discovered about widespread election fraud. “God’s got his hand in all of this,” he said.
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(ANALYSIS) In the months since the election, the Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family has regularly provided election skeptics with plentiful ammunition and has embraced men and women in Congress who voted to overturn state election results. Meanwhile, Focus’s partner organization in Washington, D.C., the Family Research Council, continues to claim the election was stolen, and that Antifa—not Trump supporters—may have caused the Capitol attack on Jan. 6.
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(OPINION) Conservative Christians propose that the final day of Trump’s campaign to overturn President Biden’s Electoral College victory involved religious "heresy" or "apostasy." A survey by the conservative American Enterprise Institute shows 63% of White evangelicals think Biden’s win was illegitimate, despite the numerous federal and state court rulings that found no evidence for Trump’s claim of a "sacred landslide." But to what extent were Christians implicated in the Capitol mayhem?
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After an embarrassing number of wrong prophecies and bungled predictions about the 2020 election, a group of charismatic Christian leaders have released a four-page statement of "prophetic standards" to help correct abuses in the movement.
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(OPINION) One year after ReligionUnplugged senior contributor Hamil R. Harris reported from the Capitol rally turned into a siege, he reflects on what’s needed for America to heal deep political and racial divisions.
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(OPINION) According to the script of "FBI: Most Wanted," Jan. 6, 2021, was most certainly an insurrection. And even though this particular group of fanatics represented a small minority of Americans, they were depicted as the very image of the insurrection itself. But there is another side to this story.
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(OPINION) The latest bid to shape public perceptions of the concept of Christian nationalism is a 63-page “Report on Christian Nationalism and the January 6 Insurrection,” issued last month by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
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(ANALYSIS) Without merit.” “Mere speculation and conjecture.” “Gossip and innuendo.” “Wholly unreliable.” “Implausible.” “Hazy and nebulous.” That’s how judges responded to 61 election lawsuits filed by Trump’s legal teams. Meanwhile, conservative Christian influencers used their media platforms outlets to promote these false claims about the election to believers. Here’s a look at eight of the most prominent promoters of the former president’s lies.