# Are there ties between belief in conspiracy theories and religiosity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 27, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-ties-between-belief-in-conspiracy-theories-and-religiosity/963558 "2022-04-27T19:26:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-ties-between-belief-in-conspiracy-theories-and-religiosity/963558/21 "2022-05-08T08:32:42Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > In other words, IMHO it’s the authoritarian mindset that causes belief in conspiracy theories and a certain type of religiosity. It has to do with how willing one is to ignore evidence, not how skilled one is at evaluating it. I think this is broadly accurate but it is also _a willingness to accept propositions without evidence_ as much as ignoring evidence. Being a social creature that thrives on handed-down knowledge there is an in-built propensity to take things on the word of people in our social group, i.e.those we trust. It is easy to see how such a trait could be an evolutionary advantage. So when someone gives you an explanation that, even without you having to evaluate the evidence yourself, seems satisfactory and/or comforting and doesn’t actually kill you then sure, why not accept it? This would seem to work just as well for religious beliefs as it does for CT’s ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-ties-between-belief-in-conspiracy-theories-and-religiosity/963558/22 "2022-05-08T12:50:07Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I think this is broadly accurate but it is also _a willingness to accept propositions without evidence_ as much as ignoring evidence. > > Being a social creature that thrives on handed-down knowledge there is an in-built propensity to take things on the word of people in our social group, i.e.those we trust. It is easy to see how such a trait could be an evolutionary advantage. > So when someone gives you an explanation that, even without you having to evaluate the evidence yourself, seems satisfactory and/or comforting and doesn’t actually kill you then sure, why not accept it? > This would seem to work just as well for religious beliefs as it does for CT’s I worded my reply that way to specifically avoid including people who believe something based on faith when the subject is one that isn’t amenable to scientific inquiry. IMHO there’s a huge difference between, say, a typical Jew, Christian, or Muslim who says they have faith in the existence of God vs. one who believes some crazy stuff “because my rabbi / priest / imam said so, and thank you for asking but no I’ve never read the Talmud / Bible / Koran, I don’t need to because I believe whatever my religious leader tells me no matter what.” The authoritarians are like the latter, but not the former. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-ties-between-belief-in-conspiracy-theories-and-religiosity/963558/23 "2022-05-08T14:56:09Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > IMHO there’s a huge difference between, say, a typical Jew, Christian, or Muslim who says they have faith in the existence of God vs. one who believes some crazy stuff “because my rabbi / priest / imam said so, and thank you for asking but no I’ve never read the Talmud / Bible / Koran, I don’t need to because I believe whatever my religious leader tells me no matter what.” The authoritarians are like the latter, but not the former. Good point. This group will with a straight face tell you that some notion they support is 100% backed by the Holy Book or Constitution and you can’t really be a believer if you don’t support it, when it’s actually just a leader telling them it is so and them taking his word for it – while the teaching is nowhere to be found in the text, and actually educated scholars of the subject have a hard time seeing how you get there. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-ties-between-belief-in-conspiracy-theories-and-religiosity/963558/24 "2022-05-08T15:02:55Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I worded my reply that way to specifically avoid including people who believe something based on faith when the subject is one that isn’t amenable to scientific inquiry. That’s fair enough, my post was more as an addendum to yours than any correction or implied criticism. Mind you, talking about being amenable to scientific inquiry you will see the same appeal made with CT’s and religion. i.e. that god/government/illuminati/lizard people have set things up so as to have covered up any trace of their intervention. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-ties-between-belief-in-conspiracy-theories-and-religiosity/963558/25 "2022-05-08T15:24:18Z")
I would guess that religious experience tends to be mystical, and very personal, which will not lend itself well to a conspiracy. Though there are certainly various sorts of religious practices designed to help one focus, or even into an altered state of consciousness or similar. But is, I don’t know, a voodoo magical ritual a conspiracy? It’s just the practice, rich with symbolism and so on. As for the correlation discussed in the article, it seemed to disappear simply by conducting a study in Germany instead of Poland and the US. So while the various correlations presumably mean something, maybe it is something political or doctrinal or something else as opposed to “true” religiosity, whatever that might be. If there were a real tie, why would it not exist in Germany as well? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-ties-between-belief-in-conspiracy-theories-and-religiosity/963558/26 "2022-05-08T22:07:46Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I think this is broadly accurate but it is also _a willingness to accept propositions without evidence_ as much as ignoring evidence. Well, maybe, but my experience with these people is that they excel at ignoring evidence. Write something that specifically invalidates one of their assertions, and they move to something else. They rarely if ever try to refute the evidence, or acknowledge the evidence, they ignore the evidence and move on to something else equally as bogus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-ties-between-belief-in-conspiracy-theories-and-religiosity/963558.md?page=1)