Okay, a friend of mine recently asked the question, How did paranoid people infect more followers before Facebook??? I figure this may offend some, but Ive had this theory for a while and its about time, I think, to get it out there. If it doesnt apply to you and your beliefs and experience, please keep in mind that you dont need to be offended by my experience and belief; simply adhere to your own and please just let it go. So here it is: When I was a kid, the church my parents took me to was big on a paranoid conspiracy called the Satanic conspiracy -- I mean big time. There were people in that church that were at least -- at least!! -- half convinced that everyone who was not a member of that church was either evil or an unwitting pawn of Satan. IMHO, that kind of belief system, and based largely on unquestioned faith, scriptural emphasis and interpretation, is a gobsmacking example of what I think of as religious malpractice. It was like a training ground for all other paranoid conspiracies. Once you have that big Satanic conspiracy swallowed uncritically down, then it is easy to believe people of any and every sort are out to get you and fool you and do you harm, no matter what evidence there may be to the contrary. That experience growing up is a small but important part of the reason I took to science and reason and skepticism and decided to get away from religion. So thats my answer, i.e., my theory about how did paranoid people infect more followers before Facebook. And when I look around at what is happening, I cant help but think it is still true today in many religious congregations in this country. I dont think we can justifiably blame very much of it on the internet, social media or Facebook. Nope ... this disease goes waaay back.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 13:36:06 +0000
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