Conspiracy Theories and Armstrongism

Why do many within the Armstrong Churches of God seem to be so susceptible to conspiracy theories? Don't think they are? Check these out:  Mark Armstrong's Weekly Update and Bill Watson's Is Anybody Listening? 

Think about it. Conspiracy theorists believe that the truth is hidden - that most folks are deceived about what is really going on in the world, and THIS IS A CENTRAL TENET OF ARMSTRONGISM.

Research into the psychology behind conspiracy theories informs us that they are generated by a lack of trust in institutions and political cynicism (Conspiracy Theorists Aren’t Really Skeptics)

In that article, we read:  "The common thread between distrust and cynicism, as defined in these experiments, is a perception of bad character. More broadly, it’s a tendency to focus on intention and agency, rather than randomness or causal complexity." Continuing:  "The more you see the world this way—full of malice and planning instead of circumstance and coincidence—the more likely you are to accept conspiracy theories of all kinds. Once you buy into the first theory, with its premises of coordination, efficacy, and secrecy, the next seems that much more plausible."

Hence, if one has already bought into the idea that Satan and the Catholic Church have hatched a grand conspiracy to deceive Christianity about God, Jesus Christ, the Bible and doctrinal issues, it is easy to believe that other actors have hatched other conspiracies designed to hide the truth about other issues. And this is NOT the kind of suspicion that evokes scientific research and critical thinking. Instead, it seeks information (or to interpret information in a fashion) that reinforces the suspicion!

This is the kind of stuff that turns someone like Donald Trump into a Christian savior and his opponents into maniacal deviants bent on a program of misinformation. If you are prone to this kind of thinking, then climate change can seem like a liberal plot to undercut our free market economy and George Soros can look like he's running the entire show. Nevertheless, for those who are still willing to think for themselves, I think that it is still possible to get back to reality. What do you think?  Miller Jones

Armstrongism's fascination with conspiracy theories

Living Armstrongism: Dave Pack On Conspiracy Theories in Global COG

Living Armstrongism: PCG Promotes Bilderberg Conspiracy Theory

WHAT BEN CARSON’S PYRAMID THEORY MIGHT SAY ABOUT HIS FOREIGN POLICY

The Evil Zionist/Jesuit Conspiracy To Take Down The Church

It's A Masonic Conspiracy!

Rooting Armstrongism out of Ex-Worldwide Church of God Folk

Why So Many People Believe Conspiracy Theories

The Weird Mind of Conservative Armstrongites

Just what do you mean “pagan”?

Herbart Armstrong and all of the men "trained at his feet" love to toss around the word "pagan" whenever they seek to deride and mock others outside their small circle of belief.  Pagan was a word that was used as a weapon to alienate and to strike fear into members lives. If a member even remotely liked something considered "pagan" then their salvation was at risk.

On an exCOG member forum on Facebook, the following comment was made in regards to "paganism."

Just what do you mean “pagan”? 😀I      don’t mean to trigger anyone by borrowing HWA’s default booklet title, Just What Do You Mean ... ?, but I thought I’d bring up the term “pagan.” While HWA said that his followers had to “unlearn” all they learned outside his cult, each of us here has learnt the hard way, and we’re struggling in common challenging ways, that we have to “unlearn” all the crap HWA and his cult put on or in us. 

I’m going to suggest that one of those things to unlearn is how some of us consider the word pagan. Remember that HWA was untrained as a historian or anthropolologist and he was quite simplistic when it came to the term “pagan.” To him, “pagan” was (and is) the equivalent of a monolithic and organized devil worship system that somehow existed almost everywhere. If HWA was in charge of Rome in the first hundreds of years AD, and if he stuck to the crap he wrote, he would have torn down all those beautiful and historic buildings, statues, etc., which is the kind of thing the Taliban and ISIS do today to historic other-religion artifacts in areas they control. 

Just as you know he was so wrong about other things, might I suggest that he was so wrong on how he painted paganism? Paganism is not a monolithic system. Whether you are religious or not, how people in history came up with their religious views (how they are common, borrowed and unique) is a fascinating human story. 

In short, whether you celebrate Christmas for religious and cultural reasons, don’t let HWA’s misguided view of paganism hold you back. If you are a bit stuck on the word “pagan,” remember that almost everything borrows from previous religions (or on “paganism” if you use that term), everything including Thanksgiving (a fact that HWA was deliberate to overlook). 

Merry Christmas!