One might need to issue a warning on conspiracy theories that are, as a matter of fact, rather mad fantasies and hallucination. Such conspiracy fantasies tend to link things that are not connected and imagining patterns where there are none.
Such an introductory warning, for example, should focus on investigative journalism, intellectuals, those with a critical mind, and academics to keep a straight face when dealing with the hallucination of conspiracy fantasies. Some conspiracy fantasies are even made to look like as if they were written by Dan Brown.
This is particularly so, in the case of imagined secret societies and the deep state as both are prevalent in Christian conspiracy fantasies.
Or course, in all this, the propagators of Christian conspiracy fantasies rely on a kind of accelerationist and sensationalist-propagandistic rhetoric to get into the public domain. At the same time, they are also protecting and hyping up their own followers and members.
Concurrently, this creates an imaginary in-group of those “who are in the know”. In turn, it mirrors the in-group of other conspiracy fantasists and then, gets set against the evil out-group of the, for example, people who represent the evil state and the non-believers. The idea behind this is to create and strengthen the internal cohesion of the in-group.
Simultaneously, it also prepares the in-group for what might be called a slow and successive “divorce” from a democratic society.
Traditionally, and in much of this, Christian-conservative forces have been using quasi-religious and spiritually infused conspiracy fantasies to their advantages. To examine all this, it will not be possible to not include theological reflections as well as eschatology.
What we are dealing here with are Christian-conservative conspiracy fantasists that will never consider themselves to be conspiracy fantasies – obviously.
On the contrary, conspiracy fantasists see themselves as a formation of “a” legitimate resistance against the wickedness and evilness of modern secularization, progressive liberalism, feminism, and democratization. These are used to conjure up images of a tyranny of the state.
This gets worse with the conspiratorial aspect of a self-appointed “mandate for leadership” – spiritually, or otherwise. In this, the “great saviour” plays a key role. The modern leader – often seamlessly – continues from the religio-fundamentalist Christian Savior.
This constitutes an ideological tradition rehearsed for generations by the faithfuls and also by the “faith-fools” – those fooled by the Christian faith and adjacent conspiracy fantasies.
Today, this no longer needs a formal structure like the one supplied by the illuminati, the freemasons, Opus Dei, and the Catholic Church.
These have been replaced by online echo-chambers and information silos, Filter Bubbles, and Rabbit Holes such as, for example, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter (X), WhatsApp, etc.
Yet, the Christian-conservative conspiracy fantasies still follow the same ideological goal. This is the complete reorganization of democracy, democratic institutions, the executive, and administration of the state.
Most importantly, this also means the submission of democracy and democratic institutions to Christian nationalist-conservative dogma.
The neofascist and “white men-only” Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR), for example, seeks to set up exactly that. SACR wants Christian-nationalistic universities and adjacent authoritarian far-right organizations to influence and run society.
In all this, the right-wing and Trump-defending Claremont Institute is particularly important. And so is its president Ryan P. Williams as well as his ideological bedfellow: Charles Haywood. Far-right blogger Haywood styles himself on his private blog as a “warlord” with his own far-right militia.
Apart from neofascist militias in the USA, these Christian militias are preparing for an open civil war. Such a war is also directed against the US federal government, parts of the government like the parliament.
Beyond that, what is also targeted is fabulated and fabricated as the “deep state”. In the hallucinations of the Christian far-right, the deep state lurks behind everything – literally “everything”.
To destroy the always illusive deep state, they work on what they fancy to be a “national divorce” which is a secession from democracy.
Their democracy-replacing and deeply authoritarian regime is based on the installation of a non-democratic religio-spiritual Christian government.
Unsurprisingly, Christian fundamentalist organisations that are supposed to push society towards a Christian government – including the SACR – are open to new members, provided they meet six core criteria:
they must be male.
Trinitarian Christian.
Heterosexual.
Can not be Jewish.
American “without any hyphens”, and
can correctly answer questions about Trump, the Republican Party, and Christian nationalism.One of its leaders once explained to a potential new member that the goal of the Christian-authoritarian organization is ‘to secure a future for Christian families’.
Meanwhile, in the politics of fear, there is always “someone” or “something” to be presented as being in “danger”. And here comes the saviour that saves us all. This is a classical strategy.
The conjuring up of an enemy works internally as well. Inside the in- group of, for example, religious believers, this role was traditionally held by the devil. In the imaginary world of Christian conspiracy fantasies, this is now transferred to others – the state is the new Beelzebub, the satan and devil. Once again, this creates an in-group cohesion.
To asphyxiated members of the in-group, denominations that, for example, reject the concept of the holy trinity are labelled non-trinitarian Christianity. They are the out-group.
Interestingly, and in addition to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the out-group also includes the Mormon Church. Beyond all this, by “without a hyphen” (-) in the list above, SACR and its neofascist stooges mean people who identify themselves as Native–American or African–American.
In other words, anyone not white and not Christian does not need to apply to the SACR and other right-wing Christian squadrons and militias. This is the Christian version of white power (USA) and Aryanism (Nazi-Germany).
Predictably, their twisted conspiracy fantasies tell them that they aren’t enforcing a radical extremist project. Quite the contrary, their conspiracy fantasies have assisted in convincing them that they are the antidote to the current “perversions” of the US Constitution.
Worse, the conspiracy fantasy believers also imagine that their new anti-democratic regime – as installed by the SACR and its Christian militias – will bring the US’ constitutional order closer to its origins.
They are also swayed to picture the constitution as being corrupted and undermined for a century by progressivism, feminism, liberalism, and democracy.
To them, progressives and democrats are simply anti-constitutional. Much of this appears like a carbon-copy of Spain’s fascist Franco and his death squads of the Christian-fascist Falange. It mixes fascism with Christianity.
According to their fictitious conspiracy fantasies, the United States is currently engaged in something they believe to be a kind of a “cold civil war”. The term “cold civil war” is deliberately chosen as it insinuates that this could turn into a real civil war that will, ultimately, establish God’s order on earth.
The broadcasters of such conspiracy fantasies also fancy the polarization of the United States. Cementing this in society will advance their cause. To them, the US is already engaged in an ideological war. Up until today, this ‘war’, however, has not “yet” boiled over into a real civil war.
Historically, their ideological war did not even begin with the end of Jim Crow in 1954 and the Civil Rights Act in 1965, but decades earlier. To some, it dates back to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Under the New Deal, parts of the US’ more reactionary pro-business upper class reacted with plans for a coup d’etat.
Today, the followers of Christian conspiracy fantasies still believe – wrongly – that the expansion of the administrative state under the New Deal has had a devastating effect on society. They truly believe that this must be stopped or even eliminated entirely.
Much of this is spiced up through the neofascist accelerationist rhetoric of an appeal to heaven. In line with the more openly neofascist killer squadron of Proud Boys, the SACR believes that true Christian “renewal can only happen through extreme violence”.
The advocacy of violence links far-right Christianity to, for example, Fascism. As for Nazim and fascism, brutality and violence have always been key ingredients.
It would seem appropriate for this Christian-fascist outfit to be called “Society for American Civic Renewal”. Of course, “renewal” also means militant accelerationism since their make-believe conspiracy fantasies tells them that there are no political and democratic solutions to the problems of society.
To the believers of Christian conspiracy fantasies, democracy is obsolete. In other words, God’s violence will be required to enforce the fascistic-ideological goals of the SACR.
It is the mission of the SACR to secure the authoritarian and ideological dominance of its form of Christian fascism. As in all fascist ideologies, this features the “mandate for leadership” – a Christian version of Hitler’s Führerprinzip – the super-authoritarian neofascist leader.
In the mired minds of the neofascist Christian right, this also means the abolition of the Ministry of Education as it is defamed as a “self-serving shop” for something the Christian right fabricates to be a “woke educational cartel” – yet another figment of far-right hallucinations.
Guided by a Christian-inspired conspiracy fantasy of the deep state, the abolition of the ministry of education would be for the benefit of “American children”.
The euphemism “American children” means that the abolition of state institutions is for the benefit of Christian-authoritarian indoctrination.
Guided by the Christian-fascist Führer, the US Congress should dismantle this ministry and return control of education back to Christianity to strengthen a religio-authoritarian education system.
To the ideology fighters of SACR, the evildoers at the ministry of education are the first and last bulwark of secular public schools. In that way, the anti-scientific, anti-modern, and mythical creationism can be taught.
Since the 1960s, Christian conservative organizations have been trying to implement a voucher system. In this reactionary scenario, parents would receive taxpayer–funded education vouchers for their children, which they can redeem either in public or private schools of their “choice” (read: as instructed or told by their local priests). This includes religious and private schools – explicitly.
Of all the Christian nationalistic and far-right currents that are actively set against public education, the far-right New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) of C. Peter Wagner (1930-2016) remains the most influential. Ideologically, the NAR is dedicated to a conspiracy fantasy called “Seven Mountains Mandate”.
Like the aforementioned SACR, this too, seeks Christian supremacy over private and public life. NAR focuses on family, religion, education, media, art and entertainment, and business and government. Believers of NAR follow something called “conspiratorial demonology”.
Part of their conspiracy fantasy is the belief in supernatural powers. Worse, NAR believers are encouraged to engage in “spiritual warfare” through prayers, prophetic epiphanies, and oracle-like exclamations about God’s plan.
This aspect of a spiritual warfare rests on assumptions about something called “supernatural power struggles”. Such religiously motivated conspiracy fantasy conjures up images of “heavenly angels” that are fighting against the demons of hell.
In such a “good-vs.-evil” fight, individuals are seen as being under the influence of democratic groups, political parties, city government, the “deep state” and even entire national governments. This is the classical drama of a conspiracy fantasy.
Meanwhile, the New Apostolic Reformation is not a church in the formal sense. Instead, NAR is supposed to be a network within the church and schools. Yet, hard statistical data on the influence of NAR on school policy and university curricula are scarce and almost untraceable.
Concurrently, there is almost a dozen colleges that are based on the foundations of the NAR ideology like, for example, the Hillsdale College.
In the end, the Christian-fundamentalist evangelicalism is deeply ideological however, it is not yet mainstream. Meanwhile, it still might be misleading to assume that the “majority” of Evangelical churches are readying themselves for a civil war and for the coming of an authoritarian Kingdom of God.
Yet, the concept of the “victorious eschatology” is – yet another – conception of the “always” looming “end times”. According to this conspiracy fantasy, the second coming of Christ marks the beginning of something called the “millennial kingdom of God”. This twisted conviction is also known as premillenialism.
In this conspiracy fantasy, God must establish dominion over the world before Christ can return. Worse, some believers of far-right Christian conspiracy fantasies have convinced themselves that they – as the soldiers of Christ (did Jesus Christ have soldiers?) – are no longer able to win people’s hearts and minds. And therefore,
they must destroy all those
who refuse to live according
to the rules of the NAR.
The absolute destruction of an imagined enemy is the face of true fascism. Yet, all of this also shows the divide – not between evangelical and secular – but between democratic and anti-democratic neofascist and Christian-based conspiracy fantasies as well as their danger to democracy.