QAnon as a New Religious Movement

 

QAnon offers a religious worldview, that has won the minds of some conservative American Christians.

Katelyn Beaty (2020, August 17) opines “Once the fascination of far-right commentators and their followers, QAnon is no longer fringe.”

Argentino calculates a huge increase in QAnon content (2020, July 8).

I have been researching the QAnon movement since 2018. Based on my most recent social media analysis, QAnon has seen a 71 per cent increase in Twitter content and a 651 per cent increase on Facebook since March 2020.

New Religious Movements (NRMs) used to be called cults, but behavioral scientists have dropped the term cult because of its negative connotation. Religious scholars remind us that at one time Christianity was considered a cult. QAnon appears to be an NRM with a strong attraction for some evangelical Christians concerned about their faith and their country.

Hypotheses about the growth of QAnon are not in short supply.

Pastor Jon Thorngate of Wisconsin believes the QAnon phenomenon is partly due to the “death of expertise” citing the attacks on authority figures (Beaty, 2020).

Mattingly (2020, February 21) quotes Ed Stetzer who considers the QAnon phenomenon "A reflexive disregard of what are legitimate news sources can feed a penchant for conspiracy theories…" Stetzer adds another factor about the appeal of QAnon as an alternative to the way the mainstream media have treated conservative evangelicals.

According to a 2018 BGC Institute survey, about half of evangelicals “strongly agreed that the mainstream media produced fake news (Macdonald, 2020 April 24).” MacDonald, who wrote the article for CT, opines that conspiracy theories thrive on the struggles caused by the Coronavirus. He believes these struggles may be addressed by helping people deal with fear, loneliness, and uncertainty.

Psychological Perspectives

Some might be tempted to refer to QAnon followers as delusional but that is not consistent with the clinical presentation of a delusional disorder. As Joe Pierre (2020, August 21) reminds us, a lot of people believe things that are not supported by evidence. Pierre writes about the obsession with QAnon. He guides clinicians and concerned friends to think about the effects of QAnon theories on a person’s life. He offers a five-stage theory, which I recommend to interested readers (see the middle of the Pierre post).

Jan-Willem van Prooijen has studied conspiracy theories (see 2018, August 13). He identified reasons why people believe in theories like QAnon:

 1.The acceptance of one conspiracy theory makes it easier to believe in others.

2. People refuse to believe that things can happen by chance.

3. Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty provide fuel for conspiracy theories (and ironically, conspiracy theories stimulate anxiety).

4. Our brains recognize people who are different from us and work to help us compete with others for survival. People naturally view competing groups with suspicion. Political scientists find this a common pattern among members of political parties.

Considerations

We will always need to be vigilant. It is hard to know whether QAnon will fade away or continue to expand as an offshoot of American evangelical Christianity, but one thing for sure, conspiracy theories will continue as they likely always have.

 When things are not going well, we are vulnerable to false cures or interventions. We need to demand evidence to avoid falling into traps—especially when the messengers will gain from a proffered solution to our troubles.

 We are our media police. In this era of free and easy access to the internet, conspiracy theories spread faster than a virus. Even if they wanted to, social media administrators would have a hard time squashing every silly idea. We need to police what we read and share. We must do our own fact-checking. We are all susceptible to believing what we want to believe about people or groups we do not like. I include myself.

 Wise people should focus more attention on dangerous “theories.” By danger I mean ideas that can cause intrapersonal or interpersonal harm. So, theories about treating ourselves with various substances or trying various untested cures should be quickly and rigorously attacked by those worried about a loved one being duped. Another example of dangerous ideas are those theories designed to extort money from the vulnerable. Religious and nonreligious organizations and individuals attempt to extort money from those unable to see these money-making schemes.

 Conspiracy theories can be dangerous to others. On the interpersonal front, there are theories dehumanizing and attacking various leaders. This can lead to death threats and harmful acts by those without self-control. Falsely identifying people as a threat to life easily leads to justification of acts of harm. Also, we all know that it is dangerous to cry “Fire!” in a crowded theater. People can be trampled to death in a panic. We all need to carefully examine the odds of danger and take reasonable precautions.

 Learn to let it go for our health’s sake. It is too easy to focus on disaster news and stories threatening our way of life. Also, it is too easy to respond to triggers that provoke us into trying to correct the perceived misbeliefs of others. These efforts drain our personal resources and distract us from healthy pursuits. Some folks love to troll people and offer their recurrent thoughts about one thing or another. Sometimes we need to take a break from “Breaking News” and scrolling through media posts.

 Find alternative pursuits. My wife quilts and reads. I write and read. We walk a lot, play games, enjoy music, and other activities. All of us need to fill leisure time with pure fun and life-enhancing activities. Too much internet time can lead to picking up "click bait" and waste time or worse. 

For some, counseling is a reasonable solution to cope with the anxiety, worries, or distress associated with life events. Telehealth has grown to be a useful way to get help. And it works. Search online for local clinicians, or ask friends, your doctor, or insurance company for referrals.

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