Poll finds a disturbingly large amount of white evangelical Christians believe QAnon is actually real

Poll finds a disturbingly large amount of white evangelical Christians believe QAnon is real (Dead Statelink): A poll conducted by the conservative American Enterprise Institute that was published this Thursday found that 29 precent of Republicans and 27 percent of white evangelicals believe that the QAnon conspiracy theory is completely or mostly true, the Religion News Service reports.

The percentage of white evangelicals who believe the theory’s fraudulent claims represent the largest out of any religious group. Daniel Cox, who is the director of AEI’s Survey Center on American Life, said the report suggests that conspiracy theories have a wide range of support, but especially when it comes to white evangelicals.

According to Cox, the conspiracy theory is growing in popularity thanks to social echo chambers.

“That kind of environment is really important when it comes to embracing this kind of thinking,” he said. “You’re seeing people embrace this sort of conspiratorial thinking, and everyone in their social circle is like, ‘Yeah, that sounds right to me,’ versus someone saying, ‘You know, we should look at this credulously.’”

White evangelicals are advocates of other conspiracy theories as well, the poll revealed.

“Close to two-thirds (62%) believe there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election — despite numerous experts and courts at all levels refuting such claims — and roughly the same percentage (63%) believe President Joe Biden’s victory was ‘not legitimate,'” RNS reports.

“A majority (55%) also said they believed it was mostly or completely accurate to say ‘a group of unelected government officials in Washington, D.C., referred to as the Deep State (has) been working to undermine the Trump administration.'”

From medieval times to our current crisis, plagues often accelerate extremist movements (Houston Chroniclelink): Adam Crigler used to feed his YouTube following a politics-free diet of chatter about aliens, movies, skateboarding and video games. Then came the pandemic. 

Now, he devotes much of his talk show to his assertion that mask mandates are an assault on personal freedom and that Democrats somehow stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump. Result: a much bigger audience. "The pandemic has made more people want to blame someone else because they've lost their jobs or they're lonely,"Crigler said.

Ian Bayne, for years a campaign professional, had sworn off politics and launched a career in real estate. Then covid hit, and he helped launch No Mask Nevada, organizing a dozen rallies against masking because he said the government was inflating the danger of the coronavirus.

"People are isolated, alone, and they need to express their true selves,"Bayne said. "I don't know why we're surprised that there's more extremism now. People came to our rallies because they craved the human interaction." 

Since ancient times, pandemics have spurred sharp turns in political beliefs, spawning extremist movements, waves of mistrust and wholesale rejection of authorities. Nearly a year into the coronavirus crisis, Americans are falling prey to the same phenomenon, historians, theologians and other experts say, exemplified by a recent NPR-Ipsos poll in which nearly 1 in 5 said they believe Satan-worshipping, child-enslaving elites seek to control the world.

Mod: Much more at the link.

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