Christ, Country, and Conspiracies? Christian Nationalism, Biblical Literalism, and Belief in Conspiracy Theories

When misinformation is rampant, “fake news” is rising, and conspiracy theories are widespread, social scientists have a vested interest in understanding who is most susceptible to these false narratives and why. Recent research suggests Christians are especially susceptible to belief in conspiracy t...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Walker, Brooklyn (Author) ; Vegter, Abigail (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2023
In: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Year: 2023, Volume: 62, Issue: 2, Pages: 278-292
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B USA / Nationalism / Christianity / Biblical literalism / Conspiracy theory
RelBib Classification:CG Christianity and Politics
CH Christianity and Society
KBQ North America
Further subjects:B Christian Nationalism
B Religion
B conspiracy thinking
B Biblical Literalism
B Threat
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Description
Summary:When misinformation is rampant, “fake news” is rising, and conspiracy theories are widespread, social scientists have a vested interest in understanding who is most susceptible to these false narratives and why. Recent research suggests Christians are especially susceptible to belief in conspiracy theories in the United States, but scholars have yet to ascertain the role of religiopolitical identities and epistomological approaches, specifically Christian nationalism and biblical literalism, in generalized conspiracy thinking. Because Christian nationalists sense that the nation is under cultural threat and biblical literalism provides an alternative (often anti-elite) source of information, we predict that both will amplify conspiracy thinking. We find that Christian nationalism and biblical literalism independently predict conspiracy thinking, but that the effect of Christian nationalism increases with literalism. Our results point to the contingent effects of Christian nationalism and the need for the religious variables in understanding conspiracy thinking.
ISSN:1468-5906
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12836