The Truth About QAnon and Religion
It may sound farfetched, but it is not. QAnon is on the ballot in the 2022 midterm elections.
According to published reports, as of mid-September at least 78 political candidates who ran in the primaries in 28 states believed in QAnon. These individuals competed for governorships, secretaries of state, and seats in both state houses and the US House and Senate. They received substantial airtime on state and national conservative news outlets, and they raked in tens of millions of dollars in campaign donations. More to the point, a number of these QAnon-linked candidates won their primaries and could now win their general election.
Why does this matter? Because QAnon is more than a collection of conspiracy theories. It has become a belief system, infused with religion, that rejects mainstream institutions and the rule of law, belittles government agencies, detests the press corps, and alleges that the world and the US are run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles in cooperation with “deep state” collaborators. According to QAnon belief, the cabal includes President Joe Biden Jr., Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton; celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks; scientists such as Dr. Anthony Fauci; and religious leaders, including Pope Francis. Moreover, QAnon adherents believe that these “satanists” eat little children (not a joke)
to extract a life-extending chemical from their blood.
The rest of the story is this: “Q” is an intelligence officer or military insider with proof of this secret torture of children and posts thousands of messages called “Q drops” on different message boards advancing claims about deep state collusion with foreign powers. “Q” also lets followers know that Donald Trump has a secret plan to defeat the deep state and will unleash “the storm” some time in the future to return to power and kill or imprison the cabal leaders.
If this conspiracy theory and the “Q drops” were simply outlandish science fiction, QAnon would be harmless. It is anything but. From its start in 2017, QAnon has become a worldwide movement and is now a major online disinformation source, spreading election fraud claims, promoting Christian nationalism, inspiring hundreds to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and telling American patriots they may need to resort to violence to save the country. Compounding the problem, QAnon is founded on racist and antisemitic narratives and uses the allegation of trafficking children to claim that schoolteachers are “groomers” of pedophilia and public schools are “grooming centers” for gender identity radicals.
What is even more concerning is how many Americans buy into QAnon conspiracies. According to research from Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), nearly one in five Americans (16%), or around 41 million people, believe in QAnon conspiracies. The number is one in four (25%) among Republicans. While these individuals are racially, politically and religiously diverse, they share a common belief that their way of life is threatened, and they may be willing to resort to violence to defend their vision of America.
For this reason, QAnon believers are strongly committed to Christian nationalism. Two-thirds (66%) say that being Christian is important to being truly Americans. Additionally, QAnon believers are more than five times as likely as those who reject QAnon to agree with the statement that “the idea of America where most people are not white bothers me” (32% vs. 6%).
Taken together, these findings make clear that people of faith cannot ignore the threat of QAnon, especially since this belief system is similar to Gnosticism, an early movement that emphasized secret divine knowledge (gnosis is “knowledge” in Greek) and promises a “Great Awakening” in which society will enter a utopian age. Worst still, many church goers and even pastors are being drawn in. In fact, some churches host services showing how biblical prophecies confirm the messages of “Q” and urge parishioners to watch QAnon’s YouTube channels for enlightenment.
Borrowing from the words of President George H.W. Bush to Saddam Hussein, “This will not stand.” And the message we must deliver is simple. QAnon is not Christian. It is a replacement theory unrelated to Christianity and not bound to the Bible.
QAnon slanders religious and secular leaders and repeatedly makes predictions that do not come true. To this, we have the answer from Scripture. “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8).