Christian fundamentalism and conspiracy theories

Since the early twentieth century there has been a significant overlap between Christian fundamentalism and millennialism in the United States and belief in false conspiracy theories.

History
In 1991, in the book The New World Order, Pat Robertson claimed that a conspiracy has existed in the world led by Freemasonry and the Illuminati, in collaboration with Jewish bankers.

One of the recurring subjects of Christian fundamentalist conspiracy theorists is the accusation of homosexual people of a gay agenda and of being responsible for social problems.

The QAnon conspiracy movement, which originated in 2017 and has been described as "birthed in a matrix of evangelical fundamentalism", has been linked to Christian fundamentalism by multiple scholars.

Adherence to conspiracy theories is higher among churchgoers, particularly white evangelicals. Some pastors have explained this phenomenon with the distrust of expertise, which encourages citizens to challenge established authority figures. Others have described the mechanism of faith as "[mutating] into vulnerability to conspiracy theories" as well as apocalyptic narratives and Christian nationalism playing roles.

According to a 2018 survey by LifeWay Research for the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center, 46% of self-identified evangelicals and 52% of evangelicals by belief believe that mainstream media spreads fake news. A 2022 study found a positive correlation between religious fundamentalism and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs.

Criticism
Outlets such as Christianity Today and Religion News Service have covered the movement's impact among congregations.

In 2017, Ed Stetzer wrote that Christians should repent of spreading false conspiracy theories and fake news online, which he says "directly violates Scripture’s prohibition from bearing false witness against our neighbors". He argued that "The Seth Rich conspiracy theory is a textbook example of false witness... Without seriously defending their claims, conservative Christians across the country accused their neighbor of murder."