Reader’s View: Believing QAnon like believing religion
How can people believe the far-fetched claims of groups like QAnon? We know extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. We learned science and critical thinking all through school. What makes people susceptible to claims that seem ridiculous on their face? Jewish lasers set off the California wildfires? An ex-presidential candidate and others eat babies at Satanic rituals? What makes us think such unlikely ideas could be real?
Is it because our religions ask us to accept things that defy logic? Jesus may have walked with his disciples after being dead for three days, but that is certainly not the way things normally happen. Mary might have been a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, but that’s not how it usually works. Science shows that dead things tend to stay dead, and that conception requires a sperm and an egg cell. In the special context of religion, we accept ideas that seem unscientific and magical to the unfamiliar eye.
Sure, it’s easy to see why church itself is desirable. Gathering once a week to hear an inspiring message and share bad coffee with our neighbors seems like a very good idea, even to me (the current leader of the Lake Superior Freethinkers). But must we agree to believe magical ideas that open our minds to illogical concepts? Doesn’t nature provide us with enough awe-inspiring reasons for reverence and obedience to her laws? Aren’t our existing buildings and works of art enough to encourage us to work together to create lasting beauty? Do we really need a magical figure, operating outside of nature and reality, to keep us on the straight and narrow?
Perhaps the crazy ideas of QAnon and others are unintended consequences of allowing ourselves untestable and unscientific beliefs.
Jim Lyttle
Duluth
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