I have the feeling that mankind is developing some kind of "malevolent religion" right now...

[DetlefK]

What is religion?

I define religion as a world-view whose main purpose is to define the place of the believer in the overall world. There is some overarching structure to how the world works, and the believer has the assurance that he has a place in this structure. The believer has the assurance that he is of worth, that he is part of something bigger.

This is in contradiction to the scientific-minded world-view, which DOESN'T assign a special role to you. The scientific world-view either doesn't adress the question whether you are special or it outright says that you are not special.



Flat-Earthers, Sovereign-Citizens, Anti-Vaxxers, Anti-Maskers, people who claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and all the Truthers and other conspiracy-theorists... They believe these things out of a deep-seated desire to create a world-view in which:
a) there is some sort of higher power that is responsible for it all
b) the believers have a special place in this world



Classic religions are of the type that there is some benevolent higher power.
Your place in this world is defined by how much you try to placate this benevolent higher power. (With prayers, sacrifices, rituals...)

This new religion I see developing is of the type that there is some malevolent higher power: The evil people and organizations who rule this world. And just like with religion you cannot actually prove that they exist, but that's irrelevant, because you have belief.
Your place in this world is defined by how much you oppose this malevolent higher power.





It's like the evil twin of religion as we know it, born out of the same instincts:
In classic religion, the intangible higher power is a creator and you seek to fit into its greater plan.
In this new religion, the intangible higher power is a destroyer and you seek to oppose it.

And your interaction with this higher is what gives you worth, what makes you special, what makes you a chosen one.

It's the same concept.

That's why these people are irrational. It's the same instincts. The same deep-seated desires.
Conspiracy-theorists are just like religious believers.
Except that they are not fighting FOR some Greater Good. They are fighting AGAINST some Greater Evil.





To quote the comedian Matt Meese:
"Good is not only the absence of Evil. It's also the presence of Good."