Page 75 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - October / November 2018

Conspiracy Theories 75

Conspiracy Theories Obama. of his death in order to quash the Rastafari
movement.
The Bible and Jesus
Continued from Page 74 Bible conspiracy theories posit that Extraterrestrials

significant parts of the New Testament are false,
Among the foremost concerns of conspiracy
or have been omitted. Various groups both real
theorists are questions of alien life; for example,
Anti-Catholicism (such as the Vatican) and fake (such as the Priory allegations of government cover-ups of the
Anti-Catholic paranoia has featured in of Sion) are said to suppress relevant supposed Roswell UFO incident or activity at
the Protestant mind since the Reformation. information concerning, for example, the dating Area 51. Also popular are theories concerning
Conspiracy theories have taken many forms, of the Turin Shroud. so-called 'men in black', who allegedly silence
including the 17th-century Popish Plot Much of this line of conspiracy theory witnesses.
allegations, claims by persons such as William has been stimulated by a debunked book titled Many reports of dead cattle found with
Blackstone that Catholics posed a secret threat The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982), absent body parts and seemingly drained of
to Britain, and numerous writings by authors which claimed that Jesus and Mary Magdalene blood have emerged worldwide since at least the
such as Samuel Morse, Rebecca Reed, Avro were lovers and that their offspring and 1960s. This phenomenon has spawned theories
Manhattan, Jack Chick and Alberto Rivera. descendants were secretly hidden in Europe variously concerning aliens and secret
Theorists often claim that the pope is the following the death of Jesus, from whom the government or military experiments. Prominent
Antichrist, or they accuse Catholics of then-living French draughtsman Pierre Plantard among such theorists is Linda Moulton Howe,
suppressing evidence incompatible with Church claimed descent. Interest in this hoax saw a author of Alien Harvest (1989).
teachings and engaging in secret evil rituals, resurgence following the publication of Dan Many conspiracy theories have drawn
crimes and other plots. Brown's 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code.
inspiration from the writings of ancient
In 1853, the Scottish minister Alexander astronaut proponent Zecharia Sitchin, who
Hislop published his anti-Catholic pamphlet The Islam
declared that the Anunnaki from Sumerian
Two Babylons, in which he claims that the "War against Islam" is a conspiracy
mythology were actually a race of
Catholic Church is secretly a continuation of the theory in Islamist discourse which describes an
extraterrestrial beings who came to Earth around
pagan religion of ancient Babylon, the product alleged plot to either harm or annihilate the
500,000 years ago in order to mine gold. In his
of a millennia-old conspiracy founded by the social system within Islam. The perpetrators of
1994 book Humanity's Extraterrestrial Origins:
Biblical king Nimrod and the Assyrian queen this conspiracy are alleged to be non-Muslims ET Influences on Humankind's Biological and
Semiramis. It also claims that modern Catholic and "false Muslims", allegedly in collusion with Cultural Evolution, Arthur Horn proposed that
holidays, including Christmas and Easter, are political actors in the Western world. The "War
the Anunnaki were a race of blood-drinking,
actually pagan festivals established by against Islam" theory is often used in order to
shape-shifting alien reptiles. This theory was
Semiramis and that the customs associated with refer to modern social problems and changes,
adapted and elaborated on by British conspiracy
them are pagan rituals. Modern scholars have but the Crusades are often seen as its starting
theorist David Icke, who maintains that the Bush
unanimously rejected the book's arguments as point.
family, Margaret Thatcher, Bob Hope, and the
erroneous and based on a flawed understanding Love Jihad, also called Romeo Jihad,
British Royal Family, among others, are or were
of Babylonian religion, but variations of them refers to a conspiracy theory concerning Muslim
such creatures, or have been under their control.
are still accepted among some groups of males who are said to target non-Muslim girls Critics have suggested that 'reptilians' may be
evangelical Protestants. Jehovah's Witnesses for conversion to Islam by feigning love. seen as an antisemitic code word; a charge
periodical The Watchtower frequently published
denied by Icke.
excerpts from it until the 1980s. The book's Racism
thesis has also featured prominently in the In the United States, black genocide Government, Politics and
conspiracy theories of racist groups, such as The conspiracy theory holds the view that African
Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord. Americans are the victims of genocide instituted Conflict
Fears of a Catholic takeover of the US by white Americans. Lynchings and racial
have been especially persistent, prompted by discrimination were formally described as In the modern era, political conspiracy theories
phenomena such as Catholic immigration in the genocide by the Civil Rights Congress in 1951. are often spread using fake news on social
19th century, and Ku Klux Klan propaganda. Malcolm X also talked about "black genocide" media. A 2017 study of fake news published by
Such fears have attached to Catholic political in the early 1960s. Public funding of the Pill was the Shorenstein Center found that
candidates such as Al Smith and John F. also described as "black genocide" at the first "misinformation is currently predominantly a
Kennedy. Black Power Conference, in 1967. In 1970, after pathology of the right."
Pope John Paul I died in September abortion was more widely legalized, some black Political conspiracy theories may take
1978, only a month after his election to the militants depicted abortion as being part of the generalized and wide-ranging forms concerning
papacy. The timing of his death and the Vatican's conspiracy. wars and international bodies, but may also be
alleged difficulties with ceremonial and legal In some U.S. cities that are governed by seen at a localized level, such as the conspiracy
death procedures has fostered several conspiracy African American majorities, such as theory pertaining to the 118th Battalion, a
theories. Washington, D.C., a persistent conspiracy British regiment stationed in Kitchener, Ontario,
The elderly Pope Benedict XVI's theory holds that white Americans are plotting to during World War I, which is believed by some
resignation in February 2013, for given reasons take over those cities. in Kitchener to still be present and controlling
of a "lack of strength of mind and body", White genocide conspiracy theory is a local politics.
prompted theories in Italian publications such as white nationalist notion that immigration,
La Repubblica and Panorama that he resigned in integration, low fertility rates and abortion are Illuminati
order to avoid an alleged scandal involving an being promoted in predominantly white Conspiracy theories concerning the
underground gay Catholic network. countries in order to turn white people into a Illuminati, a short-lived eighteenth-century
minority or cause their extinction. A 2017 study Enlightenment society, appear to have
Antichrist in France by IFOP, for example, found that 48% originated in the late nineteenth century, when
Apocalyptic prophecies, particularly of participants believed without evidence that some conservatives in Europe came to believe
Christian claims about the End Times, have political and media elites are conspiring to that the group had been responsible for the
inspired a range of conspiracy theories. Many of replace white people with immigrants. French Revolution of 1789-1799. Hoaxes about
these cite the Antichrist, a leader who will Some Rastafari maintain the view that a the Illuminati were later spread in the 1960s by
supposedly create an oppressive world empire. white racist patriarchy ("Babylon") controls the a group of American practical jokers known as
Countless figures have been called Antichrist, world in order to oppress black people. They the Discordians, who, for example, wrote a
including Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, believe that Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia series of fake letters about the Illuminati to
Russian emperor Peter the Great, Saladin, Pope did not die in 1975, instead believing that the Playboy magazine.
John XXII, Benito Mussolini and Barack allegedly racist media propagated false reports (Continued on Page 76)