By Carl S ~ T he American Psychological Association site features an interview with Karen Douglas, PhD. on "Why people believe in conspiracy theories." Wondering why I'm tying beliefs in conspiracies directly to religious beliefs? You may figure it out before she finishes talking. On page 6 of my printout, Dr. Douglas is asked, "What makes a conspiracy theory catch on and have staying power? Are there certain types of theories that are stickier than others or some that are more enduring?" She finds that a "really, really, fascinating question." (Because they come back again or come back again in a different form, for instance.) She says sorts of conspiracy theories have always been there. They mutate. They change. Dr. Douglas didn't get into a connection between religious beliefs and conspiracy theories, but I couldn't stop thinking about a very, very, large conspiracy theory that has endured for thousands of years, unchanged and invoked

   By G.M. Gates ~ W hat if Christianity is lying about the Bible? What if the original Bible in Hebrew was manipulated by the Church? What if the Old Testament was still being still being changed, hundreds of years after the life of Jesus? What if your pastor knows this but won’t tell you, because he’d lose his job? When I was attending seminary, I heard a joke that went like this: What do you call someone with a Master’s of Divinity? Answer: an atheist. While this is a joke, I had to wonder how true it was. Are there pastors, preaching in the pulpit, who no longer believe in the faith of their youth, but they feel like they can’t escape? Put yourself in their position. Could you imagine what it’s like to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a degree in theology, only to discover that the true history of the bible is distorted? What would this do to someone? What would they think? First off, they probably can’t tell anyone. They’d be alienated from people they love. The