Religion and conspiracy theories

#里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀 
 
Are religious people more prone to believing in conspiracy theories? Research has found that they are, and this helps explain why so many believers, along with followers of New Age spiritualism and other assorted “new religions” and cults are more likely to not just put their faith in conspiracy theories such as QAnon, but also actively spread them. Let’s have a look at how two common types of religious believers who are particularly susceptible to trusting in fictions. In the NPR podcast linked to in this post, the speakers talk about the prevalence of trust in conspiracy theories and their spread throughout Christian communities across the USA. In the Guardian article, the author discusses how celebrity influencers in Australia who subscribe to New Age bunk also show a tendency to embrace conspiracy theories and disseminate them amongst their followers. 

What can be done to stem this tide of falsehoods? Critical and rational thinking are clearly necessary tools in fighting against the kind of ignorance often found throughout the teleological thinking of more established religions, and which predates scientific and rational thinking about the world. Surprisingly though, studies have also found that certain types of open-mindedness – a concept usually associated with being at odds to religious, traditional and conservative thought – can cut both ways, leading to people being too open to any kind of explanation of events and phenomena whatsoever. This is partly the reason why those who are deluded by New Age spiritualism and newer religious beliefs are equally vulnerable to falling into the conspiracy theory trap. In other words, educators are fighting an uphill battle.
 
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/21/904798097/how-qanon-conspiracy-is-spreading-in-christian-communities-across-the-u-s
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/25/how-the-wellness-and-influencer-crowd-served-conspiracies-to-the-masses
 
===我是分隔線===
 
💡這個專欄目的是訓練同學聰明閱讀。
 
上面的貼文內容是我們的實力派外師Alex，針對每週一篇英文文章閱讀後，親自寫出的批判性思考文（不是copy & paste的東西啊）。旨在讓同學知道如何用不同的角度來讀文章。你可以選擇先讀Alex寫的批判文，也可以選擇先讀本次的英文文章連結，但最好兩處都要閱讀才能達到最好的效果。
 
這是個訓練批判性思考的好機會，希望同學不要被文字牽著鼻子走，在閱讀時可以多思考。大家可以善用這個寶貴的資源～
 
舊文連結：
https://www.leedsmayi.com/alex-column
 
Alex是我們的御用老師，每週都會幫梅姨、托托、慕華上英文課。目前星期一晚上有開一班 #里茲螞蟻外師應用英文課程 ，程度高級，充滿知識性與深度。有開放單次付費上課。若你想學習用英文來深度探討各項主題，check it out！
 
Alex老師的應用英文課：
https://www.leedsmayi.com/applied-english.html