This post makes a simple argument, which I want to make clear from the beginning: some — NOT ALL — conspiracy theories are real. There really are conspiracies in which people conspire to get money and power and sometimes even commit murder as part of the conspiracy.
This does not mean that EVERY claim of a conspiracy theory is true. In fact, you could safely argue that most conspiracy theories are not true. Just to cite one example, I don’t buy that the 9/11 attacks were an “inside job” perpetrated by the U.S. government. I have looked at the evidence, and it just doesn’t seem likely to me.
The reason I am writing this post is that I hear smart people, both inside the Church and out, dismiss something as a “conspiracy theory” as if that ends the argument. That is simply an ad hominem claim and a logical fallacy. And the problem is that many people dismiss “conspiracy theories” that don’t fit their paradigms without ever considering the evidence. This is a dangerous tendency and completely against Latter-day Saint — and indeed all Christian — orthodoxy.
The central event in Christian history was the Atonement. In a worldly sense, the Atonement was the result of a conspiracy by the leading religious authorities in Jerusalem who conspired to kill an innocent man to protect their power. The entire thing was a classic secret combination.
Of course Latter-day Saint scriptures point out that secret combinations have been around since the days of Abel and Cain. Moses 5:51: “For, from the days of Cain, there was a secret combination, and their works were in the dark, and they knew every man his brother.”
The secret combinations continued in every society: “And they did reject all the words of the prophets, because of their secret society and wicked abominations.” (Ether 11:22) “For behold, they murdered all the prophets of the Lord who came among them to declare unto them concerning their iniquities; and the blood of those whom they murdered did cry unto the Lord their God for vengeance upon those who were their murderers; and thus the judgments of God did come upon these workers of darkness and secret combinations.” (Alma 37:30) “And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness.” (2 Nephi 9:9).
I am going to make this very clear: it is impossible to honestly read LDS scriptures without coming to the conclusion that secret combinations (ie conspiracies) 1)happen throughout history 2)are inspired by Satan 3)are more pervasive than we think and 4)are going to be common in the Latter days.
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