Conspiracies and Facts

Conspiracies provide the lure of drama. They offer to identify the nefarious plots that have been hiding their plans for harm. For those who believe that there is a larger spiritual realm that includes the unseen sources of evil, conspiracies may seem like a discovery of the battle of good and evil that we had long imagined. With their potential to provide exciting explanations, we must not surrender our commitment to what really matters most...which is . It is vital that we seek truth more than simply what serves or aligns with a general narrative that we have become drawn to. A viral video should not be an acceptable source of truth about any claim that is controversial or consequential. If we allow our to guide our search and scrutiny for truth, we will simply keep forming a more closed and “certain” narrative rooted in fears rather than facts. In addition, we may dishonor the ninth commandment by violating the call not to bear false testimony... in sharing about others. How we handle issues of fact and fiction is not something to take lightly. The integrity of our lives and faith is on the line.

If we want to honor the truth, we must actually choose to want the truth more than we want the thrill of conspiracies. Towards that end I believe that it is incumbent on each of us living in the internet age, to not accept anything that is controversial in its nature or source, without some significant pursuit to verify the facts. As has been noted, we should make an effort to check the author... asking ourselves who is writing this and why, check the source... whether it is reliable and reputable, and consider the facts... as to whether they are soundly and widely recognized... or sensational. This can start with a simple search using the core words of the topic along with “fact OR fact-check OR legitimate OR critique OR false” to allow what may be countering such claims. In addition, the following resources can provide some more information about many common claims that one may find.

Fact checking resources

FactCheck.org - A "nonpartisan, nonprofit" center out of the University of Pennsylvania. Their funding information and funding disclosures are on their "Our Funding" page. An RSS feed from this website is available in the right column -->

PolitiFact - From the Tampa Bay Times, this fact-checking website won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009.

Snopes.com - Billing itself as "the definitive Internet reference source for ... ", .com double-checks a wide range of claims, from urban legends to Internet .

AP Fact Check - from the Associate Press news. .

What Comes Next? A Resource Guide zine (and call to action) from Hunter College Libraries. How to think critically about your information sources

The Trump Administration Archive collection of TV broadcasts from 2009 to date, with factchecks.

Guide to Fact checking, Verification and from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism

Westside Vineyard Church westsidevineyard.com Articles on the Nature and Sources of Theories

QAnon Is a Wolf in Wolf’s Clothing: There’s nothing sheepish about this insidious internet demon. By BONNIE KRISTIAN, AUGUST 26, 2020 (Christianity Today)

QAnon: The alternative religion that’s coming to your church Katelyn Beaty, August 17, 2020 (Religious News Service)

Conspiracy theories have flourished during the pandemic – here’s how to stop them in their tracks. 02 Sep 2020

Charlotte Edmond

Debunking Fake News By Eugene Kiely; July 6, 2017 – Broad info by FactCheck.org

After Truth: how ordinary people are 'radicalized' by fake news

Conspiracy Theory Extremism: When Viral Claims Turn Dangerous, July 14, 2020 Bridget Johnson

Misinformation on the virus is proving highly contagious By DAVID KLEPPER; July 29, 2020

The Coronavirus Conspiracy Boom, Atlantic, April 30, 2020

The Prophecies of Q - American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase.

How QAnon Conspiracy Is Spreading In Christian Communities Across The U.S. by NPR; August 21, 2020

Evangelicals are looking for answers online. They’re finding QAnon instead. How the growing pro-Trump movement is preying on churchgoers to spread its conspiracy theories. by Abby Ohlheiserarchive August 26, 2020

Specific Conspiracy Theories Contended With

“” Video / – Many fact checking and science oriented groups have addressed this video. Live Science , Science, FactCheck, Snopes

Video of group calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors” – While hydroxychloroquine may still be in the process of assessment... facts are checked by FactCheck ...and the larger studies including study (NE Journal) suggest it is neither effective or safe.

The video titled “Covid911-INSURGENCY” - A nine-minute video posted online by a QAnon promoter uses a variety of false and misleading claims to suggest the coronavirus pandemic is a political . It has racked up millions of views on social media platforms. One can find fact checking by and Lead Story

Westside Vineyard Church westsidevineyard.com Vaccine Myths Debunked

Video: PROJECT ENGINEER NANG MICROCHIP MAY IBINUNYAG - The guy in the video is Carl Sanders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw8stoD5-K4 Carl didn't invent the microchip and later confessed his about the whole made up stuff to his pastor before he died. Here are three pages of an in deep look on him, with on page 3 recordings of him telling about the fact that he made things up. https://www.eaec.org/expose/carls1.htm

Pizzagate – “Pizzagate" refers to a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 presidential election cycle. It has been extensively discredited by a wide range of organizations, including the Washington, DC police. The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia characterized the matter as "fictitious". Further detailed investigations the fact-checking website Snopes.com and found it was false. Numerous news organizations have investigated and come to the same conclusion, including: the New York Observer, , The Independent in London, The Huffington Post, , the Los Angeles Times, , CNN, and the Miami Herald. Some sources are below.

• Huang, Gregor Aisch, Jon; Kang, Cecilia (December 10, 2016). "Dissecting the #PizzaGate Conspiracy Theories". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 10, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016. • Gillin, Joshua (December 6, 2016). "How Pizzagate went from fake news to a real problem". PolitiFact. Archived from the original on December 6, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016. • LaCapria, Kim (December 2, 2016). "A detailed conspiracy theory known as "Pizzagate" holds that a pedophile ring is operating out of a Clinton-linked pizzeria called Comet Ping Pong". Snopes.com. • Alam, Hannah (December 5, 2016). "Conspiracy peddlers continue pushing debunked 'pizzagate' tale". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on December 7, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2016. One might think that police calling the motive a 'fictitious conspiracy theory' would put an end to the claim that inspired a gunman from North Carolina to attack a family pizzeria in Washington over the weekend • "Man with rifle arrested at DC restaurant targeted by fake news conspiracy theories". Fox News. December 5, 2016. Archivedfrom the original on December 7, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2016. A North Carolina man armed with an assault rifle was arrested Sunday inside a popular Washington D.C. restaurant that became a center of conspiracy theories driven by fake news stories that went viral before the presidential election.

Statement that CDC quietly revealed truth that only 6% of the reported deaths are actually due to the Covid-19 virus. – It is true that Pastor John MacArthur told his congregation on August 30th that “a rather telling report came out this week and for the first time, we heard the truth. The CDC…said that in truth, six percent of the deaths that have occurred can be directly attributable to COVID. Ninety-four percent cannot. Of the 160,000 people that have died, 9,210 actually died from COVID.” “There is no pandemic,” MacArthur declared, to the thunderous applause of the congregation.

Westside Vineyard Church westsidevineyard.com Further, MacArthur insinuated that there are some, in government perhaps, who are complicit with Satan’s agenda of : “The architects of this level of deception are not a part of the Kingdom of Heaven; they’re a part of the kingdom of darkness.” (See John MacArthur Tells Congregation ‘There is no pandemic’)

His statement about the CDC report and the numbers appear to be a near exact quote from social media post intended to falsely discredit the pandemic. There was nothing new that the CDC was reporting nor any minimizing of the death’s causes by the Covid-19 virus.

According to Snopes research on how his false claim went viral, “Versions of this notion circulated widely online ... in part because of support from American politicians such as Trump. In two retweets — one by his campaign adviser that linked to the Gateway Pundit page and another by a supporter of the unfounded QAnon conspiracy theory — Trump endorsed the claim, essentially denigrating scientific evidence by his own health advisers, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx. However, as of this writing, Twitter had removed the below-displayed post for violating its terms of service.

The CDC report simply captured the nature of what has been true of all such viruses... which is that preexisting health problems create greater risk for the effects of the virus. As a virus attacks the body it will bring greater risk to those whose bodies rea vulnerable due to lung conditions (asthma), heart conditions (including obesity), diabetes, and more. These other illnesses or conditions found to be present in a patient are called comorbidities. A large portion of U.S. lives have such conditions as they get older. Death certificates will list all conditions. For 6%... no conditions were included. The false claim was not drawn from anything new...but rather simply a way of falsely framing the information. The risks to pre-existing conditions has been reported from the start of the pandemic. It has always been the case that death is often precipitated by a virus (HIV, Influenza, Covid-19) that then causes death through it’s effect on the bodies organs. In all reported deaths, the cause of death includes Covid-19 and can be assumed as the precipitating cause. In fact, the US has had an estimated 228,200 additional deaths in comparison to the previous year, according to a Live Science September 2020 article.

As the Snopes research also states, “... we looked for any evidence to confirm or deny that the CDC attempted to “quietly” adjust its mortality statistics under the public’s radar. Bob Anderson, lead mortality statistician at NCHS, told NBC News in a statement the death certificate data does “not represent new information as NCHS has been publishing this same information since the outset when we began posting data on COVID-19 deaths on our web site.”

See Live Science article or FactCheck or FOX TV Digital Team - CDC did not decrease US COVID-19 death toll — here’s how the data was misconstrued By Kelly Taylor Hayes. And SNopes research: Did CDC ‘Quietly Update’ COVID-19 Deaths To Say Only 6% Are Legitimate?

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