538 "Why QAnon Has Attracted So Many White Evangelicals" (this is really fucked up) [View all]

[NewHendoLib]

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-qanon-has-attracted-so-many-white-evangelicals/

One week after his first drop, Q was already quoting scripture. “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing,” Q posted on the imageboard site 4chan. The line was from Psalm 23, possibly the most well-known of the 150 psalms, and a beacon of hope for Christians going through challenging times. Is it any wonder that the fringe conspiracy theory QAnon has attracted true believers in every sense of the word?

snip

While we’re still learning about the demographics of QAnon believers, surveys that look at evangelicals’ other beliefs can help explain why they may be susceptible to falling down this particular rabbit hole. A majority of evangelical Christians identify as Republicans — 56 percent according to the Pew Research Center’s 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study — and they are more likely than Democrats and the general public to express belief in QAnon. In a Morning Consult survey from late January, 24 percent of Republicans said the QAnon conspiracy was at least “somewhat accurate,” compared with 19 percent of Democrats. Republican belief in the conspiracy dropped noticeably after the attack on the Capitol, as a series of surveys months before, immediately after, and several weeks after the attack showed, but Republicans remained more likely to support the belief than the general public (18 percent).

snip

While evangelical Christians are less likely to trust the news media, they have a lot of trust in, and enduring affection for, Trump. As recently as October, close to 80 percent of white evangelical Christians said they supported Trump, and they have been much more likely than the general public to call him “morally upstanding” and “honest”; in fact, 15 percent and 23 percent said those respective terms described Trump “very well,” compared with 8 percent and 12 percent of all respondents. Since Trump is cast as the protagonist in the QAnon narrative, the hero who will save us all from the evil cabal of baby-eaters, it’s understanding that those who support him the most could find that idea appealing.

snip

last part

But perhaps the biggest connection between the world of QAnon and the world of evangelical Christians is one that’s much harder to quantify and capture, but it seems obvious when talking to someone from either group. The QAnon movement has suffered multiple failed prophecies, predictions for events that never came to pass. To continue holding onto beliefs in spite of those disappointments, followers need something many evangelicals have in spades: faith. “People of faith believe there is a divine plan — that there are forces of good and forces of evil at work in the world,” said Ed Stetzer, an evangelical pastor and executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. “QAnon is a train that runs on the tracks that religion has already put in place.”