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Definition: Because of our primitive past, humans evolved to be paranoid creatures, always on the watch for potential dangers. This had good evolutionary benefits, but taken too far it can cause problems. One of the modern expressions of this deep-seated paranoia is the "conspiracy theory," the belief that some large, corrupt and evil organization is behind the scenes (political, social, economic, religious), pulling the strings for its own benefit and to the detriment of others.
Belief in conspiracies can be found everywhere, and conspiracies do exist. They are, however, normally small in size and small in scope. The more people involved, the greater the risk of detection. The larger the goal, the less likely to achieving it. Conspiracies are attractive because they help explain why the world is the way it is in a manner which is more satisfying than random chance. It is nice to think that one is suffering or having problems due to the fact there is an evil organization dedicated to domination than due to bad luck. Conspiracies give people an enemy to work against and friends to help, thus creating meaning and purpose in life.
Because of this, conspiracy theories fulfill many of the same social, emotional and psychological functions as does religion. Unfortunately, while conspiracy theories can produce some of the same negative consequences as religion, it does not produce any of the same good ones. Without independent, testable evidence of a conspiracy, reliance upon them is nothing more than a form of special pleading, a well known logical fallacy.
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The definition of atheism causes many people problems. Too often, people have the wrong idea of what atheism really is and what atheists really believe.What is Agnosticism?
Misunderstandings about agnosticism are just as frequent as misunderstandings about atheism.
