You won’t find a more hypocritical group of folks than the self-described atheists. They proudly proclaim their love of science. They speak of the importance of asking lots of questions to challenge your presuppositions. They’ll tell you that education is a lifelong process. They wax eloquent on the virtue of adapting your beliefs to accommodate new information.

Then…they mock you for ‘researching your conspiracy theory.’

Rather than investigating the merits of your hypothesis, the smug atheist wants you to just believe him when he tells you it’s ‘insane.’ The guy who allegedly loves science doesn’t want you to be scientific. He wants you to accept his conclusion on faith.

The term ‘conspiracy theory’ is often used to mean, ‘something that isn’t true.’ But not every ‘conspiracy’ is the muddled musing of kooky crackpots. Conspiracies really do exist. Research (i.e. investigation) is the only way to determine which ‘conspiracy theories’ are true and which are false. There is no shame in ‘conclusion shopping’ when your goal is to conclude the truth.

I have a conspiracy theory that there is a group of people trying to prevent me from investigating conspiracy theories. Their method is to jeer at anyone who thinks differently than they do and to label that person a ‘conspiracy theorist.’ These folks hope their ridicule will make me feel too ashamed to talk about my beliefs. I’m still researching this conspiracy theory but so far it doesn’t seem insane at all.

(Acts 17:11) Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.