Conspiracy Theory & Catholicism

[RaiseMeUp]

A discussion I was having with a fellow student went quickly into a negative debate: It started out about the Illuminati & Free Masons. He was a bit of an extremist, even going so far to say that Trayvon Martin was an illuminati sacrifice. It was a bit rediculous - but it turned bad when he went on to say that the Catholic Church was involved in it - He tried to say that “one of the popes legalized witch hunts” - when I asked him to provide the Pope’s name he just said “one from way back in the day” <---- illegitimate answer, needless to say I had to remove myself before i got into a way to passionate apologetic debate. What can be said to debunk theories like this???

 

[MarcoPolo]

Nothing more than what you did. Ask for a name. If they can’t, there’s nothing to debunk. Don’t get caught up thinking there’s something more you need to do just because someone didn’t change their mind. It’s enough to point out by way of your question that they really don’t know themselves. If there was a pope in history guilty of an impropriety, which there have been, then you can simply admit it, acknowledge that even Christ’s handpicked apostles were sinners (especially Judas), and that your faith rests on Christ and the Spirit teaching through the Church, not on the flawless fidelity of any individual member.

 

[BernadetteM]

I have a daughter who is bi-polar and has joined that same crowd. Her friend who is not Catholic or really religious is also in the same mindset.

I can understand that when you have a brain disease you can be taken into these types of theories, but don’t understand others who don’t have these issues.

Everything she now believes, she gets from the internet and it has gotten out of hand. I can’t talk sense to her and she has become afraid that we all will be burned to death or our heads cut off. Now she believes that soon there will be roadblocks and we all must be vaccinated or if we refuse we will be put in concentration camps that the government has set up all over the US.

It is a worry and there is nothing I can do to speak reason to her. I do believe that there is much corruption in the government, however, this is true in general. It seems that those who believe much of what is put on the internet about the Illuminati etc. are probably unstable in some way.

There really is nothing one can say to those involved to convince them that these websites are put up by either cons or sick individuals.

I would ask for prayers for my daughter that she will become aware that these sites are not true.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

 

[Church_Militant]

needless to say I had to remove myself before i got into a way to passionate apologetic debate. What can be said to debunk theories like this???

Get used to it Brother. You’ll encounter this stuff in some religious circles.

You asked exactly the right question though and my own responses to such are always, “Okay, well when you get a name and specific information let me know instead of this hearsay that you don’t even know where you heard it from. Meanwhile, good luck with that…” Then you just walk away…

It’s often worse out on the internet where sites make statements without the least reference of documentation, which makes them just what they are, propaganda sites.

Remember too that you’re in a drug rehab program and not all the guys are normal and rational. This dude sounds like a prize winning example…

 

[georget]

If they hate you, love them back, and pray for them.

 

[JerryZ]

A discussion I was having with a fellow student went quickly into a negative debate: It started out about the Illuminati & Free Masons. He was a bit of an extremist, even going so far to say that Trayvon Martin was an illuminati sacrifice. It was a bit rediculous - but it turned bad when he went on to say that the Catholic Church was involved in it - He tried to say that “one of the popes legalized witch hunts” - when I asked him to provide the Pope’s name he just said “one from way back in the day” <---- illegitimate answer, needless to say I had to remove myself before i got into a way to passionate apologetic debate. What can be said to debunk theories like this???

The problem with people that have this mindset is that even if you provide proofs and or even documents to prove they are mistaken they will outright dismiss them most of the time.
It’s a circular argument. And frankly I think that there must be something wrong with the people that show this type of personality. Because it is not rational, many times they defy logic.
Oh well, pray for them…

Peace

 

[St_Stoli]

A discussion I was having with a fellow student went quickly into a negative debate: It started out about the Illuminati & Free Masons. He was a bit of an extremist, even going so far to say that Trayvon Martin was an illuminati sacrifice. It was a bit rediculous - but it turned bad when he went on to say that the Catholic Church was involved in it - He tried to say that “one of the popes legalized witch hunts” - when I asked him to provide the Pope’s name he just said “one from way back in the day” <---- illegitimate answer, needless to say I had to remove myself before i got into a way to passionate apologetic debate. What can be said to debunk theories like this???

The other person may have been trying to refer to the following (via Wikipedia):

Witchcraft had not been considered a heresy during the High Medieval period. Indeed, since the Council of Paderborn of 785, the belief in the possibility of witchcraft itself was considered heretical. While witch-hunts only became common after 1400, an important legal step that would make this development possible occurred in 1326, when Pope John XXII authorized the inquisition to persecute witchcraft as a type of heresy. ^ Russell, Jeffrey Burton. A History of Medieval Christianity, p. 173.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

And of course the fine, God-fearing Protestants of Massachusetts had a thing or two to say about “witch hunts” back in 1600’s Salem.

 

[St_Stoli]

And of course the fine, God-fearing Protestants of Massachusetts had a thing or two to say about “witch hunts” back in 1600’s Salem.

Truth be told, I always thought Abigail Williams was a little know-at-all. I suppose it was only out of literal fear of their lives that no one gave her a little discipline. Spare the rod; spoil the child. Maybe they didn’t have a full book of Proverbs in the bible they brought over.

 

[Boulder257]

I have a daughter who is bi-polar and has joined that same crowd. Her friend who is not Catholic or really religious is also in the same mindset.I can understand that when you have a brain disease you can be taken into these types of theories, but don’t understand others who don’t have these issues.

Everything she now believes, she gets from the internet and it has gotten out of hand. I can’t talk sense to her and she has become afraid that we all will be burned to death or our heads cut off. Now she believes that soon there will be roadblocks and we all must be vaccinated or if we refuse we will be put in concentration camps that the government has set up all over the US.

It is a worry and there is nothing I can do to speak reason to her. I do believe that there is much corruption in the government, however, this is true in general. It seems that those who believe much of what is put on the internet about the Illuminati etc. are probably unstable in some way.

There really is nothing one can say to those involved to convince them that these websites are put up by either cons or sick individuals.

I would ask for prayers for my daughter that she will become aware that these sites are not true.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

Hey, don’t blame this on Bi-polar. Some of us with Bi-polar are obedient Catholics!

 

[mikekle]

The problem with people that have this mindset is that even if you provide proofs and or even documents to prove they are mistaken they will outright dismiss them most of the time.
It’s a circular argument. And frankly I think that there must be something wrong with the people that show this type of personality. Because it is not rational, many times they defy logic.
Oh well, pray for them…

Peace

What should one do when the other side provides credible proof of such conspiracies though?

I saw the trayon martin/ illuminati sacrifice thing mentioned in an above post, Ive never heard of that particular one, but I have seen some HIGHLY credible info pointing to the sandy hook school shooting being a planned event, so not sure what this all means. I can provide this proof if anyone wants to look it over.