Religious Conspiracy Theorists

Thinking about religion from an atheist perspective often presents problems. Not having ever been deluded into believe in a deity, it's hard to grasp what really goes on in the mind of the believer. Sometimes I feel I may have an insight into whats going on in there, and I like to write it down. It may be right, it may be wrong, but it's a possibility.

One of the traits of conspiracy theorists is to find meaning where there is none. To take something simple, perhaps mundane in explanation and weave an elaborate web of explanations to explain things that don't sound right to them. Take the Kennedy assassination for example. To use a scientific term, a shitload of research has been done on the subject, and it points strongly to the story of Oswald shooting him from the Texas Book Repository. Simple, serene... boring. The conspiracy theorist can't understand how something so profound in its implications could be explained by something so simple. So they tell a story of lies, deciet, deception, trickery, cover-up, and so on.

Personally, I can understand this urge to make things more meaningful. In some sense, I even do it. A squirrel follows me home for ten minutes, and maybe I think he likes me, rather than the fact that he sees the corner of a power bar falling out of my backpack. Sometimes it's an interesting, or even comforting thought to think things are more meaningful than they are. It doesn't mean they are however, and these thoughts should be treated as such.

But given that I can understand this innate human desire to "blow things out of proportion", theists seem to be doing the same thing. The explanation that the universe just began without a purpose, creator, direction, that life is nothing more than a chemical scum with opposable thumbs, doesn't sound very fun. Perhaps the human capacity for religion is simply an extension upon the tendency to create a story where there is none. Could religion be nothing more than an unconsious creation of a conspiracy theory to make the lives of believers seem more interesting?

Again, I don't know. It's an interesting idea, but I'm certainly not going to go out and declare a fucking jihad on anyone who disagrees with my point of view...