ABSTRACT
The relation between conspiracy beliefs and religion has often been treated as having three different components: Conspiracy theory as religion, conspiracy theories about religion and conspiracy theories in religion. The collective organisation of identity can become central when religious identity becomes a marker of ingroup or outgroup. Conspiracy theory as religion will be illustrated briefly through the lenses of philosophy, psychology and esotericism studies. Conspiracy beliefs often have an intergroup dimension, as narratives involved in how we construct, maintain and mobilise community. The social imagination of religion and religious identity that assist the elaboration and justification of outgroup constructions can start at a very basic level. Religion serves as a regional and group identifier, where it is also explicitly identified with political power. Religion and religious elites, in their role of conservative power brokers for the social order, may often act to dampen crisis narratives that threaten disruption.
