Skeptic Project

Wanted to get this up on SP.


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http://zeitgeistmovements.wordpress.com/2012/07/15/its-official-the-zeitgeist-movement-is-a-religion/#comment-5994


A peer reviewed scholarly article was published in 2011 describing a new online web based religion called "Conspirituality". Basically, Conspirituality is the blending of New Age (with the positive focus on self) and Conspiracy theory (with its negative focus on global
 politics). An abstract of the article can be found here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537903.2011.539846#preview

The article features the Zeitgeist Movement as a prime example of "Conspirituality". The Zeitgeist Movement has gotten its peer reviewed scholarly article it was looking for.

All data in the journal article was gathered by Charlotte Web and the article itself was written by David Voas. Here is a list of peer reviewed articles by Professor Voas: http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/staff/documents/Publicationsdv.pdf

Biography

David Voas was elected to a Simon Research Fellowship at the University of Manchester in 2003 and appointed to a chair in the Institute for Social Change in 2007. He previously held a lectureship at the University of Sheffield and a research post at the University of Liverpool, having returned to academic life in 1998 after a long period in the private sector. He has spent extended periods overseas, notably in Africa, India, France, the USA and Bulgaria. He is the national programme director in Great Britain for the European Values Study and co-director of British Religion in Numbers (www.brin.ac.uk), an online centre for British data on religion. He serves on the editorial boards of the British Journal of Sociology and the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and on the council of the British Society for Population Studies. He spent Trinity term 2009 at Nuffield College, Oxford.

Academic qualifications:

BSc(Econ), MSc, London School of Economics;
PhD, Cambridge University.

All text below in BOLD/ITALICS is taken from the scholarly peer reviewed journal. It is clear now The Zeitgeist Movement is a Religion based on the blending of New Age Beliefs and Conspiracy Theory.

Conspirituality is a rapidly growing web movement expressing an 
ideology fuelled by political disillusionment and the popularity of alternative
 world views. It has international celebrities, bestsellers, radio and TV
stations. It offers a broad politico-spiritual philosophy based on two core
 convictions, the first traditional to conspiracy theory, the second rooted in
 the New Age:

1) a secret group covertly controls, or is trying to control, the 
political and social order, and

2) humanity is undergoing a 'paradigm shift' in 
consciousness. Proponents believe that the best strategy for dealing with the
 threat of a totalitarian 'new world order' is to act in accordance with an
 awakened 'new paradigm' worldview.

NEW AGE & CONSPIRACY

[This article is focused] on two forms of holistic thought that are increasingly 
prevalent in the contemporary period. One is what has variously been labelled 
the New Age, alternative spirituality or the holistic milieu (Heelas and
 Woodhead). These groups embrace the idea of a person as an integrated whole,
with mind, body, and spirit subject to a common set of principles. The second 
ideology is conspiracy theory. Here one finds a denial of contingency, the
 discovery of patterns in events that might otherwise seem to be random, and the
 attribution of agency to hidden forces (Aaronovitch).
A hybrid of conspiracy theory and alternative spirituality has appeared on the 
internet. The existence of such a synthesis has previously been noted in
passing (Barkun; Goodrick-Clarke), but no detailed account has yet been given
 of what, for the sake of convenience, we call 'conspirituality'. 
Barkun identifies three principles found in nearly every conspiracy theory: a)
nothing happens by accident, b) nothing is as it seems, c) everything is
connected. Similar principles are fundamental to much New Age thought and
 alternative spirituality. These world views make public and personal life
 respectively seem less subject to random forces and therein lies part of their
 appeal.

We argue that conspirituality is a politico-spiritual philosophy based on two 
core convictions, the first traditional to conspiracy theory, the second rooted
 in the New Age:

1. A secret group covertly controls, or is trying to control, the political and
 social order (Fenster).


2. Humanity is undergoing a 'paradigm shift' in consciousness, or awareness,
so solutions to (1) lie in acting in accordance with an awakened 'new 
paradigm' worldview.


Conspirituality is a web movement with diffuse leadership and constantly
 shifting areas of interest. In the nature of the case it is difficult to 
estimate its influence, but it seems clear that many millions of people have 
been exposed to this material, a substantial number of whom apparently
 subscribe to its tenets.
 In what follows we describe conspirituality and its formation, starting by
 examining the parent sectors and then considering their merger.

The Emergence of Conspirituality

The New Age and
 conspiracy theory seem to have little in common. It is therefore a surprise to
 discover that hybrid worldviews have developed and seem to be thriving.

Conspirituality appears to be a means by which
 political cynicism is tempered with spiritual optimism. It curbs the
belligerence of conspiracy theory and the self-absorption of the New Age. The
 following examples illustrate this counterpoise. The first, taken from a 2007
 online course in 'transformation', has a New Age weighting:

"If you are not aware of the deep politics and hidden agendas taking place 
behind the scenes on this planet, you may find parts of the educational
 information to be some what disturbing. Please don't despair about this ... even
 the dark or negative forces out there are all a part of the cosmic dance. If we 
ignore or abandon these forces, we reject a part of ourselves, as we are all
inter connected. The course provides lots of support and inspiration on how we 
are already transforming these challenging places in our lives and world."

The 
second is weighted towards conspiracy theory. It was taken from the Zeitgeist 
Movement,a web site promoting global activism connected to Zeitgeist the 
Movie, a 2007 web movie. Zeitgeist alleges, among other things, that
 organised religion is about social control and that 9/11 was an inside job. The 
producers claim that the movie has been viewed 100 million times.

"The elite power systems are little affected in the long run by traditional
protest and political movements. We must move beyond these 'establishment
rebellions' and work with a tool much more powerful: We will stop supporting 
the system, while constantly advocating knowledge, peace, unity and compassion.
We cannot "fight the system". Hate, anger and the 'war' mentality are failed 
means for change, for they perpetuate the same tools the corrupt, established 
power systems use to maintain control to begin with. [...] This could be called a
'spiritual' awakening."-Zeitgeist Movement

The History of Conspirituality

The First Generation--before 2001 


Conspirituality's formation divides into two stages or generations.
First-generation providers started work offline in the early to mid-1990s and
 then moved online to develop web sites in parallel with offline activity.
 Successful first-generation providers include David Icke, David Wilcock, and
 Steven Greer.
 David Icke's web site, registered in 1996, ranks in the top 10,000 most 
popular global sites (by comparison, according to Alexa, an independent web
 monitoring service, in August 2009, Hello! magazine ranked 20,724, The Guardian 
newspaper 278, and the UK Labour Party 186,270). Icke's 20 books blend 
conspiracy theory with spirituality. He is notorious for alleging that a shadow
government harbours the bloodlines of an ancient race of reptilian
 extraterrestrials. The solution is for audiences to raise their consciousness
and awaken to love as a unifying, transcendent force. Icke writes extensively
about his spiritual awakenings and says, "We are on the cusp of an incredible 
global change".
 American David Wilcock, who established his web site in 1998, describes himself
 as a "professional lecturer, filmmaker and researcher of ancient civilizations,
 consciousness science and new paradigms of matter and energy". Wilcock's web
video lecture, "The 2012 Enigma", was rated Google's Number One Viewed in
December 2008, and his site ranks in the top 50,000 most popular global web
sites. He writes that the shadow government is losing its grip; audiences
 should prepare for a mass awakening in 2012, after which the regime will 
founder. Wilcock writes about his spiritual awakenings and contact with
extraterrestrials.

Fast Forward 2001

The events of 11 September 2001 were pivotal to the uptake of conspirituality.
 Many people who had never held conspiracist beliefs rationalised the tragedy as 
an 'inside job' designed to propagate war: in 2003, one third of Germans under 
thirty believed that the US government was behind 9/11 (Knight) and at least
one opinion poll in 2006 suggested that more than a third of Americans believed
 the same. By 2007, Texas Congressman Ron Paul and film director Aaron
Russo were publicising the 'New World Order'. In 2008, Japanese MP Yukihisa
Fujita lobbied the Diet on this matter and in 2009, actor Charlie Sheen called 
upon Obama to reopen the 9/11 investigations. Millions of people find sense in
 these theories.


The Second Generation--from 2002


We identify 2002 as the year second-generation conspirituality started. This 
was not just because the events of 9/11 and increasing political
 disillusionment were generating extra demand: by 2002, the web and access to it 
and its sub-cultures were sufficiently developed to accommodate
 conspirituality's expansion. Web-site building had been simplified and the
 blogosphere (the network of blogs on the internet) was growing.

The 2003 war in Iraq generated still more demand: worldwide, millions marched
 'for peace' rather than 'against war'. By 2004, theories about apocalyptic
 events in 2012 were spreading, further uniting New Agers anticipating a shift
with conspiracy theorists and others believing a variety of scenarios. In 2005,
more than 2,000 people attended a talk by David Icke in London. In November
 2010, conspiracist radio presenter Alex Jones's site ranked in the top 500 most 
popular websites.

John Perkins is an example of a second-generation conspirituality provider. His
 2004 autobiography Confessions of an Economic Hitman was on the NY Times
bestseller lists for 70 weeks. Perkins exposes the shadowy US 'elite
corporatocracy', for which he once worked to destabilise smaller countries
economically. He suggests that corporate networks could be transformed to 
positive purposes, stressing that many shadow government employees are 'human,
with children and grandchildren' and, despite the financial rewards,
'desperate' for the excuses protestors offer to do the right thing. Perkins,
who experienced a 'personal epiphany' on visiting Ground Zero, states:

We have entered one of the most important periods in human history, the Time
 of Prophecies. We have the opportunity to lift ourselves to new levels of 
consciousness. This time was foretold over the past centuries around the world. 
Now it is up to us--you and me--to make it happen. A shamanic practitioner,
Perkins has written books on 'personal and global transformation'.

The Appeal of Conspirituality

Conspirituality obviously appeals to clients who already believe in, or 
suspect, the existence of a shadow government and a shift. As Goodrick-Clarke 
suggests, some of these clients will originate from within the 'alternative' 
movement. To build on his definition we may look to the notion of 'Cultural 
Creatives' (Ray and Anderson)--people who are spiritually and politically 
idealistic and imaginative. Ray and Anderson claim that 50 million American 
adults fall into this category. Conspirituality could appeal to some Cultural Creatives. The 
counter-culture of the 1960s and 1970s may be an attractive model: Icke 
promotes music from that era on his web site and discusses his ayahuasca 
awakening; KRS One lectures internationally about the history of the hip hop 
movement; Wilcock writes about Woodstock. The extremes of conspirituality will 
deter many, but the middle ground is extensive: mass audiences bought 
Confessions of an Economic Hitman, downloaded Zeitgeist the Movie, and listen to 
Muse.

Conspirituality: A Spiritual Supermarket

Conspirituality has spread from being a scattering of single, first-generation
 providers to a large chain. It is now part of the spiritual supermarket:
clients shop around, settling upon the outlets whose interpretations of the two 
core convictions best suit their own opinions and tastes.

Key Themes: Change, Awakening, Awareness, Transformation, Unification, Oneness, and Truth

Change, or transformation, is a key theme conspirituality has adapted from its 
parent sectors. Clients seek to expose--depose--a shadow government. Ideas that
 others are becoming 'awake and aware', or shifting in consciousness, lend
 encouragement. Humanity is shifting into a new paradigm. People are 'awakening 
to the truth' (we are all connected); 'remembering who we really are'
(infinitely powerful spiritual beings); 'seeing the illusion' (our
 projections); 'saying no to tyranny' (assuming personal responsibility--the 
shadow government exists because we allow it to). Stories of spiritual
 awakenings, some dramatic, others gradual or momentary, are common place. The 
awakening process, being subjective, is impossible to define accurately, but
 providers and clients agree that this is 'a time of transformation'.


Some awakenings--such as David Icke's--involve 'seeing' the shadow government.
 These can go through two stages: coming to terms with the situation and 
realising one's responsibility to help change it. But the continuing existence 
of war and inequality demonstrates that traditional means of change--via
 political protest, for example--have proved ineffective. These, along with 
denial of the truth (that things need to change) belong to the 'old paradigm'.
Central to the 'new paradigm' is 'becoming the change you wish to see in the
world' (a quotation by Mahatma Gandhi frequently encountered): the inner self
must change before the outer world can. 'Spiritually conscious' ideals include
 self-responsibility and independent thought--detaching from the 'mind control 
matrix' by giving up TV and chemical additives, rejecting consumerism, and
 anticipating earth changes. Non-violent action includes spreading information,
engaging in non-cooperation and peaceful resistance.
 The forms of non-violent activism are highly varied. A UK example specific to
 conspirituality is 'The Love Police', a group that tours London with a 
megaphone, drawing public attention to situations considered repressive and
 hugging people as they are moved on. Videos are posted on YouTube. Another
 example is 'The People's United Community' (TPUC), which advocates 'lawful rebellion' on the basis of a clause in the Magna Carta allowing citizens to 
ignore the law if they feel they are being unjustly governed. TPUC states that 
it is neither for nor against politics or religion, it stands for "the truth of
 love and the love of truth".

Unification is another key theme. Social networking sites such as Facebook are
 used in conjunction with the global alternative and conventional media to
 publicise campaigns.

The New Age concept of 'Oneness' is frequently 
encountered: Icke says that he loves the shadow government because "we are all 
One".

Revealing 'truth' is an additional theme that runs through the movement.
 Providers and audiences ascribe power to truth. They support whistle-blowers, 
campaign for governments to end secrecy, and expose and publicise suppressed 
evidence.

Flexibility

Conspirituality's success lies in its flexibility. There is no
 requirement to 'join'--involvement is free and user led: to listen to a
programme regularly, revisit a "What's New" page or attend a conference implies
 affiliation--as loose or as committed as the client decides, to a wider group.
Providers extort people to do their own research. There is no pressure to do 
anything but accept, reject or adapt information according to the client's 
belief threshold. It accommodates all grades and shades of belief...... Costs are minimal and the entertainment value is high, as the possibilities of the web are maximised.

Discussion

The formation of conspirituality offers much of theoretical interest. We
 suggest some perspectives for further investigation. Barkun's notion of
'improvisational millennialist' belief systems may help explain how the New Age
 and conspiracy sectors could merge:

Such odd conceptual structures are apt to contain elements from more than one
 religious tradition, together with ideas from the New Age, occultism, science
 and radical politics. These combinations do not appear "natural" since the
 elements often come from seemingly unrelated domains, such as conspiracy 
theories and fringe science, or from domains that appear to be in opposition,
such as fundamentalist religion and the New Age. Barkun quotes Stephen 
O'Leary, noting that "The discourses of conspiracy and apocalypse ... are linked
 by a common function: each develops symbolic resources that enable societies to
address and define the problem of evil"; millennialism describes the
 mechanism for the defeat of evil which conspiracy theory has located.

Barkun extends Campbell's concept of the cultic milieu to include five
 varieties of 'stigmatized knowledge' (forgotten, superseded, ignored, rejected,
suppressed) that, he suggests, constitute the appeal of conspiracy theory. They 
might also constitute for some the appeal of certain sectors of the New Age--for
 example, Theosophy--and all of conspirituality.
Conspirituality could be called a web movement, as the web is central to its 
importation of political and spiritual ideology into the mainstream. Providers 
such as Project Camelot and Zeitgeist the Movie originated on the web; their 
presence outside it is only just starting to grow. The concept and dynamics of 
a 'web movement' do not seem to have been explored by scholars, but it is clear
 that the internet greatly assists the diffusion of innovation (Rogers).
Innovators have updated or simplified existing super-systemic conspiracy or New
 Age models to be disseminated by opinion leaders. As web sites became easier
 to access and build, transmission and adoption were facilitated. The virtual
 social networks created by web users make it possible to spread ideas very
 widely and very quickly.

Religion

When exploring religion online, Larsen talks about 'outsider' surfers who
 particularly like to use the web, seeing themselves as a minority or having
 experienced discrimination. Helland observes that "the Internet accommodates 
those religions and groups who wish to be religious outside the control of an
organised religious institution". Conspirituality might constitute a
 genuine 'unofficial' online religion (Helland; McGuire), as opposed to religion 
online. Its 'clergy' would abhor this definition, but mystery, revelation, and 
prophecy are intrinsic to it.

Conspirituality could also be seen to fit into Wallis's 'world-accommodating' 
category of religious movement: the world-affirming, cultic New Age and the
 world-rejecting, sectarian conspiracy milieux have merged into a
 world-accommodating--arguably mainstream--hybrid. Its providers display aspects
of charismatic authority (Weber)

Criticisms of Conspirituality

Goodrick-Clarke writes, "The endemic spread of conspiracy theories in the New Age
milieu is a disturbing phenomenon" and argues that the degeneration of
 New Age "open anti-authoritarian egalitarian" outlooks into anxious myths "of 
hostile elites and hidden threats" is down to "cultural pessimism" and
political disillusionment. This trend, he fears, could lead to neo-Nazism.