What is a conspiracy theory?

A conspiracy theory is a belief about an event, situation, or phenomenon, which suggests certain groups or individuals, for sinister reasons, are deceiving the public into accepting an alternative narrative. Contrary to the way we have been conditioned, conspiracy theories are not always false, or even especially crazy. For example, in 2006, the tobacco industry was found guilty of conspiracy for suppressing research that proved a link between smoking and lung cancer.

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Sadly, while conspiracy theories can be true, a lot of them, and in particular the most famous ones, are quite crazy. On this site, I have no intention of addressing these in great depth, yet their existence, and even prominence in the world, mean they are things many Christians will inevitably have to deal with. Some conspiracy theories even involve the Christian faith, either blaming Christianity for having been involved in, or responsible for, some grand conspiracy, or even coming up with strange alternative origins narratives for the Christian faith itself. How should we, as Christians, respond to conspiracy theories? How should we view those who believe them? And what do we do when the world tries to pin them on our faith? These are the kinds of questions I want to answer here.