Conspiracy theory as a component of religious biopolitics


The biopolitics of identity-centered religious movements has been a primary source of conspiracy theories in recent decades. This paper explores the shared characteristics of three examples of identity-centered religious and political movements with biopolitical agendas from three different parts of the world: Christian nationalism in the United States, Hindu nationalism in India, and political Islam in Iran. All these political religious movements rely on and advocate for pro-fertility norms and lifestyles, propagate health disinformation and conspiracy theories, and pursue political power to promote their biopolitical agendas. During the COVID-19 pandemic it became evident that such biopolitical agendas and their conspiracy theories can become popular and cause severe damage. Civil society and bioethical institutions can address this issue as a part of the problems posed by infodemics, resulting from the propagation of disinformation and conspiracy theories at local, national, and global levels.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41285-026-00255-y