Far-Right Christian Conspiracy Theories

This is the fourth and final piece in a series of articles. If you missed the first, second, or third, I recommend reading those first. I hope you enjoy!

Darren Fleet describes two varieties of anti-government sentiment which feed into conspiratorial beliefs. The first is a common right-wing critique of “big government” and regulation, construed either as over-reach and control, or mere incompetence interfering with the typical functioning of the “free markets”. Under petrocapitalism, freedom is expressed through consumer choice, and to limit these options permits Canada’s oil and gas industries to be framed as “marginalized”. This leads to the second variety, a narrative of persecution, which includes beliefs that christian faith and values are being oppressed in Canada, the U.S., and elsewhere; that christians have become an “embattled minority”.

With christian values purportedly “under attack” across Canada, any climate activism or resistance to fossil fuel extraction are “part of this offensive”. Because resource extraction is so strongly tied to prosperity in Canada, any attempt to reduce our reliance on these industries is construed as an attack on Canadian identity, freedom, and the ability to enhance personal security through the accumulation of wealth. For some religious nationalists, it doesn’t end there. Some of these beliefs which could be considered extreme are surprisingly common amongst the alt-right, such as a conspiracy theory known as Agenda 21.

The most prevalent theory has a few variations and goes by different names — such as Agenda 21, Agenda 2030, a one-world government, and the depopulation agenda — but the underlying suspicions are much the same.

Agenda 21 is a nefarious plot being carried out by globalist elites at the World Economic Forum (WEF) and United Nations (UN) who seek to create a one-world government. These globalist elites are apparently waging war on fossil fuels as part of their plan to abolish nation states and depopulate the earth using vaccines, as well as promoting birth control and climate alarmism in public awareness campaigns to reduce birth rates, because humans “are the carbons they are trying to reduce”.

These unfounded fears are echoed throughout publications on the MST blog. When Mark Carney was chosen to lead the Canadian Liberal Party last year, Drysdale wrote that Carney has been “at the forefront of shaping the global climate finance agenda”, that his resumé “aligns directly with the UN’s 2030 and 2050 climate strategies”, and warned that under Carney’s leadership Canadian interests would “take a backseat to global priorities”.

Articles published by the FCPP are even more creative. Theories range from allegations the government is intentionally “modifying” the weather in order to stoke fears about extreme weather events and justify carbon regulations to assertions that wildfires were caused by arsonists and used as a political tool to “end global fossil fuel use” based on “ideological nonsense” rather than climate science.

In 2022, a small group of Winnipeg protestors blocked a Westbound CP Rail line in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en in British Columbia, where Indigenous leaders were fighting the construction of a pipeline through their traditional territory. The Manitoba protest began after a court order to remove Wet’suwet’en protesters resulted in more than twenty arrests.

In his FCPP blog post entitled Eco Extremism Under Reported in Canada and Manitoba, Joseph Quesnel accused these climate advocates of being “eco-extremists”, “eco-terrorists”, and “Indigeno-anarchists”. He claimed activists “normalize terrorism against the energy sector”, that “climate alarmism” is “radicalizing people”, and that “false beliefs” lead activists to “damage property and threaten lives”. Neatly tying in both incompetent government and persecution narratives, Quesnel lamented that “CSIS and Public Safety Canada are endlessly fixated on extremism associated loosely with the right” because “Canada has a serious blind spot when it comes to extremism associated with the far left”.