Conspiracy Theories fill exactly the same role religion does: they provide a reason for the chaos of life.
Life is a difficult, chaotic experience which doesn't make much sense. Bad things happen to good people all the time. Terrible people are rewarded, bad deeds almost always go unpunished, well-meaning highly intelligent people make terrible mistakes, and most major events are the results of random chance and 99% of it is completely out of our own control.
In an earlier age, the randomness and lack of control came from our environments: storms and flood and famines and earthquakes. War and plague and the vagaries of being born into a 'station' in life. In our modern world the randomness of nature has an explanation, but not the randomness of human actions, or our lack of control over others or events.
For a pattern-finding, sense-making brain like the one we've evolved, that, to motivate self-preservation, considers itself the most important entity in existence this is intolerable. Sense must be made. So we make sense of the world. The random forces of nature are controlled by understandable entities with whom we can commune and hopefully influence. We can sacrifice, chant, pray, follow religious teachings, all in an effort to take control as much as we can, to be some kind of participant in the ridiculous whirlpool we're stuck in.
The conspiracy theory offers exactly the same sense of understanding to those who find them attractive. It offers an explanation for why things never worked out the way they should for you or your family, your town, your 'people,' your country. It also offers - like religion - a way to participate and take some control in your own life. You may not be a part of the cabal, but you can know about it, you can learn about it, look for the signs, make the connections, figure out who's behind what lie and now with the growth of the internet and social media, a congregation has developed like never before.
You can find people who think the same, or similar things, you can have doctrinal arguments (does the bread actually become the body of the lizard people when you eat it, or is it symbolically the body of the lizard people?), there are high priests and sages, prophetic works, and - just like a good religion - for the faithful absolutely no way to falsify the central tenets of the faith.
Conspiracy theories are religions (and yes, the corollary is also true).
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