The misinformed but determined founder of a private school in Miami has been identified as a key link in perpetuating one of the most convincing lies about the COVID-19 vaccines. In an analysis that demonstrates the power of one institution…
The Jesus story is not a conspiracy theory, honest!
In a June 30, 2021, essay in The Atlantic, “The Senator Who Decided to Tell the Truth,” reporter Tim Alberta describes the work of Ed McBroom, a Michigan state senator who “spent eight months searching for evidence of election fraud,…
New PRRI study builds a profile of QAnon believers
“Media news consumption is by far the strongest independent predictor of QAnon beliefs,” says Public Religion Research Institute in explaining its latest research into the dominant conspiracy theory network of our day. And not far behind media consumption are political…
Virginia vaccine coordinator appeals to churches to minimize skepticism of COVID vaccine
Virginia’s coronavirus vaccine coordinator appealed to Baptist pastors to help model patience with the pace of inoculations and to help minimize skepticism around the growing scientific understanding of the virus and ways to prevent its spread. In a 45-minute Zoom…
Half of pastors say their congregants are spreading conspiracy theories
The bigger, whiter and more conservative the church, the more likely its members are to believe and share conspiracy theories, according to a new survey by LifeWay. “Christian churches resolve to be places focused on the truth,” said Scott McConnell,…
Toxic masculinity, 24-hour news and complacency fed the Jan. 6 riots
The mob riots of Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., have rightfully angered many of us, while also injecting tons of confusion into our national conversation. Which is saying a lot since our national conversation already was in tatters from so…
Where do you go for news you can trust?
Steve Lopez, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, has been thinking about this question in much the same way as I have. “We are so helplessly, irrevocably divided, it’s time to quit talking about coming together as one and…
Why are Christians so susceptible to conspiracy?
The internet age has rapidly intensified the ability for conspiracy theories to spread across large populations of people, but why are Christians so susceptible to conspiratorial thought? Increasingly these grand narratives regarding the alleged machinations of nefarious figures are making…
Church in the Age of Conspiracy Theories
It was two separate conversations with two thirty-somethings from two different states within two days: “My parents have become radicalized during COVID,” they lamented. The common theme in both discussions was that their senior adult parents had spent months in…