IT’S A CONSPIRACY!!!!!

It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that America is awash right now in conspiracy theories — a phenomena that thrives when anxiety and isolation is high (uh, now). It’s not just the pandemic and unrest in the streets that drives its spread — conspiratorial thinking has found its most fertile ground in all of human history in the dark (and ever-expanding) corners of the internet. Throw in a bunch of trolls and a hostile foreign power or two and, well, it may be here to stay. We’ll avoid the usual finger-pointing and talk about how civil society and faith communities navigate the rising tide of bonding around things that just aren’t true, and how we provide the belongingness and meaning people seem to hunger for.

Facilitated by Dr. Gary Shultz of First Baptist Church of Tallahassee.

Mentioned in this program:

• • The Rabbit Hole Podcast

• • Daryl Davis TED Talk – Klan We Talk?

• • The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong

Programming during the pandemic is made possible by a recovery grant from the Knight Foundation, through the Community Foundation of North Florida and a CARES grant from Florida Humanities with the support of National Endowment for the Humanities. We are deeply grateful for their support.