Down the Rabbit Hole: Christians in an Age of Conspiracy Thinking (w/ Laura Batstone)

"WAKE UP!"  "CONNECT THE DOTS!"  "STOP BELIEVING WHAT YOU HEAR FROM THE MEDIA!"  From the Garden of Eden to the present day, human beings have shown a primordial desire to obtain "secret knowledge."  In our own time, many have grown deeply bored with their ordinary lives and feel disconnected and excluded from the traditional centers of power.  Others feel a lack of control over even the most basic aspects of their lives, especially during a pandemic.  In that milieu, conspiracy theories can offer an easy path to significance and control, a way of belonging to an inner circle of knowers, a game-ified version of ordinary life where one is able to take up the role of an insider fighting a righteous battle of world-altering importance.  How should Christians navigate this very-online space where conspiracy thinking has come to dominate so many quarters of social media, politics, and the minds of people we love?  These are tough, big questions, and I am so glad Laura Batstone agreed to chat with me about them.  Let's pod!