Religion & Conspiracy
Religion & Conspiracy
Panelists:
Candace Rondeaux, Professor of Practice at the School of Politics and Global Studies and Senior Fellow with the Center on the Future of War at Arizona State University
David Robertson, Lecturer in Religious Studies at The Open University; co-founder of the Religious Studies Project; co-editor of Implicit Religion
Cohosts:
Robert Saler, Associate Dean and Research Professor of Religion and Culture, Christian Theological Seminary; Director of the Center for Pastoral Excellence and the Lily Endowment Clergy Renewal Program
Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, Arizona State University
Religious participation in conspiracy theories has received increased attention in both scholarship and public discourse lately. As a result, a number of key questions have emerged: Why are some worldviews described as conspiratorial when others are seen as rational, or at least unthreatening? Are conspiracy theories in the body politic a problem to be solved as well as a phenomenon to be understood? What are the material, social, intellectual, and class conditions under which conspiracy theories arise and are transformed? How can religious studies understand and influence public invocations of terms like “conspiracy,” “cult,” etc.? This panel discussion will examine these and other questions in light of what many argue is a recent intensification of the connection between religion and conspiracy theories, particularly in the United States. Join humanities and social science scholars for a conversation at the intersection of religion, the state, and conspiracy.