The first nine posts of this series haven't covered new ground. Many of the observations have been made before. What I did hope to offer, though, was some comprehensiveness. For two reasons.
First, by highlighting the epistemic, existential and social motivations behind conspiracy theories I hoped to make clear that we can't expect to argue or debate people out of their beliefs. Especially not on social media like Facebook. But even face to face. There's a lot going on socially and psychologically with conspiracy theories, making them impossible to dislodge with an argument.
That said, my second reason for a comprehensive survey of the motivations behind conspiracy theories was to help us see how we might try to respond therapeutically, rather than argumentatively, to church or family members who endorse conspiracy theories. Each post of this series suggests a way we might undermine conspiratorial thinking. Using that insight, I want to suggest how churches can respond to conspiracy theories.
My first four years after getting my Masters degree I worked at an inpatient psychiatric hospital. The guiding philosophy of the hospital was what is called milieu therapy. Milieu therapy involves using the environment and social surroundings to promote healing. Therapy on our unit wasn't just a hour spent with a counselor or taking your meds. Everything on the unit was used to help promote better psychological and behavioral functioning. The milieu, the environment, is what healed you.
I want to suggest that when it comes to conspiratorial beliefs we should think of church as milieu therapy. A pastor can't preach or teach people out of believing in QAnon. Again, debate and argument are going to fail. But what church leaders can do is promote a culture and environment that makes it hard for conspiracy theories to grow and thrive.
What might that look like? Here is where this long series proves helpful. We've walked through a variety of things that promote conspiracy theories. Rather than attacking the conspiracy theory directly, which will only promote defensiveness and departure from the church, we can undermine many of the things that feed and grow conspiratorial belief.
For example, pastors can get prophetic about affective polarization, call the church to pull back from social media, decenter Washington DC, undermine nationalism, foster capacities for lament in the face of shared tragedy, and teach a responsible eschatology. Along with this the ongoing work of the church in meeting our social and existential needs. All this can be done without mentioning QAnon directly. Energetic and persistent work across all these fronts creates a milieu where it is hard for conspiracy theories to grow and flourish.
And let me underline the word persistent. One can't do a teaching series on any of these topics and think you've checked a box. This isn't a one off intervention. You're creating a milieu. You're not chopping down a diseased tree. You're pulling weeds in a garden. So don't expect that after your sermon series, pulling those weeds once, that your garden will now forever be weed-free. The weeds you need to pull--from social media to affective polarization to eschatology to nationalism--need to be pulled regularly. And if you have a lot of weeds already then start to nibble away. Start where your people are and then begin.
And as we know, weeding is slow, patient work. It's a marathon, not a spirit. A lifestyle, not a fireworks display. And even with our best efforts, weeds will appear. The key is to keep at the work, not to despair when the weed appears but to to prevent them from taking over.
