[Faith] Episode 71: Jared Stacy - The Evangelical to Conspiracy Theory Pipeline

The Bible For Normal People

The Bible for Normal People

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.7 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this week’s episode of Faith for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with theologian and ethicist Jared Stacy about the rise of conspiracy thinking, especially within American evangelicalism. Drawing on his research, Jared Stacy explains how conspiracy theories tap into fears of cultural decline, offer a sense of control, and become spiritually charged narratives about good and evil. He also explores opportunities for people to recognize these patterns and consider more grounded, truth-seeking ways of engaging faith and public life. Show Notes →https://thebiblefornormalpeople.com/episode-71-jared-stacy-the-evangelical-to-conspiracy-theory-pipeline/ Watch this episode on YouTube → https://youtu.be/Lu3-F8Zu21A ********** This episode is sponsored by Factor. Head to factormeals.com/normalpeople50off and use code normalpeople50off to get 50 percent off and free breakfast for a year. Eat like a pro this month with Factor. New subscribers only, varies by plan. 1 free breakfast item per box for 1 year while subscription is active. ********** This episode is brought to you by Brooklyn Bedding, which knows sleep isn’t one-size-fits-all. That’s why they offer mattresses for every body, every sleep style – even in hard-to-find sizes. Go to brooklynbedding.com and use promo code BIBLE at checkout to get 30% off sitewide. This offer is not available anywhere else. ********** This episode is sponsored by ButcherBox, which delivers over 100 premium protein options straight to your door, including 100% grass-fed beef, free-range organic chicken, crate-free pork, and wild-caught seafood. New listeners can get their choice between organic ground beef, chicken breast or ground turkey in every box for a year, PLUS $20 off when you go to ButcherBox.com/NORMALPEOPLE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Faith for Normal People, the only other God-ordained podcast on the internet.
0:04.3	I'm Pete Ends.
0:05.0	And I'm Jared Baez.
0:05.8	We live in the world of cover-ups, so we're not trying to be salacious here, but it does seem
0:18.8	that the biblical portrayal of David is a cover-up, a way to
0:23.0	clean up David's image. If we look closely, we see that David likely worked for the Philistines,
0:28.2	you know, Israel's enemy before becoming king. David's interactions with the husbands of women he
0:34.0	wanted is pretty ruthless. In other words, if we read the Bible closely, the David of our Sunday school days is
0:40.8	probably more propaganda than historical fact.
0:44.5	So we've asked friend of the podcast, Joel Baden, professor at Yale University, to help
0:49.2	us uncover some of these texts and what they say about David.
0:52.8	And that's going to be our February class this year.
0:56.2	He's going to talk about the difference between what we think of as history and what's actually
1:00.1	happening in the Bible. We're going to talk about the political and theological agendas of the
1:05.0	biblical authors and what they mean for how the story gets told. We're going to talk about the
1:09.3	likely historical David found within
1:11.5	this literary description, and we'll also cover how David became the legendary figure that
1:16.5	he remains today. The class is called The Real David, and it's happening on Monday, February
1:21.6	23rd from 8 to 9.30 p.m. Eastern Time, followed by an exclusive Q&A from 930 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time for our Society
1:30.8	of Normal People members. Go to the Bible for normalpeople.com front slash classes to sign up.
1:36.5	That's the Bible for normal people.com front slash classes. And there you'll see a learn more button,
1:42.9	and that'll take you right to the real david please
	...

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