How Conspiracy Theory Became an American Evangelical Crisis | Jared Stacy, PhD
Preacher Boys Podcast
Eric Skwarczynski
4.5 • 737 Ratings
🗓️ 17 May 2026
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Purchase a copy of Jared's book here: https://amzn.to/4dpX9Lp
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Conspiracy theories are at the root of the most pressing political problems of our time, yet their influence cuts just as personal. Suspicion has fractured families, communities, churches, and our very social fabric, as one person’s fact is another’s fake news.
In Reality in Ruins, Dr. Jared Stacy braves the untold history of conspiracism in American evangelicalism and the anxiety at the heart of this radioactive movement that affects us all. In a new age of what he calls “Disreality,” many are left reeling in the ruins of what was once a common world, now splintered by warring ideologies, religious and political extremism, and cults of certainty. Dr. Stacy reports from the inside as someone raised and even ordained in one of the nation’s most conservative denominations. Now, as a historian and post-evangelical theologian, Dr. Stacy traces the currents of pain, panic, and power that have thrust the evangelical church into a theological crisis with consequence for everyone.
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If you or someone you know has experienced abuse, visit courage365.org/need-help
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The content presented in this video is for informational and educational purposes only. All individuals and entities discussed are presumed innocent until proven guilty through due legal process. The views and opinions expressed are those of the speakers.
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Music by Lou Ridley — “Bible Belt” | Used with permission under license.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Breacher Boys podcast. I'm your host, Eric Skorsenski. I'm a former |
| 0:04.2 | fundamentalist who now sheds light on the darker sides of the church and the pulpits to the pews. |
| 0:09.5 | Today, I'm seeing down with my new friend, Jared Stacey, who wrote this incredible book called Reality and Ruin, |
| 0:15.4 | which examines the relationship between evangelicalism and conspiracy theory. It was a really fascinating discussion, and we covered so many different topics in our short |
| 0:25.0 | time together. |
| 0:26.3 | That's enough for me. |
| 0:27.1 | Let's go ahead and dive into the episode. |
| 0:28.7 | Oh. |
| 0:31.9 | Ain't nobody safe. |
| 0:42.3 | Ain't nobody safe. |
| 0:44.3 | Ain't nobody safe. |
| 0:52.3 | In the Bible oven. Oh, in a Bible moment, yeah. |
| 1:03.0 | Before we get into the topic of your book, I need to examine your credentials here. |
| 1:08.0 | So you say in your book, you grew up a fundamentalist. |
| 1:12.3 | So for my audience, |
| 1:17.3 | full of probably a lot of former fundamentalists, tell me a little bit about that specific sphere, because that can mean different things for different people, different parts to the country. |
| 1:22.1 | What did that look like to you? Eric, I really appreciate this question. And mainly because |
| 1:26.8 | there are a lot of varieties. |
| 1:28.7 | I mean, and fundamentalism can be described as like a way of holding to a particular set of |
| 1:33.1 | ideas. But in this case, I'm also referring to it as a very particular community. |
| 1:37.7 | So in the book, I talk about how, you know, I went to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. |
| 1:43.2 | The stream of fundamentalism that I come out of |
... |
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