Why Someone You Love Might Join QAnon

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2020

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Transcribed highlights of the show can be found in our episode summaries. A conspiracy theory that holds that many in the elite are part of a sex trafficking cabal, QAnon’s supporters has increasingly moved into the mainstream. Many also attend evangelical churches. It’s appeal in our community is World magazine’s cover story for this week and also was the subject of recent longform article for MIT Technology Review. But the phenomena is not limited to the United States, as Mark Sayers, the senior leader of Red Church in Melbourne, Australia, witnessed when he recently saw followers in shirts with symbols tied to the movement in his city. “It's really interesting, cause as I looked at it, I began to see it less as a conspiracy—I mean, there are elements of conspiracy theory—but it's really a new religious movement,”said Sayers, who is also the author of Reappearing Church: The Hope for Renewal in the Rise of Our Post-Christian Culture. “And I wonder if it's the first great internet religion. It’s not the only one out there, there are other online internet religions growing and other conspiracy theories flying around—this is just one of them. But I think there is some concern in it.” Sayers joined global media manager Morgan Lee and editorial director Ted Olsen in a discussion for listeners who are trying to reach family members or other loved ones who have accepted these beliefs. What is Quick to Listen? Read more Rate Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow our hosts on Twitter: Morgan Lee and Ted Olsen Follow our guest on Twitter: Mark Sayers Visit our guest’s website: Mark Sayers Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Linder The transcript is edited by Bunmi Ishola Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.1	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.
0:22.3	Last month, a Q-N supporter won a Republican primary for a House seat. In November,
0:28.4	it's likely that Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Green will win a seat in Congress. A conspiracy theory
0:33.4	that holds many in the elite are part of a sex trafficking cabal.
0:37.8	Few and non-supporters have increasingly moved into the mainstream.
0:41.1	Many also attend evangelical churches.
0:43.8	Its appeal in our world is World Magazine's cover story for this week,
0:47.7	and also was the subject of a long-form story for MIT Technology Review.
0:52.3	We talked about conspiracy theories in theology at length in episode 213.
0:57.4	So if you want to go back and listen to that, I recommend it.
0:59.7	We wanted to give special focus to what QAnon does and what it believes and all the ideology around that.
1:06.4	And also hope listeners who are trying to reach family members or other loved ones who have accepted these beliefs.
1:13.6	You are listening to Quick to Listen, where we go beyond hashtags and hot takes to discuss
1:18.6	a major cultural event.
1:20.5	I'm Morgan Lee, digital media producer here at Christianity Today.
1:23.8	And I'm Ted Olson, editorial director at Christianity Today.
1:37.3	Thank you. And I'm Ted Olson, editorial director at Christianity Today. Ted would be interested to hear some of your thoughts, I think, about QAnon's resonance with our world. Yeah, I remember
1:46.6	briefly getting into a kind of Twitter discussion with someone who was saying, oh, you know,
1:51.2	Q&ON is really mostly an evangelical phenomenon. I thought, what? How's that possible? I had
1:56.1	associated it with it coming out of websites that were very much marked by kind of atheism and atheist activism
	...

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