Taking Off the Tinfoil Hat: Conspiracies in Christianity

Evangelicalish

Cynane Shay of Taking off the Tinfoil Hat joins April and Paul for a chat about conspiracy theories within evangelicalism.

Cynane is a nuclear engineer living in South Carolina. Her childhood in White Christian Nationalism (Florida-style) normalized conspiracy theories like Obama Birtherism and the Biblical apocalypse; but 2020, with COVID and Qanon, finally made her realize something was deeply wrong.

Now Cynane is writing a book, “Taking Off the Tinfoil Hat: How Lizard People and Space Lasers Dismantled my Christian Worldview,” to process the deconstruction of her fundamentalist evangelicalism and her propagandistic patriotism. Losing loved ones to the pandemic was a tragedy, but losing loved ones to the rabbit hole was its own tragedy and Cynane needed to understand the “why.” So from Flat Earth to the IBLP cult to Jewish space lasers, she pulled the thread, cracked her faith, and found the inseparable link between cults, conspiracy theories, and American White Christian Nationalism. TakingOffTheTinfoilHat.com