In November 1964 Harper’s Magazine published an essay by historian Richard Hofstader entitled “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” in which he traced the paranoia of the early 1960s back to our Nation’s founding. This paranoia, he argued, gave rise to absurd conspiracy theories, much like the QAnon nonsense of sexually abusing children in the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant.
Although we may consider such as having no basis in reality, the important question to be asked is why people flock to baseless conspiracy theories. In our past, it was the threat of being displaced; now, however, it is the feeling of being dispossessed.
Calling on the fearful dispossessed to mobilize, fundamentalist Christian pastors preach America is no longer a Christina Nation. Such calls are intertwined with racism (America is no longer white) and fear (just look at all those mosques and strange temples). Overcoming such paranoia is a challenge we as Christians must face if we are to have a truly inclusive society.
Prayer for the Day
Sometimes we feel like lost sheep, O God, wandering about,
Looking for easy answers rather than wresting with difficult questions;
Concerned for who we are as a Nation, we struggle with our fear of change,
Not recognizing the possibility of transformation in front of us.
Open the eyes of our souls that we seek your Spirit of wisdom
And ground our faith in the grace you offer us.
In the name of the One who accompanies us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, since he is afflicted not only by the real world, with the rest of us, but by his fantasies as well.
- Richard Hofstader, American historian (1916-1970)
In the contemporary U.S. political context, the story of Christian martyrdom has become intertwined with two different threads of political argument and positioning: with, on the one hand, what historian Richard Hofstadter diagnosed presciently in the early 1960s as "the paranoid style in American politics" and, on the other, the legacy of 1960s and 1970s identity politics.
- Elizabeth Castelli, Professor of Religion, Barnard College
Your hands have made and fashioned me;
Give me understanding that I may learn your ways.
Psalm 119: 71