Matthew Remski et al., "Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Public Health Threat" (PublicAffairs, 2023)
New Books in Psychology
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The Dangers of Overemphasizing the Empathetic Side of Religious Studies
I think this is an issue that goes right back to the 1980s when religious study scholars reasonably objected to the very urgent and swift rise of cult discourse. And we have to be very careful about stigmatizing these groups with a language of cult discourse, which makes a lot of sense. But at the same time, it leads some academics into the position of a kind of naive generosity with regard to their interview subjects and their interlocutors. So you can imagine a religious studies scholar in 2035 adopting an anthropological generosity towards members of QAnon as religious practitioners. And you could do it, and it would make sense. You might also be missing the forest for the trees.
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