authoritarian rhetoric Archives - Assertive Spirituality

top secret stamp, introducing a piece on conspiracy theory rhetoric

Understanding the Rhetoric of COVID Conspiracy Theories—and How to Respond Healthily

May 9, 2020 DS Leiter Comments 1 comment

I was going to write about something else this week. I had a great thing all cued up. But then my personal FB newsfeed blew up with my Facebook friends dealing with people, most of whom identify as some form of more conservative brand of Christian, hawking conspiracy theories. Most of the rhetoric surrounded this “Plandemic” video, which has since been removed from both YouTube and Facebook because of its misinformation. Once this gained critical mass, I know I needed…

Why “Christian Nice” Enables Covert Abuse and Authoritarian Politics

August 4, 2019 DS Leiter Comments 5 comments

So if you follow this space, you know that I grew up in a “moderate” religio-political space that followed the rules of “Christian Nice.” Under the surface, that often meant that the kind of “peace” that was spiritually elevated as a “god term”—that is, as I’ve said before, something to be defended at all costs, and, in this context, actually also seen as more godly—was too often associated with the suppression of confrontation. This meant “conflict” and “confrontation” were treated…

White Evangelicalism Eloped with Unhealthy Nationalism: An Analysis and Call to Action

July 7, 2019 DS Leiter Comments 8 comments

QUICK NOTE BEFORE I EVEN START: In this article, as with this previous one and this previous one, I refer to “White Evangelicals” as a cultural and religio-political group. I refer to their presumed race mostly to separate this group from POC Evangelicals, most of which hold VERY different beliefs on the ways religion ties to questions of social justice and what we should be doing in the political realm. When you read the rest of this post and respond…

Assertive Spirituality

Because Sometimes We Stay Lost if We Stay Quiet

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