Dealing with Cultural Anxiety
When you look around today, you can feel something in the air. It is not just politics. It is not just the economy. It is not even social media. There is a heaviness and a confusion that seems to sit on people. You see it in conversations. You hear it in the way people talk. You sense it in how quickly people get angry or defensive. And more than anything, you see it in how many people are dealing with anxiety at levels we have never seen before.
I believe we are watching what I call the devil’s stew. He has been stirring this pot for years. Cultural pressure, political obsession, social media noise, fear, suspicion, comparison, and division. All of it simmering together until people cannot think straight. And I am not just talking about the world. Even Christians have been caught in it without realizing how we got here.
So how did we arrive at this moment where anxiety seems to be running the show.
Here is my assessment of how we got here, laid out in a clear and practical progression.
1. We are living in a confused culture.
Jesus talked about this. He warned us that deception would be one of the biggest challenges in the last days. He told His followers to take heed that no one deceives you, reminding us that confusion would sweep through society and cloud people’s judgment. You see that happening right now. People do not know what to believe or who to trust, and that type of confusion creates emotional instability.
2. The twenty four hour news cycle did not help.
The news used to be straightforward information. Now it is commentary, reaction, and interpretation. Instead of “Here is what happened,” it is “Here is what you should think and feel about what happened.”
Every story is a crisis.
Every headline is dramatic.
Every disagreement is framed as a national emergency.
This constant stream of interpretation shapes how people feel without them even realizing it. That kind of nonstop commentary ramps up confusion and amplifies anxiety.
3. This obsession turned into blindness.
A major part of this cultural shaking was the intense polarization surrounding President Donald Trump. The reality is, people do not just disagree with him while others support him. It is way more than that. He is so polarizing that people are deeply emotional about him on both sides.
Those emotions eventually became obsession.
And that obsession became blindness.
People reacted before they listened. They judged before they reflected. They operated out of tension instead of thoughtful discernment. Anytime emotions take over like that, anxiety follows right behind. And they are not just anxious about the President. It carries over into other parts of their lives.
4. The last decade poured gasoline on uncertainty.
As the emotional temperature in our country kept rising, the entire culture became unsettled. People grew less confident in institutions, less trusting of leaders, and less certain about the future. Every major event and every election cycle added another layer of tension.
For ten years it has felt like the ground under our feet has kept shifting. That kind of prolonged instability wears people down. When uncertainty becomes the norm, anxiety grows quickly. Stress builds. Pressure rises. And people begin to feel emotionally exhausted.
5. Then came the false choice.
Culture began pushing the idea that you must pick a side. You either love President Donald Trump or you hate him. You stand here or you stand there. There is no room for nuance, reason, or thoughtful middle ground. That kind of forced choice puts pressure on people and raises emotional tension. It makes rational conversations almost impossible.
6. Guilt by association became the new standard.
People started attaching moral value to political affiliation. Some even suggested that you cannot follow Jesus if you vote a certain way. That belief is not coming from Scripture. It is coming from cultural pressure, personal bias, and emotional heat.
I am not saying we should not support candidates who align with our beliefs. We absolutely should. But anytime faith gets tied to political identity, confusion rises, division grows, and anxiety settles in.
7. People retreated into echo chambers.
To avoid constant conflict, people surrounded themselves with voices that already agreed with them. They watched the same videos. They landed in the same algorithm. They visited the same websites and pages. Before long they developed the same perspective and had the same conversations over and over.
Over time they lost the ability to understand anyone who sees the world differently. That isolation leads to frustration, misunderstanding, and emotional exhaustion.
8. Now families and friendships are divided.
It started as disagreements over political ideology, and it has now grown into all areas of life. Disagreements have become personal attacks. Loved ones avoid each other. People stop talking. Lines are drawn. Homes feel tense. Social media becomes a battleground. The emotional strain is real, and anxiety thrives wherever relationships break down.
The Result: Anxious Thoughts Multiply
This is why so many people, including Christians, feel overwhelmed. When confusion, pressure, noise, and division all mix together, it becomes the devil’s stew. The enemy stirs it daily, and the result is what we are seeing right now. Anxious thoughts multiply. Peace fades. People feel unsettled and unsure.
But the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 94, “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your comforts delight me.”
That one line gives us the way out. God’s comfort is stronger than the chaos around us. His peace is steadier than anything happening in our culture.
The devil may stir the pot, but we do not have to live in it.
When we turn our focus back to God, He pulls us out of the noise, settles our hearts, and reminds us that He is still in control.
That is the path to peace in the middle of the devil’s stew.
Alex Bryant is a pastor, author, and speaker who writes about race, faith, and culture in America.
