I am reminded of C. R. Hallpike's criticism of Girard. See also his book Ship of Fools, and I do not find Girard's account of scapegoating convincing. (Though I suppose I should read what he has to say about sacrifice as well.) Just because his theory lead to his reversion back to the Catholic faith, it doesn't mean that it is true or correct; it may be that God can nonetheless use error to lead someone back.
See also Death to the Death Penalty? René Girard’s Challenge to Thomas Aquinas by Tyler Graham
Dreher is still Dreher in his concerns:
One immense challenge to Christians is to find a way to fight this scapegoating, and to endure it when it can’t be fought, without returning hatred for hatred. I can imagine that it would be easy for those Covington boys to be tempted by far-right white nationalism, especially given the disgraceful spectacle of some of their own woke Catholic bishops throwing them under the bus. (This is what Girard meant when he talked about churches today being “vulnerable to the ongoing blackmail of contemporary neo-paganism.”) But that would be morally wrong, and even a betrayal of the Gospel. When we lose sight of the fact that we ourselves can be part of the mob, and start to see ourselves as innocent by virtue of our identity (racial, sexual, religious, etc.), then we fall into the same scapegoating mechanism that has captured those who hate us.
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