Dateline: January 21, 1999
Christian Fears
The nature of the coming cataclysm (and it's always coming soon, of course) varies with some regularity. At times it has been nuclear destruction at the hands of the evil atheistic communists in the Soviet Union. After that it was biological or chemical attack from Saddam Hussein. Asteroids and comets crashing into the planet have also played a big role in premillennialist visions. A recent mainstay has been the Y2K problem, which they have gleefully predicted as precipitating nuclear meltdowns, crashing planes, crashing stock markets, and more.
Literally hundreds of millions of people around the world see life through a strictly biblical lens, concocting end-of-the-world scenarios which would make your hair stand on end. Fundamentalist prophets are convinced that we are living in "the last days," just before their god will reward the just (like the prophets, of course) and punish the sinners (meaning atheists, among others). Jesus was very clear that "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled" (Mat. 24:34). Clearly he was wrong, since that generation obviously died and none of Jesus' predictions had come to pass. But in an amazing feat of mental gymnastics, many Christians insist that when Jesus said "this generation," he "really" meant whatever generation is currently alive.
| Quote of the week: But if your belief is based upon faith, you will realize that argument is useless, and will therefore resort to force either in the form of persecution or by stunting or distorting the minds of the young in what is called 'education.' Bertrand Russell, The Quotable Bertrand Russell (ed. Lee Eisler, Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1993), p. 261. |
The history of millennialist hysteria in America makes it clear that such beliefs easily lead to self-fulfilling prophecies and even suicidal tendencies. Widely held beliefs, however obviously mistaken, can have serious social, political and economic consequences - especially when people in power buy into those beliefs. An obvious example of this is the growing concern over Year 2000 problems. People who panic and remove a great deal of money from the stock market or banks may cause real hardships in the financial sector if their numbers are great enough. As a precaution for just such a scenario, the Federal Reserve will have to print as much as $75 billion in extra banknotes over the coming year.
Apocalyptic orientations may cause at least hesitation among those who might prevent some disaster from occurring. Or even worse, some may take steps to help such a disaster come true. After all, who would take it upon themselves to deliberately stand in the way of the fulfillment of divine prophecy? Fixation upon prophecies of the future won't allow people to actually shape it.
Failure of prophecy doesn't do much to change peoples' minds, unfortunately. History teaches us that such failures often do just the opposite, intensifying not only their beliefs, but also their conviction to follow those beliefs wherever they might lead. There also typically occurs complicated mental gymnastics as prophecy is re-interpreted, revised, recalculated and even extrapolated to take into account new events.
Millennial Profits
Not everything is doom-and-gloom, of course - some are managing to make a tidy profit due to apocalyptic prophets. Those least to blame are companies which produce equipment and materials in high demand among survivalists and those afraid that society will collapse. Those who market dehydrated foods, camping gear, home power generators, and more are seeing dramatic increases in orders and profits - but hopefully they are preparing for drops in profits starting next year. Real estate in some markets is also increasing in value as people rush to buy good land in remote locations where they can develop self-sufficient communities far from the hordes of the unprepared.
Others are not quite so "innocent" in the windfall they are reaping. Many right-wing religionists are hyping the existing hysteria by pushing books, manuals, tapes, and traveling seminars which are designed to "educate" people about the myriad of horrible dangers awaiting them next year. Coincidentally, these authors and speakers just happen to know how to help us and teach us what to do - for a fee, of course.
Jerusalem
Unfortunately for the citizens of Jerusalem, their city has become "ground zero" for all the manic millennialists looking to be front and center for their imagined apocalypse. It is unsurprisingly at the center of so much prophecy in both the Old and New Testaments, and so people who take those writings way too seriously find themselves drawn to Jerusalem as the year 2000 approaches. Recently, a Denver group called Concerned Christians was expelled from Israel because they planned on instigating mass violence in Jerusalem as part of an effort to encourage Christ's Second Coming.
Sadly, they were preparing for a "big provocation" to occur at the Temple Mount in hopes of instigating a religious war between Arabs and Jews which would culminate in Armageddon. If these seems strange, it should be kept in mind that similar plans have been made by Orthodox Jewish extremists, too.
Another, less organized Christian group is also the focus of investigation by Israeli security services. Living in monasteries in the mountains around Jerusalem, each member expect to personally play a major role in the end-of-times events, possibly centering around the Temple Mount. If the Jews regard Christians as "younger siblings" in religion, what must be going through their minds right now as they regard the mania to which so many Christians are given these days?
Although Christian millennial fears are an obvious concern, we should not think that other religious/paranormal groups don't have similar fixations. There are a number of bizarre New Age/religious groups like "Heaven's Gate" and Japan's Aum Shinri Kyo with fatal visions either for themselves or for others. Psychics are having a lot of fun with their various "armageddon prophecies" - and people believe them, even though their past track records are abysmal at best. Nostradamus' vague and highly malleable quatrains are also a regular favorite among end-times fanatics as they scour his writings in an effort to discover what will happen.
If only they put more of their efforts into creating a better future instead of worrying about a predetermined fate, perhaps we'd have a brighter future to look forward to. This, then, is the answer to those who might complain that my critiques miss the mark and that people should be left to believe whatever they want. The fact of the matter is, ideas have consequences - both for yourself and for others. People need to be shown that we can have the courage to create our own futures. If they instead sit at home worrying about what they think a writer 3000 years ago prophecized, they lose the ability to control their own lives and become controlled by their fears. Not only do they lose, but all of society loses because their unique contribution remains unmade.
What to do?
Are any of the millennial fears justified? Is there anything which we can really do without giving into irrational hysteria? Most of the hype surrounding the Y2K bugs in computer programs is just that: hype. There are, however, a few things worth doing. You should check your VCR - many will not be able to handle the millennial transition, and people who are not prepared might suddenly find themselves taping reruns of "Full House" by mistake. Not quite the apocalypse, but close enough.
Set your VCR's date to a couple of minutes before the end of 1999 and wait to see what happens. If your machine is "millennium ready," it should read Saturday, January 1. Otherwise, you'll have the wrong day of the week. You'll have one of three choices: buy a new VCR without that problem; take this into account every time you set your VCR so that you record on the "right" date, or set your VCR's year to 1972, the last leap-year which started on a Saturday.
The biggest millennial computer problems probably lie in companies' accounting software, which might cause the generation of screwy bills. So, it would probably be a good idea to keep close track of all your bills, bank statements, etc. in the coming months so that you can more quickly find discrepancies next year. Of course, you should really be keeping a close eye on such things anyway, so what's the big deal?
Should you stock-pile food? An interesting question, since I believe that the Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends that you store a couple months worth of dry/canned food as a matter of course. People who live in areas where disasters are not uncommon know what it can be like for the stores to be closed for a few days, causing food and freshwater to be difficult to come by. The rest of us, however, never give that a second thought. I sincerely doubt that anything will happen at the beginning of January which would cause people to need much in the way of extra food, but perhaps people can use this as a good excuse to create a food-storage system which they should probably have anyway.
So there isn't much of anything you could be doing that you shouldn't already be doing anyway. If this gets you to start, then it's probably a good thing. But perhaps more of your attention should be focused on calming the fears of others. As I explained last week, instead of simply trying to promote atheism over theism, we should endeavor to promote a habit of reasonableness in all areas of life, and this would be an excellent forum for taking a leadership role by presenting a calm, rational way of dealing with the coming millennium.
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