Eve of Destruction

I just watched a documentary called The Doomsday Code. It’s narrated by Tony Robinson, better known as Baldric in Blackadder, and it investigates a group of people known as end-timers. These people are evangelical christians who take a literal interpretation of the book of Revelation. They believe that the return of Israel to the Jews has started the countdown to Armageddon. All through this documentary I found myself getting angry. It seems that these people, convinced as they are of the impending rapture, take a distinct and perverse pleasure in what they call signs of the end-time. They absolutely look forward to the world disappearing in a mushroom cloud and actively work to make it happen.

According to the documentary these people are not just religious kooks, but a powerful group people with a lot of influence in US politics. It even alludes to George Bush’s evangelical ties and how this group of people exert real influence over his international policies; especially those concerning the Middle East. If true, the implications of this are truly frightening. The films contention is not that the end-time prophesy is real, but that belief in end-time prophesy is actually motivating people to act in ways that bring it about.

The part that made me particularly angry was that fact that these evangelicals don’t just contain their madness to the US. They actively work in third-world countries like Uganda. These affluent Americans travel to these countries to proselytise to the poor and preach about their end-time fantasies. These evangelicals are teaching the Ugandans that they need to give no thought for tomorrow. Just like Jesus, meek and mild. It is destroying their lives. It is exactly the opposite of what they need to hear and what they need to be doing. They're being told, 'Don't plant your crops, don't improve your government or economy, don't educate yourselves, don’t practice safe-sex, just abstain and wait for Jesus to rapture you into heaven.' It's then that these despicable, overweight, spoiled brats of the first world fly back to their homes and live comfortable lives of opulence while waiting for their god to come; leaving misery and death as they cut a righteous swath through the third world.

Why wont christian evangelicals take responsibility for their actions? Why are they acting like children who are waiting for an angry parent to come home? I cannot help but think that religion is predicated on madness. These people have never grown out of their child ego-state. It as though they have no understanding of the real consequences of their actions and just live out a childish fantasy, expecting that an invisible and omnipotent father figure will take care of everything. Father knows best and never you mind about the particulars.