Reality? Check, please!

What is he common connection between these widely divergent persons?  Cotton Mather, The  Connecticut General Assembly members, the Shakers, Christopher Love, Joanna Southcott, John Wesley, William  Miller, Harriet Livermore, Charles Taze Russell, Wovoka, Camille Flammarion, Margaret Rowen, Herbert W. Armstrong, Dorothy Martin, Jeane Dixon,  Charles Manson, Leland Jensen, Chuck Smith, Benjamin Crème, Pat Robertson, José Argüelles, Edgar C. Whisenant, Lee Jang Rim,  Harold Camping, Marshall Applewhite, Chen Tao, Philip Berg, Hon-Ming Chen, Jerry Falwell, Nazim Al-Haqqani, Isaac Newton, Ruth Montgomery, José Luis de Jesús, Warren Jeffs?

The obvious answer is that all these persons have at least once, and a few several times, predicted the end of the world in the “second coming.” Most of these predictions were the result of a convergence of ego, hubris, superstition and in almost all cases, religious zealotry. Some, like Livermore, Miller, Chen, Whisenant, Camping, Dixon, Robertson, David Berg and others are/were repeat offenders, simply unable to come to grips with their own delusions and their failures to materialize.

The Fall of Jerusalem in 70 BC was "foretold" by a comet four years before. In 79 AD the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius which destroyed the city of Pompeii was attributed to a comet. In 1665 a comet preceded an outbreak of the Black Plague that killed almost 100,000 people in London. In 1835 a comet was blamed for such widely diverse events as the fall of the Alamo, a major fire in New York City and a massacre of 280 people in Africa. While some people dreaded the poisonous cyanogen gas (determined by who knows what method to be contained in the comet’s tail), others feared that the tail of the comet would bring deadly influenza. There were stories of farmers who were too busy preparing for the end of the world to bother to plant crops. One paper from Louisville reported that "Preparations for the end of the world are being made today by the ignorant persons through central and eastern parts of Kentucky." Near Memphis, Tennessee, there were reports of people following a prophet who proclaimed that the comet would destroy the world at noon on May the 18th. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, newspapers reported that the Rev. Abraham Lincoln Johnson was holding revival meetings where his congregation was "reduced to a paroxysm of fear" as the preacher pictured the destruction the comet would bring. In Italy, farmers were blaming floods and unseasonable weather that destroyed their crops on the celestial visitor.

There seems to be two prime sources for these delusions. The first centering on astronomical and cosmological events, is derivative from simple ignorance. “Earth-centric” cosmology died a long and lingering death, as the traditionalists beat down, and sometimes killed anyone who dared seek a scientific explanation for the way things work in the universe.  Their descendents run the “Creationism” museum today. They harried men like Aristarchus of Samos to his grave for simply proffering the thought that the earth might not be the center of the Universe. Galileo, in like manner was threatened for daring to think critically about matters celestial. The second source is primarily planted in various “interpretations” of books considered scriptural by some sect or another. True, there are, simply some whack jobs making shit up, like Heaven’s Gate (Applewhite, et al) waiting for the giant space craft to come out from hiding behind the comet to save the chosen.

The streams of thought (if one can actually call blatant superstition thought) seem to revolve around either some cosmological disaster precipitated by, insert your favorite event here, comet (Halley’s every single damned time!) planetary alignment, rogue planet(The Nibiru cult) or others as yet undiscovered.  A second offshoot, really, of this lunacy are predictions, based on cosmological events, which are normal and have happened predictably for as long as man has watched the sky, that this time, something else is afoot.

 The current “Blood moon” bullshit of “Pastor” Hagee is one of these coupled with scriptural interpretation, which is the third primary type.  Nothing new about it except his senile ramblings!  While some believers have gone to great lengths to explain it away, a rational person has little other way to interpret the “Olivet discourses” in any way except that Jesus is reputed to have said he would return while some of those living then were still alive. I know, I know, it didn’t happen that way, but true believers were quick to write apologia explaining the absence of Christ’s return away as either allegorical or misinterpreted. Add to this the rantings of a minor Hebrew prophet (Joel), misinterpret his warning to Israel, which was (post Maccabbees), interpreted by Paul to mean the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 77 AD, and you have the current shitstorm of superstition flowing out of Texas. Even Baptist ministers are calling Hagee out on this one. The tragedy is, they really only believe he got the date wrong!       

We shouldn’t be surprised that south westerners are gullible. I offer the following as 20^th century proof:

“Girl Rescued from Death at Gory Stake”

“Aline, Okla., May 19. Jane Warfield, a pretty nineteen-year-old farmer girl, living near here was rescued after a hand-to-hand conflict between members of the sheriff of Alfalfa county posse and Henry Heinman's religious fanatics Wednesday evening just as the girl was about to be offered as a blood sacrifice for the atonement of the world's sins in order that Halley's comet might not destroy the earth. The girl, nude and partially unconscious, was tied to a stake in the center of a dancing group of the crazed followers of Heiman and within a few minutes was to have been stabbed and bled to death. Heinman's chief prophet was ready to perform the deed. It was known in the community that the much-heralded approach of Halley's Comet and the threatened danger attached to its appearance had affected the fanatics and frequent meetings were being held. All their secrets are closely guarded and it was not until the girl was tied to the stake that the authorities became aware of the intended sacrifice.

Posse Starts Out

A posse was immediately formed and preceding to the meeting ground of the fanatics the girl was rescued and given medical attention. Followers of Heinman attempted to fight the officers, but they were overcome with little difficulty. Heinman was arrested and placed in the county jail. Heinman instigated the act by telling his companions that the comet meant the end of the world and the sacrifice was necessary for their atonement.”

Really?  My dog just burped, it that a sign? A bird flew across the back yard, should I be alarmed? It worries me that anyone would evidence any concern with regard to the rantings of any person of any religion concerning the future when we know that most of them were oral history with no foundation in fact anyway. Then again, I am a rational humanist. So I am automatically disqualified from the debate, I suppose.