Monday, July 18, 2005

Commercialized Apocalypse

According to a 2002 Time/CNN poll, 36% of Americans believe that the Bible is the word of God and should be taken literally. 59% believe the events in the Book of Revelation are going to come true. And close to a quarter think the Bible predicted the WTC attack.

Ever since 9/11, apocalyptic visions have seen a major boost, as a Time article from June 2002 confirms: “[The terrorist attacks] not only deepened the interest among Christians fluent in the language of Armageddon and Apocalypse. It broadened it as well, to an audience that had never paid much attention to the predictions of the doomsday prophet Nostradamus, or been worried about an epic battle that marks the end of time, or for that matter, read the Book of Revelation.”

In the weeks after the attacks, U.S sales of Nostradamus books, the Bible, and books about Islam skyrocketed. But the most amazing phenomenon in the book market has been the Left Behind series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Rev. Tim LaHaye, the well-known Christian reconstructionist and co-founder (with Jerry Falwell) of Moral Majority.

http://www.caseyresearch.com/displayArchiveArticleWwnk.php?id=162

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