http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/projo_20050322_ctraptu.2073e05.html
01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, March 22, 2005
BERKELEY, Calif.
GO TO RaptureReady.com and there you will find something called the Rapture Index, which tracks the news in 45 categories related to the biblical prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ.
The higher the index goes, the closer we get to the "fasten your seatbelts" zone, which means that the Rapture could be coming any day now.
For the true believers, of course, the Second Coming is the day to end all days -- the day when Christ finally returns as promised, and the devout are eternally rewarded, while the heretics are eternally damned to the fires of Hell. Therefore, it is with certain eager anticipation, it seems, that the folks at RaptureReady posted stories about the recent tsunami disaster in Asia (after all, they "look for more earthquake activity as the return of Christ draws near").
RaptureReady is keeping its eyes on such trends as "Oil Supply and Price" ("The final battle of Armageddon may . . . involve a dispute over oil"), the "movement to join all religions into one" ("This has been a goal of the Devil for some time. By having all religion unified, he could more easily control their leadership"), and global famine ("During the time of the tribulation, a day's wage will be equal to a loaf of bread"), among many other categories.
While the tendency of well-educated secular progressives is to scoff at this as just a bunch of fringe lunatics holding up "The End Is Nigh" signs, it is starting to seem as if the well-educated secular progressives are the ones who are on the fringe. According to a 2002 Time/CNN poll, 59 percent of Americans believe that the Book of Revelation prophecies are actually going to come true, and one in four Americans believes that 9/11 was actually predicted in the Bible. And Timothy LaHaye's Left Behind series -- 12 volumes of tales of the imminent biblical apocalypse -- are among the best-selling books in America.
For a number of progressive-minded folks, this is frightening and dangerous stuff. For example, in a recent speech accepting the Harvard Medical School Center for Health and the Global Environment's Global Environment Citizen Award, journalist Bill Moyers raised the worrisome prospect that this biblical millennialism might be behind the right wing's refusal to do anything about global warming. Quoting Grist Magazine, Moyers suggested, "Why care about the earth when the droughts, floods, famine, and pestilence brought by ecological collapse are signs of the apocalypse foretold in the Bible?"
But where Moyers and others see alarm bells, I see opportunity. Instead of wondering how these people could be so deluded, progressives should be figuring out how to use these delusions as an organizing strategy. With a little work, such progressive-agenda items as gay marriage, abortion rights, and legalizing drugs could all be transformed from betes noires of Christian conservatives into signs of the Second Coming of Jesus.
The folks at ReadyRapture.com already seem to be on the boat here. For example, one of the 45 categories they are following in their Rapture Index is "Moral Standards." They note, "The scourge of gay marriage upgrades this category." Therefore, if these true believers are really serious about the Second Coming, they ought to welcome "the scourge of gay marriage," instead of passing state constitutional amendments to ban it.
Similarly, instead of protesting outside abortion clinics, these hard-core Christians should welcome a woman's right to choose, since, according to RaptureReady, "the Scripture says, 'In the secret place doth he murder the innocent' (Psalms 10:8). The 'secret place' is the womb of a mother." Come on, folks: Do you want the Rapture or not?
RaptureReady is also following "Drug Abuse":
"The Bible . . . may make mention of drugs. In the Book of Revelation the word 'sorcery' has the Greek word pharmakeia as its root. This is where we get the word 'pharmacy.' When it says 'they repented not of their sorceries,' it could mean they repented not of their drug use."
Here, it would appear, is an untapped constituency for helping to expose the "War on Drugs" as a waste of time and resources, as well as for fighting for the long-overdue decriminalization of marijuana. After all, more drug use means an earlier Rapture.
More broadly, RaptureReady even has a category entitled, simply, "Liberalism." (You can't make this stuff up.) However, at last check, the "Liberalism" index was down to just "1" (the lowest level), with RaptureReady noting, "Liberals in the U.S. take huge beating." If only John Kerry had reminded evangelical voters that without liberalism on the rise the Rapture Index would be that much further from the Second Coming, he might have won the election.
The Web site also notes that "liberalism is . . . the 'true conspiracy.' The liberal media is 100 percent control [sic] by the forces that bow to this humanistic ideology." Perhaps these folks could even be enlisted in a crusade to shut down Fox News.
Sure, the Rapture Index also roots for "Inflation," "Unemployment," "Volcanoes," and "the Antichrist." Not to mention "Global Turmoil," "Drought," and "The Mark of the Beast." But in these troubled times, you have to pick your battles.
Lee Drutman is a frequent contributor.
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