Yes, and don’t forget that just barely over half of all the Americans that voted, voted for Bush. If that doesn’t say anything I don’t know what does.

I’ve got news for you, Les- you can breathe easy, because the Rapture will not come until 2008.  That’s what the Lords’ Witnesses say, anyway, and they have a 100% unbroken record with their predictions so far.  Well, 100% wrong so far, admittedly, but consistency has got to count for something, right?  And probability says they’ve got to be right sometime, right?  Er, right?

There’s nothing special about 2007.  It’s the same 25% who thought he was going to return last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.

But this time he really IS going to return!  Really!  So you’d better be prepared, and give generously to your church, because you wouldn’t want him to come back and catch you being stingy.

There’s an old saying, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” So what about the people who have been fooled twenty or thirty times?  Apparently they’re ready to get fooled again.

It would be funny if they weren’t the same people supporting the subversion of democracy and starting unnecessary wars.

O-h no it was the followers of Nostradamous thought armageddon was coming come the year 2000 ...panic and fear, I wanted to stand outside an ATM too see if it would just spit out money. The world didn’t end then with all the programming rush for the proper year coding.
But I do see problems with companies not renewing certifications for secure logins this first week of the year...so maybe it is is worse then 2000.
I must go by plastic for my windows now, the terrorists are coming.

Hasn’t each and every generation of Christians, from the disciples on, thought they were going to see the end of the world?  Isn’t that why the Gospels were originally passed orally and not written down?  Why write things down if the world’s about to end?

Also Chris, I believe the old saying is “Fool me once, shame on--shame on you...you fool me can’t get fooled again.” - George W. Bush

Les: Every now and then I think that I’d like to sit down with these people and hear their reasoning until I remember how much of a migraine that can cause when you actually do it.

Trying to apply reason where none exists always seems to be a futile endeavor, and anymore I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s an all-out waste of time.

I’d *really* like to see how the question was given and answers recorded.  Were folks asked if they thought it actually *would* happen, if it *could* happen, if it *might* happen, etc. 

If 25% really thought that it *would* happen, they would be behaving in a very different fashion.

if JC did come back he would no doubt have ID problems when claiming to be him, and I could just envisage bin laden’s henchmen/me with a trusty sniper rifle

besides he come back w/o claiming ID

***Dave writes:

I’d *really* like to see how the question was given and answers recorded.  Were folks asked if they thought it actually *would* happen, if it *could* happen, if it *might* happen, etc.

Good point. I too would be interested in knowing how the question was originally phrased.

More from the article:

An overwhelming majority thinks Congress will raise the federal minimum wage.

It’s high time it did.

Seventy percent of Americans predict another major natural disaster within the United States and an equal percentage expect worsening global warming.

I think they’re probably right on this one, tragically.

Slightly more than one-third, or 35 percent, of Americans predict the military draft will be reinstated.

I have an eighteen-year-old brother. This had better not happen.

Fewer than one-third of people, or 29 percent, think it is likely that the U.S. will withdraw its troops from Iraq.

I’m sorry to say that this is probably an accurate assessment on the part of 71% of those interviewed.

Six in 10 people think the U.S. will be the victim of another terrorist attack next year, more than five years after the Sept. 11 assault on New York and Washington.

I have a hard time envisioning this.

A third sees hope for a cure to cancer.

I think we’ve got a ways to go before this occurs. It’s nice to see a shred of optimism in these predictions, though.

You know, maybe the reason they think it’ll happen is because 7-7-07 occurs this year, in July.
Doesn’t save them from being dumbasses (and you would of thought 6-6-06 would of discouraged this sort of idea) but hey, maybe theres at least a little logic to it.

That last question about cancer reveals how the public perceives complex issues.  Cancer isn’t one disease, like malaria.  Hell, even malaria isn’t one disease - there are at least three related parasites that cause it.  But they still talk about “a cure for cancer.” Like; here, take this pill, see me in two weeks.

No wonder some people think “if everyone just had my religion all these problems would be solved”.  They’re looking for a magic bullet that will solve a wide range of problems.

I’m thoroughly enjoying The God Delusion and “One quarter of Americans think Christ will return this year” reminds me of Dawkins’ reference to the ‘cargo cults’ of Pacific Melanesia and New Guinea.
John Frum (somewhere unpronounceable and thus forgettable?) said he’d return. Every year on 15 February ‘the natives’ gather in anticipation.

So far he has not returned, but they are not downhearted. David Attenborough said to one cult devotee, called Sam:
‘But Sam, it is nineteen years since John say that the cargo will come. He promise and he promise, but still the cargo does not come. Isn’t nineteen years a long time to wait?’
Sam lifted his eyes from the ground and looked at me.
‘If you can wait two thousand years for Jesus Christ to come an’ ‘e no come, then I can wait more than nineteen years for John.’

I think it’s rather clever of the xian pushers to have their addicted users to still, after two thousand years, believe that Jesus will return or, just maybe, psychologically enslaved followers of xianity are particularly hopeful … or should that be hopeless?

You’d think that after all this time they’d be as smart as the ‘primitive’ followers of the cargo cults and set aside one day of the year where they could all celebrate Jesus’ return instead of ‘picking dates’ ( http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=date ) (numbers 6, 11, 12) willy nilly. 

My initial knee-jerk reaction was “WTF how the hell did this country get to this point” Seriously do they not teach logical thought and open-mindedness in schools anymore? Or are they just teaching fear mongering? This is just silly 1/4 of Americans? wow!

Commiezilla, they taught logical thought and open-mindedness in schools?  When?

Yeah I learned it and I only graduated 5 years ago. Now everything has gone straight to hell.

JC: I am come again to show you the way to my Father.

Athiests: OK, proof please.

Xians: LIAR, BLASPHEMER! YOU ARE SENT BY THE DEVIL TO TRICK US YOU CAN’T BE THE SAVIOUR BECAUSE YOU DONT AGREE 100% WITH WHAT [sect] SAYS. (Note: there are so many different takes on JC that he is going to be denounced by a majority, plus probably Jews and Muslims)

Take pork (mmmm pork)

Can we eat pork.  No matter what he answers someone will be pissed off. One assumes as a good jewish boy JC.I. didn’t- if JCII says it’s a no no what will xians do? will they 1) stop eating pork 2) Shout he’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.

I think the underlying messages that the stories of JC attempted to get across get strayed from when fundies try to be exact, and no doubt they are less in line with the intended principles of being nice and stuff than more the casual herd

I’m not sure if it’s true but someone told me that not eating pork, though a fundie thing, was not originally intended in the beliefs. Pork didn’t keep in those climates and would go off, people didn’t seem to realise why eating this could make them ill so someone manipulated the texts to say nobody should eat this ‘evil’ meat at all. This is a health issue and, in the days of refrigeration, can’t justify it’s part in the religion

If someone actually claimed to be JCII I could well imagine they’d be sent to a nuthouse

DC: If someone actually claimed to be JCII I could well imagine they’d be sent to a nuthouse

Yeah, but in any case, no re-incarnation of JC could meet with all the expectations of all the sects and cults within xianity.
However, if you suggested that to a fundie he’d just know you were mad.

A cynic knows, as did Seneca: Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.

I’ve posted before- many parts of the OT are a desert survival guide for a nomadic nation, it stops them eating the wrong food (inc shelfish and meat that is poisonous in desert), providing a basis of society to stop destructive arguements, and making sure there is a reason to all pull in the same direction.

We terrorists had decided to stop fighting Christians Americans. We decided that we worship the same God, and that the real enemy is the liberal Americans and the Europeans. We decided that the Christian suicide bombers will be a great asset in our war against the infidels. Death to liberals! Bush is the greatest President we ever had! Muhammad will return before the end of this age!

الله يسلمك!

OBL lives! And he somehow got arabic into SEB. Allah only knows what it means.

Its a bit of a conspiricy theory but it seems to me somebody/organisation for some reason is playing the sunnis and shia off against each other:

The old iraqi Baath -sunni
tests scuds on kurds -shia

Taliban and al-queida -sunni
fought the Northern alliance in afganistan -shia

Saddam was somehow allowed to be taunted by shia, and his hanging was videod and somehow leaked, which no doubt stirred things up a bit

I heard there was a time when there was hardly an issue between the two groups, they just had a different opinion on the date of something, in fact I know non-fundie muslims who are neither because they don’t know which version is more accurate

I wonder if saddam’s execution might be considered a model of restraint by many?  Considering some of the atrocities proudly distributed on video in that conflict.  Worst thing that happened to him is he was professionally hanged (death was quick, someone told me who claims to know how a hanging is supposed to be done) and some people said mean things to him just before he went down.  Given the history and passions, could have been a lot worse.

The execution caused Saddam to become a martyr and it made the Iraqi’s look up to him as a hero and hate the Americans even more.  It created more violence.  This was planned of course.  Do you think Iraq was a disaster?  Actually, it was a great success.  We increased the price of oil, Balkanized Iraq, and made it so Iraq could never come to a position of influence and power in the Middle East again.

Did you think the Democrats were going to impeach Bush or try getting troops out of Iraq?  Of course not!  They are in bed with the Republicans!  There is only one political party with two management teams fighting for control:  the fascist nazis and the liberal communists.  The only difference between the two management teams:  The communists nazis openly say they want to destroy the country, the fascist nazis say they are patriots while in reality they are doing what the democrats say they are going to do.  Why do you hate the Republicans?  You should love them!  They are ultra-liberal!  And the majority of them are pedophiles, they are sexually free!
There is no moderate, sane party in the United States!

“Mayday!  Mayday!  I am under attack by Commie Nazis!!!”
- The Simpsons’ Ranier Wolfcastle

I somehow find it funny that you target a simple typo, and you have ready at hand a quote from the Simpsons for that typo (my god, how often do you watch the Simpsons?!), completely missing the point of the comment (if you look at what the Republicans have done, and you look at what the Democrats have done, you see that they are both working toward the same agenda, except the Democrats talk about the agenda, the Republicans lie about it).  Can’t you see?  It is a controlled debate!  And what does it achieve?  It is either:

You’re a socialist, fascist, neo-conservative, nazi pig, Republican:
You hate gays, (fags![doesn’t matter what orientation you are])
you hate liberals, (commie pinkos!)
you are Christian, (athiest satanists! [doesn’t matter what religion you are])
you are pro-gun, (Second amendment [and rightly so])
you hate muslims, (rag heads!)
you hate free speech, (don’t swear liberal! terrorists use blogs! )
you want to bomb everybody (nuke ‘em)
you are pro life on abortion (abortion is murder! [partly good])

OR

You are a socialist, communist, liberal, commie pinko, Democrat:
You are pro-choice sexually (bigots! [and rightly so])
you hate conservatives (capitalist pigs!)
you are athiest (sky-daddy loving morons!)
you are pro gun control (guns kill people!)
you treat muslims like people (race doesn’t matter [and rightly so])
you hate free speech (discrimination!)
you think war is a waste [and rightly so]
you are pro choice on abortion [partly good]

While a sane party line would be more like:
You are pro-choice sexually
You are conservative economically
You are liberal on personal rights
You are pro second amendment
You are pro first amendment
You think religion doesn’t matter
You think race doesn’t matter
You realize that war solves nothing
You are pro Constitution (neither party is pro-constitution!)

You see?!  Both parties are dangerous, and don’t solve anything!  They are designed to divide, make people fight each other!