I am, of course, being facetious. The world never was going to end and fervent prayer isn’t the reason why some invisible higher power stayed his hand. The whole idea of predicting an end time is a complete and total waste of time and it’s too bad people won’t be able to sue Harold Camping and Family Radio for ruining their lives. Maybe a sucker isn’t born every minute but enough gullible people took Camping at his word back in May and had to live with the consequences of that – job loss, willful bankruptcy…
This is somewhat heartening, though:
there is little evidence that swarms of believers who once fanned out in cities nationwide with placards advertising Camping’s message — some giving up life savings in anticipation of being swept into heaven — were following a new doomsday countdown.
Gone, too, are the billboards posted around the country by Camping’s Family Radio network declaring that Judgment Day was at hand.
Reached by telephone on Thursday, network spokesman Tom Evans declined to comment on Camping or his prophecies, except to say that he had “retired” as a radio host but remained chairman of the board of Family Stations Inc.
The article also states that attendance at the weekly prayer meetings has “dwindled” to 25 people but doesn’t mention how many more used to take it in, unfortunately.
Are any lessons going to be learned from this?
I picked up a book from the library called Believing Bullshit: how not to get sucked into an intellectual black hole by Stephen Law. I think I’m going to find it fairly educational, but years of blogging about religious nonsense and other skeptical writing I’ve done on here has probably given me something of an edge (albeit miniscule) in terms of recognizing a flawed thought process and dubious “proof” that a belief has merit. I’ve been bad about promising to do do book reports and then not delivering but you have my word that this one will get written about upon completion.
One Minion's Opinion 