Thanks for posting this.  I was in a Christian cult for 17 years and, with that background, this is all so dreadfully familiar: the leader who says he has the “word of the lord,” the swallow-and-follow sheep who are desperate to convince themselves—once they have invested sufficient time, money, energy, and personal identity in the leader’s program— that the leader really does know the Truth; the never-ending attempts to rationalize all of the contrary evidence that increasingly demonstrates it’s all crap; and on and on it goes. 

What gave me pause is the members’ disappointment that their god didn’t incinerate the earth on October 21st.  Once invested in this nonsense, they actually want the world to end,  if only to prove them right.  As Hitchens told us so often, there are countless millions of the faithful out there right now who just can’t wait for the end to come, and they are more than happy to do what they can to help bring it about.  It seems to be the collective deathwish of our species, masquerading as piety.

As Camping’s sheep are no doubt finding out, it’s really hard to let it all go, to face the truth, to heed the “still, small voice” (of reason),  to face life without the illusion of comfort promised by one’s imaginary divine friend, to contemplate personal extinction at death, to accept that this life, such as it is, is ALL there is, and all there is ever going to be.  But once you do, the endless, grinding cognitive dissonance you lived with, trying to get the god stuff to make sense (when it doesn’t, and indeed can’t), finally stops;  you dimly start to realize how unbelievably precious every second is, how dear your loved ones are, how important it is to make life meaningful and worthwhile. 

I learned that there is life after religion; yes, even after Christianity.  And it’s better than living with the mind-forged manacle of irrational belief in an all powerful, all knowing, all loving god who is more than happy—indeed, delighted—to send to hell for all eternity those who he supposedly loves, merely because they don’t believe the unbelievable nonsense concocted by bronze age peasants.

The other thing that struck me (maybe from the comments, if not the article itself) —sounds like Family Radio is still sitting on a pile of cash, while many of its devoted adherents are now penniless, thanks to its preachments.  I have to think there is a class action lurking here, waiting for a creative plaintiffs’ lawyer.  Not just waiting, but begging for one.  Camping’s corporation should not be able to simply wrap what was nothing more than a huge fraud in a cloak of religion, and then remain comfortably and conveniently insulated from liability to those who relied on Camping’s false teaching by claiming it was all just religious speech protected by the First Amendment.  Is no one going after them on this?

Again, thanks for telling us “the rest of the story.”  If there were an afterlife, Paul Harvey would be smiling.

You don't have permission to flag this entry.

http://delgazette.com/2012/05/guy-von-harringa/

He committed suicide after quitting university to prepare for this non-apocaplypse. I work with someone who was friends with him. Apparently the article says he “rejoined his lord and savior.” Bull. Harold Camping is morally culpable for this nonsense, and it should be illegal to knowingly or unknowingly propagate fatally bad ideas.

You don't have permission to flag this entry.

> it should be illegal to knowingly or unknowingly propagate fatally bad ideas.

Like this one?

You don't have permission to flag this entry.

Maybe it shouldn’t be illegal, but it obviously goes to show that unreasonable apocalyptic thinking can cause real harm and death. At the very least, I think it is wise to be very critical towards this type of thinking. I appreciate this type of reporting.

You don't have permission to flag this entry.

buybuydaddavis: Well aren’t you the clever one!  People need to be accountable for their actions and it does need to be reflected in our legal system. My saying what I said is not going to result in the ruin of lives or push people to suicide, so let’s be straight about that right away and agree that your comment makes no sense. To his credit, Harold Camping promised to help families who suffered as a result of his repeatedly bad advice, but so far it’s only promises a year later. Someday, we will be able to account in a scientifically moral sense how culpable people should be for recklessly bad ideas that leave a wake of misery and death, and we will be able to respond with appropriate and measured retribution - i.e. legally.

You don't have permission to flag this entry.

Everyone will experience the apocalypse. It will come at their own point of departure.

You don't have permission to flag this entry.