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A [[http://www.religioustolerance.org/godpoll.htm | Newsweek June, 1999 poll]] showed that 52% of Americans believe that "Jesus will return during the next millennium" (2001-3000 CE) .

Assuming that the coming of Jesus is concurrent with the end of the world, this is a scary fact. The majority of the citizens of the most powerful country in the world believe that the world will end in the next thousand years.

This implies that for many Americans there is no motivation to improve the world, curb global warming or make moves towards world peace. After all, what use is there if the world will end in the next 1000 years and God will make everything right again.

In fact, there is actually a motivation to promote instability in the Middle East since many Americans (40%) believe that the coming of Jesus will be triggered by a biblical Armageddon and many believe that this will happen within their lifetimes (20%).
Clearly the Middle East seems the best candidate for that right now.

In [[http://www.religioustolerance.org/end_wrl6.htm | particular]] :
  * A U.S. News and World Report poll in Nov, 1997 showed that 66% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ will return to earth some day.
  * A Princeton Research Associates poll in Nov, 1999 showed that
    * 40% of American adults believe that the world will end with a Biblical Armageddon
    * 20% of American adults believe that the Antichrist is on earth now
    * 20% of American adults believe that Jesus will return during their lifetime
  * A Pew poll of Americans in Oct, 1999 showed that
    * 44% believed that Jesus will probably return during their lifetime
    * 22% said that Jesus will definitely return before 2050 CE

Belief in Armageddon, the imminent coming of the end-of-the-world and the Rapture are not just Christian Fundamentalist beliefs - they are //mainstream American beliefs//.

* Wikipedia on the [[wp>Rapture]] and on [[wp>Christian Eschatology]] (end-of-world beliefs)

* [[http://www.catholic.com/library/Rapture.asp | catholic.com on the Rapture]]

* [[http://www.religioustolerance.org/millenni.htm | ReligiousTolerance.org on Christian eschatology]]

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