'Touchdown Jesus'

This clip reminds of ‘Touchdown Jesus’ struck by lightning and burning to the ground in Monroe, OH this week. Surely the faithful cross themselves while driving past its charred remains in their imagined hearses. Surely no greater portent of garden variety apocalypse could rise to this level of symbolism.

Throughout our history, every major and minor religious cult has had to deal with the issue of apocalypse. It usually involves the return (to earth) of some deity which can then be expected to ‘separate the wheat from the chaff’.

It works on both, a personal level (heaven/hell) as well as on a societal one (the four horsemen). The nation of Iran appears to have melded this concept (the 12th Imam) with global (nuclear) politics - a dangerous mix for all of us.

Proclaiming a specific date for apocalypse does not come without risk. Should the date come and go without anything happening, it devalues the stock of the self-proclaimed prophet instantaneously. In the run-up, however, grand reputations are built. Sixteen Century Nostradamus is still held in high regard today. Even famously stoic JB admits to being mysteriously drawn to apocalyptic visions. In one way or another, we all are. It absolves us from having to face death alone.

The modern version, of course, involves ‘global warming’ and all its derivatives. Its course was entirely predictable. In its ascendancy, fortunes and reputations were made. In its demise, same were dashed. Just this week, it was announced, that not even the high priest’s (Al Gore’s) marriage is likely to survive.

Still, the overall concept will never fade. It’s being pursued in Iran as we speak; even as we ourselves scramble to reframe our own apocalyptic argument along the lines of '(Big) OIL SPILL'. It ultimately boils down to a divergence within what we commonly refer to as ‘religion’ itself. No matter how many atheists proclaim the death of God, men are essentially ‘religious’ animals. They split into two groups: those who have true faith, and those who don’t. The faithless also believe; but they are invariably drawn to the apocalyptic side.