The Second Coming
Pew Research has found that 79% of Americans believe in The Second Coming of Jesus. What worries me more is not that 4 out of 5 Americans believe in The Second Coming, but that 1 out of 5 believes it will happen in their lifetime. It seems inevitable that such a belief will grossly warp your priorities: you would have no reason at all to care about long term problems like global warming or antibiotic resistant bacteria, because you believe the world will end long before those concerns become substantial.
I wonder: does this 20% of the American people exhibit more delay discounting than American atheists?
June 18th, 2009 at 10:45 am
re: delay discounting, you might find this interesting:
http://www.eduardpunset.es/blog/?p=200
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Sam Harris talks about these stats a lot, and the ramifications of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKcSzR8QqrY#t=4m10s
(4:10 in)
January 8th, 2010 at 6:54 am
Martin Luther had a different attitude. He said that if he knew that Christ were returning tomorrow, he would still plant a tree today.
January 8th, 2010 at 9:05 am
That’s quite a beautiful sentiment. As you say it, I realize that I should see whether the assumptions about the end of the world practically imply a preference for short-term rewards.