Apocalypticism is the religious belief that there will be an apocalypse soon. This belief is usually conjoined with the idea that civilization will come to a tumultuous end by means of a catastrophic event. Apocalypses can be viewed as good, evil, ambiguous or neutral, depending on the particular religion or belief system promoting them. But with the dawn of the 21st century, several apocalyptic theories have been expressed.
Senior Lindsay Rinner commented, “Apocalyptic religion breeds intolerance in modern-day America, which in small doses is a good thing because you can’t have progress without competitive thought, but you can’t put all of your faith and belief in a religion whose forefathers lived in an ancient world.”
The UFO religion dictates the idea that extra-terrestrial life will bring about the end of the world, a higher plane of existence, or a radical change on Earth. This theme is expressed in the movie The Knowing (2009) by director Alex Proyas. A teacher opens a time capsule; in it are a series of numbers expressing dates. These dates foretell catastrophes that have already occurred and others that are about to, that implicate the end of the world by the hands of another worldly life-form.
The Y2K scare was especially evident with the approach of the millennial 2000. It was believed simultaneous computer crashes were expected to throw global commerce and financial systems into ruin, should the software not be corrected. Scholars theorized that people were probably driven by the “interesting date” and therefore unsupported allegations of the apocalypse were common.
Harold Egbert Camping, an American Christian radio broadcaster, applied numerology to his interpretation of Bible passages in an attempt to predict dates for the judgment days. His prediction for May 21, 2011 was that Jesus Christ would return to Earth and the righteous would fly up to heaven. Following this rapture, there would be five months of fire and plagues on Earth, culminating on October 21, 2011 with the end of the world.
October 21, 2011 passed without the predicted apocalypse, leading the International Business Times to proclaim Camping a “false prophet.” Junior Meenakshi Karthikeya said, “I think a religion based solely on the belief of an apocalypse is silly. If you want to believe the world will end because of global warming, environment degradation by humans and the use of fossil fuels, it makes sense.”
December 21, 2012 is the doomsday date derived from the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar which completes 5,125 years on December 21, 2012. The movie 2012 (2009) is inspired by this theory. The movie includes cataclysmic events that will occur and inevitably result in the end of the world, on December 21, 2012.
The prediction given by the Mayans about what will happen at the end of this Great Cycle is described as a rebirth of this world and the beginning of an age of enlightenment. Encircled by this date are other interpretations of assorted legends, scriptures, numerological constructions and prophecies. Senior Katherine Heuther said” 2012 will be the year to remember.”