I am. And so is Harold Camping, who is apparently "flabbergasted" that his prophecy didn't come true and the Rapture didn't happen on Saturday at 6pm (which would have spared us from hoping for another Triple Crown shot in the Preakness). Some of his followers, who dispensed with their cash and assets, may be described by other adjectives.But Mitch Daniels is gone, alas. Did the man who wanted to declare a truce on GOP's culture wars to focus on the economy wind up being the only true believer? Well, he's also a family man, having heeded the counsel of his wife and daughters to spare them the campaign gantlet.Gary Laderman at Religion Dispatches has five lessons to be learned ("2. The Christian Fundamentalists are not alone in this religious obsession") from the world's apparently false sell-by date, and at First Things, Anthony Sacramone writes that this episode is evidence of the "cult of personality" that can plague evangelical Protestantism, but not so much the churches of the Great Tradition. (We have other issues, I guess.)And for those of you who were banking on being taken up into the clouds (a staple of preaching in my Scofield-bible youth), Slate replays the cognitive dissonance theory of Leon Festinger, which is a must-read since Oprah won't be around to help you cope.In any case, we seem to be stuck with each other, and with the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties, wars and rumors of wars, and natural disasters, and blogs. So be nice.

David Gibson is the director of Fordham’s Center on Religion & Culture.

Also by this author
© 2024 Commonweal Magazine. All rights reserved. Design by Point Five. Site by Deck Fifty.