 |
|
|
|
|
May 20th, 2011
09:01 AM ET
My Take: Doomsdayers not so different from the rest of us
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN I know a lot of people are eagerly awaiting 6 p.m. this Saturday, either to greet the rapturous return of Jesus with open arms or to snicker at the idiocy of the followers of radio host Harold Camping, the evangelist behind all this holy hoo-hah. I’m looking forward to 6:01 p.m., and the recalculations and reinterpretations that invariably ensue whenever Bible believers are proud enough to imagine that they know the day and the hour of Jesus' return, and bold enough to announce their imaginations to humanity. People have been predicting the end of the world ever since they started thinking about the world as a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Thus far everyone has been wrong. So we have a lot of experience as a species with what the Millerites of the 19th century called the Great Disappointment.
May 20th, 2011
07:53 AM ET
Muslim convert charged with threats to 'South Park' creators(CNN) - Federal authorities are using words uttered by the co-founder of a radical Islamic group to charge him with threats against the creators of "South Park." A criminal complaint alleging the communication of threats was filed in Virginia late last week against Jesse Curtis Morton, also known as Younus Abdullah Mohammad. A senior law enforcement source Thursday told CNN, which interviewed Morton in 2009, that the suspect is believed to be in Morocco, where he maintains Islampolicy.com, an English-language website propagating pro al Qaeda views. That website is a successor to Revolutionmuslim.com. Morton, a former resident of Brooklyn, New York, is the second person charged in the "South Park" case. In February, Zachary Adam Chesser, 21, who admitted to posting online threats, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
|
|
|
Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.