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{"id":868,"date":"2001-10-10T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-10-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmatt\/2001\/10\/10\/buying-st-nostradamus\/"},"modified":"2013-01-30T15:31:54","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T20:31:54","slug":"buying-st-nostradamus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2001\/10\/buying-st-nostradamus\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying St. Nostradamus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

When American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon, a jet-fuel fireball claimed most of its victims before they could even dive under their desks.<\/p>\n\n

But as rescue crews worked through the charred halls, word spread of an amazing sign of hope. On the second floor \u2014 steps from where the plane sliced away the building \u2014 stood a stool holding a large, open book that had not been burned. Eyewitnesses reportedly said it was a Bible and the news flew across the nation via the Internet.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a perfect metaphor,\u201d noted Barbara Mikkelson, a curator at the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society\u2019s urban legends research site (www.snopes.com<\/a>). \u201cIt\u2019s like, in the midst of all of this death, mayhem and horror, this one enduring symbol of faith was untouched. \u2026<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWhen you look at it that way, it\u2019s kind of a shame it turned out to be a dictionary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Imagine what people would have thought if it had been a copy of \u201cNostradamus: The Complete Prophecies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

That\u2019s the book by the French astrologer who \u201cin 1654\u201d wrote: \u201cOn the 11th day of the 9th month, two metal birds will crash into two tall statues, in the new city, and the world will end soon after.\u201d Only, Nostradamus \u2014 who died in 1566 \u2014 didn\u2019t write that. He also didn\u2019t write some of the other verses attributed to him in waves of recent emails. Alas, it\u2019s too late for the converts who bought those Nostradamus books and videos.<\/p>\n\n

Truth is, people are buying all kinds of things. Rumors and visions are everywhere.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cAs the saying goes, the problem isn\u2019t that Americans don\u2019t believe in anything. It\u2019s that they believe in everything,\u201d said George Gallup, Jr. \u201cWhat this says to me is that people are searching, but they aren\u2019t rooted in the orthodox faith. Most of them will say they are Christians, or even born-again Christians, but they aren\u2019t grounded in any traditional set of beliefs. \u2026<\/p>\n\n

\u201cPeople are roaring off in all directions. They\u2019re hanging onto to whatever helps them feel better, including some things that are pretty nutty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

News reports have featured stirring images of Americans flocking into sanctuaries. According to the headlines, terrorism has stirred the fires of faith. But the reality is more complex than that. While it\u2019s easy to find signs that more Americans are hungry for \u201cspiritual experience,\u201d there is little evidence that they\u2019re committed to the doctrines and disciplines of any one faith.<\/p>\n\n

Last summer, the Gallup Organization produced data indicating that belief in biblical authority has fallen to an all-time low. While 93 percent of all households own at least one Bible, only 27 percent of people polled affirmed that Scripture contains \u201cthe actual word of God in all instances.\u201d That figure was 65 percent in 1963.<\/p>\n\n

Meanwhile, the same \u201cEmerging Trends\u201d newsletter contained an article noting \u201ca significant increase in belief in psychic, paranormal and occult phenomena over the past decade.\u201d A third or more of Americans now believe in such things as \u201chaunted houses, possession by the devil, ghosts, telepathy, extraterrestrial beings having visited earth and clairvoyance.\u201d Belief in angels also continues to soar.<\/p>\n\n

So it isn\u2019t surprising that Americans are seeking spiritual answers to questions raised by the hellish images they witnessed on 9\/11, said Frank Newport, editor of the Gallup Poll. But it also isn\u2019t shocking that most of them are turning to the World Wide Web, mall bookstores and video stores instead of to churches.<\/p>\n\n

After the attacks, the percentage of those polled that said they had attended worship during the previous seven days rose from 41 to 47 percent, over the numbers in May. The percentage who said that some kind of religion was \u201cvery important\u201d in their life rose from 57 to 64 percent.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThat whole story may turn out to have been an urban legend,\u201d said Newport. \u201cYes, more people seem to have gone to church, that first weekend, but it was nothing truly extraordinary. \u2026 I\u2019m sure there are all kinds of anecdotes about people stopping and smelling the roses and thinking twice about their lives. But we\u2019re just not seeing any evidence of some kind of Great Awakening out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"