Sep 15 2009

Destroying the Garden of Eden … Again

Published by under Simone Herbin,Strozier's Apocalypse

Strozier interviews several fundamentalists to get their take on the end of the world. Since many of the people he interviews grew up during the Cold War era, they equate the end of the world with the possibility of a nuclear holocaust.

Each generation thinks that it is the predestined time of the second coming of Christ. One interviewee. Wilma, describes why she thinks it will be his generation that will see the end of the world: “The Bible doesn’t say it is going to be a nuclear war but it’s going to burn…. Could be a bomb because the Bible says the earth shall burn in fire. Could be a bomb.” She isn’t sure that the end of the world will be humanity’s own doing but she feverishly tries to connect the dots.

 The people Strozier talks to have an ambivalent relationship with the possibility of an atom bomb ending the world. From some, it’s an eternal source of anxiety but for others being on the brink of destruction is invokes them with a permanent urgency resulting in a religious enthusiasm. One man says, “There’s something so powerful about it that it just evokes fear and awe.” These feelings of fear and awe could possibly remind him of the fear and awe he feels for God.

 The fundamentalists also have conflicting opinions about whether the nuclear war will be the final end of the planet. They wonder if God will stop humans from completely destroying the world or will he let humanity be the cause for its own end. It is written in God’s plan for human beings to be the ultimate victim of their lust for power and domination? For humans beings to destroy the second Garden of Eden?

One response so far




One Response to “Destroying the Garden of Eden … Again”

  1.   # lquinbyon 16 Sep 2009 at 8:22 am

    Simone, your discussion of “fear and awe” is astute about the psychological turmoil that can be felt within this apocalyptic mindset. Consider as well, in both religious and secular form, the way the psychological converts to the “shock and awe” war rhetoric and decisions of the Bush administration. In this case, the fear is turned outward into hatred of the enemy and used to justify powerful weapons to destroy that threat.