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April 23, 1999/7 Iyar 5759, Vol. 51, No. 30
People of all faiths caught up in 'apocalyptic mood'
ANNE BRADY
Managing Editor
The impending dawning of the year 2000 is exacerbating an "apocalyptic mood" in the United States and abroad, leading to a situation in which it is no longer considered odd or deviant to believe the end of the world is coming, and Jews are no exception. And this frenzy could cause major societal disruption.
So said Michael Barkun, a "millenarian movement" scholar, who spoke on "Millennium Culture: the Year 2000 as a Religious Event" at Arizona State University's 20th annual lecture in religion on Tuesday, April 20.
Although Jews may not recognize as significant a calendar based on when Jesus walked the earth, some are nevertheless getting caught up in the apocalyptic fever sweeping the globe - for example, followers of the recently deceased Lubavitcher rebbe from New York believe him to be the messiah. Members of other religions currently embracing end-of-the-world prophecies include fundamentalist Protestants, New Age followers, and Catholic believers in recent apparitions of Mary, the mother of Jesus. "They all share a belief that momentous events are about to occur," Barkun noted.
Although waves of apocalyptic prophecies have occurred throughout history, and one would likely be occurring now regardless of the year, the coming of the new millennium and fears about related Y2K computer problems are leading to unprecedented acceptance of apocalypse theories, he said. They also may lead people to engage in behaviors, such as taking their money out of banks and stockpiling food and supplies, that will be more disruptive to society than Y2K itself, Barkun said.
"Human reactions in such a situation are hard to gauge," he said. "A very troubling scenario may yet play itself out.
"There is significant evidence that most millennialists live lives indistinguishable from everyone else. But alterations in lifestyle are more likely as we approach the year 2000," he added.
Barkun noted that our culture has become inundated with what the New York Times calls "Millennium shtick" - everything from clocks counting down the final moments of 1999, to millennium-themed hats, T-shirts and books.
"This endless array of trinkets ... suggest that the millennium is a trivial event, when actually something important is going on," he said. "Actually, the new millennium doesn't begin until 2001, but I'm not interested in such 'mathematical correctness.' What's important is people's feelings about the year 2000. The millennium frenzy going on is what poses challenges, to both religion and to the state."
In 1974, Barkun established his field of study with the book "Disaster and the Millennium," about millenarian religious movements that believe in a soon-to-occur apocalypse and subsequent paradise on Earth. But most of these groups, Barkun noted, expect things to get worse before they get better.
"Society is waiting in fearful hope," he said. "There is fear of disasters. ... Many believe history will end in battle. ... The fundamentalists point toward the New Agers as the enemy and align themselves with the Jews in Israel, despite their different visions."
Barkun, professor of political science at Syracuse University, also wrote "Religion and the Racist Right" (University of North Carolina Press, 1994), about the Christian Identity Movement, a group that believes that Jews are the progeny of Satan and that in the fiery apocalypse, Aryans will battle the Jews.
Barkun said there is no "effective way of predicting" which, if any, millennium-oriented groups will become violent because of the year 2000, but he noted that most such groups are not violent, and that U.S. and Israeli officials are working together to minimize the possibility of any incidents.
Barkun concluded that this pervasive millennialism in our society probably will end after the end of the year 2000, with end-of-the-world predictions being pushed further into the future. In the meantime, Barkun said he expects there to be many "self-fulfilling prophecies."
For example, cult leaders will herd groups of followers into communes, in a lifestyle that mimics the expected new millennium. They will make predictions about violent clashes that may or may not be inadvertently confirmed by law enforcement, such as what happened in the confrontation with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. And naturally occurring calamities will also likely reinforce predictions of gloom and doom, Barkun said.
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