A-OK with Armageddon

Did you know Wikipedia hosts a list of “dates predicted for apocalyptic events?” It’s… long. 

There was, in the 1800s, the English lady who wrote “Christ is coming” on eggs before reinserting them into her hen’s oviduct. Miracle of miracles! Or, just last year, the South African pastor whose prophecies sent millions down a #RaptureTok rabbit hole. 

It wasn’t so long ago that these apocalyptic anxieties were relegated to the furthest, most fundamentalist fringes. But Pew Research has found that nearly half of U.S. Christians not only believe in the end times, but that they’ve arrived. 

One of those believers is the Vice President of the United States, who earlier this week told a Christian evangelist and podcaster: 

The end times may be coming, in fact they are coming, it’s just a question of whether they’re coming thousands of years down the road or a few months down the road… What I’m trying to focus on is doing as much of God’s work as possible right now. And if that leads to the end times, OK. And if that leads to us building a better world that survives and thrives for a very long time after I’m gone, that’s great, too. 

Now, the religious freedom American Atheists advocates for  — the kind enshrined in our First Amendment — means everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. That means me, you, and JD Vance. 

But here’s the thing: You and I aren’t in charge, and JD isn’t just some guy waxing theological on YouTube. He’s the Vice President of the United States. 

He and other government officials decide whether and where we go to war. They control vast government resources. Their choices impact billions of lives here at home and far beyond our national borders. Which is why it’s so critical that public policy be based on reality and reason — not religion. 

Social psychologist Matthew I. Billet recently authored a study on apocalyptic belief and found that it significantly influences “how people interpret and respond to the most pressing threats facing humanity,” including climate change, pandemics, geopolitical instability, nuclear conflict, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. 

For instance, those who believe that divine forces control our fate are less likely to support preventative action, which can severely undermine efforts like mass vaccination or environmental resilience.

This cosmic complacency helps explain how a world leader like Vance can so casually shrug about the probability that his administration’s agenda may bring about the end of the world. 

VP JD isn’t alone in his thinking. Other current administration officials who believe in the end times include Mike Huckabee, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense. 

We Americans, and perhaps especially we American Atheists, ought to be alarmed. But more importantly, we must fight harder than ever before to restore the absolute separation of state and church. 

Because our public officials need to make decisions for this life — not an alleged afterlife. Because our government has a responsibility to the people who need affordable housing, clean water, good schools, and equal rights here and now. 

This week, Vance said he was “fascinated” with the end times. But this isn’t a harmless curiosity when the people entertaining it enjoy such enormous power. 

When, on a Wednesday in 1844, William Miller’s doomsday prophecy failed to occur, his followers called it “the Great Disappointment.” 

Here’s my revelation: Doomsdayers don’t believe in any future, let alone one that belongs to all of us. So when the horsemen have advanced from holding sandwich boards to holding the reins of power, the rest of us better be doing everything we can to wrest them back. 

You can take the reins by making a gift to American Atheists today. 

In solidarity,

Melina Cohen
Director of Strategic Communications & Policy Engagement