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|
 | When did the millennium start? |
| What happened during the year 2000? |
| What did the public expect at or near the millennium? |
When did the millennium start?
For many people around the world, a new millennium will not be starting in the immediate future. That is because they follow their own religious calendar. For example, the date 2001-JAN-1, the start of the millennium in the Gregorian calendar, is the middle of the year for these religious calendars:
| 155 BE for Baha'is |
| 1921 SE for Hindus |
| 5760 AM for Jews |
| 1421 H. for Muslims |
| 301 KE for Sikhs |
| 1368 Y for Zoroastrians |
A growing number of people around the world follow the Gregorian calendar, which was commissioned by Pope Gregory in the 16th century. It divides time into two segments: BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era).
The first year in the common era (CE) was year 0001. There was no year 0 CE. The day after 001-DEC-31 BCE was 001-JAN-1 CE. Thus the first century ended at the end of 100 CE. The second century started on 101-JAN-1. Similarly, the third century started on 201-JAN-1, the second millennium started on 1001-JAN-1 and our millennium started on 2001-JAN-1. However, most people attribute magical powers to the year 2000, and thus had great expectations for 2000-JAN-1, one year before current next millennium really began. The TV networks and other media also seem to have added to the hype by adopting 2000-JAN-1 as the beginning of the millennium.
A lot of people will celebrate 2000-DEC-25 as the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus' birth. Actually, most theologians believe that he was born about 4 to 7 BCE, probably in the autumn. Thus, the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus' birth has already happened, perhaps in 1997-AUG or SEP.
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What actually happened in the Year 2000?
On 1999-DEC-2, this author made seven predictions of significant developments at the start of the new millennium in North America. As of 2004-MAR, some prophecies came true; two prediction thankfully failed. We predicted:
| Thousands of computer programs will fail, largely in small commercial establishments. This will cause an unknown degree of disruption to all sectors of the economy. 1 This seems to have happened. CNN and other news sources reported on 2000-JAN-1 that there were no noticeable electric power interruptions, except those caused by weather which were unrelated to Y2K (the year 2000). Some computer failures have happened; but no overwhelming catastrophe occurred. |
| Millions of misunderstandings will occur in the way in which we record dates, after the year 2000. For example, consider 01/02/03. Does it mean January 02, 2003 or 01 February, 2003 or 2001-Feb-03? All three notations are in common usage. Apparently, society coped. |
| None of the events described in the Bible will happen in the year 2000. The rapture, war of Armageddon, second coming of Jesus Christ, appearance of the Antichrist, etc. will not occur. No such events occurred at midnight, Palestine time, on the evening of 1999-DEC-31 as many people predicted. None happened during the rest of the year 2000, or since, either. |
| Some religious leaders will explain why Jesus Christ did not come as expected. They will say that God has delayed the end of the world so that more people will have a chance to convert to Christianity and be saved. We have heard two sermons on Christian radio stations to this effect. However, most clergy seem to be ignoring this topic. |
| The growth of minority religions will be viewed by some Christians as the main cause for Christ's delay. They will class these faith groups as "the enemy." This has not happened. There have been numerous attacks on religious minorities by political figures, including President G.W. Bush. Most have been attempts to terminate the religious freedom of Wiccans. But otherwise, there have just been the usual anti-cult and counter-cult activity against new religions. Whether animosity will increase in the future is an open question. |
| A serious backlash against minority religions will start circa 2002 and intensify for the following few years. These will include groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses , New Agers, Satanists, members of the Unification Church, Wiccans and other Neopagans. Other more established religious minorities such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, etc. will suffer as well. This did not happen at the last time when large numbers of Christians anticipated Christ's return -- the "great disappointment" of 1844. It did not happen this time either. |
| The Satanic Ritual Abuse hoax may well be regenerated as the religious fervor intensifies. There are no signs of this; belief in the hoax continues to dissipate, except for the UK. |
What did the public expect at or near the millennium?
Many Christians believed that one or more momentous events will happen near the start of the year 2001 - one year before the start of the actual millennium. Among the events anticipated were the end of the world as we know it, the battle of Armageddon between the forces of good and evil, the return of Jesus Christ to earth, or the rapture -- a miraculous event in which saved Christians, both dead or alive, will rise into the sky to meet Jesus. Some public opinion poll gave interesting results of the widespread nature of these beliefs:
| A Yankelovich Partners poll for Time/CNN in 1993-APR-28/9 found that 20% of Americans agreed that "...the second coming of Jesus Christ will occur sometime around the year 2000." 2 49% answered no, and 31% didn't know. 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| An Associated Press poll in 1997 found that 24% of adult American Christians believed that Jesus Christ will return to earth within their lifetime and initiate the events described in the book of Revelation in the Christian Scriptures. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A U.S. News and World Report poll on 1997-NOV-14 to 16 revealed
that:
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| Princeton Research Associates conducted a poll of 755 randomly
selected adults, for Newsweek magazine's 1999-NOV-1 issue. 3,4
They
found that:
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| In 1999-OCT, the Pew Research Center released a study called "Americans
look to the 21st century." They confirmed the Princeton poll,
finding
|
According to CNN,com:
Richard Landes, director of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University said: "Any time of radical and rapid change is a great candidate for apocalyptic expectations. The idea that modernity is a runaway juggernaut that's leading us ultimately to destruction and only God can save us from it is obviously a tremendous stimulant to the apocalyptic imagination, 2000 or not, and will continue to stimulate the apocalyptic imagination after the passage of 2000."
Few soothsayers, however, are reserving an exact date for the end. Some Christian ministers are making vague predictions of a cataclysm somewhere around the year 2000. Many leave their calendars blank, warning followers to be prepared "at any time."
Landes says: "Most organized religious groups -- denominations, churches and so on -- are going to stay away from formal apocalyptic expectations. But all Christians, all Jews and all Muslims have built into their religion the belief that at some point all these things are going to happen."
Now that the millennium has passed, the expectations of a significant number of Americans did not materialize. One of the great mysteries of the millennium is how these folks coped with their momentous disappointment when the year 2000 rolled into 2001 which rolled into 2002 without any apocalyptic events. We have not seen the results of any studies on this topic.
References:
- Dr. Ed. Yardeni, Center for Cybereconomics, at http://www.yardeni.com/cyber.html
- Poll data was mentioned in Michael Shermer, "The fire that will cleanse: Millennial meanings and the end of the world," Skeptic magazine, Vol 7, #3, 1999
- "Prophecy: What the Bible Says About the End of the World," Newsweek magazine, cover story, 1999-NOV-1, as reported in AANEWS for 1999-OCT-25.
- "Poll: 40% of Americans believe in apocalyptic end," Chaisma magazine. Reviewed in Maranatha Christian Journal at: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3562.htm
- Bernard McGinn, "Anti-Christ: Two thousand years of the human fascination with evil," HarperSanFrancisco, (1994), Page 281. Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
- Steve Nettleton, "Apostles of the Apocalypse: Are we ready for the end?," CNN.news, 1999, at: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/at2000/stories/religion/
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Removed from essay end_wrld.htm on 2001-FEB-7
Last update: 2005-MAY-15
Author: B.A. Robinson
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