Editorial April 7, 2003 Issue

End-time—or in-between times?

Editor

In the United States, about 40 percent of adults believe in an apocalyptic final conflict. A substantial percentage also believe that Jesus' Second Coming will occur in their lifetime. Geopolitical conflicts, and especially the US-Iraq conflict, are often considered evidence of a nearing end-time.

Widespread end-time beliefs are worth watching, not so much as theological phenomena, but because what people believe relates closely to how they think and act.

Apocalyptic beliefs are not uniform across Christianity. Among evangelicals, though, end -time beliefs typically include: personification of evil in people who are thought to embody Satan or Antichrist; linkage of Israel's restoration and triumph over its enemies to the Second Coming; and, widespread acceptance, even welcoming, of war and conflict as the fulfillment of God's will.

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