Weird thing I heard when Pope Francis chose his name. Peter was allegedly the first Pope. (And I was raised Roman Catholic, BTW.) But if someone elected Pope chooses the name 'Peter', the world will come to an end. Or is that just the papacy? Also, weird, one time in high school, I heard, that a fundamentalist Christian group was trying to stop them from rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. They claimed if they did, the world would come to an end for sure. Is that true? I mean of course, is that allegedly true. I don't buy too much into some of this stuff anymore. I mean, Pat Robertson said legalizing gay marriage would bring storms and showers of brimstone. But that hasn't happened yet. At least not any more than any other meteorological year. But which ones of the examples above will lead to the end of the world? Someone on these boards must want to know.
when someone talks about a world ending, i have to ask them more specifically what they mean. the human species is perfectly capable of bringing about its own extinction, without gods or even wars, and without the need for any risk to the mineral substrate of the planet for them to do so. of course even planets aren't for ever, but living species, any and all of them, are unlikely to exist long enough, to witness the birth or death their own, or any in their own solar system. and we are, endangering the entire web of life, including, especially including, our own. odds are very good, that only a minute percentage of us will survive our doing so, or even only a percentage of other species will survive and evolve to replace us. not because we've pissed off some god by acting like idiots, but because we're destroying our own means of existence by acting like idiots.
