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Almost Half of America Thinks Jesus will Return Before 2050 – According to a new survey, about 41 percent of Americans believe Jesus Christ will return by the year 2050.  46 percent said the event will probably not or definitely won’t happen.  This statistic shows the divide between fundamentalist Christians and the rest of the nation, and it’s something that we as citizens should worry about.

The 41 percent who believe in Jesus’s imminent return are the adherents to a fundamentalist kind of Christianity – a literal interpretation of the Bible.  Everyone else is either a moderate or liberal Christian who doesn’t believe the Bible should be read literally, or are otherwise folks in other religions who have no reason to believe Jesus is God’s Son sent down to Earth as a sacrifice for our sins.   Since fundamentalist Christians are a large chunk of America’s voters, Americans  should be concerned about how religion can and will affect how our nation will be governed.

The survey further suggests that fully 58 percent of white evangelicals believe Jesus will return by 2050, compared to only 32 percent of Catholics.  Here’s the big surprise: people with no college education were three times as likely as those with to expect Christ’s imminent return.   Okay, that’s not really a surprise.  Most college graduates would attribute that disparity to the teaching of critical thinking during the General Education portion of college.

But let’s consider the implications.  Most fundamentalist Christians vote Republican not for fiscal reasons, but for “moral” ones.  I quote the word “moral” because their morality is often the result of cherry-picking the Bible rather than an ethics based off of  a standard of fairness and justice.  When Judeo-Christian morality is reviewed by standards like fairness and justice, it immediately becomes questionable.

Fundamentalists, who are often ignorant of science and ironically even of their own Bible, elect presidents, Congress, pass ballot initiatives and measures.  And, as is evident with the Tea Parties and the raving popularity of icons like Sarah Palin, they are getting angry and motivated to participate in U.S. politics.  I add Tea Parties here because most Tea Party candidates are steeped in religion.   As one Tea Party woman said, “We’re here for a little revival and revolt. If you’re not a Christian … you just can’t understand what we’re doing.”

What this means is that we can expect quite a few years ahead of us where the more religious-minded adherents of socially conservative politics, which today is the Republican Party, will dominate national politics, especially since political liberals and moderates are not as energized politically.

The best cure for religious fanaticism has always been a good education, of course.  A Critical Thinking class in high school can go a long way.

But the short-term strategy for the Democratic Party, which is unfortunately the only viable option right now for people who appreciate science and reason, is to focus especially on some of the more irrational beliefs that are dominating the Republican Party – i.e. Birthers, Teabaggers, those that believe we now have “nationalized healthcare”, and those who equate American-style liberal politics with Stalinism.  Doing this should effectively scare most people into not voting for the Republican Party.  I know it’s the only reason I’ve ever voted Democrat – it’s the choice between a lame duck and a crazy lame duck.