Apocalyptic Preachers

I've always been fascinated by those who predict the specific date of the end of the world. They are always wrong. Yet, despite the fact that they are wrong, the very same charlatans continue to gain new followers. Take this group who claims the world is ending on May 21, 2011:

Camping is not the first person to fix a date for the end of the world. There have been dozens of such prophets, and so far, they've all been wrong.

Camping himself has had to do some recalculation. He first predicted the end would come Sept. 6, 1994. He now explains that he had not completed his biblical research.

"For example, I at that time had not gone through the Book of Jeremiah," he explains, "which is a big book in the Bible that has a whole lot to say about the end of the world."

So he's not planning for May 22?

"Absolutely not," Camping says. "It is going to happen. There is no Plan B."

Maybe if you are the kind of person inclined to believe the world is ending tomorrow, you will not take it as proof that your ideas are idiotic if it doesn't happen that day. Because it's sure to happen the next. Or something like that.