What We've Learned from Harold Camping

May 21st, 2011 came and went. The sun wasn't darkened. The moon still shines. The stars have not fallen from the sky and the heavenly bodies have not shaken. We did not see a dramatic uptick in missing persons reports. Harold Camping was wrong...again.

Millions of people believed that the end of days was upon us and they were about to see the second coming of Christ. While we didn't see "the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory", not all was lost. There are lessons to be learned from this experience.

The first and primary lesson to be learned here is that religion has a real, measurable effect on our population. Millions of people truly believed that they were about to be taken to heaven by God's angels. Many believed it so much that they emptied out their savings accounts to help pay to get the word out. Billboards were rented. Radio and television ads were purchased to warn us about the oncoming Rapture. Their faith that the Rapture was upon us was unshakable. They were wrong and their faith had a negative, measurable effect on them.

While many non-believers scoffed at the idea and had laughs at the expense of the believers, even religious people didn't believe Harold Camping's predictions. Many Christians cited Mark 13:32: "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" to say that Harold Camping could not know the day and time of the Rapture. Only God could know that, but how many Christians have actually put thought into that verse? If one reads it in it's literal interpretation, the contradiction should be readily apparent. If the Son doesn't know the day and hour but the Father does, how does that reconcile with the concept of the Holy Trinity? Aren't the Son and the Father...one in the same?

Religious people will find ways to explain away the contradiction. Most will use some form of motivated reasoning to help reinforce their already held beliefs. Sadly, these same people are, and will most likely remain, unable and unwilling to accept the contradiction. They consciously or subconsciously choose to ignore the parts of the Bible that they don't like and instead focus on the parts that they do. They will continue to take a literal interpretation of the Bible when it's convenient and cohesive to their beliefs while ignoring the literal interpretation when it's not. Harold Camping's followers are no different.

The failure of Harold Camping's Rapture prediction should show us all how dangerous religion truly is. Perfectly rational people got caught up in the fairytale stories and that has real consequences. Proof is an effective way to pull back the curtains on these wild stories. When it came time to prove his prediction, reality showed us that he was wrong.

From a meta perspective, it's interesting to note that the Christian religion and each of its rival sects contend that their religion is a "loving" and "tolerant" one and yet everyone but them were going to spend an eternity in Hell. For those who believed Harold Camping's version of the Bible, eternal bliss should have been found at 6:00 pm on May 21st. Suffering would be the penalty for everyone else.

The primary takeaway from the Harold Camping debacle is this: There are always people who are gullible and susceptible to even the wildest of claims and no amount of reason or logic can change that. Even though scientists overwhelmingly disagree with religion, people will not readily give up their antiquated beliefs. We have seen an increasing percentage of Americans claim no religious affiliation and the Internet's ability to spread information and ideas will only accelerate that trend.