Has anyone been watching the History Channel lately? If you have, you have probably noticed a marked increase in the number of doomsday and Christian shows that seem to permeate the network.

Everything form Nostradamus to the 2012 end of world prophecy seems to be fair game. Now I will grant you that Nostradamus did in fact live in the past and is, therefore, history and that 2012 is a year that exists in a time continuum that will one day be considered history, but this is about where it should end in regards to calling these sorts of events “history” worthy. I will also grant you that Christianity is an important part of our Western tradition and that it is important to understand the stories and beliefs of the past to understand how the present is formed. But there is a point where one says enough and it becomes blatantly obvious that the network is not relaying facts, but pushing a certain agenda.

As I was discussing this with one of my friends (yes I do actually have friends) she (yes I have female friends) replied that this is just the time of the year when this sort of stuff starts to pop up. It is true that it is becoming tradition that the birth of Jesus automatically coincides with the death of the world – something I am sure Jesus would just be tickled pink about. Also I acknowledge that the History Channel is a private network and has the right to air whatever they wish. Again, I have no problem with this per se, but in my mind it is disturbing to have these types of shows on a network called “The History Channel.” History implies hard set facts and points in the past – not inferences about what may happen and an overabundance of one particular mode of thought.

I am concerned that things such as the end of days talk is producing a sort of a sort of malaise in regards to current pressing issues such as global warming or education policy – anything that directly affects our future on this planet – in other words just about all of public policy. Why worry about melting ice caps when Jesus is just going to whisk us away “in a few years?” Why concern yourself with famine in Africa when we all know the true believers will be safe “soon?” Why invest in things like public education – teaching students radical things such as the Earth is billions of years old when you know they are wrong and will soon live a life in purgatory?

Now before any radicals start jumping down my throat, please consider this: I may be wrong – the world may actually be coming to an end very soon, perhaps tomorrow. If this is in fact the case, I am still thankful that I lived my life to the fullest and not under a rock. If, however, you are wrong, that the world will go on for one, two, five, ten, ten-thousand generations, is it really smart to live your life thinking that the world is going to end?

In the scientific sense the world will, indeed, come to an end – the sun will one day, billions of years from now, consume the Earth and everything that is on it. But this does not mean that we should create policy based on this fact. We should base things on the fact that the sun will rise tomorrow and that we do have a future to consider.

So shame on you History Channel for creating an environment where people are more concerned about the world ending than the world continuing. Of course I could be wrong – I mean sometimes prophecies come true…right?