The hour of the apocalypse came quietly and went the same way — leaving those who believed that Saturday evening would mark the world’s end confused, or more faithful, or just philosophical.

Some had given away earthly belongings, [and] others drained their savings accounts.

“I had some skepticism but I was trying to push the skepticism away because I believe in God,” said Keith Bauer — who hopped in his minivan in Maryland and drove his family 3,000 miles to California for the Rapture.

“I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth,” said Bauer…

Richard Dawkins (from Fresh Air, March 28 2007):

…said Bauer, a tractor-trailer driver who began the voyage west last week, figuring that if he “worked last week, I wouldn’t have gotten paid anyway, if the Rapture did happen.”

I hear a little buyer’s remorse in there, but who hasn’t felt some of that before? Of course, walking away from your job and piling the family in the minivan for a cross-country “Rapture-or-bust” road trip doesn’t sound like the behavior of a skeptic. I’ll give the guy the benefit of the doubt, since I’m not inside his head. Maybe he really was “trying to push skepticism away,” and if so, he sure gave it a hell of a push.

Now our buddy Keith needs a job, and I fear for him at his next job interview: “So, Mr. Bauer, why did you decide to leave your previous job?”

[They had responded to the] May 21 doomsday message by Harold Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer who has built a multi-million-dollar Christian media empire that publicizes his prediction [of the world's end].

The Onion’s “American Voices”:
According to Harold Camping, the founder of Family Radio, the world will come to an end on Saturday. What do you think?

That’s funny because it might even be true — as of this posting, Camping still has not been seen since big non-event.

Camping had been projecting the apocalyptic prediction for years far and wide via broadcasts and websites. He has said that his earlier apocalyptic prediction in 1994 didn’t come true because of a mathematical error.

“I’m not embarrassed about it,” he told The Associated Press last month. This time, he said, “there is …no possibility that it will not happen.”

Well, “no possibility” could be interpreted in a lot of ways… if you happen to think one is a lot. He could always take a play from this week’s Newt Gingrich playbook and say that anyone who quotes his earlier statements is a liar.

Many followers said the delay was a further test from God to persevere in their faith.

“It’s still May 21 and God’s going to bring it,” said Family Radio’s special projects coordinator Michael Garcia, who spent Saturday morning praying and drinking two last cups of coffee with his wife at home in Alameda.

If Christianity were baseball these guys would be Cubs fans. Fortunately, Christianity is not baseball. I can understand being a Cubs fan and having faith that the Cubs will eventually win a championship, because it could happen.

As Saturday drew nearer, followers reported that donations grew, allowing Family Radio to spend millions on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the doomsday message. In 2009, the nonprofit reported in IRS filings that it received $18.3 million in donations, and had assets of more than $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities.

The end of “Interview with Jesus” from George Carlin’s A Place for My Stuff!, 1980:

Members of a local church, concerned [Camping's] followers could slip into a deep depression come Sunday were part of the crowd outside Family Radio International. They held signs declaring Camping a false prophet as motorists drove by.

Nothing says compassion and concern like a big “YOU FOLLOWED A FALSE PROPHET” sign.

“The cold, hard reality is going to hit them that they did this, and it was false and they basically emptied out everything to follow a false teacher,” the Rev. Jacob Denys, of the Milpitas-based Calvary Bible Church, said earlier. “We’re not all about doom and gloom. Our message is a message of salvation and of hope.”

Salvation and hope, and marketing!

Here are Julie Wittner, Ryan Smith, and Johnny Markoudakis in WWJD a Music Video, directed by Kim Evey.

WWJD a Music Video

Ms. Wittner and Ms. Evey may already be on your radar screen if you have notched any of the 25 million plus views of their giggle-inducing YouTube series 2 Hot Girls in the Shower. Yes, it does sound like pØ®n, but it doesn’t stray beyond PG-13 range. It will shortly take up residence here in the C&B blogroll.

Case in point: the video that comes in at number four on my list of the top ten videos of 2009. It was made as in interlude for Real Time with Bill Maher, and features Sarah Silverman with a solution for global hunger.

I imagine there are probably a lot of catholics who would find this video offensive. It may even rub some of Silverman’s fellow jews the wrong way as well. To be clear, I would never try to convince someone who doesn’t laugh at this piece that they were mistaken or wrong not to do so. The late film critic Gene Siskel said that you can’t hold someone to account for what they find funny, and I think the reverse is also true.

I find this video, and Sarah Silverman in general, to be hysterically funny in part because her humor begins with poking fun at herself. Her comic persona—an overprivileged, underinformed, hopelessly shallow Jewish Californian Princess—gives her the necessary setup to be quite pointed from her fundamentally inappropriate worldview. Like, say, solving world hunger not because it’s the right thing to do, but because she doesn’t want to look at the images of starving children on relief-agency ads. It’s not as if the Pope and the Catholic clergy are the only ones getting skewered here.

Am I wrong? Is there a justification for the Pope living in old-world royal opulence while preaching humility and storing your treasures not here on Earth? Do you find Sarah Silverman as funny as I do, or do you (like some others) think she’s irritating and lowbrow? Let’s hear about it in the comments!

Old Jews Telling Jokes is by now a long-standing member of my blogroll too, in the left-hand sidebar of the C&B home page, down in the “Laugh It Out” category. Spend a little time over at Old Jews Telling Jokes, and laugh it out you will.

Kicking it off at number 10 is this little clip I’m calling “Shofar Demonstration.” I can’t remember how I came across this clip, and after a brief glance at the ShmaisVideos YouTube channel I’m doubtful that it contains any other similar hijinks.

That was Rabbi Benny Zippel on the shofar; unfortunately the other musician was not identified.