John W. Hoopes, an anthropologist at the University of Kansas, teaches a course on “Archaeological Myths and Realities” in which he tackles the 2012 myth among other doomsday premonitions:

The United States has always embraced religious freedom. Peculiar religious sects, including occult beliefs, have always been part of America,” Hoopes said. “End-of-the-world and transformative beliefs are found in many ancient cultures but have been a fundamental part of modern times since 1499,” Hoopes said. “They are also fundamentally American.”

In an attempt to distinguish myth from science, Hoopes uses the 2012 myth and other prophecies to teach students to think critically and learn to distinguish between science and myth. He explained that wishful or magical thinking often helps perpetuate myths and beliefs that have no basis in science.

Read more at International Business Times:

Critical Thinkers Demystify Doomsday Prophecies

By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar

Paul Stoller writes about Judgment Day at huffingtonpost.com:

Like many people in America, I attended a get-together on Judgment Day, Saturday, May 21. According to the biblical calculations of Family Radio’s Harold Camping, Judgment Day would bring earthquakes and storms, which would mark the beginning of the Rapture, a process through which true believers are saved from the apocalypse and returned to a better world. Camping also predicted that God would destroy the world on October 21, 2011. What was one to do? Many people chose to confront these predictions with celebration. After my host gave me a bottle of UFO beer, we all toasted Judgment Day with much mirth and merriment — a wonderful evening!!

Go to huffingtonpost.com to read more from Paul Stoller, a Professor of Anthropology at West Chester University.

Paul Stoller - Enraptured Politics