Are the 2012 'End of the World' stories isolated to the US only?

Only the US has the crazy evangelists who preach that nonsense, plus Fox news to spread it around to a gullible audience.

The stupid and the gullible are everywhere

However in the USA the influence of fundamentalist Christianity is far more wide ranging and deeper. The fundamentalists in the USA swallowed the rapture story which was cooked up in the 1820s or 1830s and have been claiming it is Bible based ever since. It's a little more complex than that but this answer is going to be long enough as it is.

Their half-educated and in some cases fraudulent pastors have been preaching this rapture "soon" since 1839. Every minor or major disaster, comet or even a harmless shower of meteorites is interpreted as a "sign" with the result that increasing numbers of Americans have been heading for the hills with a packet of sandwiches and a Bible ever since.

Despite the fact that nothing has ever happened on the dozens of times prophesied it still goes on and those who point this out are regarded as doing the work of the devil. In most of the rest of the world the older sects like the Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans etc rejected the rapture "soon" as false doctrine or heresy.

In Europe, New Zealand, Australia probably South America where this kind of Christian fundamentalism is not strong, the influence of this rapture stuff is not strong. I'm Australian and I first heard of the "rapture" about 1980, despite the fact I was brought up in the Anglican church. (As late as the early 1960s the 7th Day Adventists and the Baptists were regarded as "peculiar" in Australia).

So in those countries people are not so much primed to believe this 2012 junk.

This belief in an end "soon" has leaked out of the churches into society and of course is absorbed by the non-religious who also happen to be not very well educated or very smart. The result is that more of the gullible and dimwitted in the USA take this stuff seriously than the gullible and dimwitted in other countries.

BTW, the 2012 and Illuminati hoaxes are an example of why the vote should not be extended to those under 18. 15 year olds will believe almost anything as .long as their "friends" tell them.

EDIT Mark is correct. Many people have heard, most do not believe.

Yes and no. Most European countries have a portion of ignorant and superstitious people who think that everything "ancient" is automatically good and true.

Specifically, I'm talking about Germany and New Zealand as I spent some time here. Now that I live in Canada I mostly hang out with science grad students so I haven't met any Canadian believing in the 2012 BS yet, but I'm sure they are out there. Nobody is safe from the stupid, unfortunately.

The 2012 stuff is mostly in the U.S. and Canada, but every country has end of the world nuts. Remember those Brazilians who drank the Kool Aid? Or Iran's fixation on the 12th Imam.

No, there are peope in Europe who beleive such things as well as in the US, Canada, and Mexico. (Everyone in North America has HEARD about it, but few BELIEVE it.)

Yea its mostly the US

we tend to believe in more stupid stuff like that while the rest of world has better things to worry about ;)

answer mine?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjQQE...

I live on mexico and they talk about it

everyone know its fake :]