Why Is The End Near?

A fringe group is predicting Armageddon just around the corner. Stephanie Pappas searches for the root of these beliefs:

Apocalpytic beliefs have been on rise for the past 40 to 50 years, said [Lorenzo DiTommaso, a professor of religion at Concordia University in Montreal], who has been researching doomsday believers for an upcoming book, "The Architecture of Apocalypticism." What ties these disparate groups together is a sense that the world's problems are too big to solve, DiTommaso said.

… The apocalyptic worldview springs from a desire to reconcile two conflicting beliefs. "The first is that there is something dreadfully wrong with the world of human existence today," he said. "On the other hand, there is a sense that there is a higher good or some purpose for existence, a hope for a better future."