  Skip to Main Content   UW Religion Today Column for Oct.
1-Nov. 6: 'Tis the Season for Prophecy  October 26, 2010 —
"Religion Today" is contributed by the University of Wyoming's
Religious Studies Program to examine and to promote discussion
of religious issues.  By Paul V.M. Flesher  Election time is
filled with prophecy. Voters try to predict what the candidates
will do if elected. Candidates predict the dastardly things
their opponents will do if elected. Pundits "read the tea
leaves" to predict who will get elected and what the parties
will do if the balance of power shifts or does not shift.
Pollsters talk to thousands of people to predict what will
happen.  Ironically, while candidates and supporters work long
and hard to impact the future, the media seem more obsessed with
prophesying it. They want to predict the future, to tell us what
will happen. It almost seems that reporting on the present (or
heaven forbid, the past) is worthwhile only if it enables one to
foretell the future.  But isn't there