The Apocalypse Bus Tour

The Beeb’s been showing a series of quirky documentaries, each highlighting a slightly off-beat look at people: the Wonderland series. They’ve all been rather good, but last night’s episode: The End of the World Bus Tour was a particularly fine example. The documentary crew joined a group of nearly 50 Christian fundamentalists who were touring the Holy Land in a coach, clearly relishing the forthcoming apocalypse, and the fact that they would be whisked off to heaven by the Rapture. There’s a good review of the programme here.

 

The filmmakers did not sneer at these deluded folk, but let them speak for themselves. And indeed, it was easy to feel compassion for some of them, who had clearly been damaged by life’s vicissitudes, and who had turned to a simple faith to bear them up. Not all of them though. I won’t readily forget the dead-eyed Hannah, a teenage student who seemed to take some pleasure in avowing to the film director that "we are all born evil", and that while she would be going to heaven, "you will burn in hell for all eternity". Hannah is apparently taking a number of courses of study, including photography, textile design and, astoundingly, critical thinking. The irony is, I feel sure, totally lost on her.