By host Tom Ashbrook:

“Can you hear Me now?” asks one ‘end is nigh’ website, channeling the voice of God and calling for American repentance. After a bone-jarring year of tsunami and war, hurricanes, earthquakes, fire and flood, it is not just Bible-thumping prophets of doom who are feeling a little besieged.

The train of disasters from Sumatra to New Orleans, the images of flaming wreckage and urban exodus, the tumbling of the Himalayas and warnings of pandemic, have some of the most dry-eyed skeptics feeling unnerved.

Wrestling with a sense of the world unraveling is part earth science, part political moment, and part ageless human fear.

Hear about exploring the apocalyptic tinge in the air right now.

Guests:

Bill Leonard, dean of the divinity school at Wake Forest University, where he is also professor of church history. He is author of “Baptists in America” and “Baptist Ways: A History, a survey of Baptist history from 1600 to 2000.”

Charles Mann, author of “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus”. He covers science and technology for Science Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly and Wired

David Ignatius, columnist, The Washington Post

Jack Beatty, “On Point” News Analyst and a senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.