America 2017, land of magickal thinkers:

The first solar eclipse to cross America in 99 years is coming. To some, it’s an act of God.

[…]

The eclipse will also, for many people of faith, be evidence of God’s majesty - and even, to a few, a harbinger of the coming end of the world.

“I don’t think it’s an accident that God put us human beings here on Earth where we can actually see total solar eclipses. I think God wants us to make these discoveries,” said Hugh Ross, who is both an astronomer and a minister. “I would argue that God on purpose made the universe beautiful, and one of the beauties is a solar eclipse.”

Ross will be leading a trip to watch the eclipse for about 80 people interested in finding spirituality in science. They’ll travel down a dirt road into a field in eastern Oregon, where they will wait for the sun to be blotted out. Across the country, other church groups will do the same.

[…]

Nowhere in this WaPo syndicated column does the author reveal that Hugh Ross runs a creationist outfit, one of the better known ones, the OEC Reasons To Believe.

The article says Ross is an astronomer, but he’s spent most of his life running a creationism outfit.

Further in the article:

[Gary] Ray, a writer for the evangelical Christian publication Unsealed, views this eclipse as one of several astronomical signs that the day when Christians will be whisked away from the Earth is fast approaching.

[…]

This is America, still stuck in dark-ages thinking.