This weekend, on the outside chance that the rapture does not occur (I know I know, just humor me)… Please remember to give some love to Leon Festinger. Everything that happens next, he called it.
Excerpt from When Prophecy Fails
Wikipedia entries on When Prophecy Fails, cognitive dissonance theory, and Leon Festinger
Modern examples: the vaccine-autism myth and birtherism
The Hardest Science 
Hi–I followed your first link, and apparently Festinger’s principles imply that we need more guns!
Well, I *did* just spend 7 months in Texas…