“Yes, I have to say that’s true,” Simon agreed before resuming. “Now, these theological fundamentalists of Calvin’s are quite certain that the Second Coming of Christ is on the verge of taking place. This is a basic Christian tenet, that there will be a Second Coming; but be scared—because they want to nudge it along, no matter how many busloads of mothers and children bleed to death to facilitate their vision.”

He drew breath to make sure his audience was following. No one blinked, though Lucy felt stunned and a little night-blind with the headlights flying at them from the London-bound traffic on the opposite side of the highway. She squeezed Alex’s hand unconsciously.

Simon continued: “So here is the crux. First, at the Coming, this group believes those who are the faithful will be literally lifted off the earth into eternal heaven. Lucy, this is what they call the Rapture.”

“Lifted off the earth? Just like that?” Lucy wondered if this was an aspect of Simon’s ironic humor.

“Like the lady in One Hundred Years of Solitude,” Alex said, “too beautiful to be placed in a grave, so she is just wrapped in the sheet she is hanging out and lifted up to heaven.”

“Ah! Nothing as literary as Márquez, I’m afraid, nor as spiritually uplifting! Although oddly, the idea has gained currency through a series of Christian science fiction books that have popularized the whole mad notion—and sold in bucketloads. But for millions of Americans it’s not fiction. So yes, Alex,” Simon continued, “I suppose it bears some comparison. Except that in this scenario, only the select few will be enraptured. It’s an elitist club with no conscience. The rest of us poor souls—and this includes most of the balanced and humanitarian Christian population, plus, say six hundred million Chinese, three hundred million Asians, I don’t know how many Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, and certainly all cynics, like me, and men of science like you, Alex, will be left behind, as the saying goes, here on earth, to fight it out or clean up the mess. While Calvin’s mad academics drink champagne with St. Peter, we secular humanists will face the Battle of Armageddon and be expected to perish in a bloodbath. Or so they hope.”