How Will America End? (Slate.com Reports)

Slate published a "choose your own adventure" style article recently, How is America Going to End? Readers submitted their own scenarios, which range from sci-fi to pop-dispensationalism. It's a tongue-in-cheek approach to both real and perceived dangers that our country faces. You can read the full list here, or some of my favorites are below. You'll be amused by some and offended by others, but for me they're a simple reminder that,

"...there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God..." Romans 13:1b

Thought-Provoking

5. Dirty Bombs: Terror groups armed with "radiological dispersal devices"—a cocktail of radioactive material and garden-variety explosives—launch coordinated attacks in a dozen major cities. The attacks destabilize the government and break our spirit. The terrorists win

26. Math and Science: American math and science aptitude deteriorates, killing innovation in the tech sector and pushing America to the back of the line of post-industrial economies.

86. Globalization: Everyone else rises and America falls in relative terms.

Laugh Provoking

28. Laziness: "Endlessly gaming, chatting, and chilling with their iPods, the next generation already has a more tenuous connection to 'Western civilization' than most parents appreciate," historian Niall Ferguson writes. While everyone in France continues to take vacation in July and August, the next generation of Americans refuses to work except in July and August.

22. Media Piracy: The American film and music industries go bankrupt as piracy becomes universal. The United States ceases to be the world's leading exporter of culture, and the country declines in influence as images of America no longer proliferate worldwide.

62. Neo-Humans: Life extension becomes attainable for the superrich, creating a long-lived aristocracy. Resentment builds up in the poor, leading to class warfare between the living gods and the earthly peons.