No. of Recommendations: 1
Seems likely it is, at least in part, due to the 24 hour news outlets that are constantly trying to grab peoples attention.
I think it's also to keep adherents in-place. "End times" was being preached by Jesus (or whomever the character of Jesus is based upon), and it was apparently expected within his lifetime (before ~50AD, roughly). Well, almost 2100 years later, and we're still waiting. But it must be "soon", or else people will get bored and wander away. Which they are already doing, based on the PEW numbers for non-belief recently. So it is even more urgent to say "it's End Times!" to scare people into the pews, disgorging their wallets into the collection plates.
