Could It Be ... Satan?

(CBS/AP)  Is Tuesday just another day on the calendar or is there an ominous forboding when you put the month/day and year together?

June 6, 2006, can also be written as 6-6-06 or 6-6-6.

Some believe 666 is the number of the Antichrist, reports CBS News correspondent Mika Brzezinski on The Early Show. It is referred to in the Bible as "the beast." From Revelation 13:18 in the Bible: "This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six."

Something about the number 666 brings out the worry, the hope and even the humor in people, said the Rev. Felix Just, a professor of theology at the University of San Francisco. A Jesuit priest, Just has taught both apocalyptic theory and mathematics and maintains a "666-Numbers of the Beast" Web site that contains history, theology, math and precisely 66 one-line jokes about 666.

You can even make sport of it, betting online whether the apocalypse will happen on that date. The good news is that one online oddsmaker has made the world a 100,000-to-1 favorite to survive Tuesday — something that Just said is supported by theology.

"Many people avoid the number; they're afraid of it almost and there's absolutely no reason to be afraid of it," Just said. "It is not a prediction of future events. It is not supposed to be taken as a timetable for when the world is going to end."

Among those avoiding the date were Rachel Phillips, due to deliver her baby on June 6. Instead, she had her caesarean on June 1.

"I'm a superstitious person, for sure," she told Brzezinski.

Rachel Phillips isn't alone, says Prof. Phillips Stevens, who teaches anthropology at the University at Buffalo and is an expert in religion and superstition.

"On the scale of one to 10, I would give this 11. This is indeed very serious. It's a strong taboo, even stronger than Friday the 13th, which is also of Christian origin," Stevens told CBS Radio News.

A Dutch religious group organized a nationwide 24-hour prayer marathon Tuesday, fearing that the date will lend power to the forces of evil.

But spokesman Jan Piet of the Ambassadors Ministries said his group isn't particularly fascinated by numerology or worried that the anti-Christ will arrive on earth Tuesday.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page »