BBC Radio 4's religious programes are often worth a listen.
If you are interested go to;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/beyond_belief/index.shtml
The 10 Jan programme on the End of the World and the 09 Aug on Cults are both particularly good. One of the points they make in the programme on the end of the world is that these beliefs are nearly always held by people who are dispossessed who fell that the have special saving knowlegde that the rich, ruling classes do not have.
Eyeslice