So what do you think the year 2000 will bring? Are you afraid? Will Y2K affect you? Many are talking about it, not knowing what to expect.

Religion Specialist Carole Mikita decided to pose these questions to some of Utah's religious leaders.

Some people are stockpiling food and fuel, worried about power outages. Others are considering taking money out of banks. And then there are those who believe we should rely on a higher power as we approach the future.

President Gordon B. Hinckley, of the L.D.S. Church, says, "I'm not worried about the year 2000. I'm greatful that we've reached the point in the history of the world where we can honor, the second millenium, the birth of the Savior."

Reverend France Davis, of Calvary Baptist Church, says, "We believe that God is in control and that as the Book of Philippians, chapter four reminds us, if you trust Him, then he'll bring us through this, just as He has all of the other crisis we've had."

Rt. Reverend Carolyn Tanner Irish, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, says, "You try to encourage and build a strong faith in our people, and we trust that that will get them through whatever hard times they have and 2000 may be for some, but probably not very much."

The Episcopal Diocese has a special event called "Sing 2000"... hymns and prayers from noon December 31st until noon January 1st.

For members of the Catholic faith, the Year 2000 is one of celebration. It's called a Jubilee Year. There are doors in the basilicas of the Vatican, which are now sealed, just like these here at The Cathedral of the Madeleine. In the Year 2000, they will be opened.

Bishop George Niederauer, of the Catholic Diocese of Utah, says, "We look upon it, not as a doomsday, but as an anniversary and a remarkable one."

Many Catholic Pilgrims will travel to the Vatican to be blessed as they walk through the unsealed doors.

For those of the Jewish faith, the question is why all the fuss?

Rabbi Frederick Wenger, of Congregation Kol Ami, says "In the ancient hebrew calendar, the calendar kept by the Jewish people, this is the year 5759.. after creation. Usually the acronym is A.C.-- what year 2000?"

To quote an ancient Hebrew saying, "Don't anticipate the end of a matter. What God chooses to do with us, in the end of days is God's business and not our own."

Some believe the Year 2000 will bring the Second Coming. Bishop Niederauer says, "We always want to say, we know the exact day, we know the exact hour, we know when Jesus is coming again, when he said very plainly, we are not going to know."

Bishop Irish says, "Numbers have traditionally been a way that people have tried to look at scripture and wonder if there's a hidden code in it.. we'll get some idea of the Second Coming. I've never seen any impressive evidence for that."

Members of Calvary Baptist actually look forward to the year 2000, when they will build a new church. Reverend Davis says, "So we're not expecting the world to end in the year 2000, any more than we are expecting it to end today."

The rabbi calls Y2K a man-made problem. He says we lurch from one crisis to the next... Littleton... Kosovo... so, computer gliches, maybe. Serious problems, no.

"With all the real crises in the world and the real problems and the heartache, I don't think we have to worry about one that is artificial," he says.

President Hinckley says, "I don't believe there's going to be any serious catastrophe take place. That night, I'm going to bed and I expect to wake up in the morning."