Dude, Where's My Rapture?

Well, that was a letdown. On the upside, is everybody feeling better about 2012 yet?

US atheists are to hold parties in response to an evangelical broadcaster's prediction that Saturday will be "judgement day".

The Rapture After Party in North Carolina - "the best damned party in NC" - is among the planned events.

...
'Countdown to back-pedalling'

The Rapture After Party in Fayetteville, North Carolina, is a two-day event organised by the Central North Carolina Atheists and Humanists.

This prediction has been given an unusually high level of publicity

"Though the absurdity of this claim is obvious to the majority of the world, it's a great opportunity to highlight some of the most bizarre beliefs often put forth by religious fundamentalists and raise awareness of the need for reason," said a posting about the party on the group's website.

Atheists in Tacoma, Washington, have headed their celebration "countdown to back-pedalling".

Events are also planned in Houston, Florida and California.

An atheist and entrepreneur from New Hampshire, Bart Centre, is enjoying a boost in business for Eternal Earth-bound Pets, which he set up to look after the pets of those who believe they will be raptured.

He has more than 250 clients who are paying up to $135 (£83) to have their pets picked up and cared for after the rapture.

They would be disappointed twice, he told the Wall Street Journal. "Once because they weren't raptured and again because I don't do refunds."

'No Plan B'

Meanwhile Mr Camping, who has been criticised by more mainstream Christians, says he knows "without any shadow of a doubt" that "judgement day" is arriving.

He says he will spend Saturday with his wife, close to a TV or radio.

"I'll be interested in what's happening on the other side of the world as this begins," he told Reuters.

There is no "Plan B", he says.

His campaign has been unusually widely promoted - both in the US, and overseas, including in the Middle East.

In Vietnam, thousands of members of the Hmong ethnic minority gathered near the border with Laos earlier this month to await the 21 May event, the Associated Press reported.

Chris McCann of eBible Fellowship, one of the groups helping to spread the message, said it had been publicised in almost every country.

"The only countries I don't feel too good about are the "stans" - you know, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, those countries in Central Asia," he said.