My favourite story about all this:
New York Times on local church groups reaction [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/21/us/21doomsday.html?_r=1&hp]
New York Times on local church groups reaction [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/21/us/21doomsday.html?_r=1&hp]
That essence of compassion is, even to this bitter old atheist, what should be at the heart of Christianity. Bravo to Calvary Bible Church.If Harold Camping and his followers are correct, Gertrude Stein's famous comment about Oakland - that there is no there there - may finally be true. If not, some local churchgoers say they will set up encampments outside the headquarters of Mr. Camping, the self-proclaimed biblical soothsayer who has prophesied the end of the world on Saturday, with an eye toward consoling the disappointed.
In a state where fringe leaders like the Rev. Jim Jones and fringe groups the Heaven's Gate cult have often found followers, and whose beliefs ended in mass suicide, not everyone is laughing about the prediction.
"They are going to be reeling," said Pastor Jacob Denys of Calvary Bible Church in nearby Milpitas, so he and about 20 volunteers planned to spend Saturday outside Mr. Camping's compound to let "them to know that God still loves them."