U.S. Christian group says rapture, end of world is Friday

SAN FRANCISCO - The Christian ministry that predicted the rapture would take 200 million Christians up to heaven on May 21 now says a cataclysmic event will destroy the globe on Friday.

Members of the Oakland-based Members of Family Radio International ministry and its preacher, Harold Camping, declined comment on their preparations for the day.

Despite its previous prediction, members of the group awoke May 22 to find themselves still on Earth.

Camping still spreads the word through his Family Radio website.

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  People in a partying mood, including performing artists the Phenomenauts, gather in front of the closed Family Radio station offices of radio evangelist Harold Camping, to celebrate irreverently, the non-destruction of the world predicted by Camping, Saturday, May 21, 2011 in Oakland, Calif. (AP / Dino Vournas)

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  Harold Camping speaks during a taping of his show 'Open Forum' in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 23, 2011. (AP / Marcio Jose Sanchez)