Jesus Rides the Subway

 

“Jesus rides the subway
With the junkies and the freaks
Jesus rides the subway
With the hustlers and the creeps
He rubs shoulders with the thieves
And he looks a lot like everyone he sees
Jesus rides the subway
While the pretty people sleep, and he says…

You can lay your burden down
You can lay your burden down
Oh, maybe you’ve been kicked around
But you can lay your burden down

Jesus strolls the sidewalks
On the wrong side of the tracks
Jesus strolls the sidewalks
That poverty attacks
He makes his home among the shacks
Where the fatherless have fallen through the cracks
Jesus strolls the sidewalks
While the righteous turn their backs, and he says…

You can lay your burden down
You can lay your burden down
Oh, maybe you’ve been kicked around
But you can lay your burden down

Jesus went to church on Sunday
Sat in the back and sang the hymns
Jesus went to church on Sunday
But they didn't recognize him, and he said...

You can lay your burden down
You can lay your burden down
Oh, maybe you’ve been kicked around
But you can lay your burden down”

“'Rapture' apocalypse prediction sparks atheist reaction

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.

Harold Camping, 89, predicts that Jesus Christ will return to earth on Saturday and true believers will be swept up, or "raptured", to heaven.

He has used broadcasts and billboards to publicise his ideas.

He says biblical texts indicate that a giant earthquake on Saturday will mark the start of the world's destruction, and that by 21 October all non-believers will be dead.

Mr Camping has predicted an apocalypse once before, in 1994, though followers now say that only referred to an intermediary stage.

"We learn from the Bible that Holy God plans to rescue about 200 million people," says a text on the website of Mr Camping's network, Family Radio Worldwide.

"On the first day of the Day of Judgment (May 21, 2011) they will be caught up (raptured) into Heaven because God had great mercy for them."

'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.

"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 North 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.”