As college students across the country prepare to leave school for the summer, some in the United States are preparing to leave the Earth entirely.

A small but devout group of Christians has embraced the predictions of the California-based evangelical broadcaster Harold Camping, who says the world as humanity knows it will end May 21.

Camping believes a period of divine judgment known as the Rapture is imminent. He and his followers claim that during this period, Jesus Christ will come again and that all Christians – living and dead – will ascend with him to the kingdom of heaven. Those who do not follow Christ will, they say, be left behind to witness the earth-destroying Battle of Armageddon.

Camping’s followers distributed his brochures in front of the Memorial Union Thursday. In one titled “We are Almost There!” he writes, “The final five months of earth’s history begins [sic] on May 21, 2011 and will end on October 21, 2011.”

The same brochure sets forth the equation Camping used to calculate the start date of the end times. The numbers come from specific Bible passages in which themes relating to divine judgment are mentioned in association with certain numbers.

Camping believes that every word and number in the Bible has symbolic significance. He further believes that these symbols have to be understood not only individually but also in relation to each other. As he sees it, a proper understanding of their relations allows one to decode messages that God has encrypted in the Bible’s text – a practice he thinks he has perfected.

According to a Jan. 1, 2010 San Francisco Chronicle article, Camping determined the number five represented “atonement,” the number ten represented “completeness” and the number 17 represented “heaven.” He then took the number of years between Christ’s crucifixion and April 1 of this year (1,978) and multiplied it by the number of days in a solar – as opposed to calendar – year (365.2422). Next, he took the number of days between April 1 and May 21 (51) and added that to the product of his previous multiplication. When he rounded the sum of that addition to the nearest whole number he got 722,500. This sum was the same as the product of (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) – which, in his method of numerology, is equivalent to the square of (atonement x completeness x heaven).

Simply put, his calculation with dates yields the same number – as long as he rounds one of the sums involved – as his numerological calculation. Camping believes the equivalence of these two numbers confirms the truth of his prophecy.

Brad Barrett, co-pastor at Stonebrook Church in Ames, also believes the Rapture will occur, though he’s reluctant to make as clear-cut a prediction as Camping has. He’s not familiar with Camping, but said he doesn’t know if it’s possible for anyone to predict the Rapture’s exact date.

Barrett said that in the course of his time as a practicing Christian, he has heard dozens of “date-and-hour” predictions of the Rapture, none of which have been borne out.

In partial challenge to date-and-hour predictions, Barrett cited the Gospel verse Matthew 25:13, which reads, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Still, he doesn’t want to wholly dismiss those who try to predict the Rapture. He calls their efforts “a noble task.”

“I’d be all for it,” he said, speaking of the possibility that Camping’s predictions would come true. “I’m a little puzzled, but intrigued.”

Hector Avalos, professor of religious studies, rejects Camping’s statements about the Rapture completely. He said the “100 percent wrong” predictions of every millennial prophet to date demonstrate how useless it is for anyone to make them.

Avalos believes millennial prophecies are not only useless, but also harmful.

“There are a lot of problems with making such predictions, and there are problems with people who believe those predictions. They often sell their houses. They forgo medical care. They give up their possessions. And when the prophecy fails, they’re left homeless,” he said.

Avalos said that Camping unsuccessfully predicted the Rapture in 1994. But failures like these, he said, tend not to weaken the faith of those who truly believe in the Rapture.

“What happens when such expectations are decimated in that way is that they extend them,” Avalos said. “That idea of reinterpreting a failed prophecy goes all the way back to the Book of Daniel.”

Avalos guaranteed that the Rapture would not take place May 21. He advised those who are alarmed by Camping’s predictions to wait rather than acting on them.

“We’ll find out on May 22 if they were right,” he said. “You can judge for yourself.”