Watching the World
Assemblies in Spain
◆ For the first time in history Jehovah’s witnesses were permitted to hold assemblies in Spain. One was held on February 5 in Madrid and another one day later in Barcelona. The president of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, who was visiting Spain at the time, spoke at both assemblies. The press in Madrid gave a detailed and generous coverage of the assembly there. The fine cooperation of government officials that made the assemblies possible was greatly appreciated by the Witnesses. 14,569 were in attendance at the two assemblies.
Employees Steal More
◆ It is estimated that during 1971 organized crime will cost American industry $500 million. Many people who deplore such criminal activity are actually contributing to an even greater crime figure. They are employees who steal cash and merchandise from their employers. It is estimated that during 1971 American industry will lose more than $4,000 million due to such thefts.
Religious Journals in Trouble
◆ The year 1970 proved to be an especially difficult year for most religious journals. Regarding this The Christian Century stated: “The year 1970 was an apocalyptic time for many journals. In the United States, Britain and Canada a large number of them simply died.” There was a drastic drop in circulation and advertising income accompanied by inflationary rises in the cost of production and materials. In contrast to these collapsing religious journals, the Watchtower magazine continued its steady growth in circulation. It began 1970 with a circulation of 6 million, concluded the year with a circulation of 6,750,000 and has now passed the 7,000,000 mark.
Diet and Multiple Sclerosis
◆ According to a Danish researcher, a diet high in unsaturated fats can help build up protection for the central nervous system against multiple sclerosis. The doctor stated: “If the child is breast fed and later his fat intake favors the polyunsaturated fats from fish and vegetable oils rather than the saturated animal fats, he will develop a myelin sheath strong enough to withstand an attack of whatever causes multiple sclerosis.” He also observed that the development of this sheath is complete by the time a child is fifteen or sixteen.
Laymen Abandoned
◆ A report on a two-year study of the views of church laymen was presented to the National Council of Churches in the United States. The report observed that church “membership is decreasing, clergymen are leaving, financial support has been declining,” and this during a time of population increase. It also observed that laymen are given little help by the churches to live their faith in the secular institutions where they earn a livelihood. It said: “At this point, we believe, the church has abandoned them.”
Women Warned on Mercury
◆ Pregnant women were warned by Dr. Hollis Ingraham, New York State Health Commissioner, against eating tuna and swordfish. Both of these fish have proved to have relatively high levels of mercury. He said: “Evidence indicates that methyl mercury—which can cause some form of brain damage when concentrated in sufficiently large levels tends to become concentrated in a fetus.” In view of this, fish containing amounts of mercury that are not considered harmful to adults and children could be dangerous to an unborn fetus.
Loss of Clergymen
◆ In the past twenty-five years the Congregational churches in Wales have seen their number of clergymen decline from 420 to 264. There are now 332 of such churches without a minister.
Blood Contamination by Plastic
◆ It is the contention of Dr. Robert J. Rubin, associate professor of environmental medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the United States, that plastic bags and tubing contaminate blood. Chemicals in the plastic migrate to the blood, and when the blood enters a person it can cause a condition called “shock lung,” which is an impeding of the circulation of the blood in the lungs. The condition can be fatal.
Church-approved Abortions
◆ The twenty-fourth general council of the United Church of Canada declared that abortion is “morally justifiable under certain medical, social and economic circumstances.” It called upon the Canadian government to remove abortion from the Criminal Code. The Lutheran Church in America has taken a somewhat similar position by declaring: “On the basis of the evangelical ethic, a woman or couple may decide responsibly to seek an abortion.” These views are not in harmony with the Scriptural command to respect human life.
Respect Religion of Patients
◆ An editorial appearing in Texas Medicine, of December 1970, urged physicians to respect the religious beliefs of their patients. It stated: “It is the faith of the patient that we doctors need to understand and respect. Whether our own religious belief is strong or nonexistent, it is a human conviction which we have no right to impose on any other person—especially when he is ill and frightened.” The doctor writing the editorial also observed: “I am a Presbyterian, but when I treat an illness that affects the body, mind, and spirit of the person in my care, it is what he believes that is important.”
Bible Neglected
◆ Although the Bible is the best seller, the reading of it is being neglected by the churches. On this point James D. Smart, a professor at New York’s Union Theological Seminary observed: “The Bible is in a very bad way in the church. . . . In a century during which biblical scholarship has made tremendous advances in America, with literature on the Bible expanding enormously and a number of the new highly readable translations becoming ‘best sellers,’ there has been an increasing frustration of preachers with the Scriptures as a basis for sermons, a steady decline in the educational use of the Bible in the church, and a mounting ignorance of the contents of the Bible among members of the church.”
Rising Divorce Rate
◆ During the nineteen-sixties the divorce rate in the United States climbed sharply. In 1960 there were 35 divorced persons for every 1,000 married couples. In 1970 the rate was 47 divorced persons for each 1,000 married couples, an increase of 33 percent.
Dwindling Number of Priests
◆ A recent report from the Vatican revealed that there were 1,476 fewer priests in 1970 than in 1968. Even more significant is the 12.5-percent drop in ordinations to the priesthood. This trend is causing serious trouble for the Catholic Church.
Rising Suicide Rate
◆ During the ten-year period from 1955 to 1965 the suicide rate in Australia rose from 13.1 per 100,000 men to 18.5. The rate for women went from 3.4 to 10.8. This gives Australia one of the highest suicide rates in the world. In France it is 15.3 per 100,000 people, and 10.8 in the United States. More than half of the French suicides are in the age bracket of seventeen to twenty-five. The principal reasons for suicides were given by the Australian newspaper the Sunday Mail as “social isolation, unemployment, financial incompetence, alcoholism and drug dependence, or the loss of a loved one through death or desertion.”
Lesson Taught by Rolls-Royce
◆ The British Prime Minister feels that the bankruptcy of Rolls-Royce has taught the world an important economic lesson. He said: “Management must rid itself of the illusion that it can go on indefinitely running a business in conditions that don’t pay. Unions must rid themselves of the illusion that they can go on indefinitely demanding higher wages without any concern for the effect on the firm or the industry, and without any regard to the prices its customers will have to pay. Governments must rid themselves of the illusion that you can find the way to prosperity by pouring out the taxpayers’ money in perpetual subsidies for uneconomic ventures. All of us must rid ourselves of the illusion that we can buy our way out of the problems of today by mortgaging the future. It seems the easy way out—but we know now it is the fatal way.”
New Money for British
◆ On February 15, 1971, the British began using a new decimal currency. This climaxed a 300-year effort to change to this type of currency. The old currency of pounds, shillings and pence was one of the most complicated in the world, as any visitor to Great Britain can testify. Now the currency has been simplified by dividing the pound into 100 pence. The change also involves reducing by more than half the average weight of British coins, which had been considerable. A certain amount of confusion is expected during the 18-month transitional period when both currencies will be accepted in some places.
Crisis for Ethiopian Church
◆ According to the New York Times of February 17, 1971, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church “is in a period of crisis.” It is losing much of its influence. This is especially so among educated urban young people. Because it owned a third of all property in Ethiopia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and later parceled it out to priests, a great amount of land is in the hands of priests. Because the priests are permitted to marry they have been able to pass the land on to their sons, and if the sons become priests, as one in seventy Ethiopians do, the land remains tax free.
Radioactive Dating Unreliable
◆ By measuring the amount of radioactive carbon in archaeological findings scientists have felt that they could determine the age of these things with fair accuracy. This method of dating relies on the assumption that radioactive carbon in the atmosphere remains constant. But now there is evidence that it does not. A study of radioactivity of wines, whiskeys and seeds has indicated that the radioactive carbon in the atmosphere varies in amount according to the sun’s cycle of activity. When there is an increase of activity in the sun the solar winds increase, which causes the mixing of the earth’s atmosphere to increase, and this in turn causes more radioactive carbon to enter the lower atmosphere. Thus plants will absorb more of it during these periods. This will give a false reading to the age of archaeological artifacts of wood, cloth and other things that absorb radioactive carbon.
Drunk Drivers, Beware
◆ Although drunk drivers in the United States cause 25,000 highway deaths and 800,000 nonfatal auto accidents every year, the police have had little success in reducing their number. Revoking the driving licenses of drunks has not worked, because they just keep on driving. Fines do not discourage them either. In Chicago a judge decided to automatically sentence every convicted drunken driver to at least seven days in jail. Some have been given as much as six months. During a trial period of two weeks when the judge was doing this, traffic fatalities in Chicago plunged 65 percent, and injuries dropped 50 percent.
Economic Woes
◆ The United States is not the only country that has been having economic woes. Deficits experienced by British companies during 1970 were twice as great as in 1969. Approximately 250,000 to 300,000 jobs were eliminated in Britain. In the Netherlands many small businesses are going out of business, selling out or merging. Nearly 600 companies in Italy are in financial difficulty. In West Germany 47,000 workers were on short time during December, which is unusual for that country. Even in prosperous Japan business failures rose in 1970. A Japanese executive observed that Japan will, in the future, most likely have to face the economic problems that are now troubling Europe and the United States. The economic prospects for the months ahead in many countries are not good.