Watching the World
Evolution Under Fire
◆ How the subject of the origin of life is to be taught in public schools has once again come under dispute. A parent in California sued the state Board of Education for violating the religious freedom of his children by teaching evolution as fact. The state court’s decision was a compromise: It held that teaching evolution does not violate personal rights, but that the educational authorities should present it as a theory, not as accepted fact.
Meanwhile, the state of Arkansas passed a bill requiring schools to give equal time to creation and evolution, though barring the teaching of religion in school. Fifteen other states have considered similar bills. This appears to be a reversal of the trend started about 20 years ago when evolution began to make a strong showing in American schools.
Britons Distressed
◆ The image of genteel civility and quaintness that once was typically British is being shattered by the crime wave raging through Britain’s major cities. In the last 10 years, homicides in England and Wales have doubled and injuries from assaults have nearly tripled. “Violence is undoubtedly increasing at an alarming rate,” said London’s chief superintendent of detectives. “Victims of assault and robbery, many of them elderly, are needlessly and wantonly beaten up.” About 700 London bus operators were attacked last year, as were Lord Home and Lord Chalfont right near Parliament.
In Merseyside, which includes Liverpool, violent crime rose by 28.5 percent the first six months of 1980. Chief Constable Ken Oxford declared: “If we cannot prevent this dreadful increase, or contain it, the freedoms we have been accustomed to for so long will vanish.”
China’s New Catholics
◆ A recent dispatch from Shanghai claims that religion is thriving. At Holy Mary, Mother of God Cathedral, Mass is celebrated five times every Sunday and hundreds of Chinese Catholics attend each Mass. But there is a hitch: The Chinese Church does not accept the authority of the Vatican or the pope; and neither does Rome recognize the bishops and priests appointed by the hierarchy in China since the Church reopened. Ignoring Vatican Council II, Chinese priests still sing Mass in Latin.
“The Vatican does not allow us to love our country,” said priest Sheng Pao-tse of the Shanghai cathedral, which operates under the China Patriotic Catholic Association. The objective of the Association is to “help the Government implement the policy of religious freedom and . . . unite all prelates and believers in the spirit of patriotism.” Clergyman Sheng claims the Vatican has urged Catholics in China, estimated at about three million, not to go to church but to worship in private.
Sick Society
◆ It was front-page news in the San Francisco Chronicle when the city’s coroner’s office decided to offer “S & M Safety” classes. What are these for? They give instructions on how to avoid getting injured or killed while engaging in sadomasochistic sex. According to the city coroner, Boyd Stephens, an estimated 10 percent of the city’s homicides can be traced to this sadistic perversion practiced among the homosexual community. “We decided that instead of making value judgments or ignoring the problem,” Stephens added, “we would try to save lives.”
This “liberal” attitude of not “making value judgments” caused Bob Greene, columnist in the New York Daily News, to comment that if the position of the coroner’s office was merely a reflection of modern society, “then modern society is sick as can be, and should be labeled as such.”
Latest on Fluosol
◆ The blood substitute Fluosol is gaining in its use in the United States for emergency cases and “clinical trials,” reports the New York Times. Since the chemical’s first and successful use in November 1979, 15 other surgical patients, all Jehovah’s Witnesses, have received it with complete success. In Japan, where Fluosol was first developed by Green Cross of Osaka, over 200 transfusions of the chemical substitute have been reported thus far. In America, Fluosol is still under investigation by the National Institutes of Health, and its routine use as a blood substitute has not yet been authorized by the government.
A Different Greek Tragedy
◆ The “Greatest Soccer Tragedy,” according to the Athens Daily Post, took place at the Karaiskaki Stadium in New Phaleron, Greece. When 2,500 frenzied fans rushed onto the playing field to congratulate their “heroes” after a 6-0 victory, 19 persons were crushed to death and 54 were injured. Both President Karamanlis and Prime Minister Rallis offered personal condolences to the families of the victims. A week of mourning was declared, and scheduled events were canceled. Of the 19 who died, 15 were youths aged 14 to 19. Athens News described the wailing and mourning at the Tzannio Hospital as being “like a scene from an ancient tragedy.”
Why Suicide?
◆ According to the World Health Organization, Denmark’s suicide rate is highest among Western nations. Professor Niels Juel-Nielsen, who is researching the causes of suicide among Scandinavians, cites destruction of personal initiative by the social welfare system, decline in spiritual values, materialism and family breakdown as major factors in the high suicide rate. Twenty-six of every 100,000 Danes commit suicide each year. The rate is 25 for Finns and 19 for Swedes. Among all nations, Hungary has the highest suicide rate, with 43 for every 100,000 population. The rate for the United States is 13 and for England eight.
Most Medicine?
◆ According to the Athens Daily Post, “Greece claims first place among all European nations in medicine consumption,” much of which is imported. Delegates at the International Medical Congress in Athens were informed that Greeks, on the average, spend 75 percent more than Americans for medicines and 155 percent more than the English. The Post notes: “The danger has been repeatedly stressed both by Ministry of Social Care and the country’s scientific associations, which have warned both from the human standpoint (the threat to public health) and the economic (waste of [foreign] exchange).”
Presidential Assassinations
◆ The shots fired at President Ronald Reagan on March 30 marked the ninth time an assassination attempt was made on a U.S. president. Four presidents were killed: Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881, William McKinley in 1901 and John F. Kennedy in 1963. Other presidents who were shot at but not injured were Andrew Jackson, Harry Truman and Gerald Ford, who was attacked twice. According to a New York Times report, more American presidents in office die from assassination than from any other cause, and assassinations occur more often in the U.S. than anywhere else.
Precipitation Prayers
◆ The record-breaking drought in the northeastern United States last winter prompted Terence Cardinal Cooke to designate February 22 as a special day of prayer for rain in the Archdiocese of New York. In a letter to parish priests the cardinal directed them to offer prayers during Mass for rain. All Catholics were asked to say private prayers on behalf of the near-empty reservoirs. In case some might not know what to say, a spokesman pointed out that there is a ready-made prayer in the missals. It reads: “Lord God, in you we live and move and have our being. Help us in our present time of trouble. Send us the rain we need and teach us to seek your lasting help on the way to eternal life.”
Beware of “Hot” Rings
◆ A traveling salesman in Bradford, Pennsylvania, came to a doctor’s office complaining of swelling and numbness in the ring finger of his left hand. Tests found a tumor in his finger, and the ring on his finger “sent the Geiger counter off the scale.” The ring was found to contain metal recycled from tiny 24-karat gold capsules of radioactive radon gas used in the 1930’s to cure cancer. So far, nine of the contaminated gold rings have turned up in New York and Pennsylvania. Dr. William O’Brien, a New York radiologist, investigated the matter and believed that “some enterprising person got the radon seeds and sold them to jewellers” in the Buffalo area who have long since gone out of business.
Coffee and Cancer
◆ “We estimate the proportion of pancreatic cancer that is potentially attributable to coffee consumption to be slightly more than 50 percent,” says a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Cancer of the pancreas, accounting for about 20,000 deaths a year in the U.S., is fourth among the most common causes of cancer deaths, exceeded only by cancer of the lung, colon and breast.
In 11 hospitals, 369 pancreatic cancer patients and 644 others were questioned about their use of alcohol, coffee, tea and tobacco. Analysis of the results showed an unexpectedly strong link between the cancer and coffee, but none for tea. This led the researchers to suspect that something other than caffeine may be the cause. Dr. Brian MacMahon, leader of the researchers, quit coffee, but stressed that the study is not conclusive. “I think there’s a 90 percent probability that [the study] is right . . . But I don’t think the evidence to date is going to convince a lot of people to give it up.”
Audio-Video Piracy
◆ Representatives of 40 governments and businessmen from 68 countries recently met in Geneva to find ways to combat the ever expanding international piracy, not on the high seas, but in the recording and film industries. Currently, about one tenth of the world market of records, cassettes and videotapes is in the hands of the pirates—a $1.5-billion-a-year business. “It is clear that there are close links between record piracy and organized crime,” says a dispatch from Geneva. Pirated copies of popular films and recordings often arrive on the market before the legitimate ones. A French singer on tour in Latin America found that a man imitating his appearance while using his name and songs was there ahead of him, and his own identity was being questioned.
Greece Legalizes Modern Bible
◆ Until recently, Bible translations in modern Greek have been illegal in Greece, though they have been distributed with some success. This was due to opposition by the Greek Orthodox Church. The ancient koinē Greek of the original Bible text is difficult for modern Greeks to read with understanding. Now, according to the magazine Christianity Today, “the Court of the Magistrate, with the prosecuting attorney representing the state, issued a historic ruling implying the modern translation does not hurt the Orthodox church because it makes it possible for believers to understand the Sacred Word. . . . The verdict states that the New Testament can be translated into modern Greek and that the resulting translation may be read in the church. . . . The court verdict constitutes a turning point within the state church. It was hailed in progressive circles with evident jubilation.”