Watching the World
Bishops on War
● The recent U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops’ pastoral letter on nuclear war and peace has stirred up much controversy. Commenting on “the church that we have loved” in a Newsday opinion column, Michael Gallagher, film critic for the United States Catholic Conference, reminded readers that the bishops’ “record has been dismal” in the past on issues of war and peace. He continued:
“Hardly any war in history was more at variance with the ‘just war’ doctrine of St. Augustine than the fratricidal, suicidal World War I. Yet the bishops enthusiastically supported it. Nor was their equally wholehearted endorsement of World War II qualified by much heed to the conditions prescribed in the doctrine. . . . The bishops’ chauvinism finally reached a peak that will never, I hope, be surpassed with the famous photograph of Francis Cardinal Spellman behind a machine gun in Vietnam. During his visit to that tragic land, this prince of the Church not only posed for such a picture but, in explanation, quoted—not Thomas Aquinas, not St. Augustine—but Stephen Decatur: ‘My country right or wrong.’”
Religion: Good or Bad for Mankind?
● Many people believe that religion’s influence on mankind generally has been for the good. But H. Gordon Green, columnist for Canada’s Toronto Star, recently wrote that he had a “sneaking suspicion that religion is really a bad thing for man and his world; that it does not bring peace and brotherhood as it professes to do, but on the contrary foments distrust, hatred and wars.” Green goes on to observe:
“The holy wars which reddened so many pages of the history books are still as bloody as ever. In Ireland, Israel and Iran the root of the hatred is still religion, and in each of these countries people are still willing to kill and be killed for the faith of their fathers.” And of recent killings at a refugee camp in Lebanon, he denounced the fact “that an army labelled ‘Christian’ should have perpetrated one of the most horrible massacres of our time.”
Cutting Down on Tobacco
● For the first time, in 1982 fewer cigarettes were smoked in the United States than in the previous year, down about 6 billion to 634 billion—about 1 percent. Figures from the U.S. Office on Smoking and Health also indicate that almost 34 million have quit smoking. On the other hand, some 200,000 cigarettes are lit each second, costing the average smoker about $400 per year. American business is said to lose about $20 billion each year to employee illness caused by smoking.
“Hooked on Horror”
● “South African women and children are hooked on horror,” declares the Sunday Tribune of Durban. “The best selling video movies in the country—many of them shown to delighted tiny tots at birthday parties—have titles like And Now The Screaming Starts, Invasion Of The Blood Farmers, Blood Splattered Bride and Blood On Satan’s Claw.” On the back of one cassette is the promise: “If your taste is jaded and you have an insatiable desire to see blood, flesh and gore, this movie is essential for your video vault of terror.” The manageress of one video outlet described one favorite as being “about a dismembered bleeding hand that strangles or stabs its victims.” How did the customers like it? “That movie is really gruesome,” she answers, “and when we first got it in the shop women would put their names on a list and wait sometimes for weeks to get it.” Happily, true Christians have never been involved in these evils.
First Fiber Optics?
● Plant physiologists at California’s Stanford University say that seedlings use a form of fiber optics to carry light down their stems. They found that the stems could transmit light for at least two inches and even around corners. “The stem acts as an antenna to gather and transmit light to those areas” of the plant that promote growth, notes the report in Science 82 magazine. The seedling fibers “are sensitive enough to collect light that filters down through the soil before the stem has pushed above ground.” And, explains one of the researchers: “A seedling is just like a baby. It’s the most critical time of its life. The stem’s optical properties help it get a jump on things while it’s still underground.”
Vatican on Evolution
● “We are convinced that masses of evidence render the application of the concept of evolution to man and the other primates beyond serious dispute.” Was this a pronouncement from a group of atheists? No; the authors “were members of a seminar arranged by the Pope’s own Pontifical Academy of Sciences,” reports the science magazine Discover. “The academy, an august body of 70 scientists . . . meets regularly under papal auspices to discuss and debate scientific questions.” Thus, “under papal auspices,” comes forth what Discover calls a “resounding verdict in favor of evolution.”
“Ghost Houses”
● “The fear of theft has turned these beautiful villas into ghost houses,” complained an Italian real-estate broker. The International Herald Tribune explains: “Dozens of magnificent villas and large houses on Rome’s fashionable old Appian Way sit empty for months, abandoned by owners or rejected by would-be tenants for lack of security.” A recent European opinion poll found that, among Europeans, Italians had the greatest fear of crime. Over 60 percent of those surveyed said crime was their greatest concern for themselves and their country.
Opulent Oriental Weddings
● At an average cost of $22,000, Japanese weddings reportedly are now six times as expensive as those in the United States. The wedding of a famous sumo wrestler reached $580,000. And at another, reports Time magazine, “the star-struck couple ascended to the ceiling in a makeshift space capsule trailing dry-ice exhaust.” Japanese weddings generally take place in the fall, as religious calendars are then full of days thought to be favorable for weddings.
“School Pride Day”
● When students recently were searched for dangerous weapons at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, New York, hundreds of them “went on a wild rampage,” reports the New York Post. “They tore up classrooms, cafeterias, and hallways, smashed windows, vandalized cars and beat up a teacher because they objected to the search.” According to the report, “the search uncovered an awesome array of weapons, including knives, razors, iron pipes and karate sticks.” How did the community react to their children’s conduct? One community group charged the Board of Education with “provoking a riot” because they did not warn the students ahead of time that they would be searched! The incident occurred on a day that had been designated “School Pride Day.”
Graham Disappoints Lutherans
● After evangelist Billy Graham visited East Germany’s Lutheran Churches, his trip met with considerable criticism in the West German press. According to The Christian Century, a Lutheran official in the Federal Republic of Germany had “urged Graham to meet East German Christians on their terms rather than the government’s. Instead, Graham traveled through the country in a big limousine, stayed at expensive hotels in which one can pay only with Western currency, and appeared on television talking with government officials and not with clergy.”
Turtle Haven Dedicated
● The government of the Seychelles Islands recently dedicated almost half its land area to providing a haven for giant sea turtles and land tortoises. Now viewed by UNESCO as a world heritage site, the Aldabra Atoll has the largest concentration of giant sea turtles and land tortoises in the world. About 150,000 giant land tortoises live on this coral atoll in the western Indian Ocean. Though a related species of giant tortoise lives in the Galápagos, their number is only about 10,000. The tortoises of the Seychelles and the Galápagos islands are the world’s largest, reaching up to 4 feet (1.2 m) long and weighing up to 600 pounds (272 kg).
Immune to Tax
● The U.S. IRS (Internal Revenue Service) recently reported that 198 individuals or couples with earnings over $200,000 escaped paying any federal income tax in 1980, the most recent year for which data is available. This was a 74-percent increase over the previous year. To add insult to injury, eight people with incomes over $1 million also received unemployment benefits during the year.
‘Tea Totaling’ Induces Cirrhosis
● Australian doctors were sure they had an alcoholic on their hands when they found that the 69-year-old woman they were treating had cirrhosis of the liver. An operation was required to remove two thirds of her liver. Yet, to their surprise, the woman proved to be a teetotaler. What, then, had so afflicted her liver? For some 25 years she had been on a tea binge, chewing tea leaves instead of using them for making a beverage! At first she chewed them when she was worried, but in time she was chewing leaves instead of eating regular meals. It is believed that the tannin in tea leaves was what had done the damage. Trying to exist almost totally on tea leaves nearly cost her her life. Excesses with any substance, especially when it is often substituted for regular meals, is bound to bring serious health problems.
Losses by High Rollers
● The gambling center of Las Vegas, Nevada, has reported a lower growth rate—up 7.3 percent compared with a yearly growth rate of 15 to 20 percent. “In good times,” reported The New York Times, “seven major hotels collectively cater to a pool of about 250,000 . . . ‘high-rollers,’ or people who bet with $5,000 or more on house credit. These gamblers typically lose at least $1,000 on each visit to a casino.”
Attracting Tourists
● Decreasing tourism in Greece moved the Greek EOT (Organization of Tourism) to devise ways of attracting international tourists. One unusual scheme announced by a senior EOT official was reported in Athens News: “Greece will promote development of nudist centers next year [1983] on remote coasts, where local and church authorities raise no objection.”
Lutherans Drop Out
● Some 14,000 members left the Lutheran Church of Finland in one year, according to a poll by the Research Institute of the Church. It was learned that those 25 to 50 years of age most often leave the church, and one in 10 members are planning to leave it. Apparently, even the remaining members consider going to church to be in vain, as only 2.5 percent attend principal church services.