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Watching the World

Peace Assembly in Nigeria

◆ The “Peace on Earth” Assembly at Ilesha, Nigeria, drew a crowd of 97,201 at its public meeting. The convention was held in seventeen languages, in whole or in part. There were 3,425 baptized. The press and radio publicity was excellent. The military authorities ordered all roadblocks to allow all the chartered and private vehicles that were headed for the assembly point to pass at any time during the night. The assembly was held shortly before the Nigeria-Biafran conflict came to an end. The book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life was released at the convention in the Yoruba and Efik languages, and the entire shipment was taken by those at the assembly.

Politics from Pulpits

◆ The Arkansas Democrat editorially took the clergy to task, and for good reason. It said: “Too many of today’s clergymen have strayed far and away from the teachings of Christ and from the profundity of the Old Testament prophets?” The clergy of today condone sexual promiscuity, they participate in riots, take part in marches that precipitate violence and willfully break laws that they do not like. “Such alleged men of God,” said the editorial, “such unscrupulous pretenders, such vipers in sheep’s clothing are a curse to the cause of Christ and to their own country. Because of these deceivers and cheats, respect for the clergy in general has possibly reached its lowest station in history.”

Divorces Soar

◆ Two years ago New York state liberalized its divorce law. Before that time it had one of the lowest divorce rates in the United States, but since it liberalized its matrimonial law divorces in the state have more than tripled. From an annual average of fewer than 4,000 divorces granted because of adultery under the old law, the state courts are now processing more than 18,000 divorces on this and a number of other reasons.

Unusual Weather

◆ As 1970 began in the U.S., the worst snowstorms in memory hit New England, and there was snow as far south as Florida. In parts of Alaska, temperatures were 30 to 40 degrees above normal, whereas the Midwest was struggling with temperatures about 30 degrees below normal. In Britain, health officials wrestled with a flu epidemic. Over 4,185 deaths were attributed to the disease. Ninety-five percent of the deaths have been among persons fifty-five years old and over.

Die of Lead Poisoning

◆ Buckshot that misses its mark nevertheless is responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of waterfowl each year, said Science News for January 10. The spent shot in lakes and marshes is eaten by birds and waterfowl as if they were seeds or grit. The lead affects the nervous system and the birds die a few weeks after eating the shot. It is estimated that 2 or 3 percent of the American waterfowl population is lost to lead poisoning annually.

A Different Man

◆ Dr. Benjamin Boshes, chairman of the Department of Neurology and professor of psychiatry at the Northwestern University Medical School, said: “In World War II the American boy was a person who didn’t want to hurt anybody​—who didn’t want to kill. Now we’ve produced a different sort of man.” In World War II, many American soldiers would not fire their rifles in combat. Now, it’s a question of ammunition conservation. In Korea only half the men would fire their weapons. In Vietnam, Boshes said, the men turn the switch on the M-16 to automatic and blast away at everything in sight. The problem is to get the men to stop shooting, not start. “I’m disturbed by the transition of the American boy,” Boshes said, noting that they are an angry lot. He added: “Frankly, even a year or two ago, I wasn’t so concerned about what was happening in Vietnam as I was with what will happen here when all of those angry people come back.”

Dollars for Smoking

◆ Senator John J. Williams asked the following question on the floor of the United States Senate: “Why spend millions emphasizing the danger of tobacco while at the same time spending more millions to subsidize its production?” The Public Health Service spends some $2,500,000 a year to warn about smoking and lung cancer, whereas the American government today spends an average of $50,000,000 per year to subsidize the production and sale of tobacco products. Perhaps it is because the government has about $750,000,000 invested in inventories of tobacco, Senator Williams said.

The Most Violent Years

◆ The final report of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence said: “Violence in the United States has risen to alarmingly high levels. Whether one considers assassination, group violence or individual acts of violence, the decade of the nineteen sixties was considerably more violent than the several decades preceding it and ranks among the most violent in our history.”

Annihilation Warning

◆ A scientist, John Platt of the University of Michigan, believes that there may be even less than a fifty-fifty chance of the human race surviving until 1980. In support of his 1980 prediction, Platt says the world is being overtaken by a “storm of crises,” which he lays out in the form of a chart. Nuclear war or chemical and biological annihilation head the list and could occur anytime, by his estimate. On a global level, he rates the danger of famines next. He places the management of communities and cities, slums, participatory democracy and racial conflict as number three in his chart of crises in the world. Platt directed his warning at his fellow scientists to do something to solve these and other major crises threatening the world. Exactly how scientists are to save the world, Platt did not say.

Bishop Plans to Vote Communist

◆ Archbishop Joseph Raya of Galilee said that he intended to vote Communist in Israel’s next election. “The government officially asked me to step in and tell my people not to vote Communist,” he said. “My goodness, I will vote Communist. I myself, a bishop​—a Catholic bishop—​I will vote Communist. Because I see that at least they are talking​—the Communists are talking—​about helping the poor. And protecting the poor and the dispossessed.” The bishop said the activities of the Western church in Israel introduced “a big element of hatred​—of division” among the people. “They buy people with their money to be Roman Catholic,” he said. “They buy them from Orthodoxy with bread, with schools, with influence, to leave their church, their mentality, their culture​—their soul. That is one of the reasons the Christians in Nazareth are turning Communist.”

“A Disaster Area”

◆ In 1946 Olde Davenport United Church of Toronto, valued at $400,000, had a membership of 1,000. Today it averages only about 120 worshipers on Sunday. The church has become a community service center. Traditional worship is confined to an hour or so on Sundays. Minister Stewart B. East of Islington United Church has labeled Toronto’s west end “a disaster area” for United Churches and said fifty congregations were in trouble, with a dozen fighting for survival; and Olde Davenport United Church is one of these.

Priests Foment War

◆ In a pastoral letter, Bishop Jose Carranza of St. Rosa de Copan, Honduras, accused the priests as being responsible for the recent war between Honduras and El Salvador, in which more than 4,000 lives were lost and tens of thousands were rendered homeless. Bishop Carranza stated that the priests dubbed the conflict a “holy war” and urged the Catholics to take part in it.

Lot of Soot

◆ According to William H. Bohn, vice-president of a firm specializing in air-control systems, between the autumn of 1969 and the spring of 1970 one million tons of soot from smokestacks will fall on United States cities and towns.

Stop Smoking, Sleep Better

◆ The advice of research workers at the University of California Medical Center is to give up smoking and sleep better as a result. Their study has indicated that when heavy smokers stop smoking their sleep patterns eventually change for the better. Those who stopped fell asleep quicker and stayed asleep longer. They even enjoyed pleasant dreaming periods.

Birth-Control Program Protested

◆ The Colombian government’s Institute of Social Security Clinic began a program of distributing contraceptive devices to individuals. This brought a wave of protest from the Chancery Office of the Archdiocese of Bogotá, Colombia. El Catolicismo, the Catholic weekly, asserted that President Carlos Lleras Restrepo failed to fulfill an agreement “that, in this matter, the Government would proceed in accord with the Church authorities.” The nationwide contraception program, said the paper, could be the beginning of the deterioration of church-state relations in Colombia.

Chaplain System Assailed

◆ Roman Catholic Bishop Antulio Parilla Bonilla from Puerto Rico on January 13 called for the abolition of the military chaplaincy. “The men in the stockades told me they get little spiritual help from the chaplains,” the bishop said. “Chaplains are army men first and churchmen second.” The bishop’s demand was interpreted as an indirect criticism of Cardinal Cooke of New York, who, as military vicar of the Catholic Church, serves as spiritual leader of Roman Catholics in the armed services and as a bishop to the Catholic chaplains.

Work Time Lost

◆ The Labor Department reported in Washington that more but smaller strikes in 1969 added up to a decline from 1968 in work time lost due to strikes. Nonetheless, there were 5,600 work stoppages in the year, and the man-days of idleness due to strikes totaled 45,000,000.

Battle with Shoplifters

◆ Shoplifters are stealing more goods from stores than ever before. According to retail authorities, pilferage losses in stores for all of 1969 will be nearly $2,500,000,000. In Los Angeles a store official noted a 30- to 40-percent increase in thefts during 1969. “It’s being done by normally honest people who wouldn’t dream of cheating their neighbors, yet think it’s all right to steal from a big store.” Over half of all shoplifting is done by youths. Much of it is done by drug addicts. The two major reasons cited for the rising tide of this kind of stealing is the growing trend toward self-service in stores, which places more temptation before shoppers, and the climate of leniency in the courts toward offenders.

Woodstock West

◆ An estimated 300,000 young people were attracted to the American West Coast’s largest “rock” festival, which was held east of San Francisco. Mick Jagger, leader of the Rolling Stones and organizer of the festival, was thoroughly disgusted by the time the one-day festival ended. Four persons died at the festival: one was stabbed to death, one drowned, and two were run over by automobiles. Hundreds were treated for drug overdoses. Some spectators and musicians were roughed up. Said Jagger: “It was supposed to be lovely, not up-tight. What happened? What went wrong? If Jesus had been there, he would have been crucified.”

What People Believe

◆ According to a recent Gallup poll in Australia, nine out of ten men and women believe in God, and more than six out of ten believe in Heaven. Analysis of people’s religion showed that some of the basic beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church were rejected by about one-third of those who claimed to be Catholic.