Watching the World
Softening Attitude
● “Openly and with approval of communist authorities,” states the Los Angeles Times, “increased supplies of Bibles are being shipped into countries of Eastern Europe and more are also being produced there.” Bible society officials credit this to their decision to “operate only through legal channels” and to “avoid clandestine activity, or forms of distribution that could be considered politically motivated.” In Eastern European nations, literature that is not officially authorized is subject to confiscation. Why the softened attitude toward Bible distribution? According to O. B. Telle, head of the European regional center of the United Bible Societies, it is because such countries “do not want their image in the world tarnished by openly refusing or obstructing legitimate activities of the churches.” A notable exception, reports the Times, is Albania, “where it is a capital offense either to profess being a Christian or to own a Bible.” However, the report notes, the increased supply of Bibles still does not satisfy the great hunger for God’s Word in those countries.
U.S. Bank Failures
● A total of 79 U.S. banks failed in 1984—the highest number in any year since the Great Depression. However, since most were smaller institutions, their total deposits of $2.9 billion (U.S.) were considerably less than those of banks that had failed in the previous two years. “More importantly,” says The New York Times, “this year’s bank collapses had relatively little effect on the overall financial system, and few depositors lost any money.” The nation’s eighth-largest bank, Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago, was saved from failure by government intervention, thus offsetting a possible “chain reaction of bank failures.” While not actually failing, other large banks did suffer serious difficulties due to heavy losses in 1984. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s list of “problem banks” grew to a record 817—over twice the previous record reached in 1976.
Minister Insurance
● “These days parishioners across the land are taking their pastors to court, accusing them of everything from inept counseling to betraying confidences,” reports the Oakland Tribune. “As a result, ministers are doing something they wouldn’t have considered necessary a few years ago—they are buying malpractice insurance.” Legal fees in themselves, from $3,000 to $5,000 (U.S.) a case, are usually too much for a minister with a small, fixed income. So now a number of insurance companies are offering malpractice insurance—often for less than $35 (U.S.) a year—to protect clergymen against the increasing number of lawsuits. Firm legal precedents have yet to be set. “It’s an issue that’s going to have to go before the U.S. Supreme Court in one fashion or another to determine exactly where the demarcation line is between church and state on religious practices,” said one attorney.
Terrorism’s Legacy
● “World political leaders are finding it more and more necessary to adopt rigorous measures to protect themselves against terrorists and assassins,” reports The New York Times. Officials who used to walk freely among their people now find it necessary to seek protection in armored cars, by armed guards, and behind vehicle-restraining barricades. Stringent measures are taken to protect dignitaries who travel abroad, and public appearances are often curtailed. Even Pope John Paul II, instead of reaching out for personal contact on his rides through crowded streets, is now mostly constrained to waving at the people from behind the protection of bulletproof plastic or glass. “Inevitably, tighter security precautions mean greater distances between those who govern and those who are governed,” says the Times.
Smoking Cure
● How does one convince a pregnant woman to stop smoking? “British doctors have found [that] one way to persuade pregnant women to stop smoking is to let them listen to their unborn babies’ heart rates and movements after the mothers take a few puffs,” states The Toronto Star. “Many of the women quit smoking when they listened to the changes their smoking had produced in their unborn babies.”
Japan’s Currency Changes
● Prince Shōtoku has been deposed. The seventh-century prince, whose portrait graced the face of 5,000-yen and 10,000-yen Japanese bank notes, has been replaced. Instead of statesmen, the new Japanese currency (including the 1,000-yen note) honors educators and writers—men who present a softer image and have wider acclaim. The new, smaller bills will make counterfeiting even harder. The number of lines in the portraits has been increased, and special inks are used on the multicolored notes. Embossed markings appear in the corners for the benefit of blind persons. The cost? Almost $250 million (U.S.) for designing, printing, and storing alone—not to mention the cost of changing some 300,000 vending machines in Japan to accept the new currency.
Saving Money
● Up to 25 percent of your car’s fuel bill could be saved, says the Car Care Council, by proper maintenance. As reported in U.S.News & World Report, 11 percent more gasoline may be used by a car needing a tune-up, 5 percent more if tires are underinflated by eight pounds, 2 percent more if tires are out of alignment by a quarter of an inch, and 7 percent additional if the engine is running too cool due to a cooling-system thermostat that is stuck open.
Peace and Goodwill?
● “A fight erupted Thursday between Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests who were cleaning Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, the traditional site of Christ’s birth,” says a dispatch printed in the Asahi Evening News of Japan shortly after Christmas. The reason given? “Because one group began wiping a wall in the Church which the other claimed to be under its own jurisdiction.” The church is owned by three groups: the Armenian church, the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Franciscan order, each of which “jealously guards its authority over the area of the church allotted to it.” Their major ceremonies of the year, at Christmastime, run for almost a month. One priest was reported injured.
Influenced
● “News reports of tough sentences imposed on convicted murderers lead to a short-term decrease in killings,” reports the Daily News of New York, “but media coverage of prizefights, where violence against an individual is rewarded, leads to an increase in murder rates in the following days.” The study, based on examination of the timing of over 140,000 murders over a seven-year period, was published in the University of Pennsylvania’s Journal of Communication. It found a 3.32-percent decrease in homicides four days after a criminal’s sentencing or execution, and an average increase of 3.54 percent the third day after a heavyweight prizefight.
‘Never a Bad Impression’
● After an article about the destructive activity of new religious movements, the Austrian Wien Süd Journal made brief mention of religious organizations that are often dismissed as being “sects.” Concerning Jehovah’s Witnesses, it said: “Jehovah’s Witnesses have never made a bad impression, they promote the family tradition, and they are of serious repute.”
Disasters Not “Natural”
● “The common view of ‘natural disasters’ is due for a radical change,” says the recent report Natural Disasters, Acts of God or Acts of Man? “Though triggered by natural events such as floods and earthquakes, disasters are increasingly man-made.” Floods, droughts, and famines, the report points out, are more often caused by “environmental and resource mismanagement” than by excessive or inadequate rainfall. Other disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes, are “magnified by unwise human actions.” Traditional relief measures are cited as often being useless or making matters worse. Says the study: “Today humans are playing too large a role in natural disasters for us to go on calling them ‘natural.’”
Street Crime
● Acting on an anonymous call, police arrested two men for stealing a hundred-year-old street. At first the police thought it was just a joke when the call came in to check out East Mifflin Street, a 250-foot-long (76 m) alleyway in a warehouse area of Philadelphia that has little traffic. But they found that about 8,000 of the cobblestones, of scarce Belgian granite and weighing about five pounds (2.3 kg) each, had been carted off, leaving just the dirt base below. The stones, 12 by 6 inches (30 by 15 cm) and 4 inches thick (10 cm), came from Europe as ballast in freighters during the 19th century. They are prized for special building projects and sell for $1 (U.S.) each on the black market. Most of the street was recovered.
Minors’ Mishaps
● At least one in five children is taken to a hospital for treatment for injuries from bicycle spills, kitchen burns, and accidental falls or mishaps. This is the conclusion of a new study that tallied the number of children treated at 23 hospitals in 14 communities in Massachusetts. Falls, often down stairs, were the most common accidents, followed by sports injuries. Burns, though relatively rare, were most frequent among preschoolers. The researchers estimated that the 1.7 million children in the state will suffer 377,000 injuries annually that will require hospital treatment.
Pet Abandonment
● Over 60 percent of the seven million dogs in animal shelters across the United States in 1983 have been returned by owners who had adopted them six to eight months before. New York City shelters are attempting to deal with the problem by screening applicants for adoption. High-risk owners, they noted, are those who want pets simply to catch mice, to guard the house, or to give away as gifts. “People have not yet learned that a pet requires a serious commitment,” says Phyllis Wright, the Humane Society’s vice president in charge of companion animals. “We want people to think before they get a pet.”
‘Fooling Their Consumers’
● The BMA (British Medical Association) has launched an attack on the tobacco industry for its misleading promotion of smoking, reports The Journal of Toronto, Canada. “Every day we delay in banning the promotional activities of this industry, another 274 premature deaths occur,” says BMA secretary John Havard. “Advertising, sports and arts sponsorship, competitions, clothes bearing brand names, and holidays are all part of the industry’s attempt to fool their consumers into believing smoking is glamorous, healthy, and desirable,” he says, adding that “these same consumers are our patients.” Each year, an estimated hundred thousand Britons die prematurely because of smoking.