Watching the World
Religion in Canada
“Canadians are leaving the religious fold in record numbers,” reports The Vancouver Sun. Half the adults in Canada do not attend church services at all or merely attend about once a year. Recent statistics show that during the past ten years, the number of Canadians who say they have no religion has almost doubled. Jim Hodgson, associate secretary of ecumenical education and communication for the Canadian Council of Churches, said: “Many people are finding materialism and consumerism to be their motivation in life.” He added that “the shopping mall is probably more important than the church in most people’s lives.”
Nigeria’s New Capital
For the past 77 years, Lagos was the capital of Nigeria. But on December 12, 1991, Nigerian president Ibrahim Babangida and his wife waved farewell to cheering crowds in Lagos, boarded a jet, and flew 300 miles [500 km] inland to Abuja, which was officially proclaimed the new national capital. The decision to move the seat of government to Abuja was made in 1976 during Nigeria’s oil boom. According to Nigeria’s Newswatch magazine, the decision was prompted by a desire to place the capital at the center of the country and to escape the congestion of Lagos.
Australia’s Drought Crisis
“Rural Australia has plunged into its worst crisis for nearly 50 years,” claims The Weekend Australian Review of Sydney. At the end of October 1991, the state of New South Wales declared 65 percent of its area drought-stricken. To the north, neighboring Queensland has declared more than two thirds of the state drought-affected. By the time the continent entered its most recent summer season, 60 percent of eastern Australia had already registered below-average rainfall for many months, with some areas reporting their lowest rainfall on record. The Review noted that “the question is whether this is The Big One: the one-in-100-years-drought.”
An Unhealthy Ideal
“The ideal of feminine beauty women are currently instructed to strive for is in most cases unnatural, unobtainable, and unhealthy,” according to a recent report in the Tufts University Diet and Nutrition Letter. In the eyes of many women today, the notion of beauty is inseparable from thinness. The media promotes this standard through the persistent use of ultrathin models. “But,” as the report notes, “not only are women not meant to look like well-exercised boys, most are unable to no matter how hard they might try.” Women, it seems, naturally store more fat than men; most girls will not begin the menstruation cycle until their bodies are about 17 percent fat. Pregnancy also adds fat to the body. Thus, many middle-aged women, regardless of culture or country, carry nearly 40 percent of their body weight in fat.
Slowing the Population Explosion
By mid-1991, the earth’s population had reached 5.4 billion. If it continues to grow at the present rate, says the report State of World Population 1991, the world’s population will reach ten billion by the year 2050. UNFPA (UN Fund for Population Activities) plans to slow this increase—especially in Africa where there are, on an average, 6.2 births per woman. UNFPA’s target for the year 2000 is to increase the use of modern birth-control methods by 50 percent worldwide. Meeting this goal will cost $9 billion annually, according to UNFPA. Some consider this expense worthwhile. For example, official calculations in India indicate that since 1979 some 106 million births have been prevented by the use of birth control. This has saved $742 billion in education and health costs.
Clergy’s Reputation
According to the EPS (Ecumenical Press Service), a news agency of the World Council of Churches, a recent survey revealed that the public image of Germany’s clergy “has suffered a severe setback.” EPS says that the information service of the German Evangelical Alliance noted that “for the first time ministers of the church do not appear in the top ten professions with the highest reputation.” Since 1987, clerics in former East Germany slid all the way down to position number 19 on the list of 25 professions surveyed, while their colleagues in former West Germany fell from position number 5 to position number 12.
Male Breast Cancer
A man from Provo, Utah, U.S.A., wrote to American Health magazine and asked: “Is it possible for a man to get breast cancer?” The answer was: “Yes, but it’s extremely rare.” Of the more than 170,000 new breast-cancer patients expected in the United States during 1991, only some 900 are likely to be men. The risk factors for men listed by the magazine were: “a family history of male breast cancer; Klinefelter’s syndrome, a genetic disease associated with gynecomastia (enlargement of the breast); and hyperestrogenism, the production of excess estrogen.” American Health went on to say that “since male breast cancer is usually advanced before it’s detected, doctors generally recommend mastectomy.”
Blood and Disease
The Indonesian minister of health claims that as many as 2,500 people in the country may be infected with AIDS, reports The Jakarta Post. There is an increased public awareness of the danger of AIDS among Indonesians. Acknowledging that the dreadful disease can spread through blood transfusions, a special effort is being made to test Indonesia’s blood supply. The Jakarta Post reports that no HIV has yet been found in any of the donated-blood samples. However, the Indonesian Red Cross has found the syphilis spirochete and the Hepatitis B virus in 2.56 percent of the donated blood that has been tested so far.
Vegetable Ivory
The demand for animal ivory has brought the elephant close to the edge of extinction. “Now from the rain forests of South America comes a natural product that might help diminish that demand,” says International Wildlife magazine. “It’s called tagua, and, unlike elephant tusks, it grows on trees.” The vegetable ivory is made from the dried and polished nuts of South American palms. Carved, it is remarkably similar to animal ivory in both look and feel, and even mimics its porosity. No doubt that is why it is called Phytelephas—“elephant plant.” Its only drawback is its size, slightly over an inch [2.5 cm], which limits the items that can be made from it. The use of vegetable ivory is not new but goes back over 100 years. Buttons and other things were made from it. But after World War II, the competition from newly developed and inexpensive plastics wiped out the tagua trade, and it was virtually forgotten. Use of tagua is already growing in Japan, France, Italy, Germany, and the United States.
Adultery in Argentina
The Argentinean newspaper Clarín reports that 90 percent of the people who hire the services of private detectives in Argentina are seeking evidence of their mate’s adultery. Clarín states that “the majority of the clients are women (approximately 75 percent). Generally they are about 40 years of age.” Private detectives are able to gather enough circumstantial evidence to confirm suspicions of adultery in 80 percent of these cases.
Changing Attitudes
Since World War II, Japan has risen from poverty and is now widely recognized as one of the world’s economic giants. Yet, ordinary Japanese are unimpressed. A recent study found that only “27 percent of the Japanese said they are proud of the country’s major companies,” notes the Mainichi Daily News. Of the ten countries surveyed, the Japanese are the least patriotic in all respects. Only 10 percent of the Japanese say they would die for their country. This is a marked change from attitudes at the height of World War II when, according to Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, 92 percent of the male civilians joining in the war effort did so voluntarily.
Losing Ground Against Malaria
“These are grim days in the battle against malaria,” states Science magazine. A new report from the Institute of Medicine shows that after making progress in the 1940’s and 1950’s, humans are now losing ground to the parasite. Over a million people in 102 countries, most of them children, are being killed each year. Adding to the problem is that the antimalaria drugs in use have lost some of their effectiveness, and efforts to create new vaccines have come up short. Warfare in the African countries, where most of the deaths occur, has also made it difficult to battle the disease, and the richer nations have been cutting their budgets for malaria research.