Watching the World
Witnesses Assemble in U.S.
◆ By July 12 eleven of thirty-six “Men of Goodwill” District Assemblies to be held in the United States were completed, with a combined attendance of 180,928 for the public talk; 3,512 were baptized. Several were held in large baseball stadiums, including: Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington (Minn.)—20,777; Fenway Park, Boston—22,623; Forbes Field, Pittsburgh—22,432.
Delegates learned that active witnesses of Jehovah increased to 1,453,942 by April, 117,000 more than April 1969. This great increase comes as thousands of priests and ministers are quitting the churches.
Inflation Hurting Consumers
◆ Rising prices have forced eight out of ten American families to modify buying habits. A man with a wife, three children and $7,000 annual income said: “After paying for food and shelter, we can’t afford to buy clothing.” A woman making the same stated: “I am unable to save any money. I practically live from month to month. I buy only necessities.” In a family of four with an income of $13,500 the wife declared: “Our dollars have so shrunk that our shelves are bare and our clothing remains one style—old. I’m so tired looking for bargains, and we just cannot afford to have any extras.” Of course, poor people feel the pinch even more.
Unemployment Grows
◆ Unemployment in the United States reached 5 percent, for a total of 4,100,000. Layoffs have also occurred in highpaying jobs in the aircraft, armaments, aerospace and automobile industries. Some making $15,000 or more a year are now getting unemployment checks of $40 to $70 a week. Others are on welfare.
Vatican Aided Nazis Escape
◆ Therese Stangl told a Düsseldorf court that the Vatican helped “a great many” Nazis flee to South America after World War II. Her husband, Franz Paul Stangl, is charged with murdering “at least 400,000” people at Treblinka and Sobibor death camps in Poland. Reported by The Stars and Stripes in Germany, Mrs. Stangl confirmed her husband’s testimony that he fled to Syria with the help of false papers provided by a Vatican bishop. This is not strange when we remember that the Vatican honored its concordat with Nazi Germany throughout the war.
Vatican Envoy Recalled
◆ In July, Portugal recalled her ambassador to the Vatican. This was in protest to Pope Paul’s granting an audience to three leaders of revolutionary political movements in Africa. Efforts were made to patch up the differences.
Miniskirts Encourage Rape
◆ A survey of 63 cities in the United States found that 91 percent of policemen believe that women who wear miniskirts are “more likely to be victims of rape” or other sex crimes. In Canada, the Ontario Safety League warned that girls who wear revealing clothing risk sexual attack. In 1964, when short skirts first became popular in Toronto, police recorded 63 rapes. In all 1969 there were 1,170, and in less than six months of 1970 there have been 1,240.
Italy’s 31st Falls
◆ The government of Premier Mariano Rumor was Italy’s 31st since World War II. It took office after a seven-week crisis, but fell after only three months.
Disgusted with Movies, Plays
◆ Stage and film personality Raymond Massey expressed disgust with today’s movies and stage plays. He said: “To me theatre should be enchantment, make-believe, let’s pretend. Today it’s sex, obscenity and squalor.” Massey said he has given up going to movies altogether, and seldom goes to plays.
‘Technology May Destroy Man’
◆ Charles A. Lindbergh, whose flight across the Atlantic 43 years ago made history, took a critical look at modern technology. He said: “It can easily destroy us.” He also stated that Western civilization has probably already entered its “period of breakdown.”
Arms Race Continues
◆ The United States announced deployment of multiple warheads on some of its intercontinental missiles. Of the country’s 1,054 missiles, it is believed that 500 will eventually carry three warheads apiece, each warhead having the explosive power of 200,000 tons of TNT. That is ten times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Soviet Forces at “Flood Tide”
◆ Western sources say that the Soviet Union’s nuclear and conventional military strength is now at “flood tide.” All Soviet-bloc forces are said to have vastly expanded in recent years. Western experts are now asking: Why?
Deadlier than War
◆ More American lives have been taken by the automobile than by all the wars the nation has fought. About 1,750,000 persons have died as a result of automobile accidents since the vehicle was introduced. In the first nine years of the war in Indochina 40,000 Americans were killed in combat; during that same period 437,000 were killed in auto accidents—eleven times as many.
Times Square ‘Sewer’
◆ Once called the ‘crossroads of the world,’ the Times Square area in New York city is degenerating. A stroller, during an hour-long walk in the area one night, was: propositioned by prostitutes four times; asked for a handout five times; twice offered girls by male procurers; propositioned by a male homosexual; twice offered merchandise by men in doorways. There have been muggings, rapes and murders in the area. Police arrested 11,000 persons there in one year, but the deterioration goes on.
For Safety’s Sake
◆ Trees are getting the ax in France. The government considers them a menace to automobiles and is ordering trees removed from hundreds of miles of highway routes. Deaths from road accidents in France last year approached 15,000, one of the worst rates in the world.
Clergy Responsibility
◆ Harvey C. Hahn, United Methodist minister from Ohio, said after reflecting on his 40 years in the church: “I think much in our decadent society can be attributed to the clergy. We’ve conformed rather than transformed. We’ve done what people have wanted . . . not what God has wanted.”
‘Came Just to Sin’
◆ Rock ’n’ roll and other music have been introduced into church services to interest youth. In the Catedral da Sé of São Paulo, Brazil, a communion was held for young folks. A popular singer attended as a godparent. Many young girls stood up on pews, crying and shouting in near-hysterical fashion. They threw flowers at their singing ‘idol’ and one fought with police. Their attitude, as reported by Fôlha da Tarde, was summed up by one: “Today we came to church just to sin.” Others, shocked by this conduct, wept.
In Process of Collapse
◆ Bishop Remi De Roo of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Victoria, British Columbia, stated emphatically: “If you ask is there a lessening of interest in our traditional [religious] organizations, then the answer is yes. There’s reason for serious alarm. Many of them are in the process of collapsing.”
Clergy Numbers Dropping Swiftly
◆ Catholic priest Bede Ferrara pointed out that last year an average of one American high-school seminary a week closed because of a lack of applicants. Those that remain operate at a third or a half of capacity. Since these schools account for most of the freshman classes of college seminaries, their losses mean a drastic drop in the number of future priests. Ferrara also declared: “While we Catholics were losing 3,000 priests last year, the Protestant church was losing an equal number of ministers.”
A typical situation: in the Springfield, Massachusetts, diocese during a five-year period 64 priests resigned, died or retired, but only 33 new ones were ordained, a net loss of 31 priests. The Springfield Daily News commented: “In the past, the diocese has often had a surplus of priests to lend to other dioceses. Now, there are no American dioceses who can return the favor.”
In the Netherlands, a priest in Utrecht said: “I was ordained here in Utrecht 10 years ago with a class of 25. This year, we will ordain one man. All Holland will ordain six parish priests this year.”
National Council in Trouble
◆ The largest church grouping in America, the National Council of Churches, will have to be replaced within two years according to its president Cynthia Wedel. She stated: “We can’t go on too much longer as we are.” The Council is suffering acute financial troubles due to declining support from its 33 member denominations. One reason: member churches are also having declines in contributions. Another reason: members have been angered by various stands the Council has taken on political and social issues. The Charleston Evening Post concluded: “That it will go somewhere—down the drain, if nowhere else—is a fact generally acknowledged by NCC officials.”
Presbyterian Church Decline
◆ The Presbyterian Church in Canada reported “serious” losses in both members and clergymen. The membership loss was put at 6 percent from 1962 to 1969, while Canada’s population grew by 2,000,000.
Permissive Age
◆ A new study by the National Center for Health Statistics revealed that a third of all firstborn American children were conceived outside of marriage in the 1960’s. Of these one out of every seven was born illegitimate.
Her Scream Best Alarm
◆ The best alarm system a woman has against attack is her scream, said Henry Bogardous, vice president of a security firm in Los Angeles. He told delegates to a security conference that when attacked either at home or elsewhere women should scream vigorously “until the emergency is over.”
Blood Donors Present Risk
◆ Science News of July 4, 1970, declared: “A common belief is that persons receiving blood transfusions are more likely to be exposed to hepatitis from blood of paid donors than that from volunteers. This belief, according to Dr. John B. Alsever, is unfounded.” The doctor said that in his 15 years of experience at a blood center in Arizona he found that volunteers who were first-time donors were just as likely to transmit hepatitis as donors who sell their blood for cash.
Dishonest Employees
◆ Lie-detector samplings have shown that 72 percent of department-store employees, 86 percent of truck drivers, and 82 percent of bank employees had stolen from their employers. Such thefts amount to $4,000,000,000 annually, accounting for about 4 percent of the retail trade of some stores. Often this means that the firm goes bankrupt, since their margin of profit is less than that.
Japan’s Divorce Shift
◆ An increasing number of Japanese wives are taking the lead in initiating divorce proceedings. A survey by the Health and Welfare Ministry showed that 51 percent of divorce cases were undertaken by the wife, 36 percent by the husband, the rest by parents. Divorces are steadily increasing in Japan.