Watching the World
In the “Book of Records”
● Along with the Bible under “Highest Printings” in the 1982 Guinness Book of Records is included this statement: “The total disposal through non-commercial channels by Jehovah’s Witnesses of the 192 page hard bound book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Brooklyn, New York, on 8 May 1968, reached 100 million in 115 languages by 1 Apr 1981.” By the first part of 1982, the printing of this Bible study aid had reached 102 million in 116 languages.
Battle of Greek Bishops
● When all 78 bishops of Greece’s Orthodox Church recently gathered to discuss pending government legislation, both physical and verbal fireworks ensued. When Bishop Amvrosios of Eleutheroupolis charged that Archbishop Seraphim was collaborating with the government, the bishop claims that Seraphim “leaped out of his seat like a stag, swept on me like a falcon, pulled at my beard, screamed and threatened to strangle me.” Amvrosios characterized the attack as an “act of violence unprecedented in the history of the church.” The tumultuous meeting produced a declaration opposing government legislation designed to legalize civil marriage and end imprisonment of adulterers. However, Justice Minister Efstathios Alexandris said that further discussion with the church was “not necessary” for parliament to act.
France’s “New Set of Morals”
● France has lowered the age to 15 at which homosexual activity is legal. Mr. Foyer, former justice minister, declared that the government was introducing “a new set of morals.” But the present justice minister, Mr. Badinter, backed the move, noting that it is legal for men to have sex with girls of 15, and hence, according to his logic, to prohibit men from having sex with boys of the same age would be unjustified “discrimination.”
Spain’s Taxpayer Burden
● Under the title “The Church, a Business in Crisis,” Spain’s weekly magazine Gaceta ilustrada reported that during 1982 the Roman Catholic Church will cost Spanish taxpayers “more than 9,000 million pesetas [$90,000,000, U.S.].” The article explained: “The Spanish State’s contribution to the Church increases each year in the same quantity as the wages of public officials, approximately nine percent this year. Ninety percent of this money is earmarked to pay the wages of the 24,000 parish priests, which, in practice, makes the Spanish Catholic priests civil servants of the State.”
Commenting on what this means to the average cleric, Gaceta ilustrada said: “A parish priest earns 20,000 pesetas monthly [$200] of base pay, plus some supplements which bring it up to at least 27 or 28,000 pesetas [$270 or $280]. . . . A bishop makes 55,000 pesetas [$550], but it must be kept in mind that in the majority of cases they have a free home and even food so the wage isn’t bad.”
Cancer and Rich Diet
● Medical researchers have uncovered additional evidence linking diets high in fat and meat to cancer of the colon. The study by Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine compared two groups of Israelis having similar circumstances other than the fact that a group living in Tel Aviv had a higher incidence of cancer than a group living in a nearby kibbutz. The major difference between groups was said to be that the diet of the kibbutz dwellers was high in fruits and vegetables and low in fat and beef while the reverse was true of the city dwellers. Colon cancer incidence was just one third as high for the kibbutz members. “The best prevention of cancer of the colon,” concluded the researchers, “is the same prudent, sensible diet found to be good for preventing cardiovascular and other diseases.”
“Dallas” in Africa
● A popular American television series that features sex and treachery recently began airing in South Africa, prompting the news headline: “Dallas Turns Lounge Into Brothel.” Die Vaderland reported that “meetings are cut short and visits cancelled all because of Dallas.” The newspaper quoted a member of Action Moral Standards as saying: “We in South Africa are facing a huge social problem, with a rape every three minutes, and in Dallas it is presented as something normal. It can cause a sick person to feel that it is normal and that he can do it too. . . . The people must wake up. The SABC [South African Broadcasting Corporation] is turning our lounges into brothels.”
Drinking in Brazil
● São Paulo’s newsmagazine Veja says that Brazilians drink more than twice as much distilled spirits as the Poles, who rank second worldwide. Brazilians reportedly consume an annual average of 3.54 gallons (13.40 L) of spirits per person, though they rank fourth in consumption of all types of alcoholic beverages. In 1980, over 1.5 million of the nation’s traffic accidents were said to be related to alcoholism.
Italian MDs on Transfusions
● Commenting on a serious case of contagious mononucleosis reportedly transmitted by blood transfusions, the Italian medical journal Corriere Medico recently stated: “We all know that transfusions carry the risk of hepatitis B and other dangers, although doctors often tend to undervalue this fact and perform transfusions even when not strictly necessary. . . . One patient (a youth of 21) however, got off with an amputation. Still, even if after years he gradually regained immunological defense and finally mononucleosis was cured, it could have turned out much worse. This . . . must once again remind us of the dangers faced by a patient when we decide to give him a transfusion.”
More Mountain Madness
● Every year more and more eager adventurers risk their lives to climb the world’s highest mountains, according to Italy’s newsmagazine Panorama. Of the hundreds of foreign climbers who challenge the Himalayas, a staggering 10 percent reportedly do not survive their adventure. And they pay dearly for the privilege—$13,000 and up each. “Some climb in Europe and then think they’re ready for the 26,000 [feet (7,925 m)],” says Beppe Tenti, an experienced guide. “Full of enthusiasm, they hurry off, possibly reaching the base camp directly by air, without acclimatizating. Two of seven die in such cases.” Mount Everest itself is also suffering from the tourist invasion. Over halfway up its slopes there is an airport and hotel “and all around, an immense dump,” complains one veteran Roman climber. “The enormous cascade of ice that tumbles down Mt. Everest is more polluted than the Tiber [River].”
Marriage Muddles
● The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, recently denied a Catholic funeral to a known mobster who was killed in an underworld execution. Was the denial based on the man’s racketeering, bribery and other criminal activities? No, “his marriage was invalid in the eyes of the church,” explained a spokesman for the archdiocese. “One must have a marriage performed by a priest with two witnesses, and this wasn’t done in his case.” Since full Catholic funeral rites are customarily granted to underworld figures, violation of marriage technicalities would seem to be a greater crime in the eyes of the church than underworld murder and mayhem.
Meantime, Pope John Paul II announced that divorced and remarried Roman Catholics could receive Communion only if they refrained from sexual relations with their new mate. A document summarizing the work of the World Synod of Bishops last fall explained: “This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons such as for example the children’s upbringing, a man and a woman [remarried Catholics] cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples.” On the other hand, while not condoning divorce, the Bible warns all married couples against depriving each other of the marital due.—1 Corinthians 7:1-5; see also Matthew 19:9.
Vanishing Farmland
● Twelve square miles (31 km2) of farmland are being lost each day in the United States, according to former interior secretary Cecil Andrus. That amounts to about three million acres (1,215,000 hectares) a year. Said Andrus: “Over the last decade we’ve lost an area the size of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware combined.” The loss is largely due to housing projects, private homes, schools, shopping centers, highways and airports. He concluded: “A pave-now, pay-later philosophy is buying the United States into a farmland crisis on the installment plan.”
Triggering Spectator Violence
● A professor of education at Boston University reports that spectator violence is rapidly increasing in the U.S. Dr. John Cheffers has studied sports fans in New England for 10 years and came to the conclusion that “violence on the field causes violence in the stands.” With regard to football, he said that when there is violence in the game, about half of the time there is trouble in the crowd.
A Heightened Design Problem
● According to a report in the Hong Kong Standard, people of mainland China are getting taller. The report is based on a study by the China Futurology Association, the newspaper adding that “the average Chinese in Shanghai and Chekiang province . . . is now as tall as the 19th-century American or European.” The effect? “It will become necessary to redesign . . . shoes and clothing, public facilities, houses, workshops, [and so forth].”
Umbrella Protection
● A number of mail carriers in the U.S. have adopted a new method to deal with attacks by dogs. They use pop-open umbrellas. The letter carriers report that they aim the umbrella at the attacking dog and it pops open with enough force to startle the dog into retreat. The method appears to have considerable success, as one post-office manager commented: “This is the first year we haven’t had a really vicious attack—one that has put somebody in the hospital.”
Selling Trash
● A mock sampling of New York City trash is now being sold in a plastic bag at certain novelty shops. The originator of this package calls it “a little bit of the REAL New York.” The packet includes newspaper fragments, gum, a cigarette butt, two “pull-tabs” from canned drinks and a ticket to a fictional show. Only the cigarette butt and the tabs are actually picked up from New York streets. Says the originator of the trash bag: “People will buy anything.”