Watching the World
Birth of a City in Mozambique
◆ The Mozambique journal Noticias da Beira recently published two articles about victims of religious persecution in Malawi. Many of those who have been persecuted are now located in the Malanguene area of Mozambique, just west of the Malawi border. One article carried the headline: “More than 17,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses Gave Birth to a Small City.” The reporter comments: ‘Houses simply built, but spotless in appearance, separated by nice little gardens, full of flowers and surrounded by walls of red mud, were seen. The same appearance of care and cleanliness could be seen within the houses, all provided with toilets. We saw workshops of shoemakers, and wood carvers. And we saw work worthy of an exhibition at an art gallery. The number of refugees is constantly increasing. Some of them intend to work the farmlands. Others will take up their professions. They will be useful to the land that accepted them. The “Jehovah’s witnesses” have doctors who look after the health of their community. More than 1,000 people are treated every day. More than forty births are dealt with every day.’ A Kingdom Hall is described, ‘built of plaster and reed,’ and the reporter noted that meetings were held there ‘every day, when the night approaches.’ He calls this “a city suddenly born as if it had sprung from the earth,” having faith for foundations. “It breathes peace, peace only interrupted by the noises of . . . vehicles which brought them to this religious exile.”
Australian Concern over Malawi Persecution
◆ Public concern over the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Malawi continues. Both houses of Australia’s parliament recently discussed the matter. One senator suggested that the government lodge a “protest at this gross violation of political liberty and the inhumane treatment of these people by a fellow member of the Commonwealth.” A representative termed the situation “disgraceful.” In a speech broadcast on the national radio station, another said: “I hope other honourable members will support my call for religious freedom in Malawi . . . that our delegates to the next Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference will make this an issue.”
Is It a Saving?
◆ In their attempt to combat the high price of eating meat, some families have been buying entire sides of beef. Do they really save money? They may. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture says that they can expect approximately one fourth waste. Wise consumers will consider this in determining real costs.
Famine’s Allies
◆ The far-reaching African famine caused by years of drought is made worse by insect and rodent pests. Harvested crops in storage may lose nearly one third to these pests. Enough grain to feed 55 million people is said to be lost annually in all Africa, with little hope for improvement. The new high-yield crops of the “green revolution” seem even more subject to attack in storage than standard crops. A further complication occurred in Chad when 400 hungry elephants went on a rampage through croplands. Thousands of acres of millet and manioc plants were destroyed.
Economic Reversals
◆ The recently reduced value of the American dollar, coupled with booming economies in other nations, has produced an ironic phenomenon: “cheap American labor.” The result has been a rush of international investment in U.S. businesses and large-scale construction of foreign-owned manufacturing facilities in America. U.S. Department of Labor figures show that while U.S. unit labor costs had been substantially higher in the past, they have risen only about 16 percent in the last five years; West German unit labor costs rose a staggering 85 percent! Based on the estimated total value of goods and services in a nation, the average, per person, of West Germany’s affluence ($6,200) surpassed the U.S. level ($6,100) early in July. Only Sweden is higher ($6,500).
Frozen Mammoth Recovered
◆ The Soviet digest Sputnik reports the recovery of a frozen 10-foot-high mammoth. It was excavated from the Arctic on the 71st parallel, about the same latitude as the northern tip of Alaska. “Its internal organs alone weighed about 400 kilograms [880 pounds].” Such a find could point again to the Biblical flood; it would have produced sudden climatic changes necessary to quick-freeze this creature.
Eclipse Contradicts Religious Leaders
◆ Many Moslems in Africa faced east and begged Allah to “release the sun,” during the recent long solar eclipse. Spiritual leaders, called “marabouts,” had said that men could not predict just when Allah would “catch the sun.” Now that they have been proved wrong, one government in the area has launched a campaign to reassure the people that some religious leaders, not the religion, were wrong. However, an Islamic scholar says it is not a matter of great concern: “There is a certain fatalism in the Moslem faith wherein the faithful don’t question—they simply believe.”
Perverted Gospel
◆ Periodically, some ‘scholar’ releases ‘startling new information’ about Jesus. One recent work claims Jesus was not a person but a mushroom used by a drug cult. Another, Clement of Alexandria and a Secret Gospel of Mark, purports to give the ‘secret’ version of Mark’s Gospel. Though some religionists support such ideas, newspaper writer Louis Cassels notes: “The amazing thing about all these debunk-Jesus books is that they accept as much of the recorded gospels as they find convenient to sustain their thesis, and then blandly ignore or repudiate other parts of the very same documents which are directly contradictory to their pet notion.”
Military Hazard
◆ The U.S. Army’s Medical Research and Development Command says that about 50 percent of professional combat soldiers have permanently damaged hearing. Noisy weapons, vehicles and helicopters are cited as the causes.
Steel Usage
◆ The United States, the Soviet Union and Japan lead the world in steel consumption. They use on an annual per-person average about forty times as much as India.