News and Views World News Religious Vatican officials worry that the American bishops challenged the church’s view of
itself as an institution not temporal but eternal, answering less to exigent
circumstances than to longstanding tradition, and compelled to govern itself. The American
bishops were responding to the child sexual abuse crisis in an almost secular, political
fashion: rewriting rules, confessing fault and acknowledging that they might need
outsiders to keep them honest. To some Vatican officials, that represented an astonishing
departure from church custom and theology and a disturbing precedent. The Vatican
… sees itself as the guardian of a universal institution
with established practices that transcend a given set of circumstances. “The
church is aware that it lost control over the last decade of its discipline,” one
Vatican official said. But, the
official said, the Vatican remained concerned about going too far in response
to extraordinary circumstances in one country—about making sweeping changes that
could ripple through the world, in ways that might not be predictable. “The major
concern and business of Rome is the universal church,” the official said. “The
concern for the universal church always prevails over a problem that is passing through
it.” —New York Times, 10/19/2002 Two gunman identified by police as Islamic
militants shot dead seven Pakistani Christians execution-style, then escaped. It was the
eighth major attack against Western or Christian targets in Pakistan in 2002. The
attack, which police said was well-planned, showed that the al Qaeda network is still
vibrant. Karachi police chief Kamal Shah called it an act of terrorism possibly linked
with other attacks which began with the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel
Pearl. The pair in the recent killing burst into the Institute for Peace and Justice, a
Christian welfare association, tied eight staff members to chairs, then gagged them. They
were then shot from close range. —Pakistani press report, 9/26/2002 September 11, 2001 is often called a day that
changed everything. But when it comes to how Americans practice religion, it didn’t
change much of anything. Despite a brief surge—churches, synagogues and other
spiritual centers were packed with 25% more people immediately after Sept.
11—attendance subsided within weeks. A year after the fact, churches from coast to
coast report that their pews are back to normal occupancy, and in some cases attendance
has actually slipped. The post-Sept. 11 spiritual “bubble” underscores what
seems to be an immutable fact. Despite periodic peaks and dips, the percentage of
Americans who say they regularly attend church has remained steady for decades.
Nationwide, the proportion of churchgoers has settled back to about 40%, according to a
study by Barna Research Group, which studies religion. —Wall Street Journal, 9/11/2002 After nearly 2,000 years, historical evidence
for the existence of Jesus has come to light literally written in stone. An
inscription has been found on an ancient bone box, called an ossuary, that reads
“James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” This container provides the only New
Testament-era mention of the central figure of Christianity and is the first-ever
archaeological discovery to corroborate Biblical references to Jesus. The Aramaic words
etched on the box’s side show a cursive form of writing used only from about 10 to 70
A.D., according to noted paleographer André
Lemaire of the École Pratique des Hautes Études (popularly known as the Sorbonne
University) in Paris, who verified the inscription’s authenticity. —Biblical Archaeology Review, Nov/Dec 2002 Freedom of religion is under severe attack in
the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. On October 5, the state’s Chief Minister
passed an ordinance making it illegal to convert someone to another religion through
force, fraud or allurement. Offenders face a possible three-year prison term and a fine of
50,000 rupees. However, if the
person converted is a Dalit, a member of the so-called untouchable caste,
punishment may include four years in prison and a 100,000-rupee fine (around $2,000).
While the ordinance does not define the terms “force, fraud or allurement,” even
Christian education or the promise of spiritual blessings may be grounds for accusation.
Leaders of anti-Christian organizations welcome the ordinance and demand similar
legislation for every other state of India. —Press release from All India Christian Council, 10/10/2002 Social The World Health Organization today
identified 10 major health risks it said accounted for up to 40 percent of the 56 million
deaths around the world each year. The 10 risks are lack of food, [sexually transmitted
disease], high blood pressure, smoking, alcohol, unsafe water or sanitation, high
cholesterol, nutritional deficiencies, obesity, and indoor smoke from cooking or heating
fires, predominantly in Africa and South Asia. “The potential improvements in global
health are much greater than generally realized,” the report said. “Extra years
of healthy life expectancy could be gained for populations in all countries within the
next decade” by addressing these problems with urgency. Of the 191 countries included
in the report, the data indicates that the average number of years spent in good health
ranges from 28.7 years in Angola to 73.6 years in Japan. In most Western European
countries, people can expect to spend about 70 years in good health. —New York Times, 10/31/2002 From Africa to Latin America, coffee farmers
have been hit hard by a glut that has sent wholesale prices tumbling to their lowest
levels in real terms in more than 100 years. The 25 million families who depend on coffee
for jobs face an economic and social crisis similar to America’s Dust Bowl in the
1930s. In Columbia and Kenya, coffee growers have begun planting drug crops. —Los Angeles Times, 10/5/2002 According to a new report by the Josephson
Institute of Ethics cheating, stealing and lying by high school students have continued
their alarming, decade-long upward spiral. A survey of 12,000 high school students showed
that students admitting they cheated on an exam at least once in the past year jumped from
61% in 1992 to 74% in 2002; the number who stole something from a store within the past 12
months rose from 31% to 38%, while the percentage who say they lied to their teachers and
parents also increased substantially. Michael Josephson, president of the Josephson
Institute of Ethics, said: “The evidence is that a willingness to cheat has become
the norm and that parents, teachers, coaches and even religious educators have not been
able to stem the tide. The scary thing is that so many kids are entering the workforce to
become corporate executives, politicians, airplane mechanics and nuclear inspectors with
the dispositions and skills of cheaters and thieves.” —Josephson Institute press release, 10/22/2002 In a scathing report this month, the
nation’s most respected scientific society, the National Academy of Sciences,
debunked the use of polygraphs [so-called “lie detectors”] to catch spies and
screen employees. The study called polygraph tests so flawed as to be “a danger to
national security.” But even before reviewing the rigorous assessment, a wide range
of police and federal security agencies now say they have no plans to abandon the device.
Overconfidence in the polygraph actually reduces security because many loyal employees are
judged deceptive while most spies escape notice, the report noted. —Los Angeles Times, 10/14/2002 Civil U.S. President George W. Bush has won
unprecedented discretion from Congress to wage war on Iraq. Throughout American history,
presidents have tussled with Congress. But the past year has seen a fundamental shift of
power to the White House, the biggest in at least a generation. The most important reason
behind this result was the attack on America on September 11, 2001. It intensified the
White House’s conviction that it needed more control to deal with the terrorist
threat. The result is a president who has the ability to move swiftly on matters as
important as war and civil liberties. Mr. Bush’s assertion of a new doctrine of
pre-emptive military strikes takes presidential war-making power to new heights.
That’s because the trigger for action is classified intelligence that he is empowered
to keep from the public. “It’s a new wrinkle to the Imperial Presidency,”
says historian Arthur Schlesinger. —Wall Street Journal, 10/22/2002 Violence killed 1.6 million people in 2000,
matching tuberculosis and
surpassing malaria in their death tolls, according to a new World Health
Organization report that attempts for the first time to quantify brutality. Researchers
found that violent fatalities represent about 3% of all deaths in the world. The scope of
violence proved far greater than they expected. Suicide accounted for 50% of the violent
deaths, homicide for 30% and war for 20%, the report says. The highest suicide rates were
found in Eastern Europe, in regions undergoing political and economic upheaval and plagued
by alcoholism. In some countries, researchers say, health-care expenditures tied to
violence account for as much as 5% of gross domestic product. —World Health Organization report, 10/3/2002 The bomb attacks in Bali that killed almost
200 people resembled the attacks on the World Trade Center towers. Islamic ultra
terrorists struck carefully selected, symbolic targets full of innocent civilians. Far
from striking major governmental or military targets, the terrorists have been
reduced to sloven assassinations and to the calculated mass murder of young people. Bali
is traditionally and overwhelmingly Hindu, and the terrorists’ ultimate vision is
even more hostile toward Hindus than toward Christians. The extremists want a purely
Muslim empire in the region. And Bali’s success at attracting tourist dollars has
been the envy of less-affluent, Muslim portions of the country. With a few devastating
blasts, the terrorists managed to strike against Western “corruption” and
against successful Hindus who threaten the terrorists’ vision of a pure, Islamic
state. —Dow Jones news service, 10/15/2002 North Korean officials reportedly admitted to
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly during his Oct. 3-5 visit to Pyongyang that
Pyongyang has an active nuclear program. According to a U.S. State Department report,
North Korea blamed the United States and said U.S. actions had nullified the 1994 Agreed
Framework that promised internationally financed light water reactors in exchange for
Pyongyang’s pledge to end its nuclear program. Russian diplomatic sources added more
detail to the recent exchange, claiming Pyongyang said it was natural for North Korea to
have a nuclear program since Washington had labeled the country part of the axis of evil. —Stratfor.com, 10/21/2002 The gas used in the Moscow theatre siege
assault was a recently developed neuro-paralytic agent likely to cause permanent mental
disability or death, according to medical experts treating the victims. Over 100 people
died from exposure to the chemical, including hostages taken by the Chechan extremists.
Russian official confirmed in private to diplomats the use of an “incapacitating,
intoxicating gas” believed to render victims inactive within 15 seconds. The effects
were to cause first loss of consciousness, then problems with breathing and blood
circulation. —Financial Times, 10/28/2002 Financial As corporate bankruptcies mount to record
sizes, tens of thousands of laid-off workers are finding themselves without severance pay,
no health-insurance coverage and worthless retirement plans. Since the beginning of 2001,
more than 60,000 companies have sought bankruptcy protection, and the number of affected
employees is rising fast. In 2001, the 10 largest companies filing for bankruptcy reported
employing about 140,500 people. The top 10 in 2002 employed 444,600. Normally, employers
offer a host of benefits that soften the blow for employees who lose their jobs. But
bankruptcy changes all the rules. In many cases, workers have to get in line with other
unsecured creditors for severance benefits, a process that can leave them with mere
pennies on the dollars they are owed. —Wall Street Journal, 9/30/2002 For decades inflation was the bogeyman in
rich countries. But now some economists reckon that deflation, or falling prices, may be a
more serious threat—in America and Europe as well as Japan. Particularly worrying
is the rise in borrowing by American households to finance purchases of houses, cars or
luxury goods. Deflation would swell the real burden of these debts, forcing consumers to
cut their spending. Germany now runs a serious risk of following Japan into deflation. If
deflation reflects a slump in demand and excess capacity, it can be dangerous, as it was
in the 1930s, triggering a downward spiral of demand and prices. If deflation causes real
debts to swell, debtors may have to cut spending and sell assets to meet their payments.
This can unleash a vicious spiral of falling incomes, asset prices and rising real debt.
America's corporate sector is already suffering deflation, with the price deflator of
non-financial businesses falling in the past year for the first time since the second
world war. Many firms that borrowed heavily in the late 1990s, expecting rapid
revenue growth to finance their debts, are now in trouble. —The Economist, 10/10/2002 Israel Lebanon has launched a large project north of
Metullah, the Israeli border town, to divert the flow of water of the Wazzani River so
that it would not reach Israel. Until now, Lebanon was seen setting up to pump water to
supply local farmers at another location. The news report included footage of large
diameter pipes and bulldozers damming up the flow of the water. Israeli officials have
said that if it were completed the diversion would be considered an act of war. —Israel Television Channel Two news, 9/12/2002 The increased government deficits to pay the
cost of the intifada and other defense spending will substantially raise the proportion of
government spending to a record 55% of GDP
(Gross Domestic Product). By international standards, this makes Israel’s government
the largest and most expensive in the world. It also runs counter to the trend in
Israel’s economy in the 1990s, when the ratio of government spending to GDP declined.
Israel now heads the global list of big government spenders. Government spending exceeds
50% of GDP in only three countries: Sweden,
Greece, and France. Government spending is only 30-40% of GDP in most developed countries. In the US,
government spending is 30.4% of GDP. The
ratio is 36.9% in Japan, 38.4% in Britain, and 45.7% in Germany. —Globes, 10/23/2002 Immigration to Israel from the United States
is up sharply from last year, but total immigration figures are down. Deputy Immigration
Minister Yuli Edelstein
(Yisrael B’Aliyah) reported that he had reached a “historic
agreement” on October 20th that would grant “immigration basket” benefits
not only to new olim (immigrants) from the former Soviet Union and South America, but
also to those who arrive from elsewhere, including the U.S. and Western Europe. He said
that the basket of benefits for new immigrants reaches a total of 35,000-50,000 shekels
(approx. $7,400-10,500), depending on the size of the family. “We know that the
former Soviet Union is not a bottomless pit for new immigrants,” he said, “and
that if Prime Minister Sharon’s goal of a million new olim over the next few years is
to become a reality, we have to look elsewhere—and North America and Europe are the
likely places.” —Arutz 7, 10/21/2002 Work
began September 24
on preparing the ground for
Ashkelon’s seawater desalination plant, which is to be the biggest of its kind in the
world. The Ashkelon plant is to produce 100 million cubic meters a year of pure
drinking water. The project is costing around NIS
1 billion (US $206,504,904). It is expected that the cost of producing one cubic meter of
desalinated seawater, using the Israeli-developed and refined reverse osmosis system, will
be around NIS 2.40 (US $0.52). [Future]
projects are planned which would raise the total amount produced by desalination units to
over 700 million cubic meters per annum. Consecutive winters of less than average rainfall
have left the nation’s three main natural water resources severely depleted. The
crisis highlighted the problems of being totally dependent on the vagaries of the weather
to ensure reliable supplies of water for domestic, agricultural, and industrial purposes,
and left the decision-makers with
virtually no alternative but to push seawater desalination. —The Jerusalem Post, 9/25/ 2002
Book Review Jewish Culture & Customs, Steve Herzig. Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, P.O. Box 908, Bellmawr NJ 08099. 1997. 141 pp. Every area of Orthodox Jewish life is filled with rich symbolism and special meaning. From meals, clothing, and figures of speech, to worship, holidays, and weddings, there are hundreds of fascinating traditions that date as far back as two or three thousand years. The Jewish father, Tevye, proclaims, “Without our traditions we would be like a fiddler on the roof!” Jesus chided the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for making their traditions more important than the people or God’s law. Christians who consider Israel to be God’s chosen earthly people (Zechariah 2:8) will find a better understanding of both the historical and modern Jew a helpful supplement to a study of the Old Testament and the gospels. Steve Herzig was born an Orthodox Jew and converted to Christianity when he was 18. His book is a collection of articles written for a periodical devoted to promoting Christian understanding of Israel’s place in the plan of God. Although by conversion an evangelical Christian, Herzig does not promote Jewish conversion in general. He does promote the essential understanding of Jewish thought in order to fully appreciate the message that Jesus brought to the Jewish people of his day. The value of Herzig’s book is its brevity and special treatise on certain elements: the evolvement of modern Judaism; the geographical and physical diversities within the Jewish race; the differences between the Hasidim, the Orthodox, and the modern Jew. I found particularly interesting the discussion of Rabbi Hillel, arguably the most influential Jew in history, who taught and influenced the Jewish world of the first century BC and AD. Hillel lived and taught during the years when Herod ruled Jerusalem which was a time when rivalries arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Another interesting discussion concerns the conflict over the Torah (the five books of Moses) and the Talmud (the Rabbinical interpretation). While some elements of Herzig’s
evangelical Christian beliefs
affect his applications of Scripture, the crux of his book is worthwhile for its
insights into the colorful world of Judaism and Jewish life. —Len Griehs |