Watching the World

Bible Reading on Decline in Sweden

Bible reading has decreased greatly in Sweden, according to a report entitled The Swedish People and the Bible. The author, Thorleif Pettersson, assistant professor of the Swedish Bible Society, notes that only 36 percent of the population claim to be Bible readers, 3 percent of whom say they read it daily. The remaining 64 percent never read it. By contrast, in 1949, there were 66 percent who read the Bible and 34 percent who did not. In his report, Pettersson notes that 11 percent of the population do not own a Bible and indicates that to be true of 25 percent of those under 30 years of age. When asked if young people will “read the Bible when they get older,” he replied, “No, they will never read the Bible. Bible reading will slowly decrease if the present process continues and if the spiritual winds do not begin to blow.”

Tit for Tat

An Egyptian historian, Ahmed Behgat, has published a book charging that “during the Exodus ancient Israelites smuggled gold out of Egypt and used it to make the golden calf.” Mr. Behgat’s research into ancient Egyptian archives has led him to conclude that Israel should pay Egypt $40 billion (U.S.) but without interest, according to Islamic law. However, when his findings were published, according to an item in World Press Review, “the Voice of Israel radio demanded reparations for the slave labor the Pharaohs pressed on the Israelites.”

Syrupy Memories

Canada’s world-famous maple syrup is in grave danger of becoming just a memory if the effect of air pollution is not in some way terminated soon, says a story in the national newspaper The Globe and Mail. “Since 1978, Quebec maple-syrup producers have been reporting that trees of all ages were dying for no apparent reason. The only explanation that scientists have been able to come up with is air pollution, including acid rain and related chemicals,” it said. Inspections in the damaged areas show a startling rise since 1983: from 29 percent of trees adversely affected to 80 percent. In an effort to save the trees and the maple-syrup industry, researchers are calling for a halt in air pollution caused by the use of such chemicals as sulfur and nitrogen oxides.

UN Debate

Drinking-water jugs was the subject of a spirited three-hour debate at the United Nations, and as with many other issues they discuss, there was little harmony. The issue arose when the drinking-water jugs and glasses supplied to each delegate in the 13 committee rooms were removed as a $100,000-a-year cost-saving measure. Brought into question was why the committee chairman and those seated at the podium still had water pitchers. (It was because they cannot leave to go to the water fountain.) Another question was how the UN managed to run up such a large bill just supplying water to delegates. (It was because five people were needed to supply water twice a day and sterilize glasses after each use.) As the debate stretched on, the chairman suggested that the overtime pay for guards and translators that evening might equal the amount saved by discontinuing the water service.

Live Donors?

An increasing number of doctors are questioning whether accident victims “who have organs removed by transplant surgeons after being pronounced dead but whose hearts are still beating” are truly dead, reports The Sunday Times of London. Medical critics of “beating heart” organ donation say that the tests employed to determine death in such cases are “fundamentally flawed.” Why? Because, according to the report, the corpse from which organs are to be removed often reacts to the surgeon’s knife as the first incision is made. “Legs will come up in a protective response, and the muscles in the abdomen will clamp tightly, impeding the operation. . . . The donor’s blood pressure and heart rate may both shoot up when the operation begins . . . , signs which in a normal operation would indicate . . . that the patient was feeling pain,” notes the Times. Expressing concern over the issue, one judge noted: “There seems to me to be a very sharp distinction between so-called brain death and death of the body. . . . The truth of the matter is that when they want your organs . . . they remove some of the spare parts when you are not dead in the sense that you and I would understand it.”

Birth Control in China

For a decade China has taken drastic action to reduce the country’s birthrate. According to French daily Le Figaro, the one-child policy “is efficient but has a certain fearsome aspect. . . . Traditionally, Chinese families must have a boy. So baby girls often receive a poor welcome, as couples find it hard to accept a sole female heir.” In many countries, a study of 1,000 births will show more or less the same number of male and female children. In China, however, “of 1,000 registered births [the registration takes place four weeks after the birth], there are 660 boys for 340 girls.” What accounts for the radical difference between the two figures? Le Figaro notes: “It seems certain that millions of baby girls are done away with each year.”

Smoking Kills

Cigarettes kill at least a hundred thousand people annually in the United Kingdom, claims the Faculty of Community Medicine in their report Charter for Action. Statistics also reveal that 90 percent of all lung-cancer deaths in Britain, along with a third of the deaths from all other types of cancer, can be attributed to the smoking habit. New legislation is aimed at preventing the addiction of young people to the newly promoted tobacco bags. In Britain, the sale of tobacco products to those under 16 amounts to £90 million ($130 million, U.S.) a year.

Just for Being There

All Alaskans—men, women, and children—received a check for $556.26 at the end of last year. That was their share of the $296 million that was divided among Alaska’s 531,911 permanent residents. The money originates in oil revenues from developments on state lands. A percentage is placed in a fund, now holding $7 billion, so that Alaska will be solvent when the oil runs out. Half of the fund’s earnings have been distributed to Alaskans each year since its start in 1982.

Largest Barge Elevator

The Belgian waterways department is now building the world’s largest barge elevator. On the Canal du Centre between Mons and La Louvière (two Belgian cities), there is a 223-foot (68 m) difference in water level. Until now, four old hydraulic elevators, each 56 feet (17 m) in height, have been able to handle 300-ton barges. But the new elevator under construction will be 380 feet (116 m) high, 427 feet (130 m) long, and it will be able to take 2,000-ton convoys. It will consist of two tanks 368 feet (112 m) long and 40 feet (12 m) wide. As the French daily Le Monde explained, “the Strepy-Thieu elevator is proof that the Belgians still believe in water transportation.”

Controversial Signs

What started as a serious safety measure has now turned into a novelty fad. Originally, the five-inch (13 cm), diamond-shaped signs, attached to a car’s rear windshield by a small suction cup, were intended to caution other drivers that a youngster was inside so that they would be more careful. And in the last two years, millions of signs saying “Baby on Board!” or “Child on Board!” have been sold to concerned parents in the United States. Today, however, millions of parodies are being displayed, saying things like “Baby Driving!” “Nobody on Board!” and “Mother-in-Law in Trunk.” Safety officials want all the signs removed, stating that they block the driver’s view and are responsible for accidents.