Major Majors on the
at
REFORMATION BIBLE COLLEGE
Ligonier Academy
eformation Bible College at Ligonier Academy is accepting applications for its four- and two-year undergraduate degree programs. This new school near Orlando, Florida will offer young minds
Classes begin Fall 2011
a deep, meaningful encounter with the Author of history, the Source of
Visit StudyAtLigonier.org
truth, and the Sustainer of our faith. We are pleased to offer extremely
or contact our admissions office at
competitive tuition, and financial aid is also available.
ACADEMY_WORLD_APRIL2011_FINAL.indd 1 Untitled-4 2
800-435-4343 to learn more.
3/22/11 PM 3/29/113:31:24 3:36 PM
APRIL 23, 2011 / VOLUME 26 / NUMBER 8
CONTENTS F E AT UR E S
34 Fighting poverty and leveraging greed
COVER STORY In recession-smacked Florida, and other struggling parts of the country, government and individuals (and baseball owners) have to face up to hard choices
42 A grief observed
Japan’s code of honor makes counting the dead and aiding the living easier and more difficult
46 Praying for stability
As more protest movements unfold, most recently in Syria, Christian minorities fear that what will come next is worse than what they’ve already endured
50 Give chikin a chance
Chick-fil-A faces sustained campaign from gay activists and campus groups over pro-marriage statements
DISPATCHES 5 News 14 Human Race 16 Quotables 18 Quick Takes
52 The long view
Wisconsin’s budget legislation has brought a fierce energy to Democratic voters, but the bill means that liberal public sector unions could lose a lot of political power in the long run
56 Delivery from shame
Dr. Catherine Hamlin pioneered fistula surgery, helping countless women, but now she needs more doctors to carry the work forward
42
ON THE COVER: Greg Kahn/Genesis Photos for
56
REVIEWS 23 Movies & TV 26 Books 28 Q&A 30 Music
23
NOTEBOOK 67 Lifestyle 69 Technology 70 Religion 71 Houses of God 72 Sports 73 Money 74 Science
74
VOICES 3 Joel Belz 20 Janie B. Cheaney 32 Mindy Belz 79 Mailbag 83 Andrée Seu 84 Marvin Olasky
visit worldmag.com for breaking news, to sign up for weekly email updates, and more
(ISSN -X) (USPS -) is published biweekly ( issues) for . per year by God’s World Publications, (no mail) Tunnel Rd., Suite , Asheville, ; () -. Periodical postage paid at Asheville, , and additional mailing offi ces. Printed in the . Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. © God’s World Publications. All rights reserved. : Send address changes to , P.O. Box , Asheville, -.
8 CONTENTS.indd 1
4/7/11 3:33 PM
There’s still
health care for people of faith after health care reform
“The earth is the L’s and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein.” — :
Editor in Chief Editor Managing Editor News Editor Senior Writers . • • . • • • Reporters • • Correspondents • • • • • • • • • . • Mailbag Editor Executive Assistant c Editorial Assistants •
“…an organization, members of which share a common set of ethical or religious beliefs and share medical expenses among members in accordance with those beliefs…” Sec. 1501 (b) of HR 3590 at pg. 327, 328 Every month the more than 17,000* households of Samaritan Ministries share more than $4 million* in medical needs directly—one household to another. They also pray for one another and send notes of encouragement. The monthly share for a family of any size has never exceeded $320*, and is even less for singles, couples, and single-parent families. Also, there are reduced share amounts for members aged 25 and under, and 65 and over.
For more information call us toll-free 1-888-268-4377, or visit us online at: www.samaritanministries.org. Follow us on Twitter (@samaritanmin) and Facebook (SamaritanMinistries). * As of April 2011
Web Executive Editor c Web Assistant Editor
Invest Wisely.
Founder Publisher . CEO Associate Publisher
Send Him.
Customer Service Office .. Customer Service Manager
Advertising Office .. Director of Sales and Marketing Account Execs • • The World Market
Thousands of native missionaries in poorer countries effectively take the gospel to unreached people groups
in areas that are extremely difficult God’s World Publications () for American missionaries to reach. • • 4 They speak the local languages • • 4 They are part of the culture • . • 4 They never need a visa, airline • tickets, or furloughs • • 4 They win souls and plant
churches Native missionaries serve the Lord at a fraction of what it costs to send an American missionary overseas.
To report, interpret, and illustrate the news in a timely, accurate, enjoyable, and arresting fashion from a perspec tive Help provide for a missionary committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. with $50 per month. is available on microfi lm from Bell & Howell Information and Learning, N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI . Indexing provided by the Christian Periodical Index. Christian Aid Mission P. O. Box 9037 Charlottesville, VA 22906 434-977-5650
www.christianaid.org
HOW TO REACH US .. / mag.com To subscribe, renew, change address, give a gift, order back issues, etc.: Email: customerservice@worldmag.com Online: mag.com Phone: .. within the U.S. or .. outside the U.S. Write: , P.O. Box , Asheville, - Reprints and permissions: Contact June McGraw at .. or mailbag@worldmag.com
Biblical faith applied to health care
occasionally rents subscriber names to carefully screened, like-minded organizations. If you would prefer not to receive these promotions, please call customer service and ask to be placed on our list.
www.samaritanministries.org
8 JOEL BELZ.indd 2
3/31/11 11:06 AM
CREDIT
If you are a committed Christian and do not want to purchase mandatory health insurance that forces you to help pay for abortions and other unbiblical medical practices, you can put your faith into practice by sharing medical needs with fellow believers through Samaritan Ministries. The provisions below are on pages 327 and 328 of the 2,409-page health care reform bill, and they protect people of faith who join in sharing medical needs through health care sharing ministries.
Art Director . Associate Art Director . Illustrator Graphic Designer Brand Design Director
Joel Belz
My Pledge dilemma
It may be useful to watch and listen to PBS and NPR, but should we support them?
KRIEG BARRIE
I
’d apologize for being a bit repetitious here—except, you see, that the blame really lies with the annoying repetition of others. Specifically, the folks at so-called public radio and public television have launched a new barrage of fund-raising appeals that seem to be as nonstop as eternity itself. “This week is pledge week,” Jim Lehrer and his staff announced each evening on the NewsHour last week. “This week is pledge week,” he said again each night this week. “Pledge week” used to come twice a year. Now it comes two weeks in a row. And every time they make an appeal, they spike another news story to make room for the appeal. Our local NPR station has more than doubled the dollar goal of its spring fund-raiser. Their desperation is understandable. Twice in the last five months, the public broadcasting folks have shot themselves in the foot. Even by their own standards, their behavior has painted a picture of an organization that leans habitually to the left—while asking its audience to believe it is always evenhanded. Now their clumsiness has produced a wound that, while probably not mortal, is gushing blood right there in the public eye. And it couldn’t have come for these poor people at a worse time. A key portion of public broadcasting’s support— only 10 percent, but an important 10 percent—comes from the federal government’s empty coffers. So that support right now is being challenged by federal budget cutters, and the House has actually voted to defund public broadcasting. At 228-192, it wasn’t as overwhelming a vote as it should have been, but it was still a bold move in the right direction. All of which has renewed my personal dilemma. For years, I’ve been a consumer of the product offered by public broadcasting. I keep my car radio unalterably fixed on NPR, and when we watch TV news, it’s almost certain to be the Email: jbelz@worldmag.com
8 JOEL BELZ.indd 3
NewsHour. In both cases, I like interviews that offer more than 10-second sound bites on the part of respondents—which is typically all you get from commercial network news. So now, what if Uncle Sam finally—and very properly and justly—decides it has no more business shaping the day’s news via radio and TV than it does through subsidies of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, or WORLD magazine? What if Congress finally hears us free market advocates and says to us all: “Now, it’s everyone for himself. Everyone’s on his own. Charge your customers. Charge your advertisers. Look for small gifts or look for big ones. But don’t ask us any longer for annual handouts.” An unlikely scenario? A year ago I would have thought so. Now, the accelerated fund drives throughout the world of public broadcasting seem to acknowledge that may well be the shape of things to come. But how am I to respond personally? Do I, having already admitted my regular use of the product, have an ethical obligation now to pony up as part of my involvement in the free market? Or, having removed the distracting discussion about government subsidies from the debate (let’s fervently hope so, at least!), may we focus now instead on the content of the programming—and based on that content decide whether and how we owe any financial support to that content’s producers and sponsors? One problem with such support is that public broadcasters’ view of “faith” is too narrow and too exclusive of evangelicals (see “I didn’t hear it on NPR,” April 9). But it’s not just when they’re explicitly talking about “faith” that these public broadcasters so badly miss the boat. It’s in the warp and woof of every single topic that NPR and PBS cover that they tend to be at best secularist, and very often pagan, in their outlook. It may be useful to hear what they have to say to understand the times, but they’re teaching a false religion— and even if they’re eventually free of government subsidy, they still won’t deserve the charitable support of thoughtful Christian people. A A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 1 1 W O R L D
3
4/7/11 4:12 PM
FREE E-BO OK
“America’s 200-Year War with Islam” FREE at:
www.AmericanVision.com/islam
Is a National I.D. Card the
“Mark of the Beast?”
Are we really living in the last days? These and many more questions will be answered at American Vision’s
National Prophecy Conference
Reg istra tion O
June 1-4, 2011
nly
Lifeway Ridgecrest Conference Center $9 9 Ridgecrest, NC Learn how to deal with the craziness of modern-day prophetic speculation by developing a rock-solid biblical perspective.
Gary DeMar
Joel McDurmon
Bojidar Marinov
Francis Gumerlock
Jerry Johnson
James Jordan
Ken Gentry CREDIT
For more information and to register visit:
www.NationalProphecyConference.com
8 D-OPENER.indd 4
4/7/11 9:19 AM
Dispatches NEWS HUMAN RACE QUOTABLES QUICK TAKES
The party with a plan NEWS: The goes out on a political limb to address the debt crisis without massive tax increases BY EMILY BELZ
CAROLYN KASTER/AP
>>
H B C C Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said before he introduced the ’s budget that he knew he was “walking into a political buzz saw.” Sure enough, when he announced the budget April which cuts trillion from President Obama’s budget for the next decade, including Medicare and Medicaid, Democrats said he was destroying the nation’s safety net, attacking the poor and the elderly. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who was just tapped to lead the Democratic National Committee, said Ryan’s proposal “passes like a tornado through seniors’ nursing homes.” Some conservatives, too, criticized his plan for barely shaving defense spending. Washington is attacking the specifics of Ryan’s plan, but it was almost universally acknowledged in the press that Ryan is the only one so far offering specifics for addressing the nation’s debt crisis. The president said he strongly disagreed with Ryan’s budget, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney added, “The president believes there is a more balanced way to put America on a path to prosperity.” “What would that path be, Mr. President?” asked The Washington Post editorial board. In the debate over the budget for the rest of fiscal , too, Democrats have sought to hang the failure to pass a budget and avert a looming government shutdown around Republicans’ necks, though this is the budget that they were supposed to have finished last year when they controlled Congress. Their inaction could make Republicans the serious party when it comes to the budget, regardless of a shutdown, PAUL RYAN: The only and Ryan is taking pains to one so far offering point out that his party is specifics for addressing the true protector of the the nation’s debt crisis. APRIL 23, 2011
8 D-OPENER.indd 5
WORLD
4/7/11 5:10 PM
Dispatches > News
LOOKING AHEAD Green roll
On April , the First Family will celebrate the day after Easter with the traditional Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn. But although the tradition probably dates back to Dolley Madison in , the Obamas have decided to break with a rather important part of it: This year, it won’t be real eggs that the invited children will roll, but environmentally friendly wooden eggs made from sustainable forest products.
Chernobyl anniversary With the world’s eyes still fixated on Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych will host an international summit on April to ask for money to further enclose reactors damaged by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl a quarter century ago. Large protests against nuclear energy are expected around the world as Chernobyl is brought to mind by both the anniversary and the precarious state of Japan’s earthquakeand tsunami-damaged reactors.
Security change Say
goodbye to the ubiquitous, colorcoded Department of Homeland Security terror warning system. The plans by April to phase out the Homeland Security Advisory System that featured red, orange, and yellow alert levels in favor of a National Terrorism Advisory System with only two, noncolor-coded levels: elevated and imminent.
Wedding bells
For celebrity enthusiasts without a ticket to what may be the wedding of the st century, the will broadcast the April nuptials between Prince William and Kate Middleton.
CASTRO: CANADIAN PRESS PHOTO/AP • CHERNOBYL: SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • EASTER EGG ROLL: CHARLES DHARAPAK/AP • HOMELAND SECURITY: HANDOUT • WILLIAM AND KATE: CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES
nation’s safety net by bringing fiscal viability to those programs. “The social safety net is tearing apart at the seams,” he has said. “We repair our social safety nets.” “What Paul is arguing is both true and brilliant,” said Henry Olsen, the vice president of the American Enterprise Institute. By offering a long-term plan for solving entitlements, Olsen said, Ryan is telling voters, “We’re the safe choice . . . we’re going to give you true stability.” And he said Ryan is telling Democrats, “Your plan puts people more at risk than ours does.” Ryan’s plan doesn’t address Social Security, but it turns Medicare into a voucher program to buy private insurance for those under when they enter the program. Current seniors won’t see their benefits slashed. He proposes that the federal government send Medicaid funds to states in block grants instead of funding based on the number of cases, which would give states more incentive to use funds efficiently. Some governors complain that this would increase their share of funding. But this was the approach of the welfare reforms, providing block grants instead of blanket funding in order to remove perverse incentives to raise spending. Ryan listed the Medicaid changes in the budget under “welfare reform.” The Ryan budget incorporates welfare reform proposals from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who leads the Republican Study Committee, the conservative wing of the party, proposals that are designed to “build on the reforms of .” Jordan has introduced his own legislation capping welfare spending once unemployment returns to the pre-recession level of . percent and tying benefits more tightly to work requirements. Federal and state welfare spending is the largest category of government spending, exceeded only by the combined spending of Social Security and Medicare, according to Robert Rector, welfare expert at the Heritage Foundation. Welfare spending is greater than defense, he said, and has been the fastest-growing portion of government spending over the last two decades. Democrats “either have to move toward Republican policies or they have to move toward tax increases,” Olsen said. A
Bay of Pigs anniversary
A half-century ago on April , the Kennedy administration’s attempt to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro with -sponsored Cuban exiles began with the invasion of the Bay of Pigs on Cuba’s southern coast. When the overthrow attempt failed miserably in just three days, young revolutionary Che Guevara cabled President John F. Kennedy through a proxy thanking him for strengthening the Cuban Revolution.
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 D-OPENER.indd 6
4/7/11 5:12 PM
Seth Morgan ’10 is the fourth Covenant alumnus in six years to receive a Fulbright grant.
in all things christ preeminent
With a Fulbright grant to work in Tajikistan, Seth Morgan ’10 is teaching English in the city of K hujand. Seth majored in communit y development. “It was both career preparation and worldview transformation,” he says of his studies. “At Covenant I learned that Christians can face society’s challenges best when we are embedded in strong community. I learned that I need humility if I am to serve effectively.”
At Covenant, we equip our students to live out extraordinary callings in ordinary places. We teach students to engage culture and cultures, to examine and unfold creation, and to pursue biblical justice and mercy. Are you eager to grapple with difficult questions in pursuit of God’s calling as He redeems all things through Christ? We invite you to visit us.
In the last six years, three other Covenant alumni have received Fulbright grants, including one to the Philippines, one to Hong Kong, and another to Iceland. CREDIT
Call 888.451.2683 or visit covenant.edu. 9_w-morgan.indd 1 8 D-OPENER.indd 7
1/28/2011 10:11:40 AM 3/29/11 3:47 PM
Dispatches > News
Ivory Coast crisis Israeli skirmishes
Terror in Brazil
A gunman in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killed at least 10 girls and one boy at an elementary school on April 7 before killing himself. The gunman, identified by authorities as 23-year-old Wellington Oliveira, had no criminal history but left a note at the scene suggesting he wanted to kill himself. After the shooting began, two students ran up to two police officers two blocks away and told them of the shooting. The officers reportedly sprinted to the school and located the gunman. “He saw me and aimed a gun at me,” officer Marcio Alves told the Associated Press. “I shot him in the legs, he fell down the stairs and then shot himself in the head.”
Rights ruling
An Illinois judge struck down a state law that would require pharmacists to dispense Plan B, a drug that causes abortion by preventing the implantation of an embryo. Pharmacists Luke Vander Bleek and Glenn Kosirog argued that it violated their consciences to dispense abortifacients. A circuit court originally dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim, but in 2008 the Supreme Court ruled that the court must consider it. On April 5, Sagamon County Circuit Judge John Belz declared that the Illinois law violated the plaintiffs’ right to the free exercise of religion. “The government,” said Belz, “cannot pressure them to violate their beliefs.”
8
8 D-8.indd 8
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
Ivory Coast: Rebecca Blackwell/ap • israel: Edi Israel/ap • brazil: Victor R. Caivano/ap • plan b: Scott Camazine/newscom CREDIT
The Popular Resistance Committee, a Hamas-linked group in Gaza, claimed responsibility for firing an antitank missile that struck a school bus in southern Israel on April 7. The attack critically wounded a 16-year-old boy. Israel responded by firing artillery and tank shells into Gaza, and a Hamas spokesman said the shelling killed a Palestinian man. Militants then continued firing mortars and rockets from Gaza. Meanwhile, Sudan’s foreign ministry said it would report Israel to the United Nations Security Council regarding a missile attack in the Port of Sudan that killed two people on April 4. Ministry officials said the missile struck a single car in a precision strike, and accused Israel of trying to damage Sudan’s reputation by linking it to terrorism. Israeli officials declined to comment on the accusation.
The United Nations warned that a severe humanitarian crisis is gripping Africans fleeing the war-torn Ivory Coast. As many as 1 million residents of the city of Abidjan have fled since fighting erupted over last year’s disputed presidential elections: The country’s electoral council and the UN certified Alassane Ouattara as winner of the November contest, but President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede, triggering months of fierce fighting between supporters of the two camps. Aid agencies reported that more than 100,000 Ivorians have fled into Liberia and are living in dire conditions in jungle villages. Thousands remained trapped inside their Ivory Coast homes, running out of food. With banks closed in Abidjan for nearly two months, even residents willing to venture outside didn’t have money to buy supplies. The International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention reported it has evacuated its missionaries from the Ivory Coast until the crisis ends. IMB missionary Jerry Robertson relocated to Ghana, and from there reported on the dire conditions: “The people in Abidjan are going to start starving soon.”
Download WORLD’s iPad app today. Details at worldmag.com/iPad
4/7/11 5:24 PM
ALEX AND BRETT HARRIS
are best-selling authors of Do Hard Things and Start Here and founders of TheRebelution.com. They are the sons of home school pioneer, Gregg Harris, and the younger brothers of best-selling author, Joshua Harris (“I Kissed Dating Goodbye”).
The Rebelution is one of the most encouraging developments I have seen in many years. Alex anD Brett are young men of conviction, passion, and courage. Their call to their generation is faithful to the Gospel and honoring to Christ.
Albert Mohler President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
THE REBELUTION
is a teenage rebellion against low expectations — a growing movement of young people committed to doing hard things for the glory of God.
Alex and Brett are the real deal. they’re abandoned to Jesus. Their message is vital. Join the Rebelution! l-r: Alex and Brett Harris
Randy Alcorn
best-selling author, Eternal Perspective Ministries
CREDIT
* Receive one copy of Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris and one Rebelution T-Shirt for $22 (down from $27). While supplies last. 8 D-8.indd 9
3/29/11 3:52 PM
Dispatches > News
Choice for parents The House of Representatives revived the D.C. voucher program for low-income students March 30, passing a measure along party lines to reopen and expand the program after Democrats had closed it to new students in 2009. The White House issued a statement before the vote saying it “strongly opposes” the program but didn’t threaten a veto. The program has a staunch backer in House Speaker John Boehner, who choked up when he spoke of it on the House floor: “Let’s give these kids in our capital city a real chance at success and a real shot at the American dream that they don’t have,” he said. The D.C. public schools, though improving, are still bottom-ranked in the country. The voucher program succeeded in raising students’ reading scores and graduation rates in the first five years of its existence, but Democrats, including President Obama, have continued to say that it has no record of success. The measure now faces its real test in the Democratic Senate, where it has only two vocal supporters from the Democratic caucus: Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). The $20 million program would provide $12,000 scholarships to low-income students.
After the spill Families of oil rig workers killed in last year’s Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico said they would participate in flyovers of the doomed site on April 20—the one-year anniversary of the explosion that killed 11 workers and created the worst off-shore oil spill in U.S. history. The families said that officials at Transocean—the rig’s owner—offered to fly families over the rig site, and then to Houston for a memorial service. Other groups have more aggressive plans: Rising Tide North America, a self-described grassroots environmental group, is encouraging activists to stage demonstrations on April 20 to protest oil extraction industries. Suggestions on the group’s website include: covering highway billboards with anti-oil messages, demonstrating at oil executives’ private homes, placing “Out of Order” signs on ATMs at banks that support the oil industry, and sabotaging gas stations. (A note included information on finding emergency shutdown mechanisms at gas stations.) Meanwhile, President Barack Obama proposed cutting oil imports by at least one-third over the next decade. The president suggested a combination of drilling, developing alternative energy, and expanding nuclear development. But critics say that the administration has crippled off-shore drilling over the last year with a temporary moratorium and a painfully slow permitting process. Other industries in the region—including seafood and tourism—say they still struggle from the effects of the spill. BP, the company that leased the oil rig, set up a $20 billion fund for businesses and individuals hurt by
COURT: Xiaoping Liang /ISTOCK • BOEHNER: J. Scott Applewhite/AP • LIEBERMAN: Charles Dharapak/AP • FEINSTEIN: Alex Brandon/AP • DEEPWATER HORIZON: Gerald Herbert/ap CREDIT
The Supreme Court has upheld a government program that allows tax credits for donations to scholarships to religious schools. For the past 13 years, the state of Arizona has allowed taxpayers to get a $500 tax credit for contributing to “school tuition organizations” (STOs) that provide scholarships for schools. The program’s critics claimed that it constituted government support of religion. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on April 4 that the plaintiffs did not have the right to challenge the program. Taxpayers generally do not have the right to challenge the way their tax dollars are spent, although a 1968 Supreme Court case allows taxpayers to contest government money that is spent for religious purposes. In the Arizona case, the Court determined that the plaintiffs did not have standing because individual citizens, not the government, make the decision to contribute: “When Arizona taxpayers choose to contribute to STOs, they spend their own money.”
the spill. By late March, the company had paid about $3.6 billion in claims.
10
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 D-10 and D-11.indd 10
4/7/11 3:27 PM
mark graham/the new york times/redux
Choice for taxpayers
Collector’s addition Philanthropist and executive Steve Green debuts one of the largest collections of biblical gems BY EMILY BELZ
COURT: XIAOPING LIANG /ISTOCK • BOEHNER: J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP • LIEBERMAN: CHARLES DHARAPAK/AP • FEINSTEIN: ALEX BRANDON/AP • DEEPWATER HORIZON: GERALD HERBERT/AP CREDIT
MARK GRAHAM/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX
>>
T can’t compete: a cuneiform tablet from thousands of years ago, a Dead Sea scroll featuring Genesis , a New Testament papyrus from the second century, an Ethiopian translation of the Bible from the Middle Ages, William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament, and more. The Green Collection, one of the largest private collections of biblical manuscripts and artifacts in the world, premiered March in a preview exhibit for a dazzled crowd of scholars, politicians, and businesspeople at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C. This is one of the rare instances of a family, the Greens of the Hobby Lobby retail empire, meticulously collecting a vast number of biblical manuscripts— about , items—and then making them available to the public. The collection’s first exhibit, called “Passages,” will open at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art on May and run through Oct. . The exhibit may appear at the Vatican itself later this year, and then in New York City for Christmas. Sometime in the next three to five years, the Greens plan to build a museum in one of three cities—Dallas, Washington, or New York—to permanently display the artifacts. The museum will be nonsectarian, to reach more than the Christian community. “It’s intended to be a very academically sound presentation,” Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby,
told me. “These are just the facts. You make your decision on what you choose to believe.” The Greens set up a board of scholars to analyze the works and will bring in other scholars as needed. So far, universities are involved. Green, , traveled to Israel, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and beyond to search out and buy the disparate manuscripts with the help of Scott Carroll, an expert in ancient and medieval documents. They pulled the massive collection together at a blinding speed: months. Green, raised Pentecostal, is Baptist now, and has poured millions of dollars into Oral Roberts University. He also recently bought land for a new college the C.S. Lewis Foundation expects to open in Massachusetts. The Green family has funded numerous nonprofits and produced two films, End of the Spear and Beyond the Gates of Splendor, about five missionaries killed in Ecuador. Around Christmas and Easter the company also runs ads about the gospel in newspapers nationwide. But this project is his passion—“love of the book,” he says.
But Green doesn’t want to collect biblical manuscripts like art enthusiasts would Picassos. “The whole reason to collect them is to tell the story,” Green said. “We have amassed a collection not to be put in a closet but to share the Word. We want a very broad reach.” The collection’s debut at the Vatican Embassy made this an ecumenical celebration of Scripture, but also a provocative one given the Bible’s central role in the schism between Catholic and Protestant. On display in the embassy was a Catholic indulgence from , and alongside it the papal bulls from the s condemning Martin Luther (Luther had condemned in kind, calling the pope the “anti-Christ”). Luther’s translations of the Old and New Testaments lay beside the papal bulls. And across the room sat the Tyndale Bible, one of the first vernacular translations of Scripture—which helped spread Protestantism across Europe. A “LOVE OF THE BOOK”: Steve Green (left) and Scott Carroll hold a copy of the Ethiopic Gospels (circa th century) in Oklahoma City.
APRIL 23, 2011
8 D-10 and D-11.indd 11
WORLD
4/7/11 3:29 PM
Dispatches > News
Al-Qaeda attacks
DEADLY: An Iraqi soldier inspects damage at the provincial council building in Tikrit.
Burning rage
Mobs react with murder to destruction of a Quran At least people died in Afghanistan during three days of protests over one Florida pastor’s bizarre Quran-burning ceremony, and a top U.S. general warned that the fallout could pose fresh dangers for American-led war efforts in the country. FRESH DANGERS: Afghan protesters Thousands of protesters mobbed a beat a burning effigy compound in Mazar-e-Sharif on April , of Obama (above) in protesting the March Quran-burning by reaction to the Terry Jones, the leader of Dove World Quran burning by Terry Jones (right). Outreach Center—a small, independent church in Gainesville, Fla. The Afghan mob killed three workers—a Swede, a Romanian, and a Norwegian—and four Nepalese security guards. Protests continued in cities across Afghanistan, killing Afghans, including a child. The demonstrations—which included burning effigies of President Barack Obama and shouts of “Death to America”— erupted less than a week after Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the Florida Quran-burning as a “crime against religion” and called on the United States to punish the pastor responsible. Jones, who had threatened to burn a Quran in a public event last September, led his church in a five-hour mock trial of the Islamic holy book on March that culminated with burning the Quran. The violent reaction in Afghanistan prompted U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, leader of coalition forces, to warn that Jones’ actions endangered U.S. efforts by inflaming Afghan crowds. Obama called the burning “an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry,” but added that “to attack and kill innocent people in response is outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity.” Jones condemned the attacks and called on the United States to hold the offenders accountable. His statement didn’t acknowledge his Quran-burning ceremony or address criticism from many—including Christians—who opposed his provocative act. Meanwhile, Karzai offered condolences for the dead workers, but didn’t condemn the rioters responsible for the murders.
TIKRIT: KARIM KADIM/AP • AFGHANISTAN: RAHMAT GUL/AP • JONES: PHIL SANDLIN/AP CREDIT
Two suicide bombers who carried out the deadliest attack in Iraq since October were senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders who previously had been detained by U.S. forces but released. The March bombing, which killed Iraqis and wounded nearly , took place in Tikrit, miles northwest of Baghdad and the hometown of executed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Militants swarmed into the Salaheddin Province council building after a suicide bomber cleared the entrance. When security reinforcements arrived minutes later, they were met by a car bomb. Then, during a five-hour standoff, the gunmen executed three members of the provincial council and set fire to their bodies in a brutal and defiant display. Of the reported five militants who carried out the attack, authorities identified via samples two who were wanted because they were senior leaders of alQaeda and had committed terrorist acts, said Salaheddin security director Jassem Jabara. “They had been arrested by U.S. forces, then released,” he added, without specifying when they were detained or giving other details. It was the worst single attack in Iraq since al-Qaeda militants attacked a church in Baghdad last fall in a bloody hostage siege that left dead. In March, Iraqi civilians and Iraqi Security Forces personnel were killed in continuing attacks by militants.
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 D-12.indd 12
4/7/11 4:03 PM
Dispatches > Human Race APPOINTED
GRANTED A California judge ruled March that Abbie Dorn, who suffered severe brain damage from complications during childbirth, has the right to see the -year-old triplets she nearly died having. The tentative ruling grants Dorn, , an annual five-day visit and monthly Skype visits. Although Dorn’s former husband Dan has argued such visits would be traumatic for the children, Judge Frederick Shaller wrote in his ruling, “There is no compelling evidence that visitation with Abbie will be detrimental to the children.” A full trial is still pending.
RETURNED Former President Jimmy Carter returned home March after failing to negotiatie the
SENTENCED A Chinese court sentenced Christian democracy activist Liu Xianbin, , to years in prison on charges of “inciting subversion” against the government after he posted internet articles calling for political reform. Human-rights groups say it is an unusually harsh sentence that indicates Chinese authorities are cracking down harder on dissidents. In February police forces quashed a wave of protests and detained nearly two dozen writers, lawyers, and human-rights advocates. Another individuals have since vanished in police custody.
DIED A Jerusalem bus bombing claimed the life of a British Wycliffe Bible translator last month. Mary Gardner Gardner, , was in Jerusalem taking a six-month course studying Hebrew at the Hebrew University so she could return to Togo, West Africa—where she had lived and taught for years—and begin work on an Old Testament translation.
CRACKING DOWN: Liu Xianbin supporters protest for his release.
DIED
MURDERED
Former U.S. Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro, a staunch abortion supporter and the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket, died March at age . In , Ferraro campaigned alongside Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale but was dogged by controversy and later lost to incumbents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Public outcry has spurred authorities in Bangladesh to open an investigation into the January death of a -year-old girl, who died from blood loss after an imam sentenced her to lashes on allegations she had an affair with a married man. The parents of Hena Akhter say the much older man—a cousin— had attacked, beaten, and raped the innocent girl. Although doctors initially labeled her death a suicide, a second autopsy revealed the cover-up. Seven people—including four doctors and the accused rapist—are now facing prosecution. The girl’s family, fearing reprisal, is under police protection.
LINDSAY: NIKKY LAWELL • TOWEY: PAM PANCHAK/POST-GAZETTE/ZUMA PRESS/NEWSCOM • GARDNER: WYCLIFFE BIBLE TRANSLATORS • LIU SUPPORTERS: MIKE CLARKE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • FERRARO: STEPHAN SAVOIA/AP CREDIT
Gordon College chose Rice University sociologist Michael Lindsay, author of Faith in the Halls of Power, to be its new president. Ave Maria University chose Jim Towey, who headed the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in George W. Bush’s administration, to be its new president. Plans are for both to take office on July .
release of an American contractor whom Cuban authorities have detained since December . In March a Cuban court sentenced Alan Gross, , to years in prison for allegedly bringing communications equipment illegally into Cuba while he was working on a backed democracy-building project.
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 HUMAN RACE.indd 14
4/6/11 3:58 PM
LINDSAY: NIKKY LAWELL • TOWEY: Pam Panchak/Post-GazettE/ZUMA PRESS/NEWSCOM • GARDNER: WYCLIFFE BIBLE TRANSLATORS • LIU SUPPORTERS: MIKE CLARKE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • FERRARO: Stephan Savoia/AP CREDIT
IN THEATERS MAY 2011
4/7/11 10:21 AM
8 HUMAN RACE.indd 15
Dispatches > Quotables “It takes about three generations for people to forget.”
“The Democrats think they benefit from a government shutdown. I agree.” House Speaker JOHN BOEHNER to other House Republicans at an April meeting ahead of an April deadline for reaching an agreement with Senate Democrats on a budget to avoid a shutdown of nonessential government functions. Added Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, in an interview with Politco: “If you want to cede the presidential race in , you shut down the government.”
U.S. Rep. PETER KING, R-N.Y., on the Justice Department’s April announcement that the government would try / suspects in military tribunals, an approach President Obama had suspended in .
“I always said asking for foreign aid would be the final way to go, but we have reached the moment.” JOSE SOCRATES, prime minister of Portugal, on asking the European Union for a financial bailout after long avoiding such a request. The government said it would not meet its budget deficit target.
“I truly believe America owes a lot to Roger Ailes and Fox News.” Fox News talk show host GLENN BECK on the network and its after the network announced that it would no longer run Beck’s popular show.
BOEHNER: SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • ANEYOSHI: VINCENT YU/AP • KING: HARRY HAMBURG/AP • SOCRATES: JOSE SENA GOULAO/AP • BECK:ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES CREDIT
“I am absolutely shocked that it took Attorney General Holder 507 days to come to this realization.”
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 QUOTABLES.indd 16
4/7/11 5:21 PM
CREDIT
FUMIHIKO IMAMURA, IMAMURA professor in disaster planning at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, on stone markers, some more than years old, in Japan that warn not to build below those points because of the danger of tsunamis. The small village of Aneyoshi escaped damage from the March tsunami because all of the homes are on ground above tablet one such tablet.
CREDIT
Boehner: SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • Aneyoshi: Vincent Yu/ap • KING: Harry Hamburg/AP • Socrates: Jose Sena Goulao/AP • BECK:Alex Wong/GETTY IMAGES CREDIT
4/7/11 5:22 PM
8 QUOTABLES.indd 17
Dispatches > Quick Takes
Walking through Indonesia and happen upon a few giant lizards? Officials at the Surabaya Zoo might want to have a word with you. Officials at the zoo said three young Komodo dragons have turned up missing and have either been stolen, eaten, or have simply wandered away. The largest of the three young dragons is nearly feet long. Zookeepers say the dragons, though young and probably skittish of humans, should be considered toothy and dangerous.
One Newport Beach, Calif., public library is considering closing down for renovations. And when it reopens, librarians say it could have all the latest in electronic gadgetry. One thing the new library won’t have is books. “That caused me the most angst,” said City Manager Dave Kiff. “People identify [book] stacks with the library.” But librarians pushing the plan say they simply want to focus on library offerings the public uses.
For their -year anniversary, one Dallas couple went all out. Innocent and Chidi Ogbutu renewed their vows, but the real show was at the vow-renewal reception where Mrs. Ogbutu unveiled a -foot-tall cake—created to be a baked and iced doppelganger of herself. “Growing up, I always wanted a doll made in my likeness,” Mrs. Ogbuta told the British paper Metro. But in this case, a -pound butter cream cake would have to do. Mrs. Ogbutu said they had planned also to create a replica cake for her husband, Innocent, but ran out of time. As it was, the cake required eggs and two gallons of amaretto.
Officials in Wheeling, Ill., are concerned that a proposed new bike and pedestrian path—one that stretches directly through a den of vipers filled with now-hibernating massasauga rattlesnakes— may be a health hazard. But the problem, according to the Village Board of Wheeling, isn’t the danger posed to humans by the venomous rattlers. Rather the village spent , on an environmental survey to study how the . million path could be built to minimize the impact on the snake, which is endangered in Illinois.
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 QUICKTAKES.indd 18
CAKE: GAVIN BERNARD/BARCROFT MEDIA LTD. • ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE • KOMODO DRAGON: SIGIT PAMUNGKAS/REUTERS/LANDOV • RATTLESNAKE: SETH PERLMAN/AP CREDIT
Now that they have specified what sort of legal damages they would like to recoup, a group of record companies is suing file-sharing website Lime Wire for what can only be described as all the money in the world. After securing summary judgment against the music pirating website, the group of record companies, including Warner Brothers, Virgin, Motown, and Atlantic, has requested damages approaching trillion. In court documents, the record companies justify the request by applying the standard penalties for single violations of copyright law to the millions of file-sharing incidents that have occurred on Lime Wire. But Federal Judge Kimba Wood of the Southern District of New York questioned the record companies’ logic. “As defendants note,” she wrote in an opinion, “plaintiffs are suggesting an award that is ‘more money than the entire music recording industry has made since Edison’s invention of the phonograph in .’”
magazine for iPad: Inaugural issue is free in the App Store
4/6/11 11:47 PM
COLOMS: MOISES CASTILLO/AP • ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE • LOLA: BRIAN ADAMS MSPCA-ANGELL • SHARK: HOLLY PARKER/THE BRAZOSPORT FACTS/AP CREDIT
CAKE: GAVIN BERNARD/BARCROFT MEDIA LTD. • ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE • KOMODO DRAGON: SIGIT PAMUNGKAS/REUTERS/LANDOV • RATTLESNAKE: SETH PERLMAN/AP CREDIT
COLOMS: MOISES CASTILLO/AP • ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE • LOLA: BRIAN ADAMS MSPCA-ANGELL • SHARK: HOLLY PARKER/THE BRAZOSPORT FACTS/AP CREDIT
If Daniel DeVirgilio had known his cable bill was this high, he might have splurged on a few on-demand movies or even some pay-per-view fights. Recently the Ohio man received his bill from Time Warner Cable informing him he owed about . million in past-due charges. With a bill that normally totals just per month, DeVirgilio would have needed more than , years of service to rack up such a tab. Time Warner said it is working with the customer to fix the miscalculated bill.
Till death—or an electoral opportunity— do us part. Guatemala’s first lady and president announced earlier in March they would be getting a divorce despite being happily married. The couple says they are divorcing to skirt Guatemalan laws that would prevent Sandra Torres de Colom from succeeding her husband, Alvaro Colom, as president of the Central American nation. In a bid to stamp out corruption, Guatemalan law disqualifies close family members of the president from running for the office. If allowed, the divorce would help Torres de Colom clear her first obstacle to replacing her term-limited husband. But her would-be opponents’ charge of immorality in the prevailingly Catholic nation may still prevent her from becoming president.
A trio of Texas fisherman recently discovered that the best catch can be the least suspected. Jason Kresse and two fishing companions were miles away from the Texas Gulf Coast fishing for red snapper when a mako shark approached. Apparently attracted by the fish guts the fishermen had thrown overboard, the shark bolted out of the water and accidentally landed in the trio’s boat. Kresse said the -foot, -pound fish was thrashing too violently for the fishermen to come close enough to throw it overboard. And despite not having a permit to fish for mako sharks, the state wildlife department said the trio don’t have anything to worry about. A spokesman with Texas Parks and Wildlife said they are ruling it an accidental death.
Acevedo and Lola
If every dog has its day, Lola finally had hers in March. Terisa Acevedo of Boston thought the fire that had burned down the multifamily structure she lived in had also taken the life of her little longhaired Dachshund, Lola. But when a month after the fire Acevedo returned to pick up belongings from the scorched building, she made a startling discovery. A scratching sound wasn’t a raccoon that had moved into the wreckage; it was Lola, who had not only survived the fire but also found a way to survive being all alone in the condemned building for a month. Acevedo’s veterinarian speculated that Lola survived the ordeal by drinking toilet water. APRIL 23, 2011
8 QUICKTAKES.indd 19
WORLD
4/6/11 11:49 PM
Janie B. Cheaney
EARTH DAY
A crushing defeat for Mother Earth turned into a sweet victory three days later
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 CHEANEY.indd 20
KRIEG BARRIE
, ’ E D falls on Good Friday. I wonder if any connection will be made between the two while folks are planting trees or strumming guitars in consciousness-raising events. Probably not. In its short memory (this will be the st), Earth Day stays focused on the color green. But the Earth herself—if we can figuratively speak of “her”—remembers mostly in red. We are not equipped to remember our own beginnings, much as we’d like to: the passage from warm darkness to chilly light; how we fixed on a face; the first words we heard and spoke. We don’t remember how we learned to stand and to fall, the exploration of hands and feet belatedly recognized as our own, the first glimmerings of personhood creeping up on us out of a fog. But Earth—brooded over, spoken forth, watered, and greened—was full of memories better forgotten. For instance: a sudden darkness, a tremor in Eden, and the gravity of an angel with a flaming sword. The blood of a murdered brother, her first deep wound, made her cry out to heaven. But in the years to follow, with death polluting her fields and blood continually soaking her soil, who could keep track? The tally-sticks
piled up and rotted away, as Earth grew old before her time, sunk into grief and despair and finally indifference. An occasional rumbling— fire on the mountain, a monumental voice, a whirling chariot—made her stir, but only briefly. She sighed, and trembled, and soon forgot. As for her children, carelessly borne and carelessly begetting—they groped through their short lives calling on the sun, kissing hands to the moon, careening among the spirits, and flailing away at each other with clubs and swords. They were too many, too rough, too brief, too lost, and she would just as soon cast them into oblivion. Until that one birth. No other like it. No cry like that, no flailing baby-hand that clutched her harridan breast made it feel this way. He made her feel lithe and smooth as a virgin (How can this be?). Her old bones stretched and sunned (Does this birth give rebirth to me?). He grew to manhood in perpetual spring, her shocking delight—like any son, but yet so unlike. Her haggard head lifted, gazing, blinking, trembling at His every step. Until He climbed that hill. Oh! She thought blood could no longer move her, but His. . . ! She churned in protest, stormed in helpless rage. A fresh wound ripped her heart, bleeding tears; the fragile peace shattered, the edgy truce undone. I am undone! she cried: undone . . . undone . . . . Sinking down, limp arms sprawling, she received Him back. That hollow tomb ached like a bad tooth but she resigned herself to sleep forever—never, never, to breathe such hope again. And never to remember. But—to her surprise—she can’t hold Him! Her dead lord is not done—eager footsteps shake her slumber, pounding up a well-worn path in an unworn way: In the opposite direction. He has defied her—blissfully, forcefully, in no uncertain terms—and in His rising . . . Her womb now bears a new race of children. She waits, but no longer in fitful sleep. As the mother of a bride yet to be revealed, she anticipates a day veiled in blossoms, not merely green, but robin-egg blue and brimming-dawn gold and cherry-petal pink. She looks for the bridegroom to return, only now with a wedding party, flashing from east to west, proclaimed by a trumpet blast. This Earth Day, thousands of Earth’s devotees will be handing out recycling containers, picking up trash, and urging us to remember our mother. If she had a soul, she might be smiling indulgently at pleas to “make a difference,” even while pointing upward with every fresh-planted seeding. Only one Person really has made a difference. A Email: jcheaney@worldmag.com
4/6/11 8:37 PM
Jimmy said his first French words today, and the family’s so proud. Jimmy is 43, and he’s awakened his natural ability to learn a new language with the Rosetta Stone solution.
» Learn naturally.
» Have fun.
From the start, you began to connect sights and sounds with your surroundings … to take the clues and feedback you were given to learn your first language. Today, learning a new language doesn’t have to be much different. If you have Rosetta Stone® software.
» Converse confidently.
Forget memorization. Toss out translation. Our solution teaches in an immersive environment that is natural, engaging, and fun. In fact, you’ll be amazed at just how quickly you’ll be speaking a new language.
Rosetta Stone software now includes, with your initial online subscription period, live coaching by native speakers and games you can play online to practice what you’ve learned. Paired with our innovative speech-recognition technology, our solution builds your confidence to think and communicate in your new language.
Call: (877) 231-9474 Visit: RosettaStone.com/wms041
VERSION 4 TOTALe® Featuring live coaching and interactive gaming.
SAVE 10% when you order today. Level 1 Level 1, 2, & 3 Level 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
Reg. $249 Reg. $579 Reg. $749
NOW $224 NOW $521 NOW $674
SIX-MONTH, NO-RISK, MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE* krieg barrie
Your Natural Ability. Awakened.™ WIN/MAC compatible.
©2011 Rosetta Stone Ltd. All rights reserved. iPhone® and iPod touch® are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Offer limited to Rosetta Stone Version 4 TOTALe product purchases made directly from Rosetta Stone and cannot be combined with any other offer. Prices do not include taxes and are subject to change without notice. Coaching, interactive gaming and other online services require online access and are offered on a subscription basis for a specified term. Online services must be begun within 6 months of purchase or are subject to forfeiture. Offer valid through 7/31/2011. *Guarantee is limited to Version 4 TOTALe product purchases made directly from Rosetta Stone and does not include return shipping. Guarantee does not apply to any online subscriptions purchased separately from the CD-ROM product or subscription renewals. All materials included with the product at time of purchase must be returned together and undamaged to be eligible for any exchange or refund.
8 CHEANEY.indd 21
3/31/11 11:09 AM
stArt Your in-home AcAdemY
todAY! (866) 418-8741 | www.LibertyonlineAcademy.com
Your LuoA connection
Your new privAte christiAn schooL With Liberty University Online Academy, you aren’t just home schooling, but you are transforming your home into a private Christian school for students grades 3-12. + Quality, Christ-centered education + Accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
+ Real-time messaging system with instructors + Technical support from Liberty University Online, the world’s largest non-profit educator + Meet classmates in your neck of the woods through Facebook @ www.facebook.com/LuonlineAcademy
CREDIT
+ Dollar-for-Dollar tuition scholarship match to Liberty University
8 MOVIES & TV.indd 22
4/5/11 10:14 AM
Reviews MOVIES & TV BOOKS Q&A MUSIC
© 2010 Kennedys Productions (Ontario) Inc. and Zak Cassar
Family history TELEVISION: The Kennedys offers an excellent—and fair—take on America’s most famous clan by Megan Basham
>>
You may never have heard of ReelzChannel, but if you’re a Dish Network, DirectTV, Comcast, or Time Warner cable subscriber, there’s a good chance you have it. And if you do, you might want to set your DVR for what The Hollywood Reporter has called the “most radioactive miniseries ever made.” The Kennedys, which began airing April 3 and will continue playing in repeats, has taken a seriously bumpy road to air. It began when the History Channel brought Joel Surnow, noted conservative and creator of the hit series 24, on board to help produce a miniseries about America’s political royalty.
From the early stages of development, Surnow’s involvement sparked outcry, with former Kennedy adviser Theodore Sorensen labeling the production “vindictive” and “malicious.” Rumors abounded that Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver called in favors to prevent it from airing. Finally, the History Channel announced that despite the fact that consulting historians pored over every episode and approved each, the final product “wasn’t a fit for the History brand.” (Ironically, they are still planning to run the series on their UK network this month.) So despite an A-list cast, multimilliondollar production values, and an Emmywinning executive producer, The Kennedys sold to an upstart cable channel few have heard of for a bargain-basement price. From the first two episodes of the eightpart series, it’s difficult to see what the fuss A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 1 1 W O R L D
8 MOVIES & TV.indd 23
23
4/6/11 8:50 PM
Reviews > Movies & TV
MOVIE
In a Better World by Alisa Harris
>>
A D In a Better World, a father named Anton brings his son and his son’s friend along to confront a man who slapped him unprovoked. The man strikes Anton again. He turns the other cheek to convince the boys that he wins by choosing not to respond with violence. But the boys are skeptical, and the moment shows how difficult it is to comprehend the power of forgiveness. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, In a Better World tells a moving story of forgiveness and family love, but its ending undersells the complexity of its moral themes. The film (rated for violence and language) is shot in both Denmark, where Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) lives, and Africa, where he goes to work as a doctor at a refugee camp. Both communities face bullies who attack the vulnerable. In Africa, a murderer is attacking pregnant women; in Denmark, the boys are plotting revenge against the oaf who slapped Anton. Loss draws the two boys together: Christian’s mother has died of cancer, and Elias (Markus Rygaard) is watching his father, Anton, and his mother undergo a separation. William Jøhnk Juels Nielsen gives a compelling performance as Christian, a determined boy with an adult bitterness set in his mouth. In Christian’s friendship with the gentle Elias, we see in Christian the possibility of redemption. But Christian’s hardness also has the power to sway Elias’ sweetness, and therein lies the story’s tension: Revenge can be persuasive. The film ties everything up into an ending a little too neatly. But there are moments that give the film another layer, like when Anton must decide whether to protect the murderer or abandon him to suffer the vengeance of the people he’s wronged. The truth that we win by eschewing vengeance is a difficult truth to convey. In a Better World comes close. See all our movie reviews at mag.com
8 MOVIES & TV.indd 24
4/6/11 8:51 PM
HOP: RHYTHM & HUES/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS • SOURCE CODE: PHOTO: JONATHAN WENK/SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT, LLC.
Barry Pepper, one of the most unsung actors working today, doesn’t bear as striking a resemblance to Bobby, but his performance as the younger brother who is both more principled and more naïve gives us a view as to how the brothers used their separate gifts to strengthen each other. Katie Holmes has the grace and beauty of Jackie Kennedy, but, not unlike the woman herself, seems something of a blank slate, inviting the viewer to project whatever vision of first lady perfection they prefer onto her. The real revelation, though, is Tom Wilkinson as clan patriarch, Joe Kennedy. As Papa Joe, Wilkinson’s growling, steely-eyed ambition is palpable, clarifying the mystery of why none of his sons pursued any profession other than politics. Academia earns respect, Hollywood adulation, but politics is naked power, and Joe wouldn’t have his boys wasting time on anything less. When Jack begins to buck his father’s iron fist, he gives us a man and president worth admiring. John finds the political voice that inspired a nation when a meeting with the mothers of fallen soldiers leaves him sincerely moved and tearful. Confronted with the underhanded ploys his father uses to impact elections, he’s troubled. Yes, he cheats on Jackie (and again, where’s the shocker there?), but he also empathizes and connects with the common people and strives to be a worthy leader. That’s not to say plenty of the material here isn’t invented melodrama extrapolated from the historical record (it is a miniseries after all), but it isn’t nearly as nuclear as the Kennedy family’s lobbying or the History Channel’s kowtowing would suggest. A
KENNEDYS: © 2010 KENNEDYS PRODUCTIONS (ONTARIO) INC. AND ZAK CASSAR • BETTER WORLD: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
was about. The tale Surnow and his team weave about the famous political clan hardly repackages the Kennedy Camelot trope, yet there’s little room for anyone to argue that the script takes excessive liberties with the historical record. Did Joe Kennedy call for the appeasement of Hitler? He did. Is there evidence that John F. Kennedy won his first campaign for Congress as a result of a dirty trick? There is. Were the Kennedy men repeatedly unfaithful to their wives? Please, is there anyone in America who doesn’t know the answer to that one? Such details are unflattering, but they’re not inaccurate. Yet although the miniseries includes some less-than-glowing aspects of the Kennedy dynasty, it also treats the family, particularly Jack and Bobby, with a full measure of sympathy and seriousness. Its first gift to the Kennedy legacy comes from casting. Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy is so eerily spot on, at times you have to remind yourself you’re not watching the actual man.
MOVIE
Hop by Toddy Burton
>>
BOX OFFICE TOP 10 -,
CAUTIONS: Quantity of sexual (S), violent (V), and foul-language (L) content on a - scale, with high, from kids-in-mind.com
1̀ 2̀ 3̀ 4̀ 5̀ 6̀ 7̀ 8̀ 9̀ 10 `
S V L
Hop* PG ........................................ Source Code* PG-13 ............... Insidious PG-13 ........................ Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules PG ................... Limitless PG-13 ........................ The Lincoln Lawyer* R ....... Sucker Punch PG-13 .............. Rango* PG ................................... Paul R............................................ Battle: Los Angeles PG-13 ...
HOP: RHYTHM & HUES/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS • SOURCE CODE: PHOTO: JONATHAN WENK/SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT, LLC.
KENNEDYS: © 2010 KENNEDYS PRODUCTIONS (ONTARIO) INC. AND ZAK CASSAR • BETTER WORLD: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
*Reviewed by
T swoops into a magical candy factory, glistening conveyor belts jet in every direction carrying flights of chocolate and gummy confections while miniature workers operate whizzing mechanical gadgets and an enormous fountain erupts in streams of jelly beans. The introduction to the Easter Bunny’s factory at the beginning of Hop is an animated wonderland, a playful nod to Roald Dahl and a moment of genuine marvel and delight in a movie that otherwise fails to incite either marvel or delight. The new animated/live-action hybrid from the creators of Despicable Me has neither the wit nor the creativity of its predecessor but instead relies on predictable gags and boring plot points to create a film that’s both tedious and uninspired. The story follows a rebellious something slacker who dreams of being a rock ’n’ roll drummer but is expected to
MOVIE
Source Code by Michael Leaser
>>
T “Make every second count,” and this taut, entertaining -minute thriller lives up to the billing. Heavily dependent on deception and mystery to sustain viewer interest, though, Source Code is unlikely to bear more than one viewing. Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up to find himself in the body of another man on a train near Chicago that explodes eight minutes later. Instead of dying with the other passengers, Stevens is transported to a cool, dark chamber where Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) and Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) inform him that the train exploded earlier that day. According to Goodwin and Rutledge, Stevens is part of an experimental military project that allows him to re-live the last eight minutes of a dead passenger’s life over and over again so he can determine who set off a bomb on the train in time to prevent a threatened, larger dirty bomb from exploding in Chicago later that day. See all our movie reviews at mag.com/movies
8 MOVIES & TV.indd 25
take over his father’s business. The twist is that the slacker is E.B., an animated rabbit, and his father is the Easter Bunny. The occasionally funny British comedian Russell Brand voices the rebellious E.B., who ducks out on his father’s expectations two weeks before Easter and heads to Hollywood in search of his dreams. Meanwhile, in the land of the humans, Fred (the likeable James Marsden) is a hapless man-child whose parents boot him from their house, insisting he get his life together. One unimaginative plot turn leads to another and after Fred accidentally hits E.B. with his car, the two team up to help each other. Meanwhile, back at Easter headquarters, a scheming chick (voiced by the funny Hank Azaria) plots to take over Easter and step in as the new “bunny.” Ultimately, it’s up to Fred and E.B. to save the day. Unfortunately, the fantasy never gels and the film is a muddy mess that will certainly bore both adults and children alike. Rated , the movie includes some child-inappropriate humor.
With his memory of how he became involved in the project cloudy and his minders less than forthcoming, Stevens alternately searches for clues about his role in the operation while trying to solve the mystery of the bomb in his repeated eightminute visits to the train. Although the film has an intriguing premise, its spotty description of the science behind its time-travel conceit generates as many questions as answers, making it difficult to suspend disbelief. Far more grounded is Gyllenhaal’s earnest and relatable performance as the noble soldier trying both to serve his country and to do the right thing. As the doomed friend of the man formerly in possession of Stevens’ surrogate body, Michelle Monaghan has little to do besides being pretty and winsome, but she excels at both. Source Code earns a - rating for strong language and violence. Though the plot is engaging enough if you mind your step around some of its more gaping holes, take away the mystery of a first-time viewing, and there is little incentive to waste any more seconds navigating this film. —Michael Leaser is editor of FilmGrace and an associate of The Clapham Group
APRIL 23, 2011
WORLD
4/6/11 8:54 PM
Reviews > Books
Showing, not telling
Book highlights a controversial conversion BY MARVIN OLASKY
>>
E/P is when books and articles about Christian-Jewish dialogue emerge, so it’s a good time to recommend Jean-Claude Schmitt’s The Conversion of Herman the Jew (U. of Pennsylvania Press, ), a scholarly examination of whether some Jews voluntarily became Christians in medieval times. Some background: A th-century autobiography known as the Opusculum and written by a German Jew known as “Herman,” who later became an ordained priest, has become the subject of academic debate. Israeli professor Avrom Saltman calls it “a work of fiction,” but German professor Friedrich Lotter is refuting Saltman’s argument and saying Saltman is biased because he refuses to admit that Jews could convert voluntarily. Jean-Claude Schmitt does not come to a clear conSEEING THE LIGHT: clusion but lets us read for ourselves the whole text. The Apostle Paul sharing the gospel. The critical question, as Schmitt notes, is whether some Jews in medieval times “abandoned the faith of their ancestors consciously and without the usual physical threat.” My sense is, of course: To say they could not willingly convert defames the Holy Spirit. The highlight in the converted Herman’s autobiography is when, after pages of intellectual arguments, he notes how “so great a brightness shone suddenly in my heart that it entirely chased away the shadows of all former doubt and ignorance.” Yes, that’s how it works, then and now, through God’s grace to both Greeks and Jews.
AN AEI OFFENSIVE
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 BOOKS.indd 26
Boom and Bust () provides some basics on financial cycles. For a concise book on politics, read Matthew Parks and C. David Corbin’s Keeping Our Republic: Principles for a Political Reformation (Resource, ). They uncover “the root of our political disorder: the progressive abandonment of our republican principles and practices.” Their proposals for replanting concepts of responsibility, honor, and other necessities are good. —M.O.
THE YORCK PROJECT
The Politically Correct University, edited by Robert Maranto, Richard Redding, and Frederick Hess (American Enterprise Institute, ), highlights problems in higher education. is now contributing to a partial solution by publishing short paperbacks good for giving to students and new graduates. Wealth and Justice () by Arthur Brooks and Pete Wehner excellently lays out the morality of democratic capitalism, and Alex Pollock’s
Email: molasky@worldmag.com
4/4/11 12:04 PM
SAVAGE: JDP/AP • MORELL’S: PAUL SANCYA/AP
So great a brightness
Richard Sherlock’s Nature’s End: The Theological Meaning of the New Genetics (, ) is solid in its examination of the usual suspects, including cloning and genetic engineering. Its greatest value, though, may lie in its seventh and last chapter, “Faith’s Voice,” where he lays out the limitations of natural law and rationalistic apologetics: “Appeals to natural law, overlapping consensus, and public reason fail because they assume that the deepest faith commitments can be set aside in the public square.” Sherlock notes that “rational arguments are not sufficient to change hearts and souls about something as contested as abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, and prenatal genetic diagnosis.” He recommends that pro-lifers show people color photographs of an -week-old unborn child: “Do they see a small, frail human being? Of course they do. . . . They would see it not because they have been rationally argued to such a position. Rather . . . their way of seeing the unborn is changed. Once the heart has been transformed then we can ask whether the reasons most often given for abortion seem good enough to take a human life.” Sherlock further explains, “This is related to the difference between ‘telling’ and ‘showing.’ Most philosophers and theologians, as well as many other writers, offer didactic lessons to make their points by employing discursive reason. . . . Showing is much different. It uses dramatic stories that explicate or illustrate. . . . Christians must show the story of Jesus and must live the Christian life if they are to change the worldview of those around them.” Overall, our goal as Christians should not be to convince opponents to accept a particular set of policies: Instead, we seek a “religious conversion born of a true witness to another way.” —M.O.
NOTABLE BOOKS Four recent novels > reviewed by
Left Neglected Lisa Genova It’s hard to imagine that a novel whose main character sustains brain damage from a car accident could be laugh-out-loud funny in places, but this one is. It shows the craziness involved when two Type-A Harvard Business School grads marry and have three children while trying to maintain their high-flying jobs. Sarah’s accident results in “Left Neglect”—a type of damage that leaves her brain unaware that she still has a left hand, left foot, or left side. As she learns to cope with her injury, she also learns what is important, including some spiritual values—forgiveness, dependence, and thankfulness—that she’d ignored in the pursuit of ambition. A Red Herring Without Mustard Alan Bradley Alan Bradley’s -year-old heroine Flavia de Luce is so appealing that I willingly forgave a ho-hum plot. In Bradley’s capable hands, Flavia is funny, brave, and terribly sad. Her father exists in a bubble brought on by the death of his wife when Flavia was an infant. The family’s finances continue to crumble, with the dad selling off the family silver and unable to add to his precious stamp collection. Flavia’s sisters continue to torment her, and she continues to long for evidence that her mother loved her. None of that family drama keeps Flavia from helping the local police solve two related crimes: the assault on a gypsy woman and the murder of a local thief found hanging from a statue of Poseidon on the de Luce grounds.
Looking for the King David C. Downing When our children were young, we borrowed from A.A. Milne the phrase “tiddly pom” to refer to pleasant, somewhat-roundabout stories that didn’t have much in the way of plot. That describes Looking for the King, “an Inklings novel” interesting not for its plot but for how it portrays the friendship and faith of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. The particular plot involves two Americans, Tom and Laura, who meet the famous writers when in England prior to the beginning of World War II. They are researching Arthurian sites and exploring the significance of Laura’s recurring dreams, which the Inklings seem to understand. Their quest becomes more personal as Tom moves from an interest in mythology to faith.
THE YORCK PROJECT
SAVAGE: JDP/AP • MORELL’S: PAUL SANCYA/AP
Her Daughter’s Dream Francine Rivers This is the second of two novels that tell the stories of four generations of women. The novel rockets through time— especially at the beginning of the book, which begins after World War II in California. The mother and daughters in the story need each other and resent their dependence and the way it alters relationships. Hidden secrets, distorted memories, and gospel understanding that seems to come too late continue to pull them apart. Strong and understanding husbands do their best to hold things together. It takes tragedy, love, and a deep trust in Christ to finally uncover and expose all the old hurts and misunderstandings. This generational saga rewards patience as Rivers weaves together a story in which the importance of certain strands becomes apparent only at the end. Email: solasky@worldmag.com; see all our reviews at mag.com/books
8 BOOKS.indd 27
SPOTLIGHT Before Carolyn and Sean Savage married, they talked about having a big Catholic family like the one in which Sean grew up. But after the birth of their first son, conception and birth became difficult. They spent the next decade pursuing the dream, undergoing fertility treatments, suffering miscarriages, and finally giving birth to another son. They turned to in vitro fertilization and gave birth to a daughter. When they tried for a second in vitro pregnancy, the doctors blundered and transferred the wrong embryos, leaving Carolyn (shown above) pregnant with someone else’s baby. Inconceivable: A Medical Mistake, the Baby We Couldn’t Keep, and Our Choice to Deliver the Ultimate Gift (HarperOne, ) explains why they chose to go ahead with the pregnancy, and describes their anguish at having to give up the baby. It’s also a cautionary tale about the mixed blessing of birth technologies. The genetic parents, Paul and Shannon Morrel (shown below), also have a book that tells their side of the story: Misconception: One Couple’s Journey from Embryo Mix-Up to Miracle Baby (Howard Books, ). The poor child might wish that both sets of parents had decided not to cash in on his traumatic beginnings.
APRIL 23, 2011
WORLD
4/4/11 12:10 PM
Reviews > Q&A
Former HUD Secretary STEVE PRESTON says irresponsibility “all the way up and down the line” caused the housing bubble BY MARVIN OLASKY
>>
B we take another look at the housing mess in one of the hardest-hit states, Florida. Steve Preston, , headed the Small Business Administration and then the Department of Housing and Urban Development ()
GREED during President George W. Bush’s second term, when the housing bubble grew largest and popped. Preston came to having grown up in poverty and achieved business success. Now he is of Oakleaf Waste Management. Here are excerpts from an interview before an audience of college business students.
8 Q&A.indd 28
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
What was your dad’s background? He grew up very poor, the ninth of kids, in a coal mining camp, basically a couple of little huts. He worked three jobs to put some bread on our table. His sense of family and faith pulled him through difficult times.
4/5/11 4:32 PM
How did you become a Christian at age ? My father had rejected the Appalachian fire-and-brimstone preaching, but I was spending summers with relatives including his sister, a very strong woman of faith. My father was very opposed to religion, but I think my aunt twisted his arm. He said, “This is just a feeling that will go away—but if you want to go to church I’ll take you.” But why did you want to go? Because I had come to faith. I believed it was the truth. Why did you believe that? I think I had a sense of wondering. When I went to visit family
knew I never wanted to go back there. I wanted to move on to bigger and better things. I was terrified of failure. I was a straight-A student, worked like crazy, and had this fear that no one would hire me and I wouldn’t get into any graduate schools. I understand now that I should have had a much deeper sense of faith in God’s providence in my life than I did, but that’s the reality of where I came from. But the University of Chicago did admit you, and after receiving an there you went to work at Lehman Brothers in its sky-rocketing
large public company founded by believers, and it had grown up in a Christian culture. Then over time we purchased other companies. Eventually we kept our Christian statement as an effort to create an ethos to knit the company together, but it ended up not being overtly Christian. When you took over , did your personal and business background help you to sort out responsibility for the housing collapse? Many different parties were responsible. Some people taking the loans couldn’t afford them, but they thought they’d be able to flip their properties, so they weren’t
bundle of loans they were buying with their investors’ money. All the way up and down the line, irresponsibility. Did Democrats tend to blame guys at the top, and Republicans those at the bottom? Plenty of Republicans were critical of banking institutions. President Bush had been working for years to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. So much money was tied up in those institutions that people try to blame them primarily, which isn’t really fair. There’s a danger in ascribing responsibility to one person: We all have to take responsibility for this.
ED ALL AROUND
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
that summer and saw how they made sense of things and were rooted—the strength to living it provided—it all made sense to me. You went to Northwestern, an affluent college with lots of rich kids, and you were a poor kid there . . . Back then, in the ’s, a friend of mine had some Adidas tennis shoes. I had some rip-off brand with too many stripes. I’ll never forget: My second week at college, he was making a joke about my cheap shoes. I remember going home with him. His mother served breakfast in real china bowls. They had real tea served. Most of us would probably just consider them to be a nice upper-middle-class family, but I thought I had walked into Buckingham Palace. I was in a similar situation and headed to the political left with thoughts of “class struggle.” What kept you moving onwards and upwards? Knowing where I came from, I
s era. It was both incredibly fun and incredibly terrible. We were understaffed. My th and th birthdays were allnighters back-to-back. I remember thinking, “My life is not changing—my last birthday was horrible, too.” But you succeeded there and moved on to First Data Corporation as a senior VP. That was my first step as a genuine leader. I didn’t have three s working for me doing complex modeling. I had somebody who maybe balanced the books and had an associate degree. When I was at Lehman, I would never have told people that my father was from Appalachia. So for me it was a journey back to becoming a different kind of leader. Then, seven years as executive VP at ServiceMaster . . . A couple of times I had to stick out my chin on a matter of principle. Once I told the that if he made a certain decision I was going to have to resign. Thankfully, he made a different decision. ServiceMaster was a
Email: molasky@worldmag.com
8 Q&A.indd 29
concerned. On the other side of the table, the folks giving the loans weren’t really concerned, because they were going to sell the loans to another lender to take to market. Did some people from poor backgrounds not understand the danger of taking on adjustable rate mortgages? When someone who doesn’t come from a financial background sits down at the table to take a loan, and is told that the payment will be one amount, they’re probably not going to go through the fine print and find that the payment might go up two or three times. And some lenders knew that many of the loans wouldn’t be paid back? They knew that people couldn’t pay, but the loan officers were getting commissions by production, so care was lifted. Then, concerning the marketing packages, rating agencies didn’t do a credible job. Following that, the investing groups didn’t do sufficient diligence in understanding what was in the
Was the housing bubble evidence of original sin, with greed all over? A lot of greed. People all around this daisy chain were making money. When this collapsed, the damage was incredible. And part of our problem of responsibility is that people have just been walking away from their mortgages. Does government have a role in providing housing? For the most part, the government is not competent to deliver housing. It is important for us as a society to get people off of the street. A step up from homelessness is public housing, but it perpetuates itself. We should be driving people ahead to give children better opportunities. secretaries often come from politics and go back into politics. Did it make a difference that you came from the private sector and went back into it? I wasn’t concerned about tiptoeing, because I wasn’t trying to get elected. A APRIL 23, 2011
WORLD
4/5/11 4:34 PM
Reviews > Music
Remembering
Ray Three recent releases highlight the wide-ranging Charles
>>
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 MUSIC.indd 30
(Meanwhile, Charles’ and the Raeletts’ similarly borderline-insensitive imitation of a Japanese vocal group singing “Pop Goes the Weasel” on the “What’d I Say”– following “Finale” falls flat.) Not to be outdone, Blue Note Records has released Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles, a compendium of two concerts at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts by Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis, and their guest vocalist, Norah Jones. Classy but in touch with their roots, Marsalis and his jazz quintet are the ideal musicians to recreate the vibe of a vintage Charles gig. And, were Charles alive today, Lincoln Center is exactly the sort of venue that he would be playing. But it would be hard to find singers less worthy of “celebrating” his impassioned soulgospel vocal style than Willie Nelson and Norah Jones. At least Nelson, who has recorded with Marsalis before and who scored a chart-topping country hit (“Seven Spanish Angels”) with Charles in , is comfortable with the material. Jones, on the other hand, except on “Makin’ Whoopee,” is doing well even to sound fully awake. Thankfully, the same can’t be said of Marsalis, who, singer though he isn’t, sounds fully engaged (and fully engaging) during his brief vocal turns on
“Busted,” “What’d I Say,” and “Hit the Road Jack.” Frankly, uneven though the “celebration” is, it will have done the world a solid service if it causes lovers of Charles’ genius to investigate last fall’s excellent Concord revelation, Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters. Compiled from never-finished recordings going back to the s and posthumously re-touched for maximum seamlessness by producer John Burk with help from the likes of Keb Mo and Eric Benét, it’s a reminder of the Jericho-like effect that Charles’ instincts and voice could have on the walls dividing genres. The sumptuous nightclub-friendly numbers (“Wheel of Fortune”), the blues (“It Hurts to Be in Love”), the gospelinflected funk (“I’m Gonna Keep Singin’”), the contemporary-in-anyera-sounding pop-soul (“Love’s Gonna Bite You Back,” “I Don’t Want No One but You”), and the country (“She’s Gone”) one takes for granted. The Burl Ives cover (“A Little Bitty Tear Let Me Down”), on the other hand, and the duet with Johnny Cash on Kris Kristofferson’s repentance classic “Why Me, Lord?” take hitting rock bottom to new depths and new heights simultaneously. A
CBS/LANDOV
I this June since the death of Ray Charles, but several new releases suggest that neither he nor his music are in danger of being forgotten any time soon. Not that Ray Charles Live in Concert (Concord) is new. It was, after all, first released in , the year after the performances it captures were recorded at Los Angeles’ Shrine Civic Auditorium. But in those days the double live album was as yet undreamt of in the philosophies of record companies, so the only version of the concert that has existed until now was the -song one that Records edited down to fit onto inches of vinyl. The new edition adds seven songs that practically double the length of the original. And besides restoring a sevenminute version of Charles’ first mainstream No. hit, “Georgia on My Mind,” to the program (how left that one off the vinyl version is anyone’s guess), it also reinstates performances of “Busted” (which had reached No. in its studio incarnation) and “Two Ton Tessie,” whose punch lines would probably run afoul of anti-hate-crime legislation today (“Her appendix had to come out fast. / They couldn’t operate, so they had to blast”) but that elicited an auditorium’s worth of laughter years ago.
Email: aorteza@worldmag.com
4/5/11 4:49 PM
LIFEXPRESSION PHOTOGRAPHY
BY ARSENIO ORTEZA
NOTABLE CDs
Five new classical releases > reviewed by
Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello Morton Feldman The two works Morton Feldman composed before completing this -minute work had “Samuel Beckett” in their titles, and, listening to this live recording, one often has the feeling that he’s waiting for Godot. Unlike Beckett’s characters, however, Feldman’s piano, violin, viola, and cello seem to have lost all capacity for humor. The waiting is all. Even the sections’ titles (“page till page ,” “page till page ”) suggest indeterminacy. Even the applause at the end suggests the audience wasn’t sure (or happy) it was over.
Gavin Bryars: Piano Concerto (The Solway Canal) Ralph van Raat Bryars found himself on the radar of serious-musicloving Christians in when his minimalist masterpiece Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet became a surprise hit. Those expecting something similar from these three works for piano and (occasional) orchestra and choir (the title composition, After Handel’s Vesper, and Ramble On Cortona) won’t necessarily be disappointed, but they will be surprised. Gone is the meditation-inducing repetition. Replacing it is a somber and ever-developing lyricism for which even terms like “beauty” and “grace” feel inadequate. “Majesty” gets closer. “Grandeur” closer yet.
Giya Kancheli: Themes from the Songbook Dino Saluzzi, Gidon Kremer, Andrei Pushkarev If the name “Giya Kancheli” isn’t a household word in the States, the films and specific stage productions for which Kancheli composed these pieces between and are even less known. As delicately rendered, however, by Dino Saluzzi’s bandoneón, Gidon Kremer’s violin, and Andrei Pushkarev’s vibraphone, they take on a life of their own. That some of them were originally intended to illuminate well-known texts (Shakespeare, Arthur Miller) is interesting but beside the point, which would seem to be that elegance is its own reward.
CBS/LANDOV
LIFEXPRESSION PHOTOGRAPHY
A Worcester Ladymass Trio Mediaeval The members of Trio Mediaeval are women, but the “lady” to whom this album’s title refers is Mary, as in Jesus’ mother. Singing th- and th-century Latin texts serendipitously preserved in the Abbey of St. Mary’s in Worcester, England, Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth, and Torunn Ø strem Ossum evoke a timelessness onto which the still time-bound Gavin Bryars, who composed “Credo” and “Benedicamus Domino,” must have found it challenging to stitch “new” wineskins. But he did. And, if it weren’t for the credits, you’d never know. See all our reviews at mag.com/music
8 MUSIC.indd 31
SPOTLIGHT That one doesn’t come across a cappella Mennonite choirs every day is only one reason that the -plus-member Oasis Chorale stands out. Another is that it’s quite good, maintaining the simplicity for which the Mennonite faith is perhaps best known without sacrificing the lushness without which -plus-member choirs might as well be -orfewer-member choirs. The program of the Chorale’s recently released fourth album, Reflections: Portraits from the Life of Christ, is telegraphed by its title. Beginning with five Christmasthemed songs (grouped under the rubric “The Beginning: Scenes of the Advent”) and ending with three Millennium-themed ones (“The End: Scenes of Glory”), the album serves as a chronological soundtrack of Jesus’ life. But it also serves as a primer on the history of Christocentric choral music, juxtaposing carols (“O Come, All Ye Faithful”), hymns (“Passion Chorale,” a.k.a. “O Scared Head”), and spirituals (“Set Down, Servant”). It is, in other words, music for the head as well as for the heart.
APRIL 23, 2011
WORLD
4/5/11 4:52 PM
Mindy Belz
WHAT THE VEIL REVEALS How Muslim women dress should be a sign of real democratization
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 MINDY.indd 32
PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
P B O gave his speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, he stated, “The U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it.” It was a curious statement—a leader of the free world speaking of the “right” of women to be hidden, excluded. Hijab literally means “veil” or “curtain” and was inaugurated to distinguish the prophet Muhammad’s wives as his property. Later, the caliphs housed their women in harems to shelter them from public view. Both harem and hijab fell out of fashion early in the th century, but with the rise of Islamic radicalism in the s, the hijab (with the modern addition of the niqab,, the fully veiled face) made a comeback. For many Muslim women, going about veiled—from a simple headscarf in some Muslim cultures to a head-to-toe burqa—is not a sign of free expression but of oppression. It’s deeply tied to the Islamic practice of wife beating (encouraged in the Quran) and female genital mutilation, i.e., circumcision. The Egyptian feminist writer and physician Nawal el Saadawi—now in her late s—was a sensation when she took her uncovered head to join demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in February. Saadawi says that Muslim women who claim to wear the hijab by choice are “either lying or ignorant.” But head coverings have been on the rise in Egypt, along with other countries toying with democratization, like Syria and Jordan. To gauge how truly democratic are street protests in these and other countries, then, the thing to watch is how the women dress. Will and Al Jazeera show us more black-cloaks or more colorful, varied, and possibly unveiled Muslim women? In Egypt, where protesters cast off the bonds of oppression in February, that question already is answered with threats: In late March text messages
circulated in Cairo demanding that women be veiled “in proper Islamic manner,” according to Barry Rubin, who directs the Global Research in International Affairs Center. Nermien Riad, who works with the Christian nonprofit Coptic Orphans, told me that some groups distributed fliers in Egypt warning both Muslim and Christian women they would be burned with acid if they ventured outdoors without head covering. Despite the obvious pressure, Westerners are muddled over the issue. We support “the right” to wear the hijab if we believe that it’s somehow similar to a woman’s right to wear boots without socks or too-short skirts. But if we understand that the implications of wearing the hijab are more profound, and political, we may respond like France and others. The hijab has been banned in French schools since , and starting on April the full-face Muslim veil, the niqab, is banned in public places in France. Dutch and Belgian lawmakers are calling for the same. For now the United States has skirted the debate only because such disputes primarily have arisen locally, in predominantly Arab communities. In the Fordson High School yearbook showed seven seniors wearing the hijab in class photos. By , seniors at the Dearborn, Mich., school were wearing the hijab for yearbook photos. Muslim groups have succeeded in convincing the Michigan High School Athletic Association to allow female athletes to wear headscarves, over the objections of coaches and referees. But that’s changing with action in Washington by the Equal Employment (). Opportunity Commission ( Under Obama it has filed increasing numbers of lawsuits on behalf of women who insist on wearing the hijab in the workplace. Prominent are cases against Disney and Abercrombie & Fitch. Although Muslims make up less than percent of the U.S. population, they accounted for about percent of over , religious discrimination claims filed with the in . Quietly U.S. employers will find they are required to accommodate hijabwearing employees—if the debate remains veiled. A Email: mbelz@worldmag.com
4/6/11 1:57 PM
The American Civil War Taught by Professor Gary W. Gallagher lecture titles
IM ED T E OF IT
FE
O
RD
off
22
70%
R
LIM
university of virginia
ER BY J UN
E
Explore Our Nation’s Most Dramatic Conflict Between 1861 and 1865, the epic clash between the Union and the Confederacy turned places such as Gettysburg, Antietam, and Bull Run into names that will endure forever. In The American Civil War, leading Civil War historian and Professor Gary W. Gallagher richly details the war’s effect on our nation’s past. Professor Gallagher’s recounting of these great battles is compelling. He brings complex patterns of events into focus, reveals the influential role of leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee, and quotes memorably from a wealth of firsthand accounts. By the end of these fascinating 48 lectures, you’ll have a clear grasp of the Civil War’s front lines and home fronts.
Offer expires 06/22/11
1-800-832-2412 CREDIT
www.thegreatcourses.com/4wm
8 MINDY.indd 33
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.
Prelude to War The Election of 1860 The Lower South Secedes The Crisis at Fort Sumter The Opposing Sides, I The Opposing Sides, II The Common Soldier First Manassas or Bull Run Contending for the Border States Early Union Triumphs in the West Shiloh and Corinth The Peninsula Campaign The Seven Days’ Battles The Kentucky Campaign of 1862 Antietam The Background to Emancipation Emancipation Completed Filling the Ranks Sinews of War—Finance and Supply The War in the West, Winter 1862–63 The War in Virginia, Winter and Spring 1862–63 Gettysburg Vicksburg, Port Hudson, and Tullahoma A Season of Uncertainty, Summer and Fall 1863 Grant at Chattanooga The Diplomatic Front African Americans in Wartime, I African Americans in Wartime, II Wartime Reconstruction The Naval War The River War and Confederate Commerce Raiders 32. Women at War, I 33. Women at War, II 34. Stalemate in 1864 35. Sherman versus Johnston in Georgia 36. The Wilderness to Spotsylvania 37. Cold Harbor to Petersburg 38. The Confederate Home Front, I 39. The Confederate Home Front, II 40. The Northern Home Front, I 41. The Northern Home Front, II 42. Prisoners of War 43. Mobile Bay and Atlanta 44. Petersburg, the Crater, and the Valley 45. The Final Campaigns 46. Petersburg to Appomattox 47. Closing Scenes and Reckonings 48. Remembering the War
The American Civil War
Course no. 885 | 48 lectures (30 minutes/lecture)
SAVE UP TO $390 DVD $519.95 NOW $129.95
+$25 Shipping, Processing, and Lifetime Satisfaction Guarantee
CD
$359.95 NOW $89.95
+$20 Shipping, Processing, and Lifetime Satisfaction Guarantee
Priority Code: 51551
Designed to meet the demand for lifelong learning, The Great Courses is a highly popular series of audio and video lectures led by top professors and experts. Each of our more than 300 courses is an intellectually engaging experience that will change how you think about the world. Since 1990, over 9 million courses have been sold.
4/4/11 12:48 PM
Fighting pov leverag
In recession-smacked Florida, and other str parts of the country, government and indiv idu (and baseball owners) have to face up to
by Marvin Olasky in Bradenton, Lakeland & Fort Myers, Fla.
34 
WORLD  APRIL 23, 2011
8 COVER STORY.indd 34
4/7/11 11:37 AM
overty and aging greed
her struggling div iduals up to hard choices
Tall grass surrounds a vacant home in Lehigh Acres, Fla. (left); City of Palms Park, the Boston Red Sox spring training complex, in Fort Myers, Fla.
8 COVER STORY.indd 35
4/7/11 11:38 AM
L
ate-March sights and sounds from two Florida fixations—spring training baseball and a popped housing bubble: Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia to an autograph-seeking fan: “Just a minute, ma’am. We’re working. Trying to become a better team.” Fort Myers columnist Sam Cook: “The stadium . . . is an exercise in excess for Boston officials who leveraged their greed.” Pittsburgh Pirates fan in Bradenton: “Eighteen straight losing seasons, but we have some good young players this year.” Bradenton Herald reporter Duane Marsteller: “Rampant speculation by builders, developers and buyers . . . relaxed lending standards . . . a blind eye to fraud.” Song over public address system during batting practice: “I don’t care too much for money. Money can’t buy me love.” Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew: “When fans scream at me, I play hymns in my head. You want an example? ‘Jesus, Lover of My Soul.’” U.S. Census Bureau announcement: 18 percent (1.6 million) of Florida’s homes are sitting vacant. Man on Lakeland road holding a sign: “If each driver donates $1, you can save my home.” Painting on Larry’s Pawn Shop in Fort Myers: A person with a big smile, dancing for joy, clutching two dollars and dropping four. Detroit Tigers coach in Lakeland telling his players: “If you’ve got an off-on switch, turn it on.” ans are optimistic as a baseball season begins, but housing experts remain skeptical about the Obama administration’s ability to flip a switch and reverse the national slide in home values. Florida, which was a sunshine U.S. real estate market five years ago, remains in the shade. Its 18 percent vacancy rate is the worst in the country, with Arizona running a close second at 16 percent, and Nevada at 14 percent. High vacancy rates like those push down housing prices and often leave homeowners who purchased properties from 2002 to 2007 “underwater”—owing more on their mortgage than their houses are worth. According to the Florida Association of Realtors, the median price for homes sold in January was $122,000—a 7 percent drop from a year ago and less than half the price at the market’s peak. On April 2 RealtyTrac noted nationally the existence of 1.9 million foreclosed homes—all putting downward pressure on real estate values. The five states with the most foreclosures were California (348,652), Florida (265,088), Arizona (101,337), Michigan (94,705), and Georgia (83,569). The typical foreclosure was a three-bedroom home that had sold for almost $250,000; marketed after foreclosure, such homes are selling for an average of $166,000. The number of foreclosures signaled declining home values for the middle class. According to realtor.org, the median price of existing home sales continued to decline from a high of about $230,000 in 2007 to about $160,000 in February 2011. But the price decline, averaging 5 percent from 12 months earlier, was not uniform across the board, and the value of low-end and high-end homes increased: i Prices of homes selling for less than $100,000 rose by 8 percent.
36
felton: greg kahn/genesis photos for world • lehigh acres: Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post/Getty Images previous spread: greg kahn/genesis photos for world (page 34); Chitose Suzuki/ap (page 35)
F
i Prices of homes selling for over $1 million were up 4 percent. i The selling price of homes in the $250,000-500,000 range was down 4 percent. i The biggest price decline came among homes selling for $100,000-250,000: Down 8 percent. The bad news for middle-class homeowners, though, is good news for home purchasers. In hard-hit Lee County (Fort Myers and vicinity) on the Gulf coast, a 30 percent vacancy rate means that first-time homebuyers can buy houses that a few years ago were only dreams for them. Eddie Felton, executive director of the Home Ownership Resource Center of Lee County, says government officials should not give “underwater” owners whatever it takes so that they can stay in their homes. Instead, he “triages” homeowners and helps those in the bottom third to get out of their homes quickly so a family that’s a better economic match can get in. WORLD subscribers might remember Felton (“Ghost streets,” Feb. 27, 2010), who described for me suburban ghost towns, blocks with abandoned homes purchased several years ago for $250,000-300,000—three times what they sell for now, if they sell at all. Felton, a 26-year Navy veteran, frankly criticized the way President Obama “gets up on TV and says his program will help people stay in their homes. It won’t. . . . He can’t come through without wrecking the whole system. SET-Up Man: Seems to me, if you can’t produce, don’t Felton (opposite give people false hopes.” page at top) After our article, the News-Press—Fort delivers the hard Myers’ daily newspaper—named Felton one truth; a sign of its six “Heroes of 2010” for the way he has advertising Lehigh Acres properties. “helped more than 1,900 people work out a deal that will allow them to stay in their homes or leave their homes in a way that least harms their credit.” Felton became a hero not by being nice to homeowners but by being truthful. Here’s some of what he says directly to those who come to his nonprofit with their homes underwater: “You don’t have income. You can’t afford this home. You have to consider moving out, and moving in with someone.” “I won’t sugarcoat it for you. You can’t afford to be in this house. You’ve got to find an inexpensive rental.” “For one whole week, get a receipt for everything you buy. Put in a paper bag. At the end of the week go through every receipt: Ask yourself, ‘Did I buy this because I needed it or because I wanted it?’” “Can you increase your income by renting out one of your rooms?” “Let’s make sure you can afford to make these payments.” “Don’t use money for that Xbox.” “Prioritize home and food. Remember, an auto is not a necessity. If you have to, learn to take the bus.” Felton also delivers good news. When a homeowner has reasonable hope of being able to make his monthly payments, but may not be able to keep up in the short term, Felton will contact lending agencies and urge them to be flexible. He helps homeowners access government help when they can appropriately use it. Sometimes owners abashedly realize that they can economize and stay in their homes: “Do you need to ride around in this fancy car? You’re driving a Mercedes-Benz and you have no money to make your house payments?”
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 COVER STORY.indd 36
4/7/11 11:38 AM
felton: greg kahn/genesis photos for world • lehigh acres: Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post/Getty Images previous spread: greg kahn/genesis photos for world (page 34); Chitose Suzuki/ap (page 35)
4/7/11 11:39 AM
8 COVER STORY.indd 37
$230,000
2007
$160,000
2008
2009
2010
Feb. 2011
percent change in sales from a year ago
Homes selling for less than $100,000
Homes selling for more than $1 million
8%
4% Homes selling for between $100,000 and $250,000
8%
Homes selling for between $250,000 and $500,000
4%
2011 foreclosure rates
But Felton does not believe his task is to keep people in their homes. The goal is match houses with the ability to pay for them. He’s critical both of those who bought homes they couldn’t afford and the lending institutions that far too easily gave them credit and adjustable rate mortgages: “A few years ago, if you could talk and breathe, you could get a house. These people had no reason being in those houses.” We drove around Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral, two of the hardest-hit communities, as we did the year before. I saw some 2,500-square-foot homes with two-story entries situated on quarter-acre lots now filled with weeds, some as high as an elephant’s eye. I also saw a house that was desolate last year now with mown grass and a child’s bicycle in front. Felton himself lives in a single-story Cape Coral house that is underwater: Originally marketed by the builder at close to $200,000, Felton bought it for $120,000 in 2007 and thought it a bargain; now it’s worth $80,000. Still, it’s an immaculate three-bedroom with a swimming pool, a two-car garage, and an American flag in front, and he and his wife enjoy it. The problem is the mismatch, particularly with homes owned by people now among the long-term unemployed. Felton sees problems in both individual beliefs and government actions. First, the personal: “People say we’ve learned from the housing bubble. I don’t think so. . . . We say we’re not going to eat out, but we do. If my pocketbook says ‘nope,’ maybe I won’t. If it says ‘maybe,’ I will. . . . We’re not going to change unless we have to.” Most people, he says, were not frugal during good times so they had no cushion when joblessness struck. The heart of the problem, he believes, is, “We are not a God-fearing people anymore. If people were going to church and being taught the necessities, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” A churchgoer, Felton says, “We have lots of churches without much teaching. . . . We have to go back to the basics: family, church, education. . . . For many men the trinity is women, alcohol, sports.” The second problem, he says, is government: raising taxes and embarking on grand projects instead of also emphasizing basics. Cape Coral is laying off police officers and firefighters, but the Lee County Board of Commissioners has now agreed to spend probably $80 million to build a new spring training complex for the Boston Red Sox. Felton asks, “How can you go out and build a stadium in this economy?” He also notes, “The old community is devastated.”
T 1 in 100 to 1 in 500 homes 1 in 500 to 1 in 1,000 homes 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 1,500 homes 1 in 1,500 to 1 in 2,000 homes 1 in 2,000 homes and above sources: realtytrac & realtor.org
38
he old community is a poor part of Fort Myers, one mile from downtown, with many one-bedroom, wood-frame, 1,000-square-foot houses. The old community in 1993 welcomed the Boston Red Sox to a beautiful new ballyard, City of Palms Park. The Fort Myers City Council had grabbed the Red Sox from their previous spring training home in Winter Haven, Fla., by taking 26 acres from Fort Myers owners via eminent domain, and razing more than 100 buildings. Taxpayers footed a $24 million bill, with $2 million in interest payments every year.
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 COVER STORY.indd 38
4/7/11 11:42 AM
wakefield: Elsa/Getty Images • drew: J. Meric/Getty Images
median prices of existing home sales 2007-2011
Finding inner peace
WAKEFIELD: ELSA/GETTY IMAGES • DREW: J. MERIC/GETTY IMAGES
For beleagured homeowners and baseball players, singing a hymn helps Eighteen years ago I interviewed Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Tim Wakefield before his first full major league season. He spoke of becoming a Christian in and the effect it had on him: “Before, I worked hard but I wasn’t at ease. Now, in a lot of tough situations people have asked me how I can be so composed, and it’s only because I know the Lord. Knowing that God is gracious regardless of my performance helps me to control my frustrations. . . . The gospel has given me inner peace. I still have a lot to learn, but there is that inner peace.” Wakefield has had a lot of time to learn, in an up-and-down career that he’s built on one unusual pitch that few can throw successfully, the up-and-downand-fluttering knuckleball. After two sensational major league months he lost control of it, sometimes walking up to opponents in a few innings, and returned to the minors. The Pirates gave up on him early in . The Red Sox signed him and he’s played for Boston ever since, with varying degrees of on-the-field success, but a high regard from his managers: Terry Francona told me, “He’s a solid professional every day, doing his best. He’s the same, good day or bad day.” Last year Wakefield received the Roberto Clemente Award, given to the one major league player who best demonstrates community involvement, sportsmanship, and teamwork. Previous winners who profess Christ include John Smoltz and Curt Schilling: See cover stories Aug. , (“Throwing heat and taking heat,” Aug. , , and “Public profession,” March , ). But Wakefield is different from those two vocal evangelicals because he is almost never publicly identified as a Christian. He was first in line for loosening-up exercises early on a game day last month. Later, standing by the third base bag, he said, “Some people lead by example, others by words. I don’t talk about it much, but when reporters ask, I’m happy for them to let people know about my beliefs. They generally don’t ask.”
Wakefield decided in to go on year-by-year contracts rather than hold out for a longterm one: “Money isn’t that important, and I had already made a lot. I wanted to pitch as long as I could contribute, and didn’t want to hang on if I couldn’t.” Another professed Christian on the Red Sox, J.D. Drew, has throughout his career pushed for big multi-year contracts, and received some fan derision in response. He spoke of “the unique opportunities as a professional athlete to get in trouble, especially when you’re on the road,” and acknowledged that he is (like all of us) “a work in progress.” But he’s the first Christian player who has told me that his particular way of dealing with “fans screaming at you” is to sing hymns to himself as he’s standing all alone in right field. The example he gave, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” concludes like this: “Plenteous grace with Thee is found, grace to cover all my sin; Let the healing streams abound; make and keep me pure within. Thou of life the fountain art, freely let me take of Thee; Spring Thou up within my heart; rise to all eternity.” Some Fort Myers homeowners might be singing that as well.
BY THE BOOK: Wakefield on the mound and Drew with the fans.
APRIL 23, 2011
8 COVER STORY.indd 39
WORLD
4/7/11 11:43 AM
park contrast: McKechnie Field in Bradenton; “Tigertown” in Lakeland; the Red Sox’s new complex to be built in Fort Myers (clockwise from top left).
40
McKechnie field & tigertown: Gene J. Puskar/ap • artists rendering: Populous/ap
Eighteen years later, City of Palms Park is still in great shape, but the Red Sox threatened to move to Sarasota unless Lee County would build a new complex just south of the city limits with more seats and luxury boxes, and a configuration identical with Boston’s Fenway Park, including a left field wall. The commissioners assented, and the Red Sox in late March played their last game in City of Palms. Since most of the cash Fort Myers taxpayers have forked over for the ballpark has gone to paying interest, they still owe $18 million on a facility that will now be unused by any major league team. This led News-Press columnist Cook to declare, “If our trio of [county] commissioners had guts, they would have called Boston’s bluff and said, ‘It’s City of Palms Park or nothing.’” But government bodies at all levels, like individuals, tend to look for big fixes rather than incremental improvements. Red Sox officials defend their decision. Manager Terry Francona said the new ballpark “will be a really cool facility. All the fields in the same area. Outfielders learning all the Fenway angles. It will be great.” But it’s also great that the Detroit Tigers last month celebrated 75 years of spring training in Lakeland. Newly refurbished “Tigertown” is a bright spot in economically depressed Lakeland, along with a renovated downtown and a pretty campus for booming Southeastern University, an Assemblies of God college. It’s great as well that the Pittsburgh Pirates are staying in Bradenton’s McKechnie Field, built in 1923 in the style of a Spanish mission: USA Today called McKechnie the “Fenway Park” of spring training ballparks. In 2008 the Pirates signed a
new 30-year lease after the city installed lights and created new and expanded clubhouses. The prospects of the Fort Myers neighborhood surrounding City of Palms Park are not great. But the Lee County Sports Authority, which manages City of Palms, says all is not lost. A spring break college baseball tournament is on the schedule for next March, and the park will have four months of amateur baseball tournaments forecast to bring in tourist dollars. Those small gains may not be enough for Lee County commissioners, who are contemplating a plan to take another $36 million from taxpayers to transform the ballpark into an Olympic-caliber swimming facility that would bring in national events and allow the neighborhood to live happily ever after. Since 1993 Edison Avenue in Fort Myers has had not only the ballpark but two other anchors. At the western end sits the laboratory and winter home of Thomas Alva Edison, the 19thand early 20th-century inventor. Three months after he started school the schoolmaster kicked him out: Young Edison was disruptive, unfocused, and so out of control that nothing good would ever come of him. That, of course, is not the end of the story. His mom homeschooled him. He never received any other formal education. He had read all the classics by the time he was 12. He received 1,093 U.S. patents in his lifetime, including at least one each year for 65 years—for incandescent electric lamps, phonographs, radios, and tattoo machines. On the eastern half of Edison Avenue sits the other anchor, Dunbar High School and a vast array of small churches. Signs give a sense of economic reality: “Larry’s Pawn Shop. E-Z Credit. We buy houses: CASH. Used Tires and Rims. Cash for Gold.” What happens today to the many tattooed teens in classrooms who are disruptive, unfocused, and out of control? Two sets of signs on Edison last month proposed hope of differing kinds for those kids. Those advertising “Florida’s Future: 3-on-3 basketball tournament” suggested the popular alternative that provides a ticket out for one among thousands. Other signs were for the Dunbar Gospel Association. The Gospel can give a ticket out to anyone who is underwater. A
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 COVER STORY.indd 40
4/7/11 11:44 AM
“Is there an alternative for my son?”
Achievement Honor Faith
CREDIT
124 McComb Avenue | Port Gibson, Mississippi 39150 | Tel 601.437.8855 | Fax 601.437.3212
www.chamberlain-hunt.com 8 POVERTY FIGHTING.indd 41
4/4/11 10:21 AM
A grief observed
Japan’s code of honor makes counting the dead and aiding the living easier and more difficult by jamie dean
O
ne of the many wrenching scenes in post-tsunami Japan is unfolding in a most unlikely place: a bowling alley. Along the 25 lanes at Airport Bowl near Sendai, more than 100 white coffins replace standard white pins, and each day grieving Japanese citizens somberly peer inside the boxes, looking for lost loved ones. For many, the search is futile. By early April, the Japanese government reported more than 10,000 people dead and nearly 16,000 missing after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami shattered—or swallowed—scores of northeastern coastal towns. (A 7.1-magnitude aftershock on April 7 rattled the quake zone and knocked out power in three northeastern prefectures, but officials didn’t immediately report further damages or injuries.) In many cases, recovering more bodies may be impossible: The tsunami that swept away towns buried others under miles of rubble. During the last weekend of March, the U.S. military joined Japanese forces in a two-day blitz to recover as many bodies as possible. The 18,000-man mission recovered 339 dead. But even during some of the most painful moments of recovery, many Japanese have remained remarkably calm and resolute: Rescue workers bow in respect for the dead after recovering a body, and homeless Japanese quake victims bow in gratitude for sometimes meager supplies of food and water. Some call the dynamic gaman—a word that conveys the Japanese virtue of honorably enduring hardship no matter how bad it gets. Others might call it gambatte—the Japanese virtue of doing one’s best no matter how difficult the circumstances might grow. A month after the three-fold disaster of a quake, tsunami, and severely damaged nuclear power plant, the circumstances are still deeply difficult: The Japanese government reported more than 161,000 residents still living in evacuation centers. Aid groups reported thousands more living in cars or makeshift shelters. And though supplies were flowing into
42
hard-hit regions, many towns remained without electricity or running water, and many evacuees remained dependent on relief supplies that still came slowly. From his home just north of Tokyo, Russell Board—a missionary to Japan and a WORLD contributor—said that the highly prized virtues of gaman and gambatte would help Japanese citizens endure the country’s worst crisis since World War II. “They’ll work hard, and they’ll recover, and they’ll rebuild,” he said. “They’ve done that in the past, and I expect they’ll do it again.” But like any country grappling with catastrophe, other cultural traits may present challenges during a long recovery: Board notes that the Japanese sense of entrenched self- reliance could backfire when the needs are too great to handle alone. A longtime suspicion of outsiders could hinder the Japanese from accepting help from outside groups as quickly as they need it. And a penchant for regulations could ensnare the process. Indeed, though the Japanese government has improved on its often-panned response to the Kobe earthquake of 1995 by accepting relief from at least two dozen nations (including Iran), and welcoming rescue workers from at least 19 countries (including Israel), some aid workers complained that a stringent process for entering the disaster zone made relief deliveries difficult during the first two weeks after the quake. The government required relief workers to obtain special permits to drive along the highway to the disaster zone near Sendai, a process that some said slowed the aid flow. The International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention reported that the government restrictions contributed to nearly a week-long delay for its painful moments relief experts to reach of recovery: the region. A coffin is carried Kouta Matsuda, a from the bowling Japanese senator, told The alley morgue. Economist that his own Mark Baker/ap
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 JAPAN.indd 42
4/7/11 4:24 PM
8 JAPAN.indd 43
4/7/11 4:25 PM
RESILIENT: government’s red tape prevented him from delivLong lines ering supplies to his constituency in Miyagi in the city Prefecture. Matsuda also said a law requiring oil of Otusuchi companies to maintain days worth of fuel on April . reserves had compounded a dire fuel shortage in the disaster zone. (Ten days after the quake, Japanese authorities eased the requirement to days, freeing gallons of muchneeded fuel.) reported that the fuel shortage had contributed to a two-week delay for a full disaster response team to arrive in the disaster area, and other aid workers said the shortages complicated distribution once they arrived on-site: Delivering supplies to the most far-flung locales became difficult with rationed gas. Still, aid groups and local churches managed to maintain a flow of supplies to the region. (an acronym for Christian Relief, Assistance, Support, and Hope) networked with dozens of churches to deliver relief in the Sendai area, and established a second base camp just south of Fukushima. Volunteers at the site are serving evacuees from the quake zone and the area around the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. And reported that despite initial delays, its workers are preparing , hot meals a day for a community without access to electricity or relief supplies. Meanwhile, Japanese citizens remained resilient and patient, even while coping with deep losses. In evacuation shelters, quake victims elected leaders and formed rotating teams to keep the shelters clean, well-organized, and running smoothly. Aid workers reported little to no trouble in delivering relief supplies
to evacuees waiting in long lines in difficult conditions. And many Japanese somberly continued the daily ritual of methodically checking makeshift morgues for the remains of loved ones. It’s those victims—and others suffering deep losses—who have needs running far deeper than relief supplies or new homes. Board says they also need pastoral care and a sense of hope—something in limited supply in Japan even before the quake. “Hope is something that’s really missing in the Japanese society,” he says. “I think this is an opportunity for the church to mobilize and demonstrate in practical ways the love and compassion of Christ, and offer a word of hope in the gospel.” Back at the makeshift morgue in the bowling alley near Sendai, the need for hope is profound. Kazuya Onishi, , searched the morgue for his mother’s body a week after discovering his wife’s body in a coffin along one of the alley’s lanes. Onishi told The Wall Street Journal that the search for his mother came up empty. “I want to believe there was a miracle and she survived, but after all the time that has passed, I know that’s close to impossible,” he said. “I want to see her face one last time. I didn’t ever get to say, ‘Thank you.’” A
Corporate responsibility particularly slow to act in nuclear crisis, say experts
Workers at the flooded nuclear power complex scored a rare victory by stopping highly radioactive water from flowing into the Pacific on April . But they continued to face daunting tasks: injecting nitrogen to prevent more hydrogen explosions and devising a plan to drain radioactive water flooding the basements of reactor buildings, while continuing to cool the overheated and damaged reactors. While some radiation fears may be overblown, many see a major cleanup in the works for , too. “It’s too early to make any specific judgments,” said Carl H. Seligson, a former Wall Street banker working in utility investments, but “it looks like they’re a bunch of bumbling fools.” He expects ’s problems to sideline future nuclear projects in the United States and Europe, which is already reviewing its more than nuclear plants. SORRY: executives bow in apology during a press conference on March .
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 JAPAN.indd 44
—by Paul Glader
LINE: FRANCOIS LOCHON/GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY IMAGES • TEPCO: KYODO/AP
Crisis management—from last year’s oil spill to Toyota brake recalls—is never a favorite pastime for large corporations. But Tokyo Electric Power Co., or , appears to have demonstrated particular slowness to act to contain the nuclear disaster at its Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station following last month’s earthquake and tsunami. And the longer that crisis continues, the more likely it is the corporation could face bankruptcy or a government takeover.
has grown rapidly since , when it started as a utility serving Tokyo following World War II. But the disaster that began with the March earthquake has so far wiped out more than billion of ’s market value—which included . billion in revenue in . Meanwhile, reports are surfacing that there were safety concerns about Japan’s nuclear plants well before the earthquake struck. The Daily Telegraph cited a Wikileaks document that showed international nuclear officials raised concerns in about the safety of nuclear power plants in Japan, known for its earthquake activity. Bloomberg News reported that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission raised concerns in that earthquakes could cause diesel generator failure and power outage in reactor cooling systems in Japan, and would be one of the “most likely causes” of nuclear accidents. “Their profile preceding this accident hadn’t made people feel percent comfortable,” said Nick Heymann, an industrial analyst at Sterne Agee in New York. “If there was a credibility gap earlier, it gets magnified as we go through this tragic accident.”
Email: jdean@worldmag.com
4/7/11 4:27 PM
There’s room on campus for free speech...
very little room.
For these University students, it came with a heavy, personal price. CREDIT
See their story.
Facebook.com/SpeakUpU
8 JAPAN.indd 45 ADF World 3.12.11 4.9.11.indd 1
4/5/11 5:02 PM 1/31/11 2:55 PM
ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images
Praying f
8 MIDDLE EAST-AFGHANISTAN.indd 46
4/7/11 4:56 PM
g for stability As more protest movements unfold, most recently in Syria, Christian minorities fear that what will come next is worse than what they’ve already endured by Mindy Belz
ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images
C
all it a backlash to change. As familiar protests against the government of a longstanding Middle East ruler began to unfold last month—this time in Syria— hundreds of thousands of Syrians actually turned out in Damascus to protest the protests. And the bloc supporting President Bashar al-Assad included Syrian Christians. “The churches and Christians are praying for things to remain stabilized, and for the president to stay the same,” one Syrian Christian, a physician and church leader who asked not to be named for security reasons, told me shortly after security forces on orders from Assad cracked down on street demonstrators in the southern town of Deraa, killing at least 30 and by later estimates as many as 150. Many Christians and Muslims, he said, “believe that the current president is the best option for them, with improvements in other areas, because what might come next will not necessarily be better. A huge possibility and probability is that it could be way worse.” Unlike in Egypt, where believers joined street protests, Christian leaders in Syria—where Christians have historically taken refuge from nearby purges in places like Turkey a century ago and Iraq in recent years—have remained notably silent in the face of growing unrest. Syria is the home to numerous historic churches, starting with the ancient Church of Antioch and including Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Chaldean, and later Baptists. But the ordained heads of those churches issued no statements, nor did they speak publicly for or against street agitators in recent weeks. “Native Christian communities are deeply affected” by uprisings across the Middle East, according to Habib Malik, professor of history and cultural studies at the Lebanese American University. Increasingly, they are divided, too, over whether to support democracy campaigns or the status quo. “Christianity is most beleaguered in the land of its own birth,” the scholar noted during a recent visit to Washington. What was true before uprisings began across the Middle East and north Africa is doubly true as the turmoil enters its fifth month: Both the established regimes that are under fire and the Islamist movements that are joining democratic activists to bring them down have had a negative impact on the growth of Christianity and the survival of ancient churches. While Christian minorities would seemingly benefit from new liberties DEEPLY AFFECTED: brought by regime change, most Syrian Christians at a church believe that change will lead to in Damascus on April 3.
the rise of Muslim radicalism (as it did in Iraq) and are wary. The Syrian uprising began in March when students were arrested in Deraa near the Jordanian border for scribbling anti-government graffiti. Demonstrators took to the streets to demand their release, and soon thousands joined the demonstrations, demanding political reforms and the abolishment of emergency rule—which the Baathist regime had in place since 1963. Assad complied with some of the demands (including abolishing emergency rule), but his security forces launched a violent crackdown on protesters, which spiraled into more protests and bloodshed. On March 29 the cabinet resigned, but at the same time that unrest was growing in the south, in Damascus and other major cities counter-demonstrations in support of the government also swelled. The Christian physician I spoke to accused outside countries with interest in destabilizing Syria of underreporting the pro-Assad demonstrations: “What we are watching at different satellite channels is shocking all of us here, because they are not presenting the facts or reality,” he said. And despite violent clashes, he said Syrian Christians were not targeted and churches continued to hold regular services. Assad has earned notoriety abroad, and especially in the United States, for providing political and material support to Hezbollah in Lebanon and sheltering other terrorist groups. The U.S. State Department’s most recent terrorism report also condemns Assad for “ties with its strategic ally, and fellow state sponsor of terrorism, Iran.” But at home Assad’s reputation is tempered. Though his Baath Party has ruled Syria for 48 years (Assad took over upon his father’s death 11 years ago), he is a member of the Alawite sect—itself a minority, an offshoot of Shia Islam—and has shown tolerance for Christians, even employing a number in his close circle of advisors, something generally uncommon in the region. Despite his support among Christian believers, in recent months Assad appears to be bending to pressure from Islamic groups. Starting in June 2010 the government closed 10 churches across four governorates and began to limit permission to hold retreats, conferences, and other Christian activities. (Some believed the pressure in those cases actually came from the historic church denominations, as restrictions were largely placed upon evangelical congregations, which sometime drain members from the older churches.) Then on April 6 the government lifted a ban on teachers wearing the niqab, or full-face A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 1 1 W O R L D
8 MIDDLE EAST-AFGHANISTAN.indd 47
47
4/7/11 4:56 PM
Democrats’ dilemma on Syria
COUNTER-DEMONSTRATION: BASSEM TELLAWI/AP • PELOSI & ASSAD: SANA/AP
REALITY: Pro-Assad veil favored by radical Islamists, and also demonstration in ordered the closure of a casino. Both moves were Damascus March . seen as aimed at placating radicals in the midst of unrest. “The government is trying to keep holding the stick from the middle, balancing religious life in the country,” said the Christian leader I spoke to. The same is true in Habib Malik’s Lebanon, where the street uprising of , known as the Cedar Revolution, is credited with spawning populist protests throughout the region culminating in . Yet steps toward greater democracy in Lebanon have faltered, particularly with the downfall in January of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s coalition government— leaving Hezbollah with greater control. According to Malik, the shakeup has divided Lebanon’s Christian community, which once held a large enough proportion of parliamentary seats to maintain a power-sharing arrangement between the presidency and prime minister’s post. Now Christian leaders “are politically divided,” said Malik. “Some are outspoken against Hezbollah and others want a political alliance” with the group because they see the militants as the new gatekeepers to power and influence. Malik sees a silver lining in what looks like a downturn for Christians there. “If all Christians were one bloc it would be easy to revert to the Christian-Muslim divide we had up through the civil war,” he said. “Instead we have the Sunni-Shiite divide more prominent.” That’s also reflective of the growing divide throughout the region, where Muslim faction fights Muslim faction—in some cases dependent upon which influence is greater, Shiite-led Iran or Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia. Malik also believes the shakeups could pave the way for what he calls “a federalist model” to take root in the Middle East: “It was the West, primarily Britain and France, that gave the Middle East the idea of a unitary state. Now we have a chance to offer a different model of the state.” Muslim Sudan’s referendum earlier this year, creating the new South Sudan that will be largely Christian, is one indicator of what’s possible. Malik foresees the possibility of a Coptic state within greater—and hopefully democratic—Egypt. Iraqi leaders are taking another look at the possibility of creating a semi-autonomous zone for Assyrian Christians in the Nineveh Plains. And Yemen—where U.S. ally President Ali Abdullah Saleh has lost support from the White House and is likely to be forced out of office—could split along Sunni and Shia lines. If the current regime in Syria is forced out, it’s likely Assad will leave office only on the condition that Alawites be apportioned a protected enclave, according to Malik. “Federalism is elastic enough to tailor it to every country,” said Malik, but he admits few changes to unitary states would be made without political—and perhaps violent—challenges. He is optimistic, though, that the outcome would create boundaries more supportive of minorities, including Christians. A
When Gen. Muammar Qaddafi fired on unarmed civilian protesters, the atrocities launched a multinational campaign that led to and air strikes and imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya. President Bashar al-Assad’s attacks on Syrian civilian demonstrators, while appearing less sustained and severe, are unlikely to lead to similar condemnation, though the country occupies a strategic spot bordering Israel and Iraq. In April House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Syria since the United States ended bilateral relations in . Her visit defied not only Bush policy toward Syria but existing, comprehensive U.S. sanctions passed by Congress. Her delegation, which included five Democrats and one Republican, met with Assad. Afterward, Pelosi told reporters that Assad was ready to begin peace talks with Israel, Pelosi and Assad something that both the Assad regime and Israel later denounced. Three weeks later Syria sentenced prominent humanrights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni to five years in prison for the crime of speaking out against human-rights abuses: “The danger of offering ‘friendship’ and ‘hope’ to a ruler such as Mr. Assad is that it will be interpreted as acquiescence by the United States to the policies of dictatorship,” read a Washington Post editorial in an unusual denouncement of the House speaker. “Ms. Pelosi’s courting of Mr. Assad didn’t cause Mr. al-Bunni’s prison sentence this week—but it certainly did not discourage it.” Last year the Obama administration lifted travel restrictions for Americans going to Syria in place under the Bush administration. It also eased sanctions. That left Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a quandary when Assad began taking action against demonstrators. “Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer,” she said of Assad on Mar. —only to backtrack a few days later as confrontations with protesters mounted. Then Clinton said she “was not speaking either for myself or for the administration.” —M.B., with reporting by Alisa Harris
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 MIDDLE EAST-AFGHANISTAN.indd 48
4/7/11 4:58 PM
Christ-Centered Summer Camps For Rising 8th-12th Grade Students
Students Have Attended our Camps From Every State in The U.S. and 7 Countries! - Camp C.S. Lewis - Camp Christian Music Jam - Camp Strings (Violin, Cello, Viola, Bass) - Camp Theatre - Camp Biology - Camp Politics - Camp Anatomy & Physiology / Pre-Med - Camp Creative Writing - Camp Russian Language - Camp Chemistry - Camp Ballet Intensive - Camp American Government - Camp Photography - Camp Latin - Camp Civil War - Camp Mock Trial / Pre-Law - Camp Handbells - Camp Psychology - Camp German Language - Camp Architecture / Drafting / Design - Camp Crime Scene Investigation - Camp French Language - Camp Art Held on the Campus of Lees McRae College in the Mountains of North Carolina “. . . I am prompted to write you because a few days ago something we were doing reminded Daniel of anatomy camp and he said suddenly, with great feeling, ‘I had so much fun at anatomy camp. That was such a good time.’ It made me very thankful for the good experience you put together for the campers. Thank you for your hard work and organization . . . ” God bless you, Jenni, Eagle River, AK “After being in Greg’s lab for two days, the dissection experience paled in comparison to what was being offered to the students at an academic and personal level. These students were being given a unique opportunity to experience first-hand the rigors of a college-level science course with someone who truly cared and was interested in preparing them for the future. Greg’s teaching style was firm yet inspirational, and, over the course of a week, I saw many lives stirred and motivated through the objectives Greg had designed for this camp.” Jodi Quint, Nashville TN Col. 3:23
CREDIT
Christ Centered Online Classes & Summer Camps
8 MIDDLE EAST-AFGHANISTAN.indd 49
Big Early Registration Discounts
Visit Our Site for Details . . .
www.LandryAcademy.com
4/4/11 10:25 AM
by M e ga n Ba s h a m
50
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 CHICK-FIL-A.indd 50
4/7/11 12:19 PM
photos courtesy of Chick-fil-A, Inc
Chick-fil-A faces sustained campaign from gay activists and campus groups over pro-marriage statements
S
photos courtesy of Chick-fil-A, Inc
ome might call it much ado about free chicken, but the fallout over one fast-food chain’s goodwill donation could have some business owners afraid that even hinting at conventional religious beliefs will soon make them pariahs in polite society. In February a local Pennsylvania franchise of the national fast-food restaurant, Chick-fil-A, donated sandwiches and brownies to a marriage seminar hosted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, an affiliate of the Arkansas-based nonprofit Family Life, co-founded by Dennis and Barbara Rainey. Nothing on the day’s agenda, titled “The Art of Marriage,” focused on homosexuality, gay unions, the Defense of Marriage Act, or anything other than teaching married couples how to improve and strengthen their relationships. Given that WinShape, the charitable arm of Chick-fil-A, has a longstanding relationship with Campus Crusade for Christ, the parent group of Family Life, it’s not surprising that the franchise owner offered up some gratis grub for the event. Yet because both Family Life and Campus Crusade have been outspoken in their opposition to same-sex marriage, the gesture has led to some highly publicized if highly localized backlash for the popular fast-food chain. It started with student groups at universities across the country demanding that their administrations kick Chickfil-A vendors off campus. According to change.org, which led the charge on petitions against the company, organizations at more than 20 schools are agitating against Chick-fil-A—including Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Duke, North Carolina State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, and Indiana University-South Bend (IUSB). (As a result of student outcry, IUSB temporarily suspended the nearby franchise’s campus food service. Though now reinstated, its status remains uncertain.) Then, last month after receiving appeals from PROMO, a group that describes itself as an advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality, the Clayton County, Mo., Chamber of Commerce abruptly canceled a planned appearance from Chick-fil-A COO and president, Dan Cathy. Chamber head Ellen Gale told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that until PROMO contacted them, chamber leadership had “no idea he [Cathy] held such controversial views.” The disinvite led to unflattering coverage in national outlets like The New Email: mbasham@worldmag.com
8 CHICK-FIL-A.indd 51
PRO-MARRIAGE: Truett and Dan Cathy.
York Times and Time magazine questioning whether the restaurant giant, which operates in 39 states and employs more than 60,000 people, is anti-gay. But the most unasked question in all the reports is why Cathy’s views or the company’s charitable collaboration with pro-traditional-marriage ministries should have taken anyone by surprise. The Cathy family is hardly shy about its Christian faith or its role in guiding the business. One of Chick-fil-A’s famously Christian practices has been to close on Sundays so employees can rest and worship. And this isn’t the first time the company’s adherence to biblical principle has led to a clash with the prevailing culture. In 1948 company founder S. Truett Cathy, now 90, began hiring and mentoring black employees in pre-civil-rights, segregated south Atlanta. Indeed, part of the company mission, published on its website, is to “glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.” The company even prints Bible verse citations on the bottoms of drink cups.
Christianity is hardly alone in characterizing homosexual behavior as sinful: Islam, Mormonism, Judaism, and others take the same view. Will all businesses that include religious faith as part of their corporate philosophy come under fire from gay groups? And will universities and civic groups similarly shun all of them for their doctrinally normative though apparently controversial views? Gale would not return my calls or respond to emails about whether the Clayton Chamber of Commerce will similarly bar executives of Muslim, Mormon, or other mainstream faiths from speaking at the group’s functions. Forced to walk a tightrope between tamping down negative publicity and maintaining its corporate mission, Chick-fil-A too appears press shy. Responding by phone to an interview request from WORLD, Mark Baldwin, senior public relations and publicity consultant, first asked for an emailed description of what kind of story I planned to write. Unable to answer without first conducting an interview, I could not comply, and Baldwin instead sent company press releases. Dan Cathy in those releases says that while he and his family support a biblical definition of marriage (meaning, presumably between one man and one woman), Chick-fil-A will not support any political agendas on marriage and family. “We’ve opted not to get involved in the political debate,” he told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, saying that while the company operates on biblical principles, it is “not a Christian company.” But if early responses from some gay leaders to Cathy’s concessions are any indication, a stance of functional neutrality will not win points with groups Chick-fil-A has angered. Joel Bolling, Coordinator for the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Ally) Programs, complained to University News, “Ultimately the corporation made a statement saying they do not support same-sex marriage. Although they have never refused to serve LGBTQIA people or couples, the corporation has never been outright supportive of the LGBTQIA community.” As far as Chick-fil-A is concerned, nothing less than wholesale endorsement of homosexuality is likely to persuade the activist groups to back down. A A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 1 1 W O R L D
51
4/7/11 12:21 PM
The long vıew
Wisconsin’s budget legislation has brought a fierce energy to Democratic voters, but the bill means that liberal public sector unions could lose a lot of political power in the long run | by Emily Belz
52
her an AFL-CIO button—a fist shaped like the state of Wisconsin—which she pinned on so she could pass through the crowd. On the ground she noticed protestors from Organizing for America, President Obama’s campaign organization that opposed the budget bill and the collective bargaining measure. “He didn’t teach his people much civility,” Litjens said. As she told me this story, after ordering a bowl of cottage cheese with wheat toast, she pulled out the button the Democrat gave her. Now she keeps it in her purse. The state Capitol is quieter but the fierce protests have enthused Democrats, who are working now to ensure Walker reaps the whirlwind. And not just Walker: The Wisconsin backlash is sending signals to the new crop of Republican governors that are attempting measures similar to Walker’s.
So where is the next Wisconsin? Most states are having conversations about cutting pensions and benefits to government employees, even in New York and California. But few are undermining public sector unions’ political power like Wisconsin did in the bill the legislature passed, which included a measure ending mandatory dues that partly go to fund unions’ political activities. Pennsylvania’s Repub UNION LABEL: Demonstrators lican legislature has in Illinois rally in support of introduced a similar Wisconsin workers in February.
LITJENS: HANDOUT • PROTEST: SETH PERLMAN/AP
Wisconsin State Rep. Michelle Litjens, 38, a freshman Republican, delivered the assembly’s opening prayer the day the chamber passed Gov. Scott Walker’s original budget bill at the end of February. Democratic legislators shouted her down, she said. After the assembly passed the bill, a Democratic legislator, Gordon Hintz, said to her, “You’re [expletive] dead.” He apologized for the threat after the press reported it. Litjens said she understood that he was exhausted—they had been in session 61 hours straight as Democrats offered 84 amendments to slow the bill’s passage—but he had “no excuse.” Police provided protection to some Republican lawmakers as they left the chamber after the vote, while Democrats threw papers in the air in frustration. Litjens was in her office nearly two weeks later on March 9 when the Senate removed the fiscal elements of the budget bill and passed the bill that curtailed collective bargaining for certain public sector unions, without long-absent Democratic senators. The move enraged protestors. The Capitol police came over the intercom urging legislators to leave the building as quickly as possible, but Litjens needed to finish up some work, and disregarded the warning several times until she heard a swelling roar as protestors entered the Capitol. The police officers told her they didn’t have enough manpower to protect her, so a kind Democrat passed
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 WISCONSIN-OHIO.indd 52
4/7/11 12:10 PM
LITJENS: HANDOUT • PROTEST: SETH PERLMAN/AP
4/7/11 12:07 PM
8 WISCONSIN-OHIO.indd 53
54
Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/AP
its way through the lower courts now. The high turnout and measure forbidding mandatory union dues for public employees, closeness of the vote demonstrated that Democrats are fired and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, has said he up, but Republicans are too, removing credibility from would support the bill but doubts it will make it to his desk. Democrats’ description of the vote as a clear rebuke to Walker. Other states are focusing on curtailing collective bargaining power and are reaping a milder whirlwind than Wisconsin so The measure in Walker’s legislation that allows individual far. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is holding public sector workers to choose whether to contribute to the rallies around Ohio, which just passed legislation curtailing union rather than the union automatically receiving dues public unions’ collective bargaining rights. Tennessee’s means that unions will lose a lot of money, and thus political Republican legislature is also working on legislation to limit clout. Workers historically like to keep their money. Unions the education union’s collective bargaining. James Sherk, an argue that the measure means their members can freeload— expert on labor policy at the Heritage Foundation, said be represented without paying dues. Tennessee Republicans “are being somewhat wishy-washy on Private sector unions have the issue” but are moving been losing members and forward because “the Tea money over the last decade, Party is holding their feet to and they aren’t weeping over the fire.” the public sector’s political The reluctance to confront woes: Forty-four percent of the public sector unions as private sector union housebrashly as Walker did is more holds in Wisconsin said public understandable in light of the sector unions had too much unions’ aggressive response influence in politics, according in Wisconsin. Thirteen state to a March 3 Rasmussen poll. legislators have been recalled Only 9 percent of those union in the history of the United households said the unions States, but 16 are facing had too little influence. potential recalls right now in Public sector employees the Wisconsin Senate alone. make up the majority of Opponents of Republican Sen. union members now. The Dan Kapanke recently gathTOO CLOSE TO CALL: American Federation of State, County, and ered enough signatures to trigger a recall vote in Prosser and Kloppenburg Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the largest union coming weeks, subject to court challenges. at a March 25 debate. for public employees, gives the most to political Republicans, too, have gathered enough signacandidates of any organization in the country, tures to trigger a recall for Democratic Sen. $87.5 million for the midterms last year. Though Democrats Robert Wirch, who was among those who fled the state to prehave condemned the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision vent a vote on Walker’s bill. The Republicans will lose their for opening corporate coffers to Republicans, the decision Senate majority if they shed a net of three seats. Walker could allowed AFSCME to use its mandated union dues for direct also be subject to a recall once he has been in office a year, but campaign spending, which wasn’t allowed before. The heavy only one governor has been successfully recalled in U.S. history. spending in the midterms was meant to fend off attacks on This is all after Republicans gained sweeping victories at every “public sector workers as the problem,” AFSCME President political level in Wisconsin in November. Gerald McEntee told The Wall Street Journal back in the fall. The enthused Democratic base also turned out in large “Long term, if you can take the control out of the hands of numbers for the previously ignored Wisconsin Supreme Court the union bosses and put the power in the hands of the union race on April 5. Conservative Supreme Court Justice David members, that’s a huge benefit for conservatives,” said Heritage’s Prosser’s reelection bid against Wisconsin Assistant Attorney Sherk. On this, unions agree: “Clearly there is a significant interGeneral JoAnne Kloppenburg became a proxy battle over the est in undermining the political influence of public employee public union legislation. Kloppenburg implied in her campaign unions throughout the country,” said John Sullivan, associate that Prosser is a rubber stamp for Walker. Outside groups general counsel of the SEIU, at a recent forum. But Sherk said that poured money into the race, on both sides: Prosser and weakening public unions’ political power goes hand-in-hand Kloppenberg could spend $300,000 each in their publicly with conservatives’ efforts to limit the size and scope of governfunded campaigns, but outside groups spent at least $3.1 million ment. “The heart and soul of the union movement is basically on television ads for the race. government bureaucrats lobbying for more government,” he The results of the race remain too close to call, with said. “It’s not the workers on the assembly line anymore.” Kloppenburg holding a razor thin advantage over Prosser for Litjens says she ran for office in order to limit union lobbythe ten-year term. She claimed victory, but her unofficial 204 ing through right-to-work legislation. And in the near term, vote advantage out of almost 1.5 million votes cast will likely she acknowledges that she and her fellow Republicans might trigger a recount, something that Wisconsin hasn’t experienced pay the political consequences and never see another term in since 1989. Even if Prosser loses, his term doesn’t expire until office. “People did not vote Republican,” she said about the August, by which time he may already have had a chance to 2010 election. “They voted to fix it.” A weigh in on the collective bargaining legislation that is making WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 WISCONSIN-OHIO.indd 54
4/7/11 12:11 PM
connecting
CHURCH & HOME AUGUST 26-27, 2011 at Southern Seminary - Louisville, Ky The Connecting Church & Home conference is designed to equip pastors, church leaders, and parents with practical ministry strategies for shepherding families within the church. Featuring nationally known leaders and ministry speakers, this conference is sure to impact your approach to building stronger families in your church. This year’s conference is focused on the challenges of parenting in the church. Breakout sessions will be
CREDIT
divided into groups of pastors and groups of parents so that each will get specialized training. You won’t want to miss this unique opportunity; register with a group from your church today!
www.sbts.edu/events 8 WISCONSIN-OHIO.indd 55
MOORE
STINSON
FARLEY
SCROGGINS
BRIAN HAYNES - TIMOTHY PAUL JONES DAVID PRINCE - RYAN RUSH JAY STROTHER - STEVE WRIGHT STEVE & CANDICE WATTERS MUSICAL GUEST - DEVON KAUFLIN & THE NA BAND
4/5/11 5:05 PM
Delivery from shame Dr. Catherine Hamlin pioneered fistula surgery, helping countless outcast women, but now she needs more doctors to carry the work forward by Emily Belz
RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARDS/Newscom
56
Eee When women arrive at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, they usually reek of urine and feces. Often they have walked many miles and their husbands have abandoned them as social outcasts. Common in countries where women labor in childbirth without any medical care, fistula is an injury resulting from days, even a week, of obstructed labor. The rare woman to survive such trauma and blood loss is left with an open wound that dribbles human waste—and her child is usually dead or severely malformed. If Ethiopians ever forget what fistula is, one woman they can thank is Dr. Catherine Hamlin, an Australian—and a Christian—who in 1975 opened the first fistula hospital in Addis Ababa with her late husband Reginald. It remains the only fistula hospital in the world. Hamlin, 87, has spent a lifetime first developing the surgery, then sewing up otherwise “useless” women. Each woman who walks in smelling of human waste walks out of the hospital in a new dress. Reginald, who died in 1993, would call out to the repaired women, “Who is this looking so pretty and happy?” Patients also receive a Bible and can attend Bible studies at the hospital, surrounded by lush gardens and cared for by nurses who themselves are sometimes ex-patients. The women who can’t return to normal life—the ones who must live with a catheter or can’t remarry—work at the hospital or move into the nearby village for fistula women, where they learn to be independent and start their own businesses: making cheese, growing vegetables, raising chickens, or tailoring clothes. On a recent visit to Washington, Hamlin drew glances from passersby as she described the first attempts to remedy fistulas in the 19th and early 20th century, using bent spoons inserted into vaginas and silver jeweler’s wire to sew up women. When a woman has prolonged, obstructed labor, “the bladder and the rectum get squashed—a piece of tissue drops out,” Hamlin explained, creating a hole so the woman is incontinent. “It’s not a tear, so you have to make the bladder come together so it heals. Scar tissue forms so there are all sorts of problems.” Usually the baby is stillborn. “A few hours later, she says, ‘I wish I had died with the baby,’” Hamlin said, describing a typical fistula patient. A 2005 study of fistula patients in Kano, Nigeria, revealed that 67 percent of women with fistula were abandoned by their husbands. Some women develop FISTULA FIGHTER: disabilities and atrophied muscles Hamlin surrounded because they lie in one position, by patients and staff perhaps on their sides, for weeks, at the Addis Ababa months, years, hoping the hole closes Fistula Hospital.
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 CATHERINE HAMLIN.indd 56
4/7/11 12:29 PM
RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARDS/Newscom
A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 1 1 W O R L D
8 CATHERINE HAMLIN.indd 57
57
4/7/11 11:13 AM
58
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 CATHERINE HAMLIN.indd 58
4/7/11 11:16 AM
handout/k.m. abadir
Kate Geraghty/The Sydney Morning Herald/fairfax photos
Thanks to the Hamlins, Addis Ababa has become the global headquarters for fighting fistula.
and the leaking stops. Suicide rates are high among these women, Hamlin said. One patient’s uncle told her that he had cut the rope as his niece was jumping from a tree. A missionary doctor once told her that fistula patients will “break your heart because you can’t do much for them.” The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, which the Hamlins founded, has repaired fistulas in over 35,000 women. Two million women and girls around the world currently live with fistula, most in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, according to the World Health Organization, and about 50,000 to 100,000 develop fistulas each year. The fistula problem is acute in Ethiopia because of the continued practice of child marriage, despite its illegality, so young teenagers whose bodies aren’t fully formed become pregnant and terrible labor often follows. Girls who grow up with poor nutrition, too, often have smaller pelvises, which make labor and delivery difficult. And women in rural areas of Ethiopia, who have less access to healthcare, have three times as many children as women in cities. Thanks to the Hamlins, Addis Ababa has become the global headquarters for fighting fistula: The first meeting of the International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons was held there in 2008. But the country faces a major hurdle to solving fistula: “We need many more doctors,” said Dr. Fekadl Ayenachew, a top Ethiopian gynecologist and surgeon with the fistula hospital. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and its rural offshoots pride themselves on being staffed by Ethiopians, who know the culture, the area, and the people, and have more CHANGING LIVES: invested in the place. Mamitu Gashe, one of the fistula surgeons Hamlin with staff and fistula patients sing at the hospital who now trains other surgeons in fistula and clap in repair, was first a fistula patient, a peasant who became pregnant celebration for the at 16. But the hospital struggles to retain Ethiopian medical women returning personnel, though it is the top institution for training doctors in home cured.
KATE GERAGHTY/THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD/FAIRFAX PHOTOS
HANDOUT/K.M. ABADIR
Learning on the job
fistula repair. The doctors often leave for better pay in Western countries, chiefly the United States. Ethiopia has obstetricians and gynecologists serving a population EEE A reliable surgery to repair fistula wasn’t developed until the th century. of million, and only of those Hamlin and her husband drew advice from an Egyptian doctor, Pasha Naguib serve rural areas, which hold Mahfouz, a Coptic Christian who was one of the pioneers of fistula percent of the population. repair in the first half of the th century and helped eradicate the Ayenachew is one of the few condition in Egypt. He sent them drawings of his surgeries. The who works in a rural area of the Hamlins wrote anyone around the world who had tried fiscountry. “Many of my friends left tula surgeries to get their advice, and began developing Ethiopia for better pay and better their own techniques for the difficult operation. life,” he told me. “I had some The Hamlins had never seen a fistula until they opportunities to leave but I stayed arrived in Ethiopia. Reginald Hamlin performed his first in. I feel it’s worth it to stay in. And attempted fistula repair on a -year-old whose now I have my family.” Mark husband had abandoned her, and he succeeded. The Bennett, the of the hospital Hamlins were working under difficult circumstances: A and its offshoot projects, said, “We blood bank, so vital for surgeries, was nowhere to be found need to find ways for people like when they arrived in Ethiopia in . The refrigerator at the Fekadl to stay.” Ethiopia’s health hospital where they first started usually had one or two pints of blood in it, ministry in a recent report found according to Hamlin, and they had difficulty convincing suspicious staff and able that one-third of trained Ethiopian patients to give blood. That’s changed over the last years. —E.B. doctors had left the country in the previous decade. The ministry also found that only . percent of “Oh, I’m so glad it’s not my women,” the emperor said. women giving birth in the country had help from a The country’s geography—rugged valleys and towering health professional. Still, there’s good news: The tabletops—coupled with poor infrastructure make a journey to maternal mortality rate in Ethiopia has been cut the main hospital in the capital arduous. Rural roads are still almost in half in the last decade. bad, according to Ayenachew. The Ethiopian government has attempted to One fistula patient walked kilometers ( miles) to the address the scarcity of doctors in a number of hospital, Hamlin recounted in her book, The Hospital by the ways, some of them desperate, such as mandating River. Another woman with fistula arrived with a note from a that all medical schools expand their class sizes. A missionary doctor dated seven years previous—she said it had more effective measure, which the fistula hospital taken her that long to beg enough money for the bus fare to has pioneered, is training Ethiopian midwives, sending them Addis Ababa. Some bus drivers won’t allow fistula women on out to care for the particularly vulnerable rural mothers. The their buses because of their odor. Reginald Hamlin would drive Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital has a network of five rural fistula the family’s Volkswagen down to the city bus station and ask if clinics and plans to open another rural clinics within the any women were leaking urine and bring them back to the hosnext four years. pital. He would also pick up fistula patients outside an old hotel The Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie commissioned the in the city, the only place they were allowed to camp. Now, with Hamlins to open a midwifery college when they first arrived in the hospital’s reputation it doesn’t need to go after patients. Ethiopia in , on a contract to serve at a local hospital for Age hasn’t dampened Hamlin’s good spirits. When I asked three years. Between developing fistula surgery, setting up a how she feels physically, she joked, “I feel like I’m going to hospital, and surviving ensuing coups, communist rule, and perish at any moment!” Each day she rises early, has tea, and civil war, the fistula hospital didn’t open its midwifery college reads her Bible. She still performs surgeries and gardens. Her until . voice, though shaky, is mellow and glad. Whenever she menNow hospital staffers see midwives as their front-line tions a place, she lovingly sketches out its landscape with her soldiers to prevent fistula. Midwives notice the first signs of a hands. The hospital in Addis, she tells me with sweeping gestroubled pregnancy and help to provide care or to bring the tures, stands on a slope near a river, and has a garden. woman to a hospital. The Hamlin College of Midwives selects This same woman can describe gory details of fistula students from rural areas to be trained in Addis Ababa, then without flinching. Some patients arrived at the hospital with the new midwives return to work in their rural communities. their babies dead in their wombs. Hamlin recalled many times Last year the college graduated its first class— midwives— delivering a dead baby who had been decaying inside his or her and plans to graduate a year going forward. mother for days, the stench causing attending nurses to vomit Hamlin recalled a conversation from her early days in or faint. Hamlin didn’t faint, but her sympathy and sorrow for Ethiopia between her husband and the emperor, who became the mothers is constant. The horrors she has witnessed over a friend: years in Ethiopia can be forgotten, though, when new, healthy “Why do my women get this disease?” the emperor asked. babies arrive, giving the staff hope that one day the fistula “It’s nothing to do with your women. It’s your roads and hospital will become simply a maternity ward. A mountains,” replied Reginald Hamlin. Email: ebelz@worldmag.com
8 CATHERINE HAMLIN.indd 59
APRIL 23, 2011
WORLD
4/7/11 11:29 AM
LEArn
MEEt
GrOw
AcHiEvE
iMpAct
sHArE
lifetime
LEArninG tHAt LAsts A
Academic Excellence with a biblical worldview • Diverse academic programs centered on Bible and liberal arts core • Highly qualified, caring faculty • Up to 18 hours of online college credit for students still in high school • Emphasis on reaching others with the Gospel • Over 40 percent of student body with homeschool background
7Bob Jones University Greenville, sc 29614
•
www.bju.edu
•
800-BJ-AnD-ME
BOB JOnEs UnivErsity stAnDs UnEqUivOcALLy On tHE ABsOLUtE AUtHOrity Of tHE BiBLE. ©2011 Bob Jones University. All rights reserved. BJU does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, national origin, protected disability or veteran status. (9843) 03/11
8 AD DIRECTORY.indd 61
4/4/11 12:26 PM
EDUCATION DIRE C T O R Y
Hey, Andrew!
Teach Me Some Greek! ...the easy way to learn! FREE catalog available
I love Sonlight because it makes my life easy! I can relax knowing all the details have been thought out for me already.
—Shannon C, July 2010 (Sonlight customer for 8 years)
"If you want to begin the study of Greek with your family, I recommend Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! You will soon find your children, young and old, knowing the alphabet, words, sentences, and ultimately translating the Greek New Testament on their own." - Diane Wheeler, The Old Schoolhouse™ Magazine
Do you love your curriculum? If so, great! If not, maybe this is the year to choose Sonlight... • Get complete lesson plans & all your materials. No need to supplement!
P.O. Box 882 Moline, IL 61266-0882 www.greeknstuff.com
®
• Join thousands of homeschoolers whose children love our programs. • Receive the best of the best books woven into an award-winning literature-based curriculum. • You can get every subject you need.
200 YEARS IN 2010
Study under pastors.
• Your children will learn about the whole world, not just the U.S. • Your Christ-centered curriculum will help you raise kids who love God and know what they believe. PLUS: You get an extended money-back guarantee. Take up to a year to use the first half of your curriculum package. If you don’t love it, return it all for a full refund.
“Sonlight helped us see we can achieve a quality education, inspire love for learning and promote family closeness. Our children love the Sonlight products and never tire of learning,” writes Ashley S of Louisville, KY. Here, Colton (5) and Brayden (3), without prompting, explore their science materials.
Sound like the homeschool you want?
Go to www.sonlight.com/worldig for your free Instructor’s Guide sample. Expires Aug. 31, 2011.
CORE 3 Date: Bible WalkRim Walk the World's the World's Rim Day 1 for Young
8 AD DIRECTORY.indd 62
N
WEEK 1
Genesis G enesis 3
Days
2
Day 3
3
Luke 1:39–56
Day 4
4
FOUR-DAY Day 5 5
Luke 1:57–80
Genesis 4:1–16 4:1–16
Day Three pp. 10–11
Genesis 6:5–22
Day Four p. 11
Day Five p. 12
caravel: small 15th and 16th century sailing vessel.
Misfortune had read his thoughts, Chakoh spat twice over his left shoulder to honor and appease the malicious god. ( (appease: satisfy; malicious: marked by intent to do harm or evil)
R
reserved. Ltd. All rights Sonlight ©2010 by
PLE
teepee: an American Indian conical tent, usually consisting of a animal skins spread over a frame.
T
Curriculum,
New Mexico Q; Mexico W (map 1)
Cheyenne and the Avavares: tribes of North American Indians.
“three round moons away”: three months.
chaps. chap s. 3–4
Q:Read-Alouds What is the color1 of the man’s beard that is described as
Walk “thethe color of grass when there’d been no rain for many World’s Rim hot suns”? Preface & A: tan, light brown chap. 1 chap. 2 A Child’s d ❏Chakoh’s Introduction Q: Describe how the Indians from ❏ tribe survived. to Poetry Y
Pensacola R; Mississippi River T; Galveston, Texas Y;
Chapter 1 Unfamiliar Words
Exercises
A Lion to Guard Q: Why does Chakoh’s father believe the tribe must stay chaps. Us 3 1–2 N and learn new where it is and not go off ❏ ways fromchaps. 3–5 Advanced: other tribes? The Corn A: the godsGrow gave Ripe us this land, here chaps. we can1–2 be free
Timeline and Map Activities
chap. 2 – Exercise 2A d
chaps. 5–6
pp. 28–34
Exercises
2B–E
❏
pp. 20–27
chaps. chap s. 6–8
pp. 28–32
chaps. 9–11 chap. 7
pp. 35–41
"Introducing Professor Driscoll" pp. 7–8
Rocky Mountains E (map 1)
Chapter 2 To Discuss After You Read E
The oldest Spanish mission in North America is established in Florida (1566) Monks arrive (1500s)
–
Discuss Cortez and the conquest of the Aztecs. Visit our IG links web page for a link that will allow you to Other read theNotes entire story . W
d
d
Exercise
1B–E Q: What does Esteban dream of doing when1Ahe gets back North American Indians to Mexico? A: heReaders dreams of having so much food pp. that5–11 he can waste the N 1 it to the dogs—the ultimate luxurypp. 12–19 12–19 excess by throwing Regular:
Q
Timeline and Map Activities ©2010 by Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Day 2
Genesis 1:1–2:3
N
graphy:
The See Study Story Q: What food was available of the USA, to the Avavares? Guide Book 1 2 A: cactus fruit, occasional fish schools, or rare1 game N 1 chap.
Q: How much time had passed in the New Land before the story begins? A: for seven years the men had been held captive by the local Indians
Vocabulary to Learn
Readers
Prayer Guide—Maya
Q: Were the Indian tribes in that part of theOne world & Two pp. 9–10 Memorization successful at survival? Defend your answer. Sing A: no, half of the theWord: people&of a tribeNwould die of starvation Psalm 8 each Great year—they planted no crops, and had no in Counsel —Track 1 and Mighty domesticated animals—there was little game animals in Deed available—life was hard History/Geo
Q: When, where, and why did the story begin? A: in the summer of 1527, five Spanish ships sailed from Cuba to Florida; they came to convert the heathen, to explore, and to find wealth Q: How did the four men survive? A: they assumed the role of medicine men
SAM
1
Q: Are a bull and a buffalo the same? Luke 1:1–23 The A: no, a buffaloDiscoverer’s is a kind of large 1:24–38 Bible wild ox; a bull is a male cow Luke 1:24–38 Q: Where did the winter winds come from? American A: from the arctic allIndian the way to Texas
To Discuss After You Read
Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary www.rpts.edu • info@rpts.edu
- Map 1
Reading
This book is based on a true story.
The Years Before
Q: Why did the Spanish, who had a perfectly good land, want another? A: because they were greedy and wanted gold and land to make them wealthy, famous, and powerful “I shall go to the bullfight. Ay, yi! What a sight that is.” (a Q: Was that behavior the Indian way? Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American spectacle in which A: the customs and culture of Native American Indians a bull is ceremonially fought and usually killed in an arena by 1. Study varied from tribe to tribe. Just as not all Spaniards were Guide: a matador assisted by picadors and banderilleros) Additional Aloud Study greedy andinstructional corrupt, not all Native American Indians were Guide sections information 2. The answers ordered for each book as freequestions fromare greed as alphabetically Chakoh’s people to the To Discuss After You Read is 3. We off er
you two
from The
Story
by book
title.
located in
the corresponding
children of the USA Q:prefer Howschedules did Chakoh and Esteban catch quick lizards? subject’s would Q: What does Esteban mean when he says, ”we sit here for arethe found in Study Guide: a less robust each Reader book. the stiff History History, Reader, A: they waited untilpace, theplease cold-blooded were with If youanimals with our stomachs hugging our backbones”? Study Guide. Key: o Check use the 4-day and Readfollow the schedule, off when the cold complete 5-day plan A: through hunger they had wasted away to the point where your children for each Reader. N See will read Notes following at a faster their stomachs were shrunken Q: Where do the Señors and Esteban come from? pace Schedule
Þ
than the
5-day
Map Assignment plan. If your A: the Señors wanted to return to the hub of their people, dbTimeline Introduction Figure in packet d to American Timeline History, Part Suggestion Introduction to American History, Part 1 ♦ Read-Aloud Study Guide ♦ Walk the World's Rim ♦ 83 1 Section Two Week 1 Schedule
4/4/11 10:30 AM
Two weeks before school began I learned I would not be able to attend college . . .
Distance Learning at
Patrick Henry College was a life-saver! My studies at home paid off, and I’m now on campus, thrilled to be part of this amazing community. - Katie Donnelly
Distance Learning at Patrick Henry College complements our rigorous classical liberal arts core curriculum without the cost of room and board. Join our on-line campus community, and get started on a world-class education. To learn more, go to: distance.phc.edu
Patrick Henry college For Christ and for Liberty
Patrick Henry College is certified by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools.
8 AD DIRECTORY.indd 63
4/4/11 10:30 AM
EDUCATION DIRE C T O R Y
If you’re trying to figure out what to do next with your life, consider this. We believe God has big plans for you. And that includes becoming everything He meant you to be.
Life’s a Challenge. Meet It Head On.
We can help. We’re Geneva College. A challenging Christian college that prepares you to challenge the world. And succeed. We have the majors and graduate programs you need to compete. A rigorous academic environment in a Christian atmosphere that helps you keep the faith—no matter what life throws at you. Discover a whole new take on your life. Together, we can meet the challenge.
geneva.edu • 800-847-8255
summer. on purpose. TEENLEADERSHIPCAMP2011 PATRICK HENRY COLLEGE TEEN LEADERSHIP CAMPS provide high school students the chance to experience a truly unique Christian college. If you are a high school student wondering how to reconcile a serious college career with your growing Christian faith, teen camps at PHC provide a fun and challenging setting. For more information, go to www.phc.edu/teencamps. constitutional law • june 12 - 25 leadership & vocation • june 26 - july 2 mock trial • july 17 - 30 journalism • june 12 - 18 music • june 26 - july 2 art • july 17 - 23 congress • june 19 - 25 history • july 3 - 9 drama • july 24 - 30 debate • june 26 - july 9 www.phc.edu/teencamps • 1.888.338.1776 • teencamps@phc.edu Henry is certified byof theHigher State Council of Higher Education for accredited Virginia and accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Collegesand and Schools. Schools. Patrick Henry College isPatrick certified by College the State Council Education for Virginia and by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges
8 AD DIRECTORY.indd 64
4/4/11 10:31 AM
WCsignatureAd2010.qxd:WC Signature Ad final
8/18/10
2:46 PM
Page 1
WHAT
YOU
Pursuing? ARE
Academic excellence? Christian commitment? At Wheaton College, you’ll discover both. For 150 years, Wheaton College’s defining commitment has been to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Wheaton’s dedication to educational excellence means a highly selective student body, world-class academics, professors who invest in students’ lives, and programs that develop the whole person. Are you pursuing what we’re pursuing? Call 800-222-2419 or visit www.wheaton.edu today to learn more.
8 AD DIRECTORY.indd 65
4/4/11 10:31 AM
Looking for the Messiah? HCSB Study Bible Now Available
8 LIFESTYLE and TECH.indd 66
EVAN HUGHES FOR WORLD
The coming of the Messiah satisfied centuries of Jewish longings. Sometimes readers miss this, mistaking the title “Christ” for Jesus’ last name. In Jewish contexts, you’ll see “Messiah” used in the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Continuity, one of the reasons you’ll love reading any of the HCSB digital or print editions.
see | hcsb.org
4/4/11 10:39 AM
Notebook LIFESTYLE TECHNOLOGY RELIGION HOUSES OF GOD SPORTS MONEY SCIENCE
Cracks of boredom >>
LIFESTYLE: Women are the big force behind Zynga, Facebook, and the fast growth of the social net
EVAN HUGHES FOR WORLD
BY SUSAN OLASKY
Zynga has figured out how to make money from boredom. At last month’s South by Southwest () Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, Zynga game designer Brian Reynolds explained that his company’s games take advantage of the “cracks of boredom that exist in everyday life . . . these micro downtimes of boredom are when people want to engage in the simple interaction of social games.” The games help people “avoid the loneliness found in these personal downtimes.” Reynolds is on to something. Sixty million users each day— million a month—play Zynga games like Farmville, Cityville, and Frontierville. Analysts say the games are one of the reasons for the decline in soap opera popularity. They are especially popular with women, especially those between the ages of and . The games can be played in fiveand -minute “snack size bites.” Early morning is the most popular time to play. More than half of the players of Zynga games are women—and women are the big force behind the growth of the social net, according to Aileen Lee, a partner in a company that makes internet investments. She wrote on TechCrunch, “We’re witnessing a generation of consumer web companies growing at an unprecedented rate in terms of both user adoption and revenue. But here’s a little secret that’s gone unnoticed by most. It’s women. . . . Especially when it comes to social and shopping, women rule the internet.” She cited data: “Women are the majority of users of social networking sites and spend percent more time on these sites than men; mobile social network usage is percent female.” Women are the big users of APRIL 23, 2011
8 LIFESTYLE and TECH.indd 67
WORLD
4/6/11 4:09 PM
Notebook > Lifestyle y yle
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 LIFESTYLE and TECH.indd 68
The Bureau of Labor Statistics () ( recently put out a Spotlight, Women at Work. Does it surprise anyone that young women (-) do less housework than other women? Or that older women (+) spend more time on leisure activities? Or that women suffer fewer workplace fatalities than men? In only women died on the job, compared to , men. The percentage of women in the workforce continues to rise. In , percent of women were working, up from percent in . They are better educated. In fewer than one in four had attended college. Now two out of three have. In , a third of female workers had less than a high-school education. That percentage has dropped to about percent. The projects that women will continue to increase their work force participation. By , about . million more women will be working, an increase of percent. More surprising: The biggest increases are likely to occur among older women, with labor force participation of women to increasing percent. The projects that over , women and older will be working: that’s a percent increase. Women are outstripping men in the race to earn college degrees. When they were years old, percent of young women had a B.A. or higher, compared to just percent of young men. —S.O.
THREE COOL WEBSITES I Those fleeing Zynga might try this crossstitch writing tool, a handy way to convert any text to a cross-stitch pattern. It offers six different font styles: stitchpoint.com/eng/ tool/alph/cross-stitchwriting-tool.php.
I Fans of origami can make their creations more curvy by using heavier paper and a wet-folding technique. According To Gilad’s Origami page, “The best models for wet-folding are the simplest.” That’s good news for those of us who are all thumbs. Instructions and pictures are available at giladorigami.com/ Articles_Wetfolding.html.
I Hymn lovers will enjoy exploring Hymnopedia (hymnopedia.com). It calls itself “a semidefinitive wiki of Christian hymns” and offers biographies, information about hymns, and some entries that include music so you can listen to the tunes. Hymnopedia lists more than hymns, but since it is a wiki, users can become contributors and help build the site. —S.O.
Email: solasky@worldmag.com
4/6/11 4:10 PM
TWITTER: KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • M&MS: BRAND PHOTO DESIGN • AT&T & T-MOBILE: RICHARD B. LEVINE/NEWSCOM
Women & work
REYNOLDS: ELISABETH CAREN/AIAS/AP • WOMAN: TOM GRILL/PHOTOGRAPHER’S CHOICE/GETTY IMAGES
shopping sites like Zappos, Etsy, and Groupon. Women have more friends on Facebook, spend more time on the site. They post more messages, pictures, and updates. She says none of this is particularly surprising since women are more social and often drive purchasing decisions. So what’s the appeal of Zynga? Some describe it as “addictive,” and requiring more time than skill. Zynga-creator Reynolds described six classic elements that suck in people and make them keep playing: more choices; make the choices matter more; build a story and make the player the hero; hide patterns that players can learn over time (show, don’t tell); create more surprise, suspense, and humor; add something. Zynga became even more addictive recently when the company added “RewardVille,” a system of credits and rewards that can be used to buy more virtual stuff in the games. Although the games, played on Facebook, iPhone, and other social networking sites, are free, players pay real money to buy virtual stuff (buildings, crops, etc.) and advance more quickly. They can even buy goodies to benefit nonprofits that work in Haiti. A day after the Japanese tsunami, Zynga announced a partnership with Save the Children to allow in-game donations through purchase of special virtual items to benefit tsunami victims. Zynga also makes money through partnerships with companies that advertise and offer special items in the games. American Express recently announced that credit card holders can use their membership reward points to “pay for limited edition virtual goods, as well as physical and virtual game cards for Zynga’s games.” A
Notebook > Technology
Twitter traits Five years of tweets yield surprising results BY ALISSA WILKINSON
REYNOLDS: ELISABETH CAREN/AIAS/AP • WOMAN: TOM GRILL/PHOTOGRAPHER’S CHOICE/GETTY IMAGES
TWITTER: KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • M&MS: BRAND PHOTO DESIGN • AT&T & T-MOBILE: RICHARD B. LEVINE/NEWSCOM
>>
T in March. sociologists and researchers with a From its inception, the ways it is rich source of information about the used have evolved with the way people interact and form communeeds of its user base. Since nities. For instance, one group of creator Jack Dorsey wrote the very first researchers recently found that users tweet—“just setting up my twttr”—the tend to reply to one another based on site has grown from a novelty to a mood—those who send messages conrobust global information network with taining the word “loneliness” tend to its own vocabulary and customs. News reply to and follow others who use the services, celebrities, companies, and same word. The same rule holds for those public figures have turned to Twitter to who express happiness. Other researchbroadcast easily to their networks, and ers found that Twitter users follow it has even helped foster everything those with similar politics as their own from global uprisings to even when they don’t post IF NOT FOR THE BIRDS: theological debates. about politics—making it The Twitter logo is at Twitter’s popularity has possible for a computer to the entrance of the also had one unexpected accurately predict a user’s company’s headquarters result: The site provides political leaning. in San Francisco.
CUSTOM CONCEPTS Want M&Ms printed with “Marry Me”? A batch of T-shirts printed with “Smith Family Reunion” to fit everyone from the baby cousins to Grandpa? A Mini Cooper that expresses your own personal style? Postage stamps imprinted with your family photograph? The flexibility of commerce on the internet makes it possible for companies to offer highly customized goods at prices that would have been unthinkable years ago. One company, luxury men’s clothing retailer J. Hilburn, now offers custom-made dress shirts through its website and via iPhone. And because it doesn’t have traditional retail locations, the company offers lower prices than most outfitters— even with a “personal style advisor” who comes to the customer’s office to ensure the right fit. —A.W.
WIRELESS GIANT AT&T recently moved to acquire competitor T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom for million, a merger that would reduce the number of wireless service providers from four to three in the United States. The newly formed company would be largest of the three—at percent of the U.S. wireless market, it would be a third larger than Verizon. Apple stands to gain from the merger as well, since T-Mobile customers would be able to get an iPhone without switching carriers. But the merger is likely to face some stiff opposition from Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. The Department of Justice must also approve the deal from an antitrust perspective. Some grassroots groups advocate stringent regulations or a complete ban on the merger, worrying that the ’s recent “net neutrality” ruling— which lets wireless companies prioritize traffic on their networks as they wish—means a giant provider such as this could exert too much control in the app market. —A.W. Available in Apple’s App Store: Download ’s iPad app today
8 LIFESTYLE and TECH.indd 69
APRIL 23, 2011
WORLD
4/6/11 9:38 AM
Notebook > Religion
Royal treatment
The English-speaking world prepares for the anniversary of the King James Bible BY TIMOTHY DALRYMPLE it outpaced its competitors and became the standard English version for centuries. In the words of Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, the King James Bible was “the one shared text of English speakers throughout the whole world,” and as such it formed the basis for a common literary and religious culture. Numerous events are planned to celebrate the th anniversary of its publication. The Globe Theatre in London will read the entire King James Bible publicly in the days before Easter, Baylor University is hosting a major conference in early April on “The King James Bible and the World It Made,” and the King James Bible Trust lists dozens of other events. Of an estimated , copies printed in , experts guess that remain. As Moira Goff of the British Library explains, this was the Bible that was
Ministerial decision
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 RELIGION and HOUSES OF GOD.indd 70
firing “ministerial employees” such as pastors, ministers, and teachers. A lower court held that Perich was not a “ministerial employee” since she mostly taught subjects like math and social studies. But Perich taught religion classes four times weekly, shared daily prayers and devotionals with students, and periodically led chapel services. The case raises troubling questions. If the state can determine which employees are “ministerial,” then will it intrude further into church employment decisions? Is the measure of a “ministerial” position the proportion of time spent in overtly religious activities? And doesn’t the church have a legitimate interest, even if the teacher only spends a small amount of time discussing religious matters, in making certain that the teacher and teaching represent the faith of the church? —T.D.
VICTOR CRISTALES/ABILENE REPORTER-NEWS/AP
The Supreme Court has consented to hear a case that Notre Dame law professor Rick Garnett calls “the most important religious-freedom case in years.” According to case records, Cheryl Perich, a teacher at a Lutheran Church school in Michigan, took medical leave in . When she sought to return to work, she was informed that a substitute teacher had been hired and would complete the academic year. In the acrimony that ensued, the church fired Perich for insubordination and “regrettable” behavior. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argued she was wrongly terminated. The courts have generally held that religious organizations must be free from government interference when hiring and
read weekly to parishioners throughout the English-speaking world. It was daily reading for countless literary figures. And as sacred Scripture, it exercised an authority that Shakespeare never could. The King James Bible “is so embedded in us that we can’t overstate the significance of it.”
Download ’s iPad app today; details at worldmag.com/iPad
4/6/11 5:38 PM
MARILYN REED
>>
I of another Dan Brown fantasy. A tiny church in southwestern England takes an ancient Bible, bound in ornately carved oak, to London’s Museum of the Book. There it’s identified as one of very few remaining original editions of what is—almost indisputably—the most influential book ever printed in the English language. Members of St. Laurence Church in Hilmarton, England, often had wondered about the old King James Bible that was displayed behind the pews. A hand-lettered sign noted that it was discovered in the parish chest in , and added, “This Bible is the second of two impressions printed in .” Yet no one knew whether it was true. Members of the parish council finally took the book to an expert, who spotted the proof right away. Rather than saying that Jesus entered the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed, Bibles from the second printing say that Judas entered the garden. Don’t tell Dan Brown, but there’s no scandal here, just an innocent printing error. The King James Bible was hardly the first English translation of the Bible, but
Notebook > Houses of God
Marilyn Reed
Victor Cristales/Abilene Reporter-News/ap
Santa Maria de Gracia is an Episcopal Church in Carlos Manuel de Cespedes in the Camaguey province of Cuba. Damaged in a storm, the church building was almost completely rebuilt between 2000 and 2005.
A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 1 1   W O R L D 
8 RELIGION and HOUSES OF GOD.indd 71
71
4/5/11 5:19 PM
Notebook > Sports THE OTHER FINAL FOUR
Cinderella’s ceiling College basketball upstarts who don’t win it all rarely achieve lasting fame or second chances BY MARK BERGIN
>>
year, the Butler Bulldogs busted the brackets of tournament prognosticators throughout the country. The class of the little known Horizon League became the class of the nation—almost. Butler’s surprising run of upset victories hoisted the team to back-to-back appearances in college basketball’s title game. But this Cinderella script is more glass ceiling than slipper—at least so far. The Bulldogs’ pair of championship moments both ended in defeat—this year to Connecticut on April . So it is for scores of underdogs, many climbing to the precipice of athletic greatness only to fall backward into a chasm of soon forgotten runners-up.
Most every fan can recount Villanova’s shocker over Georgetown or Muhammad Ali’s stunning upset of Sonny Liston. But who remembers th-seeded Louisiana State knocking out top-seeded Kentucky to reach the Final Four? Who recalls the th-seeded New York Knicks storming to the Finals? No, for Cinderellas who fail to complete the script of a storybook ending, there is often no happily ever after. Butler’s repeat run is anomalous. History offers little hope of a third chance for the Bulldogs or even a second chance for this year’s other Final Four overachievers, the th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth Rams. Here’s a look at how other Cinderella teams fared in the seasons that followed:
Cleveland State: The th-seeded Vikings became the lowest seed ever to reach the Sweet . A one-point loss to Navy ended the run and began a -year stretch without an tournament appearance. : The th-seeded Tigers turned in the most stunning run of upsets in tournament history with victories over No. seed Purdue, No. seed Memphis State, No. seed Georgia Tech, and No. seed Kentucky. A Final Four loss to Louisville finally sent LSU home, but unlike most Cinderella teams did not end the wild ride. The Tigers returned to the tournament in each of the following seven seasons, climbing as high as the Elite Eight. UT Chattanooga: The th-seeded Mocs reached the Sweet with major upsets over Georgia and Illinois, but could not best fellow Cinderella Providence, a No. seed. It would take eight seasons before UT Chattanooga returned to the tournament. Missouri: The th-seeded Tigers played like favorites to reach the Elite Eight before falling to No. seed Oklahoma. Missouri returned to the tournament the following year as a No. seed, but was quickly dispatched in the round of . After that, it took the Tigers six years to get back to the dance. George Mason: The th-seeded Patriots stunned the country with a thrilling run of upsets en route to the Final Four. But a - loss to Florida in the semifinals sent the Colonial Athletic Association powerhouse into a bit of a tailspin. The Patriots did not win a single tournament game for five years, only ending that drought this March with a win over Villanova.
E E
E
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 SPORTS and MONEY.indd 72
BUTLER: ERIC GAY/AP • CRICKET: GRAHAM CROUCH/GETTY IMAGES
E E
Email: mbergin@worldmag.com
4/7/11 4:06 PM
NEW YORK TIMES: HANDOUT • JOB SEARCH: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES • HERSEY’S KISS: HANDOUT • CHOCOLATE: ISTOCK
While millions of Americans tuned in for the conclusion of the tournament, another Final Four drew most of the world’s attention. The Cricket World Cup, which takes place every four years, played out against a backdrop of fierce national pride and political intrigue. Pakistan stunned the world with its run to a semifinal match against India. The contest, which India won en route to World Cup victory, proved a boon to strained relations between the South Asian countries. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani accepted the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to watch the match together. —M.B.
Notebook > Money
SLIGHT MOVEMENT
Times a changin’
The Gray Lady searches for a workable online model BY JOSEPH SLIFE
BUTLER: ERIC GAY/AP • CRICKET: GRAHAM CROUCH/GETTY IMAGES
NEW YORK TIMES: HANDOUT • JOB SEARCH: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES • HERSEY’S KISS: HANDOUT • CHOCOLATE: ISTOCK
>>
T--- after ditching its first attempt to create a paid-subscription model for online content, The New York Times is trying again. The Times launched a new online model March that charges readers - per month, depending on the amount of material accessed (the first articles are free) and the type of device (computer, smartphone, tablet) a reader is using to access it. The Times reportedly spent million to million on the paywall project.
But within hours of its launch, users were sharing tips via blogs and social media on how to cheat the system. One way around the paywall: Readers coming to the Times via links from search engines, blogs, and social media (Facebook, Twitter) will be able to access articles even if they’ve already reached the -article limit. In , the Times created a paid service called TimesSelect that allowed only paying customers to have access to Times columnists such as Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich, and Paul Krugman. The company shut down TimesSelect in .
The U.S. unemployment rate fell from . percent to . percent (the lowest in two years), but the number of people unemployed in March held roughly steady at . million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The “long-term unemployed” (those jobless for weeks or more) accounted for more than percent of those out of work. The economy added , non-farm jobs in March, mostly in service-providing industries such as temporary help services, hospitality, and healthcare. New jobs in mining and manufacturing rose slightly. Meanwhile, employment in local government continued its downward trend. Local governments have dropped , jobs since September , mostly in education. —J.S.
Inflation on the way Pressed by higher costs for sugar, cocoa, and transportation, the Hershey Company announced an immediate . percent wholesale price increase for all its chocolates and other candies, including Hershey bars, Kisses, and Reese’s Cups. Analysts suggested the move by the nation’s No. candy maker would likely give other companies the green light to raise their prices, too. The Hershey announcement follows
Joseph Slife is the assistant editor of SoundMindInvesting.com
8 SPORTS and MONEY.indd 73
recent price increases from Kraft and Starbucks, driven in part by higher costs for coffee beans and other commodities. In an interview with USA Today, Walmart Bill Simon said his company is “seeing cost increases starting to come through at a pretty rapid rate,” although he said the world’s largest retailer is in a better position than most other businesses “to use scale to hold prices lower longer.” Still, he warned that price inflation is “going to be serious.” —J.S.
APRIL 23, 2011
WORLD
4/6/11 5:42 PM
Notebook > Science
Healthy carbon?
Researchers argue that atmospheric is good for the planet and the population BY DANIEL JAMES DEVINE
>>
warming threats aren’t necessarily paid to find anything else: Dr. Craig Idso, chairman of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, told me by email that governmental organizations “either completely ignore or downplay the positive benefits of rising (and temperature for that matter) to a fault.” Idso’s new book, The Many Benefits of Atmospheric CO Enrichment, cowritten with his father Sherwood Idso, describes ways that increased would benefit plants, the environment, and human health. Plants, for example, typically increase photosynthesis and growth in response to an increase in atmospheric . Roots spread wider and seed production increases. Many foods become more nutritious: Oranges
Oranges produce more vitamin C, soybeans more of their beneficial isoflavone compound.
KILLER SMILE
produce more vitamin C, soybeans more of their beneficial isoflavone compound. As plant growth increases, it sustains animal populations and stabilizes erosion. The overall picture is that the planet becomes more productive as increases. Even if toxic seafood is a legitimate issue, Idso’s organization points to numerous studies showing that cold spells, not heat waves, are far more likely to kill humans. A study of Spanish data last year found the death rate from cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive system diseases was percent higher in winter than in summer. Scientists disagree about whether warming will increase infectious diseases or merely shift their geographic range. Many believe international travel and trade do more to spread diseases like dengue fever and West Nile virus than climate change ever will: University of Oxford ecologist Sarah Randolph wrote in , “There is no single infectious disease whose increased incidence over recent decades can be reliably attributed to climate change.”
Paleontologists working in Brazil found a skull from an extinct animal unusual for the fossil record: It had molar-like teeth that closed
together comfortably—ideal for chewing plants—along with two crayon-sized saber teeth, which would be expected in a carnivore. The researchers chalked the animal up as a vegetarian, but
puzzled over the sabers. They speculated the pig-sized Tiarajudens eccentricus used them to scare predators, impress mates, or fight rivals. Musk deer have similar canines, proving beasts need not be predators to sport a mean smile. —D.J.D.
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 SCIENCE.indd 74
SOYBEANS: ISTOCK • ORANGE: ISTOCK • TIARAJUDENS: JOURNAL SCIENCE/AP
D F’ meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, researchers described how global warming could threaten humans. In one scenario, warming oceans increase algal blooms and result in a buildup of toxins in shellfish, which poison or kill those who eat them. In a second scenario, dust from warming-induced desertification settles in the oceans and encourages the proliferation of Vibrio bacteria, which would spread disease via seafood. Elsewhere, scientists have pointed at dengue fever, which returned to the United States in , and West Nile virus, introduced in . Both are carried by mosquitoes, which thrive in warm weather. Even the is worried: The agency established a department two years ago to study the impact of climate change on national security. The spread of disease is among the threats the office expects to encounter. However, researchers who are paid to uncover global
Email: ddevine@worldmag.com
4/6/11 11:57 PM
ONLY
149
$ AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS
ea
IN GOD WE TRUST
LIMITED AT COST OFFER Nationwide Coin and Bullion Reserve announces the limited release of 2,500 congressionally authorized, fully backed by the U.S. Government, completely free of dealer mark up, $5 gold coins at the incredibly low price of only $149.00 each. These beautiful works of art won every coin award in the world. The obverse depicts the famous “Walking Lady Liberty” by Augustus St. Gaudens, while the reverse pictures father, mother and baby eagles symbolizing the unity of an American Family. Truly unique. This at cost offer for American citizens may be your final opportunity to own government gold free of dealer mark up. Due to extremely limited supplies we must adhere to a strict limit of ten coins per household. Nationwide Coin and Bullion Reserve has set these beautiful U.S. Government gold coins for immediate public release and cannot guarantee sufficient inventory to supply current demand. Overage orders may be cancelled and your checks returned uncashed. Ordering now may be your last chance to own these magnificent government issued gold coins at this level. Call toll free 877-817-1220.
SPecIAL ARRANGeMeNTS FOR ORDeRS OF $25,000 AND MORe ARe NOW AVAILABLe
1-877- 817-1220 CALL TOLL FREE (24 hrs a day seven days a week)
CREDIT
MINIMUM ORDER 5 COINS
8 SCIENCE.indd 75
check
VAULT # WMN 110401
4/4/11 10:17 AM
the world market Classifieds are priced at $23 per line with an average of 33 characters per line and a minimum of two lines. Bold text and uppercase available for $5 per line; special fonts and highlighting available for an additional charge. You will receive a 10 percent discount with a frequency of four or more. All ads are subject to the approval of world. Advertising in world does not necessarily imply the endorsement of the publisher. Prepayment and written confirmation will be required of all advertisers. contact: Connie Moses, world, P.O. Box 20002, Asheville, nc 28802; phone: 828.232.5481; fax: 828.253.1556; email: cmoses@worldmag.com
Education i Struggling writers? Homeschool? Lesson plans, Step by step composition. For samples visit www.thewritefoundation.org. i Develops critical thinking better than calculus! On-line AP Statistics $99. www.apstatsprof.com. i WRITING/PHOTOGRAPHY- the 9th annual Cornerstone University Journalism Institute is a summer camp for students who will be going into 9th through 12th grades in high school or into freshman year of university in the fall. Professional editors, reporters, photographers from Michigan, Indianapolis, Indiana, media serve as many of the instructors. Cost of the camp is only $325; optional ability to earn college credit is available, too. For more details, contact Alan Blanchard, Director, Journalism Dept., Cornerstone University at alan.blanchard@cornerstone.edu or at 616.222.1504 - www.cornerstone.edu/events/cji. i CMI “Spring Madness Sale” Everything 20% off. Children’s Reformed Curriculum, catechetical, family devotions & seasonal items <childministry.com> 888-345-4264. I Homeschool Online Classes - 4th-12th Grade, Christian Worldview: Math, English, Bible, Science, Art, History, Business, Computer, Foreign Languages, Geography, Music, and unique electives. www.LandryAcademy.com. I Homeschooling? Need help with math? DIVE into Math with Interactive Video Lessons on CD-ROM that teach every lesson step by step in Saxon Math. Available for Math54 thru Calculus and Physics; $50 per title. Call us at (936) 372-9216; www.diveintomath.com.
journalism education I CU majors in journalism—www.cornerstone.edu/journalism.
school employment i CONO CHRISTIAN SCHOOL seeks Parent-Educator staff. See our ad in this issue. Thomas Jahl, Headmaster. thomas.jahl@cono.org. i Is God calling you to disciple young men? Consider serving Him at ChamberlainHunt in Academics, Activities & Athletics or Administration & Support Staff. For an employment application and/or more information about ministry opportunities to Cadets, please contact the Principal’s Office at www.chamberlain-hunt.com.
school employment I Portsmouth Christian Academy, a 600-student, nondenominational Christian school located in Dover, NH, anticipates openings for the 2011-2012 school year. To submit an application, visit our website at www.pcaschool.org and select Employment Opportunities under the Contact tab. I POSITIONS AVAILABLE: Asheville Christian Academy is seeking applications for Head Volleyball Coach, combined with a full-time faculty position. ACA Volleyball has been one of Western North Carolina’s best high school programs since the late 1990s, winning nine state championships and numerous conference titles. ACA competes in the NCISAA in the 2A division and regularly competes with the best private and public school volleyball programs throughout the state. ACA Athletics is vibrant and growing, with over 30 life-impacting coaches in our athletic program. Interested teacher/coaches should contact Joe Johnson, Director of Athletics at 828-581-2202 or joe.johnson@acalion. org. Asheville Christian Academy is also seeking applications for Dean of Women. Candidates for this position must have training in biblical studies and/or counseling. This position entails teaching Bible courses and mentoring high school
8 CLASSIFIEDS.indd 76
ladies. Interested candidates may submit application and resumé to William George, Head of School. See our webpage to download complete job descriptions and application at www.acacademy.org. Through our webpage, you will also learn more about beautiful Asheville, NC, and Asheville Christian Academy. I Providence Classical School, founded in 2000, in Spring, Texas, is seeking one or more full-time experienced science teachers. Ideally, the candidates will have several years of experience in a classical school setting and will be passionate about growing an excellent science department in the upper school (7th-12th grade). Classes might include: anatomy, biology, chemistry, earth and physical science. Other positions could become available. Please contact Andrea Martin at amartin@pcsclassical.org. Our school website address is www.pcsclassical.org. I Palmetto Christian Academy Headmaster Opening/Charleston, SC: Palmetto Christian Academy is a Preschool - 12th Grade co-educational, college preparatory day school under the authority and direction of East Cooper Baptist Church located in Mt. Pleasant, SC. Our academic program is rooted in the Christian faith and the classical tradition. We are currently searching for a headmaster to start serving for the
011-12 school year. Please go to 2 www.ecbconline.com/headmaster to complete the application process for the headmaster opening; jenniferc@ecbconline.com, www.ecbconline.com/headmaster. I Trinity Classical Academy located in Southern California has available positions for the 2011-2012 school year. Positions include professional teachers in the following subjects: math, science, literature, logic, Latin, humanities and upper grammar school. Consult our website at www.trinityclassicalacademy.com to download an application. Please send completed applications to the attention of Shawn Doohen by mail 28310 Kelly Johnson Parkway, Valencia CA 91355 or email at shawn.doohen@trinity classicalacademy.com.
professional employment I Full-time lead semi-truck driver for grain & fertilizer. Management exp. preferred. Self-motivated & able to understand individual customer’s needs. Work hours vary, you must be flexible. Applicant will need excellent driving record, with at least 2 yrs. of class A CDL & tanker exp. Send a copy of your driving record with your resumé and wage requirements to CTS Inc., Box 31, Benton, WI 53803. CTS Inc has been in business since 1998 serving Agriculture in SW WI. I Advertising Account Executive for new ad firm. Flexible: from home or travel, F/T or P/T. National reach, higher-end clientele. Retail, direct, B-to-B. Major newspapers, magazines and web. Generous commission and residuals. Contact greg@sageadvertising.net.
rewarding. Great results. NOT a franchise. Earn $30-80/hr. We provide complete training and materials. www.academic-associates.com; (800) 861-9196.
ministry opportunities i Serve Jesus. Serve Muslims. Serve now. Join our teams in northern Iraq and help us change Iraq one life at a time. Visit www.servantgroup.org to learn more.
business opportunities I Proverbs 31 Women and Others: Solid Ethics, Solid income. From Home. www.HomeBased4You.com. Call Beth (800) 867-1560. I Do You Want To Earn More Money? Call now and listen to what these people have done. Toll Free (866) 282-9890.
services I FREE location services! Connect with pre-screened REALTOR and Christian Community Info. Entire US/CAN; (800) 395-8556; www.ExodusNetwork.com. I CHRISTIANS HELPING CHRISTIANS: Like-minded believers are sharing one another’s medical expenses through a unique ministry that doesn’t involve insurance. Samaritan Ministries, P.O. Box 3618, Peoria, IL 61612; or call 888-268-4377, ext. 23.
church plants I US Military: Active, Reserves, and Retirees. P&R Church Plants Globally. Info: www. ministrytothemilitaryinternational.com.
college employment I BELHAVEN UNIVERSITY, a Christian university that thoroughly integrates faith and learning, invites applications for the following faculty positions: Business Administration-Marketing (PhD or DBA); Business Administration-Chattanooga campus (PhD or DBA); Graphic Design (MFA) and Sports Administration (PhD). See www.belhaven.edu for details.
church employment I We call ourselves “happy Calvinists.” We are a very PCA-like, but independent, non-charismatic church that is searching for an Associate Pastor w/communication skills, a desire to disciple believers and develop ministerial staff. Check us out at www.graceevan.org. Send resumé to Brent Wilkins at brent@graceevan.org.
opportunities I OPEN YOUR OWN READING CENTER: Make a difference in the lives of others. Operate from home. It’s needed. It’s
Foul Language Filter for Your TV: Connect TVGuardian to your TV and it automatically mutes out foul language! No monthly fee. Now available in Standard or HighDefinition versions. Join millions of satisfied customers. Use coupon code WORLD for Free Shipping. Call or go online now: (800) 298-5618 or www.TVGuardian.com.
New Mexico Boys and Girls Ranches are seeking Christian married couples to serve as Resident Advisors and Associate Resident Advisors with youth ages 10-18. Our program focuses on educating youth, teaching life skills and values. Salary, on campus housing, moving allowance and other benefits. For more information, please call 1-800-660-0289
4/5/11 5:20 PM
publications
christian ceo
I EVOLUTION NEEDS AN ADJECTIVE: Tossing Darwin Out of Science. An E-book by F.P. Nelson, M.D.; www.evolutionneedsanadjective.com.
health I NATURAL PROGESTERONE CREAM— BIO-IDENTICAL: In pump as described by Dr. John R. Lee. Special price. () ; www.zellersnaturalhealth.com.
real estate I Maine Properties. Recreational, woodland, investment & residential. Owner financing; www.themainelandstore.com; () -. I Free home market analysis. US/Can. Connect with REALTOR of integrity. Christian community info; () ; www.ExodusNetwork.com. I NEED A CHRISTIAN REALTOR in the PHOENIX area? Call Dan or Carol Smith with Dan Smith Realty; () -; www.dansmithrealty.com.
camps I Summer Camps: Christian Worldview for th-th graders: Theatre, Civil War, Politics, Christian Music Jam, Computer Programming, Biology, Journalism, Anatomy and Physiology, Law, Broadcasting, Physics, French, Spanish, Architecture, Voice, Photography, Missions, Art, C.S. Lewis, Violin: www. LandryAcademy.com.
family camps I Affordable Family Vacations: Step back in time slow down enjoy some old West family fun; www.Fortrockfamilycamp.com; () -.
Are you a mature Christian who has enjoyed a successful business leadership career as Owner, CEO, President or Executive Coach/ Consultant & are now called to use these gifts to help other leaders fulfill their God-given calling & potential? Do you believe Christ is Lord, the Bible is true, God has an eternal plan for each believer’s life, & this plan includes their business? Would you be excited to build a high-impact professional practice to equip, encourage & inspire like-minded Christian leaders based on this truth? If so, you may be called by the Lord to be an Area Chair for The C12 Group, America’s leader in helping Christian CEOs & Owners Build GREAT Businesses for a GREATER Purpose. If you’re in a position to investigate a great franchise opportunity, visit www.C12Group. com to learn more!
Located in the heart of New York City, the GENEVA SCHOOL of Manhattan, a Classical, Christian nursery-8 Coed Private School seeks full-time Academic Dean, candidate with potential to become the Head of School. The ideal candidate would have graduate training and at least 5 years of experience teaching and/or leading in a classical, Christian school. He or she would also have a passion for academic achievement that is rooted in classical, integrated curricula. He or she would have a history of working well with all school constituents, and would be passionate about developing the academic stature of the school while contributing to a thriving spiritual influence. If interested, please email resumé and brief statement of your philosophy of the integration of faith and learning to peggy.chen@genevaschool.net.
400,000 people are reading WHY ISN’T YOUR AD HERE?
For information about advertising, call: 828.232.5489 | fax: 828.253.1556 email: advertise@worldmag.com
If you’re a Christian chief executive desiring the proven impact of a CEO roundtable, think for a moment about the voices contributing to the conversation. Of course, it’s vital that your advisors be professionally qualified and objective, but isn’t it equally important that your peers be rooted in shared values that truly matter? C12 MEMBER
“Fellowship with other Christian business owners, along with prayer, troubleshooting and business advice, is always beneficial.”
Building GREAT Businesses for a GREATER Purpose
Call (336) 841-7100 • www.C12Group.com
8 CLASSIFIEDS.indd 77
4/5/11 5:21 PM
Order Mouthwatering Gifts for Mother’s Day 1 0 0 % s at i s fac t i o n g ua r a n t e e d . giant strawberries | #1 seller | over 20 million berries dipped
20% Off
19 99
“They were HUGE! We were really impressed.” - Carline, Temecula, CA
your entire order over $2999
To redeem this offer, go to
hand-
berrdipped ies from $
Berries.com/World
or call 800.580.2503 20% off any order over $29.99. Discount does not apply to gift cards or certificates, same-day or international delivery, shipping & handling, taxes, or third-party hosted products (e.g. wine). Offer expires 05/06/2011.
a s a l aw y er , a s a c h r ist i a n , yo u k n ow
t h e di sc i pli n e r equ i r e d to suc c e e d , B u t yo u d e s i r e to
ac c om p lish s o m e t h i n g m o r e l a st i n g . you’re not a lone.
a dflegal.org
8 MAILBAG.indd 78 ADF World Magazine HALF.indd 1
3/29/11 4:47 PM 1/21/11 2:19 PM
19 PM
MAILBAG “The revival of localism” ( )
Your cover story, about a generational thirst for this country’s faith-based roots as well as a reverence for God, life, and family, was like a breath of fresh air in a smoke-filled room. Localism is reviving and growing again. People are rediscovering the importance of faith and family as well as the value of good work, good food, and even frugality. . , Syracuse, N.Y.
“Purim in Wisconsin?” ( ) Marvin Olasky hit a grand slam with this one! His column is the clearest I have seen on this subject. I am sure the teachers at Manhattan Bible Church (“Concrete purpose,” March ) would love to make half the salaries of the Milwaukee publicschool teachers.
Grand Prairie, Texas
Many thanks for this column. The birth of the Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union was indeed a welcome change and response to the horror of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. But human greed snatches at every opportunity. The pampered government workers of Wisconsin—and every other state—chant about collective bargaining rights, but this is just a smokescreen to veil the truth of their fat salaries, overstuffed health insurance policies, and pernicious pensions.
make ends meet and cover the per month fees for health insurance, high taxes, and other deductions to be able to respond.
relationship. It is amazing that God has allowed us to live long enough to hold our child’s child. Spoil them? Oh sure, there’s some of that. But, like Seu, we have realized the importance of leaving them a spiritual legacy in addition to ice cream, doughnuts, and tea parties. . Nashville, Tenn.
I am and unmarried. Thank you for reminding me, before I have children of my own, of what is important. I’m trying to put some of these things into practice even now with my younger sisters. The wistfulness in this column is wrenching, but we serve the God of second chances. Every failure given into His hands will indeed be redeemed.
Anchor Point, Alaska
Urbana, Ill.
“Ice pond” ( ) This is one of my favorite columns by Andrée Seu. I haven’t quite figured out the grandparent-grandchild
I am in the same stage of life as Seu and also struggle with mistakes I have made. I see my grandson in the face and conversation of her lovely granddaughter. Then I hit the trip-line, “I believe everything will be
Bhakunde, Nepal / around the world
Middletown, Del.
As a regular reader and unionrepresented city worker, I was going to write a lengthy letter questioning Olasky’s claim that government workers are in the upper class of U.S. workers. However, I’m too busy searching for a second job (in addition to working -hour weeks) to Send photos and letters to: mailbag@worldmag.com
8 MAILBAG.indd 79
APRIL 23, 2011
WORLD
4/5/11 5:29 PM
redeemed, even my failures.” Thank you for that reminder.
Vermontville, Mich.
Teach the Unfolding Story of Salvation True to Scripture With a Godward focus
Teacher Friendly
Easy to prepare, flexible, gospel centered
Shaping Lives for Christ From toddlers to teenagers
NEW!
Youth Bible Studies
I heard the sadness about Seu’s first son. A paraphrase of an Amish saying is, “We grow old too soon and smart too late.” I’m periodically confounded by God’s purposes. He makes us parents when we have no experience and little knowledge. By the time we get it figured out, the damage is done. I think He does this just to prove that He can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. Lees Summit, Mo.
“Mat morals” ( ) Contrary to popular belief, chivalry is not dead. I commend Joel Northup for his sacrifice in choosing to forfeit a match where he would have had to wrestle a young lady. Joel set a great example. As a -year-old male, I find Joel’s actions to be valiant.
Hutchinson, Kan.
Northup behaved more than wisely. He encouraged me that in this world of “equality,” some young men still desire to honor girls by treating them with care and courtesy. When out in public places, it makes my day when guys open the door for me. Unfortunately, that rarely happens. ,
Wenatchee, Wash.
org w.sowhatstudies.
ww
Quick Takes ( ) I was surprised by the short article you had on Montana state Senator Greg Hinkle. As a homeschooling father and dedicated Christian, he has taken the heat on a number of solid Christian bills in the Senate. Of all the worthy bills he has carried, singling him out for national exposure with the title of “Spear Thrower” was not fair.
designed to protect medical personnel who are pro-life (“A step backward”), and his budget proposal that includes record spending in a time of enormous deficits (“Shutdown showdown”) are indeed frightening. Is this the change we were looking for? Now we all face a very chaotic future.
Woodbridge, Calif.
“The government you won’t miss” ( ) Thank you for the article on Gov. Daniels of Indiana. Let’s see. He is a graduate of Princeton who does not seem to be an elitist; has inside knowledge of the federal government; has run a major business and a state government and is committed to fiscal responsibility; is pro-life and a committed Christian but seems to appeal to all types of people. If he runs for president he is welcome at my home anytime.
Brighton, Mich.
Dispatches ( ) In an item mentioning Harry Reid’s early experiences with brothels, you refer to the old expression that prostitution is “the world’s oldest profession.” Even a cursory reading of Scripture will give numerous other options such as farmer, musician, and hunter. Elmhust, Ill.
“Preferred treatment” (. ) I’m tired of the getting a pass on their position on education. As architects and supporters of No Child Left Behind, members are complicit in the continued extraconstitutional activities of Congress. If the is earnest about smaller government, it can start with the Department of Education. Eliminating it would save billions of dollars and restore the authority of educational choices to its rightful owners, the people. ..
Order a FREE catalog or preview pack today! www.gcp.org · 877.300.8884 The publishing ministry of the Committee on Christian Education of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Committee for Christian Education & Publications of the Presbyterian Church in America. © 2011 Great Commission Publications, Suwanee, GA 30024-3897
8 MAILBAG.indd 80
Cut Bank, Mont.
“Optional: a president who upholds the law” ( ) Your March articles on President Obama’s refusal to defend , his weakening of federal regulations
Monterey, Va.
“Mad mom” (. ) I am befuddled by your review of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Its brilliant conclusion is that the Founders were akin to Tiger Mothers. Jefferson, for
4/5/11 5:30 PM
example, was at his studies for hours per day, including three practicing his violin.
Martinez, Calif.
“Are you bored?” (. ) Thank you for touching upon a very common characteristic among teenagers and adults who stay absorbed with themselves. I too rediscovered the awe factor of God’s creation when I became a Christian at age . As Romans tells us, His invisible attributes, eternal power, and divine nature are clearly seen in what He has made. Eternity will never be boring.
Whatever your plans, day or night, invite God in with
Gentle Praise
Internet radio inspiring soft, peaceful worship, between your heart and His ...uninterrupted.
Owensboro, Ky.
I have often thought that the believers who are most curious, most inquisitive, wonder out loud the best, and enjoy His creation the most are the ones who enjoy Him the best.
Enjoy Gentle Praise and other Family Life music streams at
www.fln.org/iradio
Greer, S.C.
Will not cancel You provide news no other source will print and you don’t shy away from politically incorrect news. I have several subscriptions to news sources but is in the “will not cancel” group.
A Gap-Year Program
Covering 360 Degrees Of Life
Anderson, Calif.
“The smell of death and the aroma of Christ” (. ) The column about Tom Little and the others who were killed in Afghanistan has been very meaningful to me. This man’s sacrifice is an example to all of us comfortable Christians here in the United States, reminding us that Christ is exalted in life and in the death of His humble and serving saints.
Hudson, Ohio
LETTERS AND PHOTOS Email: mailbag@worldmag.com Write: Mailbag, P.O. Box , Asheville, - Fax: .. Please include full name and address. Letters may be edited to yield brevity and clarity.
8 MAILBAG.indd 81
We can help your student grow spiritually, see the world from God’s viewpoint and learn to serve others. Biblical Worldview • Life & Spiritual Formation Leadership • Service • International Experience 15 Hours College Credit • For 18- to 20- year-olds Learn more and find out what guest professors Dr. J.P. Moreland and Dr. William Lane Craig say about IMPACT 360: www.IMPACT360.net/info info@IMPACT360.net • 678-999-2181, Ext. 360
4/5/11 5:30 PM
VITAMINS & COMPLETE BODY CARE FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY A COMPANY THAT ANSWERS TO in All We Do
GOD
BRUCE BRIGHTMAN Founder of LifeSource Vitamins
SCIENTIFICALLY
ADVANCED
NUTRITION
For the Entire Family
OVER 300
ALL NATURAL
PRODUCTS
KEYSTONE-FRANCE/GAMMA-KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES
For You to Choose From
From the nutrients we choose to the way we run our business, we are a company that answers to God in all we do. LifeSource Vitamins gives ALL profits to Christian organizations worldwide such as: Campus Crusade for Christ, The Jesus Film Project, World Mission Food Relief and many more.
Call today to place your order or request a free catalog
(800) 567-8122 | LifesourceVitamins.com LSV_February2011_fullpg_sky.indd 1 8 SEU.indd 82
2/3/11 8:17 AM 3/31/11 11:32 AM
Andrée Seu warfare. The voicing of praise, even by those of least account in the world, sends demonic enemies fleeing (Psalm :). I was asked once at a retreat how to keep the pursuit of a conscious, moment-by-moment faith (as opposed to the voter registration card variety) from becoming morbid introspection. Upon reflection I replied that what helps me is the practice of thanks. If you are thanking God throughout the day, you are walking in the pathways of grace; you need not worry overmuch about your Freudian motives. The presence of God directly relates to your worship, and the aroma of thanks ascending releases His resources into your life. The same discovery was made in a concentration camp called Ravensbruck in World War II. Corrie and Betsie ten Boon had just learned that their new barracks was infested with fleas: it was important to say thank “‘Betsie, how can we live in such a place!’ you, but that’s not the half of it. It was “the magic word,” “‘Show us. Show us how.’ It was said so our betters said, and they spoke better than they knew. matter of factly it took me a second to realize “Magic” is the decadent explanation for divine mysteries she was praying. More and more the distinction that the world trips over daily without recognition. The between prayer and the rest of life seemed to be way “thank you” secured lollipops in our nascence is but vanishing for Betsie.” the faint whisper of the power of thanksgiving. Corrie remembered the Bible passage they My mother became a child of God recently, in her had read that morning. They looked both ways, th year. The circumstances were that the good health then read: “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give she had always enjoyed but never said thank you for was thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will taken away for a season. That was enough to bring her, of God in Christ Jesus.” broken, to Christ, which makes illness a positive thing “‘That’s it, Corrie! That’s His answer. “Give and not a negative thing. When her strength began to thanks in all circumstances!”. . . . We can start return intermittently—one good day and five bad days— right now to thank God for every single thing she and I had talks about the importance of thank you. about this new barracks.’” They commenced We decided we would always be careful to thank God for the good days. We praise for their being assigned to the same noticed it felt good to do this. barracks; for the Bible they got away with Now my mother has experienced a string of weeks of wellness, and this keeping; for the other women who would meet is where the danger comes in. We must redouble our resolve to say thank Jesus through that Bible. you regularly, lest we drift away. Drift, and neglect of thanksgiving, “‘Thank You,’ Betsie went on serenely, ‘for account for the loss of civilizations (Romans :) and the shipwreck of the fleas’” (The Hiding Place). churches (Hebrews -). We often blame these cataclysmic developments Here Corrie raised an objection. But some on capitalized “ism” words, like “Liberalism,” “Materialism,” and time later, the residents of Barracks noted a “Humanism,” but they could not dent the Church if we daily secured the puzzling phenomenon, bulwarks with the magic words “Thank you, that the guards who were Lord.” so zealous in surveillance The white, steepled Georgian churches of old of the Lagerstrasse and New England would not have “Unitarian—forthe center room exerted merly Congregationalist” on their lawn signs almost no supervision of today if the people inside them had retained, their particular dormitory. over generations, the simple practice of daily When a dispute over socks “thank you.” There was slippage. Nor would did not prompt official Harvard have clipped its motto from Veritas intervention, they learned Christo et Ecclesiae to Veritas. The omission of that the supervisor “thank you” is the house swept clean that the refused to set foot in the unclean spirits entered and brought seven place. She was heard to others along with them (Luke :-). say: “That place is crawlThe frequent God-ward utterance of “thank IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES: Prisoners being held ing with fleas!” A you” is the maintenance mode of larger spiritual in Ravensbruck concentration camp.
THE MAGIC WORD
KEYSTONE-FRANCE/GAMMA-KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES
Giving thanks is a bulwark against spiritual drift
Email: aseu@worldmag.com
8 SEU.indd 83
APRIL 23, 2011
WORLD
4/6/11 4:38 PM
Marvin Olasky
COMPLICATED TRUTH
C
Christianity is not a tucked-in-tight religion
WORLD APRIL 23, 2011
8 OLASKY.indd 84
KRIEG BARRIE
how the Trinity works? And could you explain to me again this idea of grace?” One diligent student had no problem grasping Islam. She had no problem understanding religions based on a concept of exchange—do something for a god and he’ll do something for you. But she was legitimately confused about Christianity: “The Quran is simple. Why is Christianity complicated?” April is not the cruelest month when it includes Easter. It’s great to read the Bible on mornings that are becoming warmer. I remember good evenings putting my children to bed with Sylvia Plath’s The Bed Book, which praises many fanciful kinds of sleeping areas but condemns one: the “white little, tucked in tight little, nighty night little, turn out the light little, bed.” We could assess religions the same way: Tucked-in-tight religions are too symmetrical to be true. Take the smooth explanations at the website everymuslim.com. We’re told that “Almighty Allah, when depriving a person of a certain ability or gift, compensates him for it, by bestowing upon him/her another gift.” For example, “People who are deprived of sight have very sensitive ears.” So it all makes sense: No sight, no sweat, Allah compensates. Hinduism’s doctrine of karma is also clear: If you’re blind in this life, it may be because you broke someone’s glasses or didn’t give money to a sightless beggar in the last one. Many Jews , years ago desired such clarity. Some asked Jesus to choose between two logical possibilities: Was a man blind because he sinned or because his parents sinned? But in chapter of the Gospel according to John, Jesus explains, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” How are those works displayed? Maybe a miracle gives sight to the blind
man. Maybe a miracle occurs in other people, as they abandon natural selfishness and sacrifice to help a person in need. Sometimes we’re stuck with mystery. Dorothy Sayers called Christianity the only religion that gives value to suffering— whether physical or spiritual—by affirming its reality and the opportunity to wrench some good out of it. It would be great to understand mystery, but th-century pastor Charles Spurgeon put it rightly: “Providence is wonderfully intricate. Ah! You want always to see through Providence, do you not? You never will, I assure you. You have not eyes good enough. You want to see what good that affliction was to you; you must believe it. You want to see how it can bring good to the soul; you may be enabled in a little time, but you cannot see it now; you must believe it.” Spurgeon concluded that we should “honor God by trusting him.” But why? We might say, “Because He’s God,” and that’s true—but Christianity does better than that. Christianity tells us that God saw our suffering and suffered with us and for us. Christianity tells us what man-made religions like Islam or Hinduism do not: That at a specific historical moment God experienced intimately torture, abandonment, overwhelming loss, and unjust death. Islam offers lots of definite answers, but Christianity takes after Christ in leaving some questions on the table and often offering stories rather than formulas. Don Everts and Doug Schaupp, in I Once Was Lost (, ), state that “Jesus is asked questions in the Gospels. He answers just three of them—and he asks questions back.” The type of questions is also significant. Quranic questions tend to be rhetorical or hectoring: “Do they not know that Allah knows what they keep secret? (Sura :). Christ’s questions probe: “What do you want me to do for you?. . . How do you read the law? . . . What are you looking for?” We’re sometimes told that the Bible is our instruction manual for Planet Earth—but doesn’t that make it seem like the Quran? If you’re looking for a tucked-in-tight religion, Islam will do. But if you want more than a series of statements and more than a book of rules about what we should and should not do, then read the Bible and understand it as a story of what God did for us. Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. A Email: molasky@worldmag.com
4/6/11 4:40 PM
THE MASTER’S COLLEGE
/
For Christ & Scripture
TMC is a CHRIST-CENTERED liberal arts college that exists to advance the kingdom of God by equipping students for MORAL INTEGRITY and lives of service in strategic fields of ministry and vocation. It is within this AUTHENTIC, LIFE-CHANGING community that students from around the globe gather to be CULTURALLY-ENGAGED, to embrace BIBLICAL FIDELITY, to be CHALLENGED ACADEMICALLY, and to live beyond themselves—to be more like the
PROGRAMS
MASTER.
/
The Master’s College offers more than 55 undergraduate majors, an adult degree completion program, a distance education program, Summer Institute Programs, the California Teacher Credential Program, and graduate programs in Biblical Counseling, Biblical Studies and Education. For more information, visit our website or give us a call.
{
www.masters.edu
}
KRIEG BARRIE
Santa Clarita, CA / 800.568.6248
8 OLASKY.indd 3
3/29/11 4:44 PM
11_074_World_Full_BkCrApril23.indd 1 8 OLASKY.indd 4
3/25/11 10:31 AM 3/29/11 4:05 PM