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Contents
, / ,
FE AT UR E S
38 Food stamps surge
COVER STORY The dramatic rise in recipients of U.S. supplemental nutrition assistance may be more about selling the program than feeding the needy
46 Touching lives in tough places
Chicago community development corporation puts a new face on a battered neighborhood space
50 Holding fast
As churches around the world prepare for Persecution Sunday this month, Afghan Christian Sayed Musa tells how he survived government-led imprisonment and abuse
56 Talk of the towns
After a bus tour of important swing states, the president left people happy to see him but not necessarily convinced that he should get four more years in Washington
60 Signs of the times
DISPATCHES 7 News 16 Human Race 18 Quotables 20 Quick Takes
A Texas pregnancy center finds itself a target of a national campaign to use local politics to undermine pro-life counseling services
64 Victor’s story
When their daughter was diagnosed with cancer, Mike and Deb Watters didn’t foresee how it would lead to a life- and community-changing adoption
66 Hostile takeovers
25
Violence, theft, and public friction come to the Occupy protests ON THE COVER: Illustration by Krieg Barrie
66 56
73
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REVIEWS 25 Movies & TV 28 Books 31 Q&A 34 Music NOTEBOOK 73 Sports 75 Technology 76 Science 77 Houses of God 78 Money 79 Religion VOICES 3 Nick Eicher 4 Joel Belz 22 Janie B. Cheaney 36 Mindy Belz 83 Mailbag 87 Andrée Seu 88 Marvin Olasky
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Eyes to see, ears to hear A changing media industry is propelling over the air
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VALERIE LOISELEUX/iSTOCK
I’ these days in a padded room. Journalism industry turmoil has driven me to it. Now that I have your attention: The room is a cramped broadcast studio and the padding is acoustic treatment. It’s where a new member of the team—senior broadcast producer Joseph Slife—and I record our new weekly radio news magazine, “The World and Everything in It.” Over the past three years, I’ve described in this space—my near-year-end fundraising appeal—the creative destruction that is reshaping journalism: dramatic newsroom staff reductions (), media bankruptcies (), and urgent building of new platforms to deliver content (). Multi-platform journalism is the new normal. As these trends reshape journalism, and thanks to your generous financial partnership, has responded by transforming from news magazine to news group. Since last November we have rolled out our digital content platform, which enables distribution of our content through apps (such as our iPad app) to mobile devices. We have introduced two new editions of our God’s World News magazines for kids (gwnews.com). We have also launched on Campus (worldoncampus.com) for student writers and readers. We are venturing into journalism training in Africa through the World Journalism Institute, which has added editor-in-chief Marvin Olasky’s leadership to its robust new training regime for young journalists and mid-career professionals looking for a change. But padded rooms, microphones, and digital recorders represent our most visual—well, auditory— change. I’ve dreamed of something like this since I was a kid, and in God’s providence it took two decades of magazine experience to bring it about. That’s not as strange as it may seem: The journalistic depth we have here at makes great radio possible, because without great reporting, it’s just talk. Partnering with the Salem Radio Network, “The World and Everything in It” () debuted the first weekend of August and, with ads, fills a two-hour commercial radio time slot. We edit minutes out of that program and provide a one-hour edition for noncommercial affiliates. The entire program, minus ads, is available via podcast at worldandeverything.com.
Email: neicher@worldmag.com
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started on stations in August and expanded thanks to the Good News Network and others. This month, with the addition of the Bott Radio Network, whose stations account for half our affiliates, our program is now heard on stations. We’re in five of the top markets (Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta) and of the top . The program showcases reports from our “print” team: Editor Mindy Belz and correspondents Lee Pitts, Jill Nelson, and Warren Smith have all written and recorded in-depth news pieces. Listeners have benefited from “The Olasky Interview,” Marvin’s regular live-audience question-and-answer session with political leaders such as Herman Cain and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, and authors such as Ann Voskamp. has also included commentary by founder Joel Belz and senior writer Andrée Seu, along with culture reviews from correspondents Megan Basham, Arsenio Orteza, and Susan Olasky. We are striving to build around this core a team that can produce as a daily news magazine—’s answer to National Public Radio’s () “All Things Considered.” We want to provide daily audio, video, and print journalism for distribution over the air, on the web, and inside digital apps, even as we continue to strengthen the print magazine. We’re doing this because audio provides great opportunity. The Project for Excellence in Journalism notes that of traditional media, “The audience for / radio has remained among the most stable … in the last decade.” Even in a fractured media market, fully a third of all Americans get their news via radio. The audience for , for instance, grew last year to more than million listeners a week, a nearly percent rise in a decade. Leftist financier George Soros’ interest in and support of is clearly strategic. I speak for the family in thanking God and you for the outpouring of financial support for this vision. It’s an ongoing work and we need your ongoing partnership. We are a (c)() nonprofit educational ministry, so contributions to are tax-deductible. The changes reshaping journalism represent an opportunity for our brand of Christian worldview journalism. If you sense a call to become a Mover, I hope you’ll think and pray about being part of this exciting future. Please use the envelope nearby. A NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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Joel Belz
A time for choosing
Website offers Americans a chance to weigh in on where to cut federal spending
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I , your choices were limited to just two, and you had to decide which of the two was the better way for the federal government to save a few billion dollars over the next several years—would you () eliminate all subsidies for the ethanol industry, or () end all subsidies for Amtrak? I could have asked the same sort of question with hundreds of different pairs. For example, if it were your task to rescue the Social Security program, would you prefer cutting all benefits by percent, or delaying the launch of benefits from age to age ? Remember: it’s one or the ot her. Human nature suggests a compromise—a little of one and a little of the ot her. But in this exercise, there’s no fudging. You’ve got to come down on one side or the ot her. I watched this scenario at work a few days ago while a group called the Tea Party Debt Commission sought to form an increasingly clear snapshot of what the American public thinks about reducing the size of its federal government. I was impressed with the process.
WORLD NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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POTAPOVA VALERIYA/ISTOCK
What’s altogether unimpressive these days are the reports coming from the socalled Super Committee on Deficit Reduction appointed by the U.S. Congress. A dozen Republicans and a dozen Democrats were charged last summer with recommending—no later than Thanksgiving weekend—specific cuts in the federal deficit that would amount to . trillion over the next years. The deadline’s getting close, and word is that there’s little agreement on any meaningful specifics. Not to worry, said the folks over at Tea Party headquarters. We’ll make some recommendations for you—and we’ll have them in your hands before the Thanksgiving deadline, backed up with some not-so-very-difficult research. For good measure, our proposed reductions won’t be just for your paltry . trillion over years, but a whopping trillion in the same period.
The research tool they devised strikes me as simple, accurate, and economical for both sponsors and users. Simple, because it starts with a website you can go to this very minute (Teapartydebtcommission. com) and navigate without confusion. There you will be shown a short series of pairs of potential spending cuts. For each pair, you’ll be asked to resist the temptation to cut both—but instead to pick the more desirable of the two cuts. You’ll face a short list of fewer than a dozen pairings. Each is randomly chosen; for one respondent it may be A vs. B, C vs. D, etc., while for the next respondent it’s A vs. C, B vs. D, etc. Each category thereby develops its standing as an overall “winner” or a “loser” in the public mind. From the survey’s accumulated results, its sponsors are developing a precise “crowd-sourced” budget. Already, some , respondents have made their choices, giving the survey enormous breadth. Already, the sponsors are able to say—on the basis of significant popular response—that the repeal of Obamacare is the highest priority deficit-trimmer out there. Second place goes to wasteful buying in the Pentagon. Third place would close down Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The fourth place vote goes to the closing of the Department of Education. But there’s yet another dimension to the Tea Party survey that gives it a certain slam-dunk quality. Respondents are invited (but not required) to indicate their present party affiliation. That gives the data processors the ability to calculate the deficittrimming preferences of Republicans, Democrats, libertarians, independents, etc. But much more significant, it allows for the identification of deficitcutting measures that clearly appeal across party lines—identifying the often-elusive “common ground” that politicians say they are looking for. perhaps giving courage to otherwise timid legislators. So guess what? Even on such “common ground,” including voters from all political backgrounds, the priorities are the same. It’s by no means just Republicans who think repeal of Obamacare is the first and best way to cut the federal deficit. Have at it, readers. Have your say on how to chop the deficit. More details about the folks behind this remarkable effort are at freedomworks. org/tea-party-debt-commission. A Email: jbelz@worldmag.com
11/3/11 4:21 PM
God’s real-life answers to your toughest questions. We all have a list of questions we’d like to ask God. Popular pastor and author James Merritt reminds us that God is neither surprised nor offended by our concerns. In this insightful book, he wrestles with some of the most frequently asked questions about faith, life, and the world around us—questions that perhaps even you have been hesitant to ask the only One who can answer them. Discover the answers that will both comfort your heart and challenge your mind.
“We know God personally but not perfectly, truly but not totally, experientially but not exhaustively. It is natural that finite creatures like us would have questions about an infinite Creator like God.” —James Merritt
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SHREDDER: TOMML/ISTOCK • SEBELIUS: MANUEL BALCE CENETA/AP
Into the shredder NEWS: Kansas abortion case takes another turn, this time involving key Obama health adviser BY LES SILLARS
>>
A K postponed a pre-trial hearing in the state’s criminal case against Planned Parenthood after prosecutors revealed in court filings that Kansas health officials shredded documents related to felony charges the abortion giant faces. The Oct. decision came after it was revealed that in , while the Kansas Department of Health and Environment was under the direction of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius,, a pro-abortion Democrat who now serves as secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, the crucial documents went missing. Prosecutors now have a November deadline to gather other evidence that Planned Parenthood of
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Kansas and Mid-Missouri manufactured the records of clients who had late-term abortions. The abortion provider faces “false writing” felony charges. Prosecutors say that the state health department only recently revealed to them that it had destroyed the documents in a “routine” shredding. Some Kansas pro-lifers believe that the agency under Sebelius deliberately destroyed evidence that supported allegations that Planned Parenthood, one of the former governor’s staunchest political allies, was failing to report child rape. The health department did not disclose the shredding to the court or prosecutors for six years—until forced to do so in the current felony case over whether Planned Parenthood manufactured client records. “Not even we anticipated Sebelius and her administration NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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LOOKING AHEAD Obama in Australia President
Barack Obama on Nov. will travel to Australia to address that nation’s joint session of the House of Representatives and Senate to commemorate the th anniversary of the Australian-U.S. Alliance. Signed in , the alliance once included New Zealand, until the nation pulled out when it banned vessels bearing nuclear weapons from its ports.
Deficit reduction due
The budget-cutting group dubbed the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction must come up with at least . trillion in deficit reduction by Nov. or risk . trillion in automatic cuts to domestic and defense spending. The -member panel includes equal representation of both houses of Congress as well as equal representation of both major parties.
Buy Nothing Day
Despite being dubbed “Buy Nothing Day” by anti-consumer and environmental groups, the traditional first day of the Christmas shopping season on Nov. is expected to produce big turnouts for retailers.
Coptic papal anniversary
The head of Egypt’s Coptic Christian church, Pope Shenouda III, celebrates his th anniversary in office on Nov. . Many are wondering whether the pope’s health, age——or the violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt will force him to begin talks of succession.
Spanish election
Faced with a precipitous economic downturn, voters in Spain will go to the polls in parliamentary elections on Nov. . The incumbent Socialists have taken much of the blame for the nation’s economic plight, but the center-right Popular Party must convince voters it has better solutions to the nation’s debt problems.
PERSECUTED CHURCH: LAF • POPE SHENOUDA III: AMR AHMAD/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • OBAMA: SUSAN WALSH/AP • DEFICIT REDUCTION: CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES • POPULAR PARTY: PAUL WHITE/AP • BUY NOTHING: RON SOLIMAN/AP
could stoop this low to protect abortion industry criminality,” said Kansans for Life executive director Mary Kay Culp. In then Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline opened an investigation into Planned Parenthood and other Kansas abortion providers to determine whether they were reporting child rape, keeping proper client records, and properly determining the viability of late-term babies before performing abortions—all required by state laws. Kansas law also requires abortion providers to submit detailed patient reports to the state health department and to keep copies of the reports in the patients’ files. When Kline attempted to obtain from the health agency several dozen reports that Planned Parenthood had filed, the health department resisted. In it turned over to Kline’s office copies of dozens of reports. In , as the investigation dragged on, a judge forced Planned Parenthood to turn over redacted patient files. When they arrived, Kline’s investigators noticed that the “copies” of the reports Planned Parenthood provided didn’t match the copies of the reports the health department had submitted. To the judge it appeared that Planned Parenthood had manufactured the reports—in his words, “committed felonies to cover up misdemeanors.” Neither the judge nor prosecutors knew at this point that the original health department reports had been shredded the year before; the Kansas health department didn’t disclose it then nor during the following two years of court battles, as the state agency continued to oppose Kline’s efforts to obtain the originals. “This was no routine purging,” said Culp of Kansans for Life. “It really does need to be investigated further.” The trial on the “false writing” charges could still proceed, depending on the outcome of a Nov. hearing. Planned Parenthood also faces misdemeanor charges for failing to keep proper records and not determining the viability of a lateterm baby before performing an abortion. The abortion provider has long denied any wrongdoing. In a court filing it acknowledged “certain idiosyncrasies” in its copies of the reports but said that its records contained the same data as the health department’s copies. A
Prayer for the persecuted
Thousands of churches on Nov. will mark the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church by praying for persecuted Christians throughout the world and for the salvation of their persecutors. Organizers also hope the day raises awareness and promotes advocacy for the persecuted church.
WORLD NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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Dispatches > News
Turkey’s latest More than a week after a 7.2-magnitude quake struck eastern Turkey on Oct. 23, survivors waited through snow and rain to learn if their dwellings were safe to return to. Over 600 people died and more than 2,600 suffered injuries in the disaster, which took place in a quake-plagued region where the majority of buildings are not properly constructed to withstand damage: In the latest quake over 2,000 buildings and homes have been destroyed, leaving thousands without shelter. Much of the damage took place in Ercis, but in nearby Van, one faith-based worker who lives in the region reported, “There are many people living in tents beside their homes because they are afraid to go inside to sleep. In the daytime they go in and out of the house to cook or go to the bathroom but they sleep in the tents.” Besides humanitarian aid, the biggest current need, he said, is structural engineers.
SURVIVORS In ERcIS: A Kurdish woman and her daughter salvage books from their collapsed home (left); an abandoned home (top); children sleep in temporary shelter (middle); a Kurdish man surveys the damage to his home (bottom). TuRkEy: JonaThan hEnDERson/GEnEsIs PhoTos • wallIs & lanD: alEx wonG/GETTy ImaGEs CREDIT
Left and right converse
The religious left’s Jim Wallis and the religious right’s Richard Land disagree on major policy issues, but on Nov. 2 the two came together at the National Press Club to agree on one thing: The campaigning in next year’s elections could set a new benchmark for negativity. Land, who heads the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, predicted it would be the “ugliest campaign since 1800.” That is when, he said, New England Federalists buried their Bibles to hide them over fears that the new Thomas Jefferson administration would confiscate them. “There is vitriol out there. Ugly vitriol,” added Wallis, president of Sojourners. The men held the event to model civil discourse over the often lightning-rod subject of evangelicals in politics one year ahead of next year’s elections. For much of the night they talked about their agreements on clean energy, immigration reform, marriage, and foreign aid. Both argued that Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith should not matter in the public square. But, as if to prove their dire prediction, the men could not hide their differences for long. Wallis blamed the nation’s economic woes on Wall Street’s “reckless, greedy, selfish behavior.” Land countered that the “biggest problem is Washington” and its focus on wealth redistribution. The two managed to grin and bear basic disagreements, but as Land admitted, “Politicians in this country don’t usually turn the other check.”
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Executive overreach
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Tunisia’s turnaround Violent protests broke out Oct. , forcing police to fire tear gas and shots into the air in Sidi Bouzid, where months ago “Arab Spring” revolts began when vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself. The unrest followed successful Oct. elections in Tunisia—the first Arab country to overthrow its ruler—with percent voter turnout. The majority of votes went to the Islamist Ennahda (or al-Nahda) Party, long banned under ousted president Zine alAbidine Ben Ali. Ali holdouts likely sparked the Sidi Bouzid violence. Ennahda won percent of votes, meaning it will have to form a coalition government, likely with secularist parties. The country’s new -seat assembly is slated to draft a new constitution, form an interim government, and schedule new elections for early .
The Supreme Court declined to hear a case on religious landmarks, upholding a lower court’s ruling that bans crosses placed along Utah highways to commemorate state troopers killed in the line of duty. The court’s decision compounds the confusion over the jurisprudence on religious landmarks: Last term, the high court ruled constitutional the Mojave cross, a memorial on public land for the war dead of World War I. Most of the Utah crosses also stand on public land, while private funds paid for the memorials. The th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in the final ruling on the case, said the crosses “convey to a reasonable observer that the state of Utah is endorsing Christianity.” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the sole dissent of the decision not to take up the case, harshly criticizing the court and saying the constitutionality of religious displays is “anyone’s guess.” The case was “an opportunity to provide clarity to an establishmentclause jurisprudence in shambles.” The same group that sued over the Utah crosses, American Atheists, also sued for the removal of the steel cross at the / memorial at Ground Zero—a case that is ongoing.
UTAH CROSSES: RAVELL CALL/DESERET NEWS/AP • STUDENT: JACQUELYN MARTIN/AP • EL-KEIB: CREDIT AP
Members of Libya’s National Transitional Council chose Abdurraheem el-Keib, a dual U.S.-Libyan citizen, to serve as prime minister on Oct. , formally ending the -year dictatorship of Muammar Qaddafi, who was killed by -linked fighters on Oct. . El-Keib, a longtime engineering professor at the University of Alabama, currently resides in Tripoli and joined the earlier this year. “He’s not from any ideological faction. He’s just a nationalist,” said Abdurrazag Mukhtar, a council member for Tripoli.
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President Obama unveiled a plan to reduce federal student loan payments, one in a string of initiatives he will enact through executive order. Starting in January, the plan limits federal loan repayments to less than percent of the borrower’s monthly income every month, a measure that was supposed to take effect two years from now. The current cap is percent. Only a small percentage of student borrowers participate in that program. The president’s order also allows student loan forgiveness after years, five years earlier than the current statute. Borrowers with more than one federal loan will be allowed to consolidate their debt, too, and the measures only apply to students who are currently taking out loans, a population that faces a bleak job market. The plan could save low-income borrowers a couple hundred dollars a month, but the plan would save the average borrower between . and . a month, according to analysis by The Atlantic. At the same time, federal grants and loans for college education continue to increase: Average federal grant aid to colleges jumped percent over the last school year, according to a new report from the College Board. A not surprising result of subsidizing college education: Tuition costs are also soaring. At four-year public colleges, tuition and fees went up by . percent in the past year, and private colleges went up . percent.
Dangerous distrust and collateral damage
Presidential politics and the Occupy movement reveal the disunity ruling the land BY MARVIN OLASKY
UTAH CROSSES: RAVELL CALL/DESERET NEWS/AP • STUDENT: JACQUELYN MARTIN/AP • EL-KEIB: CREDIT AP
OAKLAND: BEN MARGOT/AP • CAIN: ISAAC BREKKEN/AP
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T - dramas —the radical Occupy Wall Street/ Oakland/Everywhere movement and the conservative Occupy the White House movement now headed by Herman Cain—have one thing in common: They are fueled by distrust. The Occupy movement started out as a mix of jobless young people with big college loans, aging leftists yearning to create the good old days of the ’s, and others justifiably concerned about bank insiders receiving bailouts. The Occupy movement is now selfish acting-out that hurts the percent whom the movement ostensibly wants to help. Shutting down the Port of Oakland means lost shifts and jobs for maritime workers, truckers, and many others. Occupy Wall Street has hurt small businesses around Zuccotti Park. As Milk Street Café owner Marc Epstein said after laying off workers, “The end result is that I and all the wonderful people who work for me are collateral damage.” Other damage is coming as some Occupiers turn destructive by
shattering windows and setting fires, and as their campgrounds start to selfdestruct through theft, rape, and other weeds that grow in anarchy’s soil (see pages -). Mayors around the country need to tell Occupiers that it’s time for them to go home. The Herman Cain movement is positive, not negative, but it too has grown through distrust of professional politicians and their media accomplices. On Nov. it was too early to tell whether gossip and legal settlements related to purported Cain sexual harassment during the s would sink his campaign, but those rumors also should not lead Christian conservatives to redouble support for him. The flip side of liberal distrust of bankers is conservative distrust of reporters, yet it’s important for potential negatives about candidates to come out during the primary season, and to see
GOP jitters Six months since the first presidential candidates entered the presidential race, the popularity of each in the polls continues to gyrate, with businessman Herman Cain taking the latest lead as of late October, before sexual harassment allegations put his candidacy in the hot seat.
35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
whether candidates can pass stress tests. Stress tests also tell us a lot about our country. Right now the United States is a disunited land ruled by distrust. Republicans are adamant against tax hikes because they justifiably have no trust that Washington will spend additional revenues intelligently. Democrats who want tax hikes distrust the private sector. Barack Obama gained election because moderates saw him as a uniter who could decrease distrust, but instead he is promoting class-based distrust. The Occupy and Cain movements both remind us that a republic is a faith-based political system. We want to believe that leaders we elect care more for the interests of their constituents than the expansion of their own power. Sometimes Americans decry politicians, but politics is an art (not a science) best practiced by extroverts who like meeting with people all day long and are then willing to adjust their policies to satisfy the better desires of those they represent. When mayors or presidents out of ideology or fear let special interests rule in streets and suites, we need to elect leaders who listen.
3 Bachmann 3 Cain 3 Gingrich 3 Huntsman 3 Paul 3 Perry 3 Romney 3 Santorum
GOP CANDIDATES
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov.
SOURCE: REAL CLEAR POLITICS
NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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Without the religion, please cuts funds to Catholic agency that’s “resoundingly successful” in sex trafficking fight The Chens in
Chinese torture Following months of speculation about Chinese human-rights activist Chen Guangcheng, ChinaAid has learned the details of a brutal four-hour beating by local authorities of the blind legal activist and his wife, of whom there’s been no reliable news for months. The July beating, witnessed by the couple’s elementaryschool-age daughter, took place after Chen made phone calls intercepted by authorities. Chen has been under house arrest after nearly five years in prison for exposing forced abortions used to enforce China’s one-child policy. According to eyewitnesses, local officials emptied Chen’s village and ransacked his home before his elderly mother, who lives with the family, returned and discovered the couple, who’ve been denied medical treatment.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ () Office of Refugee Resettlement has decided it’s done working with the Catholic Church, whose parish network and years of experience has made it a strong resource to help victims of human trafficking. In a Sept. letter, informed the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that it is cutting grants for those services—most often to aid under-age children subjected to sexual exploitation—after six years of collaboration. will give the . million in grants for trafficking victims to three nonreligious organizations: Tapestri, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and Heartland Human Care Services. Earlier this year, issued new grant guidelines that give “preference” to groups that provide “the full range of reproductive services,” or contraceptives and abortion referrals; the Catholic agencies offer neither. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the government in for not requiring that the Catholics provide those services, but that suit hasn’t been resolved. The Justice Department, arguing on behalf of the Catholic agency, said the agency’s aid to trafficking victims had been “resoundingly successful.” The Catholic agency’s Office of Migration and Refugee Services, the agency that helps trafficking victims, also resettles about percent of the refugees that enter the United States every year.
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The State Department has spent more than , buying President Obama’s books, stocking his memoirs The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father in embassies around the world, according to an investigation by The Washington Times. Most of the purchases occurred after Obama took office, but the State Department said Washington had no influence over the purchases; individual embassies made those decisions. The State Department said such purchases were “standard practice” in filling out libraries and promoting diplomacy. “The structure and the presidency of the United States is an integral component of representing the United States overseas,” said State Department spokesman Noel Clay. “We often use books to engage key audiences in discussions of foreign policy.” Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste told the Times the purchases “sounded like propaganda.” The Times found no records of State Department purchases of books by either President George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. Obama earned a marginal amount from the total purchases—an estimated ,—compared to the Obama family’s income last year of . million, of which the family gave , to charity. Download ’s iPad app today; details at worldmag.com/iPad
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Dispatches > Human Race French President Nicolas Sarkozy and First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy welcomed their first child together on Oct. . The newborn, a girl named Giulia, is the first baby born to a sitting French president.
Cate Edwards, , daughter of former Sen. John Edwards and the late Elizabeth Edwards, married her college sweetheart Trevor Upham, , on Oct. . A few days later, a judge declined to dismiss criminal charges against her father, setting the stage for a likely January trial in a case that centers on whether Edwards used campaign money to cover up an affair during his presidential run.
The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association conferred its Platinum Award earlier this year on Todd Burpo’s Heaven is for Real, a New York Times best-selling book former contributor Lynn Vincent helped write. Another of Vincent’s projects, Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, also earned a Platinum Award. The honor is given to titles that sell million copies.
An Army Ranger serving on his th deployment died Oct. after a roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan. Sgt. First Class Kristoffer Domeij (above), , who did four stints in Iraq and deployed nine times to Afghanistan, will receive his third Bronze Star posthumously.
Saudia Arabia’s Crown Prince Sultan died Oct. at the age of , prompting the country to revise its succession plans. Prince Nayef bin AbdelAziz Al Saud, , the nation’s interior minister who has earned Western praise for cracking down on Islamic extremist cells, was named next in line to the throne upon the death of King Abdullah, .
Gordon and Norma Yeager, and , respectively, were inseparable during their years of marriage, so family members say it was no surprise they died Oct. only an hour apart. After a car accident sent the Iowa couple to the emergency room, attendants placed them in a room together in side-by-side beds where they held hands until first Gordon and then Norma died.
EARECKSON: JONI AND FRIENDS • EDWARDS: WALTERS AND WALTERS/AP • MONTOYA: YOUTUBE/CNN • DOMEIJ: U.S. ARMY/AP • SULTAN: HASSAN AMMAR/AP CREDIT
Joni Eareckson Tada announced a year ago she was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. She completed her chemo treatments in the summer and is back to traveling and speaking. She says she feels great, and doctors have found no signs of cancer’s return.
The Girl Scouts of Colorado invited transgender boy Bobby Montoya, , to join after a troop leader allegedly first told him he could not participate because he has “boy parts.” The group released a statement saying that requests to support transgender youth are growing and, “If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.”
WORLD NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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11/1/11 5:45 PM
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10/28/11 11:44 AM
Dispatches > Quotables
“I trust in God, but God wants to see us help ourselves by putting people back to work.” President BARACK OBAMA, on Nov. criticizing the House of Representatives for devoting time to a vote reaffirming “In God We Trust” as the official motto of the United States. Almost every Democrat in the House voted for the measure.
“If we can talk about anything in France apart from Islam or the consequences of Islamism, that is annoying.” STEPHANE CHARBONNIER, editor of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, after the firebombing of the magazine’s Paris office (behind Charbonnier) on Nov. following the magazine’s decision to print a cartoon of Muhammad.
“I guess the word skepticism would be in order at this time.” U.S. Secretary of Defense LEON PANETTA, on talks with North Korea about halting its nuclear program.
“Twenty-four boxes of cake mix in your luggage. It just seemed extremely unusual.”
The Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran
ED GRIFFITH, spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, after airport security found pounds of cocaine hidden in cake boxes in one woman’s luggage.
LIEBERMAN: URIEL SINAI/GETTY IMAGES • IRAN: XINHUA/GAMMA-RAPHO VIA GETTY IMAGES • HOMOSEXUAL COUPLE & ADOPTED CHILD: BEBETO MATTHEWS/AP CREDIT OBAMA: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • CHARBONNIER: THIBAULT CAMUS • PANETTA: MOHAMED ABD EL-GHANY/AP • COCAINE: MIAMI-DADE STATE ATTORNEY’S OFFICE/AP
Israeli foreign minister AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN on reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to persuade the cabinet to authorize a preemptive military strike against Iran’s nuclear program.
Miami attorney ELIZABETH SCHWARTZ on the rapid increase in the number of homosexuals adopting children. According to the UCLA School of Law, the number of adopted children living with same-sex couples increased from , in to , in .
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CREDIT
“We are keeping all the options on the table.”
“It’s like going from zero to 60.”
CREDIT
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Dispatches > Quick Takes
WALLACES: JOHN ROBBINS/BULLETNEWSNIAGARA.CA • LEGO MAN: SARASOTA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE/AP • LESLIE: JASON MOORE/ZUMA PRESS/NEWSCOM • SWISZOWSKI: JUAN DALE BROWN/SCRIPPS TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS CREDIT
If you’re going to fall and break your hip, you might as well do it in a hospital. That’s what -year-old Doreen Wallace must have thought when she slipped, fell, and broke her hip inside the Greater Niagara General Hospital on Oct. . But when she called for help, staff at the Niagara, Ontario, hospital told her she needed to call an ambulance from another hospital. “It was horrible. It really was,” Wallace, who also suffered cuts from the fall, told the Toronto Star. “Everybody who walked through the door stopped and stared at me.” A security guard helped wipe blood off her face, but doctors and nurses at the hospital, citing policy, rendered no aid. “I was floored,” said her son Mike Wallace (pictured with Doreen). “We’re probably, maybe, like a -yard walk, literally, down to the emergency department.” Hospital Supervisor Dr. Kevin Smith said the mixup resulted from miscommunication between staff. But just last April, medical staff refused treatment to a -year-old woman who was suffering a catastrophic heart event in the hospital’s parking lot. Staff told her boyfriend to call . The woman died days later.
Beachcombers near Sarasota, Fla., could be forgiven for not knowing what to make of what washed ashore on Oct. . Beachgoers discovered an -foottall Lego man, weighing roughly pounds and made of fiberglass. The floating figure, which bore a painted-on T-shirt with a logo that read, “ ,” is probably the work of Dutch artist Ego Leonard. Similar Lego statues of his have washed ashore in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands.
When Grammy-nominated record producer and instrumentalist Ryan Leslie’s laptop was stolen last year in Germany, the -year-old Leslie offered a , reward for the return of his device. And when his laptop, which contained new tracks that he had been working on, didn’t surface, Leslie upped the reward to million. At that point, Armin Augstein, a -year-old German man, returned the laptop to Leslie, expecting to cash in on the reward. But it never came. So in October Augstein decided to force the issue: He filed a lawsuit against Leslie.
Rose Swiszowski won’t admit it, but don’t tell residents and administrators at the St. Francis Manor retirement community in Vero Beach, Fla., that she’s not a hero. Officials with the retirement community credit the -year-old Swiszowski with battling an Oct. fire at the retirement complex well enough that firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze without much property damage. Swiszowski says she was walking to her apartment at St. Francis Manor when she saw flames engulfing a building. “I came around the corner and I saw what looked like a bonfire,” she told . First she doused the flames with a pitcher of water. Next, she attempted to smother it with flour. “I don’t think I am a hero, not at all,” she said. But firefighters said her quick actions kept the fire from spreading and causing major damage.
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ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE • PETEY: TODD McINTURF/THE DETROIT NEWS/AP • HÖLLER EXHIBIT: MARY ALTAFFER/AP • LoCICERO: HONDA • RED LIGHT CAMERA: KRISTA KENNELL/SIPA PRESS/AP CREDIT
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ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE • PETEY: TODD McINTURF/THE DETROIT NEWS/AP • HÖLLER EXHIBIT: MARY ALTAFFER/AP • LoCICERO: HONDA • RED LIGHT CAMERA: KRISTA KENNELL/SIPA PRESS/AP CREDIT
WALLACES: JOHN ROBBINS/BULLETNEWSNIAGARA.CA • LEGO MAN: SARASOTA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE/AP • LESLIE: JASON MOORE/ZUMA PRESS/NEWSCOM • SWISZOWSKI: JUAN DALE BROWN/SCRIPPS TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS CREDIT
Arguing that SeaWorld’s captivity of killer whales constitutes slavery, lawyers with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are alleging in federal court that the amusement park is in violation of the th Amendment. filed the suit on Oct. in a San Diego federal court on behalf of five Orcas that perform killer whale shows for SeaWorld. Amusement park officials said that the suit, which seeks to apply constitutional rights to animals, is baseless and without merit.
“”
For months, Jim Arrighi wondered what had become of his Jack Russell terrier named Petey. The dog wandered from Arrighi’s Erin, Tenn., home in July leaving the retired Tennessean heartsick over what may have happened to the -year-old dog. So when Arrighi received a long-distance phone call in October, he could hardly believe that Petey had been found— miles away in Detroit. Neither Arrighi nor the Humane Society in Detroit that scanned the dog’s microchip and traced it back to Tennessee could say how Petey managed to cross the Ohio river, traverse Indiana and possibly Ohio, and finally end up in the backyard of a Rochester Hills, Mich., resident.
You can go to German artist Carsten Höller’s exhibit at the New Museum in Manhattan, but first you’ll have to sign a two-page waiver. That’s because the exhibit, dubbed “experience,” is only for the adventurous. “Experience” sends museum-goers down a -foot-long slide from the fourth floor to the second floor and also includes a mirrored carousel, a sensory deprivation tank, and visiondistorting headgear. The exhibit is scheduled to run through Jan. .
Despite widespread coverage of comments made by the Los Angeles Police Commissioner saying that paying Los Angeles County’s red light camera tickets was optional, about two-thirds of drivers who received the tickets by mail still paid their fines. At a June city meeting, Commissioner Alan J. Skobin admitted, “What we have here is truly a voluntary citation program. … It’s voluntary because there’s no teeth in it and there’s no enforcement mechanism.” While an analysis performed by TheNewspaper.com revealed revenues for the red light camera program dropped by one-third following the revelations, county residents still forked over . million from May through September.
According to Joe LoCicero, his Honda Accord is finally starting to show signs of age. “If you listen carefully, she’s getting old,” LoCicero told the Kennebec (Maine) Journal. “But it’s been an amazing ride.” Amazing because, according to Honda Motor Company, LoCicero’s light blue Accord is the first Honda to surpass the million mile mark on the odometer. LoCicero, a trained auto mechanic, credits routine maintenance with keeping his Honda rolling. The automaker, which said LoCicero’s Accord is the first confirmed -million-mile car, awarded the Mainer with a brand-new Accord during a parade on Oct. . NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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WORLD
11/2/11 5:22 PM
Janie B. Cheaney
The power of naming With names we create entire worlds of logic and imagination
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conceptually but metaphorically. He’s making a clear logical connection, a valid comparison. He’s not just talking; he’s understanding. And creating: Out of a cloud of words steps a relationship. The power that God gives us in naming still stands: Whatever we call a thing, that’s what it is. Students of a foreign language know that they’re making headway when they think of a word in that language and the thing it represents springs to mind rather than the English word they already know. But not just any word will do; my granddaughter understands instinctively that her made-up names won’t stand but “real” names will. Her mother had the privilege of giving her a real name, and that’s who she is. One day she may have the same opportunity to name her own children, as Adam named Seth and Pedaiah named Zerubbabel and Zerubbabel named Meshullam. We skip and stumble over those names, but God does not. He knows them; He ordained them, in a way that does not detract from the parents’ prerogative. By our power of naming we recognize what it means to say, “You shall call Him Jesus.” And later, when Jesus said “I am the light.” “I am the bread,” “I am the way,” there would be no room for misinterpretation. The ideas are eternal, but the names are within our power. Like every good gift, words can go bad, and never more obviously than in an election season. When definitions are more slippery than usual and labels more careless, it’s important to be aware of the abuse of language. But that should make us appreciate its power all the more. A
KRIEG BARRIE
O is that it allows us to grow up again through our children, with a little perspective gained. A privilege of grandparenting is that it allows us to observe the growing-up from a longer perspective. You notice things that you didn’t notice in your own childhood self, or your children’s. Now that my granddaughter, barely , has a firm grasp on language (i.e., talks all the time), it’s interesting to track how she came by it. At the age of she would often begin conversations with strangers by introducing people she knew: “This is my grandma. Her name is … Grandma.” I thought it might be a way of establishing some control, of venturing into alien territory with a firm grasp on the familiar. She would also make up names for people she met but would not likely see again, such as an instant friend at the playground. When talking about the little boy or girl later, she would ask what their name was, but then go on to call them something else, often a compound name invented on the spot. Perhaps she understood that the person would not be part of her everyday life, leaving her free to call them anything she liked. What about all those genealogies in the Bible? (Bear with me; I’m not really changing the subject.) I’m sure there is more than one reason for including them, but here’s one I hadn’t thought of before: The “begats” testify to the importance of names. In the beginning, Adam’s first creative task was naming the animals. From there he probably went on to name plants, geographical features, and heavenly bodies. It’s the same way we teach babies to talk; by pointing to things and naming them: Daddy. Doggie. Tree. Flower. From there we go on to names as subject or object (acting, or acted upon), names as described or part of a description. Names are the building blocks to ideas and concepts, whereby we create entire worlds of logic or imagination. Notice how quickly Adam progresses. From pointing and saying “elephant,” he bursts into poetry when confronted with a creature like himself: “This indeed is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of man.” He’s speaking not only
Email: jcheaney@worldmag.com
11/2/11 9:32 AM
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Reviews MOVIES & TV BOOKS Q&A MUSIC
Time bandits
MOVIE: In Time takes an intriguing science-fiction premise made for the Occupy Wall Street set BY MEGAN BASHAM
20th CENTURY FOX/NEW REGENCY PRODUCTIONS
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I - , writer/director Andrew Niccol (The Truman Show) takes the adage, time is money, at face value, imagining a world in which time has become the currency, and cars, gas, and coffee are purchased with days, hours, and minutes. It’s a remarkably intriguing concept as it cuts so close to the way society already functions (half the money I spend in a given month is to save myself some time) while simultaneously presenting alluring possibilities. If we could actually bottle—or in this case, electronically harness—time, is there any question it would immediately become the world’s most tradable commodity? However, it soon becomes apparent that Niccol is less interested in exploring the implications of a dystopian world where one could buy back lost years or hoard eons than in using the premise as a metaphor for the real-world financial crisis. Like everyone else in the future, working-class Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) stops aging at . From then, he is given Email: mbasham@worldmag.com
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one year to sell, trade, or keep as he sees fit. Unfortunately he and his mother need it to pay down debts, and Will is reduced to living literally day to day, earning hours from factory work. That all changes when he meets a suicidal fat-cat who tells him the dirty secret that there’s time enough for everyone to have a reasonable amount, but the rich steal years they don’t need from the poor. When he gives Will a century, Will is suddenly introduced to the opulent closed-off enclave of Greenwich where the wealthy have so much time they squander millennia on cars they don’t drive and sea-front property they don’t use. This rigged-game view of capitalism is later reinforced when a faceless powerbroker tells a villainous Mr. Minute-bags that large amounts of time cannot be allowed to fall into the NOVEMBER 19, 2011
WORLD
11/2/11 9:25 PM
Reviews > Movies & TV (which would be a veritable paradise to at least half the world’s population) the poor live in slightly shabby apartments where residents have their own bedrooms and private bathrooms. They even, as Will’s mom (Olivia Wilde) demonstrates, have time to spend on silky, bust-enhancing negligees. (I couldn’t help thinking that if the Salases economized their time a little better, they might not run so short of it.) Despite the gaping door provided by its premise, In Time never seriously probes the deeper truth that time is not so much money as life. Even now we mercilessly barter the value of other people’s time. To wit, it is not usually the financial cost of a child that pro-choicers point to as an argument for abortion, but the opportunity cost.
The Mill and the Cross BY EMILY BELZ
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T M C, a film by Polish filmmaker Lech Majewski, is a -minute look at Pieter Bruegel’s th-century painting “The Way to Calvary,” telling the story of Christ’s passion with grit and grime. Bruegel’s painting, which sets Christ’s passion in the artist’s Flanders under brutal Spanish rule, contains hundreds of characters, and the film brings several of them to life: a couple
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taking a calf to market, children fighting, woodsmen cutting down trees for executioners’ use. Life is bitter and full of suffering, and the film (not rated) does no sugarcoating, showing moments of nudity and gruesome violence. The Spanish overlords, grabbing people at random, bury a woman alive and tie a man to a wheel atop a “tree of death,” where crows pick out his eyes. On a crag above it all is “the great miller of heaven,” as Bruegel (as a character in the film portrayed by Rutger Hauer) calls God, running a mill that grinds grain. The film is about acute suffering, but beauty appears in the backdrops, which are real landscapes in eastern Europe and New Zealand blended seamlessly with moving paintings. Jesus is in the center of Bruegel’s painting, fallen under the cross and lost in the crowd of peasants and soldiers. “They all look at Simon,” who is helping to carry the cross, “not at the Savior,” Bruegel says. “All these world-changing events go quite unnoticed by the crowd.” Like Bruegel, Majewski hides Jesus, who doesn’t appear until at least halfway through the film, and we never see His face. “Our Savior is being ground like grain, mercilessly,” Bruegel says as he watches Christ’s suffering unfold. The miller of heaven isn’t without compassion—when Jesus dies on the cross, the miller stands in the mill, tears in his eyes, a shadow passing over his face. Slow and inscrutable at times, this film is a piece of art itself, not a “movie,” and it’s packed with symbolism. The filmmaker gives a hint of hope at the close, as the painter’s wife kneads dough, making bread out of the ground grain.
IN TIME: 20TH CENTURY FOX/NEW REGENCY PRODUCTIONS • THE MILL & THE CROSS: ANGELUS SILESIUS
MOVIE
A baby will take too much of a woman’s time— time that could be spent on college or career—therefore they deem it acceptable to rob a child of an entire lifetime. Interesting as the film is as a science fiction concept and dull as it is as a political allegory, the Christian understands that there is a fundamental flaw in the story, namely that W.H. Auden was wrong. We are already immortal and we can conquer time, or rather, we can redeem the time that has been conquered for us. A
CLOCK WATCHERS: Amanda Seyfried (left) and Timberlake.
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11/2/11 9:27 PM
WINNIE THE POOH: WALT DISNEY • PUSS IN BOOTS: DREAMWORKS
wrong hands because it will upset the balance of the “market.” Even the police are in on it. The uniformed Time Keepers aren’t interested in the petty larceny of days between the poor, only in making sure the large theft of decades is allowed to continue by the rich. A bold setup, to be sure, and I was intrigued to see how Niccol would justify his parallels between Wall Street billionaires and his Greenwich Time Bankers. Sadly, he makes exactly zero attempt to craft a plot around these charges. Instead of building an intelligent, or frankly even an unintelligent case that haves steal from have-nots, he spends his precious hour and minutes of screen time on a lot of cheesy, throwaway lines and Bonnie and Clyde– style action. If the protestors down at Occupy Wall Street made a movie, In Time (rated - for profanity and a lingerie-clad love scene) would be it. Niccol’s unfocused outrage is equally undermined by a view of poverty that is laughably luxuriant. In his ghetto
MOVIE
Puss in Boots BY MICHAEL LEASER
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A supporting character in the Shrek DVD films, the suave, swashbuckling Puss in Boots gets his own tale in a film that embraces the highly developed sense of BY MICHAEL LEASER honor and esprit de corps of its protagonist. B, , hunny has rarely tasted this good. Disney has Like the Shrek films, Puss produced a plethora of charming, kid-friendly Pooh films over in Boots mixes in several familiar the years, but none have come close to capturing the wit and storybook elements. Puss in Boots whimsy of the original s shorts, one of the last projects Walt (Antonio Banderas) and Humpty Dumpty Disney was personally involved with. The latest film in the franchise (Zach Galifianakis) grow up together as not only matches the quality of those original films but was argubrothers in an orphanage, dreaming of ably the best film released this summer. finding the magic beans that will sprout a gigantic beanstalk that Winnie the Pooh (rated ) has its share of familiar plot points: leads to a giant’s castle holding the goose that lays golden eggs. Pooh bear has run out of honey, and donkey Eeyore has lost his Dumpty eventually falls into a life of crime, prompting Puss to tail again. A contest to find Eeyore’s tail is soon forgotten when echo their orphanage mother’s plea that Pooh discovers a note left by Christopher Dumpty is “better than this.” Puss’ loyalty to Robin that reads “Back soon,” which his brother ends up leading Puss to the too-clever-by-half Owl interprets as meaning wrong side of the law and an acrimonious Christopher Robin has been captured by a break with Dumpty. Some time later, strange creature called the Backson. Dumpty reconnects with Puss and The beauty of this film lies within the convinces Puss to join him and Kitty writers’ success in creating the truest, purest Softpaws (Salma Hayek) in retrieving the versions of these familiar characters and the long-sought magic beans from a pair of delightful interplay between them. Piglet’s overweight redneck outlaws, Jack and Jill trusting, simple nature is played for great (Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris). comedic effect when he unquestioningly While the Shrek films were filled, for betgoes along with one of Pooh’s ill-planned ter and worse, with pop culture references, attempts to procure honey from a bee hive. Puss in Boots (rated for some adventure Tigger’s irrepressible exuberance is action and mild rude humor) is a refreshingly well-drawn in his disastrous efforts to turn straightforward fantasy adventure tale. the frightened Eeyore into his Tigger Two The writers do an admirable job of filling sidekick, leading Eeyore, in his deadpan style, out the character of Puss in Boots, and to tell the flattered Tigger that “the most Banderas’ voice performance is pitch wonderful thing about Tiggers is you’re the . - perfect. The engaging, flirtatious, increasonly one,” referencing the classic Sherman according to Box Office Mojo ingly serious banter that comprises the Brothers song. CAUTIONS: Quantity of sexual (S), violent relationship between Puss and Kitty In another pleasant nod to the original (V), and foul-language (L) content on a - Softpaws is one of the film’s pleasures and shorts, the characters often find themselves scale, with high, from kids-in-mind.com strengths, as is the vocal chemistry walking on the actual words of the story, S V L between Banderas and Hayek. Puss and leaping to different pages, and, in Pooh’s 1̀ Puss in Boots* PG .................. Dumpty’s relationship is even more case, exchanging amusing asides with the 2̀ Paranormal Activity R ... interesting because of the complicated and narrator (John Cleese). 3̀ In Time PG-13 ............................. conflicting feelings a long and broken Delightful moments abound in this film, 4̀ Footloose* PG-13 ..................... history between brothers can generate. along with a strong message about setting 5̀ The Rum Diary R .................... Though laced with light comedy and aside personal needs, such as honey, for the 6̀ Real Steel PG-13 ....................... delightful romance, the film digs surpriswell-being of friends. Be sure to watch until 7̀ The Three ingly—and effectively—deep into the the end of the credits for a special surprise. In Musketeers PG-13................... 8̀ The Ides of March R .............. meaning of true brotherly love, loyalty, this era of cinematic reboots, Winnie the 9̀ Moneyball* PG-13 ................... forgiveness, and sacrifice. Pooh ranks as one of the best. 10 Courageous* PG-13 ................ `
Winnie the Pooh
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WINNIE THE POOH: WALT DISNEY • PUSS IN BOOTS: DREAMWORKS
IN TIME: 20TH CENTURY FOX/NEW REGENCY PRODUCTIONS • THE MILL & THE CROSS: ANGELUS SILESIUS
BOX OFFICE TOP 10
*Reviewed by
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11/2/11 9:34 PM
Reviews > Books
Innes
Harper
Left, right, fight, fight, fight Book tackles questions of political philosophy, side by side BY MARVIN OLASKY
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T.G. WILKINSON
S that Christians can or should avoid questions of political philosophy, but Left, Right & Christ, a justpublished book from Russell Media, recognizes reality. Co-authors Lisa Sharon Harper and David Innes boldly state their dueling positions, issue by issue. Their divide is perhaps sharpest on abortion. Innes notes that “when people deny God, they deny life”—so a spiritual vacuum leads some women to have a doctor vacuum their tiny babies. Harper focuses on the material: “Lives are saved when we address abortion for what it is, a poverty issue.” But if Harper is right, we would have had in the th and early th centuries, when Americans on average were much poorer than we are now, many more abortions in proportion to the population than we currently do. We did not. On medical needs, Innes (also a contributor at worldmag.com) argues for a market system in which healthcare providers compete for our patronage. Harper, though, ends her essay with a “call for universal care that protects and cultivates the image of God in all Americans.” A good sentiment, but why not also call for government to provide universal food and shelter? We haven’t done that because we know the market system works best for at least percent of the people; we can then concentrate on providing food and shelter only for those unable to provide for themselves. The same approach would work in healthcare: Instead of messing with a system that, with occasional exceptions, serves reasonably well (given this fallen world) at least percent of Americans, we should expand and bulwark the network of free or low-cost community clinics that already exists. The Innes-Harper debate illuminates a decisive difference between the political left and the political right: The left emphasizes equality of result, the right emphasizes liberty and opportunity. Either position taken too far becomes an idol. The problem with an equality emphasis that may look good abstractly is that in practice it requires a big government. Centers of power attract power-seekers who then attract moneyseekers, and the result is a new ruling class: In a fallen world, equality of result is an ever-receding horizon. I’ll say it forthrightly: I’m for liberty and opportunity. I do not want government to enforce equality of result. Most evangelicals also favor limited government and political decentralization, because we know both from the Bible and from history that concentrations of political power lead to oppression.
Richard Mouw’s Abraham Kuyper (Eerdmans, ) is a useful introduction to the great Dutch theologian/ editor/politician and his theory of “sphere sovereignty,” the idea that neither church nor state should lord it over business, family, science, the arts, and so forth, but each has its own sphere of authority under God. Mouw tries to advance Kuyperianism by suggesting a doctrine of “sphere compensation”—when one sphere loses strength, others can be “compensating for that—at least on a temporary basis—by building the lost or weakened function into some other sphere, so that another sphere can compensate for the loss.” Mouw notes that the family sphere is shrinking, and we can certainly see how other spheres abhor a vacuum: Schools now provide breakfasts and sometimes dinners, government has grabbed from parents control of education, and some hyper-active church youth groups have taken over evening, weekend, and vacation space that was family-bonding time. The problem is that “the temporary basis” expands—once these other spheres move in, families weaken further. Over time sphere sovereignty can become spear sovereignty, with government using force to extend its control. Note: Some Christian thinkers today view denominations as a problem, but Kuyper said the true church “can reveal itself in many forms, in different countries; nay, even in the same country, in a multiplicity of institutions.” Instead of criticizing the Reformation because it “ruptured the unity of the church,” Kuyper praised “a rich variety of all manner of church formations.” —M.O. Email: molasky@worldmag.com
10/28/11 11:03 AM
ASHBROOK CENTER
Left, right, and Kuyper
NOTABLE BOOKS
Christian books about work, death, and trust > reviewed by
Finishing Well to the Glory of God
John Dunlop Is it possible to die well? Physician John Dunlop, a specialist in gerontology, has seen many patients, both Christian and nonChristian, die. He writes that “dying well is rarely a coincidence. Rather it results from choices made throughout life.” Writing from his perspective as a Christian, a doctor, and a cancer survivor, Dunlop suggests nine strategies for finishing well. This book is a good starting point for thinking through a biblical view of living and dying, and then making practical decisions about medical treatments, living situations, time, and the use of medical technology. Whether we are pondering our own death or the death of a loved one, this book offers wise counsel that challenges our tendency to postpone thinking about it.
Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well Billy Graham Billy Graham writes in the introduction to this book, “I will soon celebrate my ninety-third birthday, and I know it won’t be long before God calls me home to Heaven.” He covers some topics— estate planning—that are covered better elsewhere. But his wisdom shines when he writes from his own deep well of experience and relationship with God. His life and walk give him authority to write about grief and hope, loneliness and depression, and influencing the young and living for Christ until the end. He encourages the elderly and challenges the rest of us to build our lives on the sure foundation of the gospel.
Work, Love, Pray Diane Paddison Christian women can find plenty of books about motherhood, marriage, and childrearing, but career-minded women have fewer resources, so Paddison’s book fills an important niche. She weaves her personal story throughout this engaging, practical guide to achieving professional success. As a Harvard and the chief strategy officer of a big commercial real estate company, Paddison has the credentials to offer frank and honest counsel to women just starting out: Here are pitfalls. Learn from my mistakes. Let your employer know that family and faith take priority. The book does not pretend to be a theology of work or women’s roles. Instead it provides insight and advice to Christian professional women who want to balance work and family while being faithful to God.
SPOTLIGHT Tim Goeglein, President George W. Bush’s liaison with the evangelical community, left the White House after plagiarizing newspaper columns (, April , ; Oct. , ). Goeglein tells his story in the unvarnished first chapter of his White House memoir The Man in the Middle (B&H Books, ), and also gives useful background on issues like the Bush position on stem-cell research. That said, his portrait of the president verges on hagiography, and he’s too soft on a host of others: his boss Karl Rove, Republican National Committee Chair (now a gay activist) Ken Mehlman, and Republican-turned-Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter, who worked to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and was unpredictable on abortion votes. Despite these shortcomings, this book and Goeglein himself— now Focus on the Family’s point man in Washington—are inspirations to those looking to turn humiliation into humility and to surmount the rubble of past failures through repentance. —Warren Cole Smith
T.G. WILKINSON
ASHBROOK CENTER
Enough Helen Roseveare This -page pamphlet packs a lot of wisdom into a small package. Helen Roseveare was a long-time medical missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was brutally kidnapped and held hostage in the s. She learned through her life that “God has enough to supply all our needs. Enough for salvation, enough for forgiveness, enough to overcome temptations, enough to persevere in adversities, enough to calm our fears and anxieties. Enough grace, enough love, enough power.” Each chapter expands on one of these themes, with anecdotes drawn from her own life. She doesn’t offer her life as an exemplary template. Instead, accounts of her failures draw attention to God’s ample provision. Email: solasky@worldmag.com; see all our reviews at mag.com/books
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NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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10/28/11 11:04 AM
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11/2/11 11:52 AM
Reviews > Q&A
Giving thanks 1,000 times It’s not enough to pray through adversity, says author Ann VoskAMP, but be grateful in it By MArvin OlAsky
patrick henry college
>>
It’s beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving, so it’s time to publish edited excerpts of an interview with writer Ann Voskamp conducted last month before students at Patrick Henry College. Her best-selling (and extraordinarily good) One Thousand Gifts (Zondervan, 2011) is about giving thanks even in—especially in—adversity.
At age 4 you encountered death. Can you talk about that? My sister was 18 months old and crushed by a farm delivery truck in our family’s farmyard in front of my mother who was standing at the kitchen sink. My father never shadowed a church door for probably 18 years after that. His line was, “If there really was a God, He was definitely asleep
at the wheel that day.” The death of Aimee was my first memory. How did that event shape your family? It seriously, detrimentally impacted my parents’ marriage. It shaped who I was as a person. I was raised in a non-Christian home. My life was formed by fear. One Thousand Gifts was working my way back to living open-
handed and accepting the sovereignty of God and that all is grace because all is being transfigured to bring glory to Christ. When we understand that God sustained the Israelites on manna—which literally means, “What is it?”— then can we be sustained in situations where we don’t understand the why, but we trust the Who. November 19, 2011
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WORLD
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10/28/11 11:17 AM
Reviews > Q&A How did fear affect you? By my second year of university, I was experiencing anxiety attacks and agoraphobia. I was on anti-anxiety medication and antidepressants. When did that start to change? My husband Darryl is firmly, firmly rooted in Scripture. His mother ran a Bible club through Child Evangelism Fellowship for years, with an average of - kids every Friday night. She was a beacon of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our community. When I was , Darryl’s family started picking me up and taking me to church every Sunday. Marrying him at age and entering into the family— the lens of the world was through Christ. That began to change me. Where do you live now? My husband and I and our six children live on acres of land in southwestern Ontario. We farm corn, soybeans, and wheat in a three-year crop rotation, and we have sows with a thousand little piglets, so we feel very blessed. Your house is at the end of a gravel road? It is off of the
Exactly. I do it in the house all the time. I preach the gospel to the person who needs to hear it the most: me. I need the truth of God’s word, and to encounter afresh the grace of Jesus Christ. Do you have a sense that your children are growing up without fear? Yes, definitely because, in our home, my default is still to go back to fear. And I will outloud preach the gospel to myself. My children hear me quoting Scripture back to myself, giving thanks in situations, being very intentional about focusing on the Lord. And they’re writing their own one thousand gifts. Their default. We’re constantly reorienting ourselves to truth that I didn’t grow up with, and had to relearn sometimes. Not an upbringing like yours. I wish I’d had a different upbringing, but God uses all things for His purposes and His
There are really hard days in mothering. A mother does eternal work in hidden, quiet places. I’m stumbling through it. It’s not my default to get it right. My default is I am fallen, I am vulnerable, and how do I intentionally reorient to the cross and to Christ and to God? How do you describe One Thousand Gifts? It’s about looking for the grace and the
“I preach the gospel to the person who needs to hear it the most: me. I need the truth of God’s word, and to encounter afresh the grace of Jesus Christ.” far side of one road. I face out to bush one way and bush the other way. I feel very secluded and quiet. Lots of books? My husband is not a reader. We close every meal with Scripture—morning, noon, and night—so he reads his Bible and the farm newspaper. My side of the bedroom is books floor to ceiling, literally. One Thousand Gifts sometimes feels like you’re preaching to yourself.
glory. So I wouldn’t change any bit of the story, but I’m grateful that their lives are growing into a different story from my own. I didn’t want them to grow up the way I grew up. Being very intentional about my motherhood and the baggage I was still carrying: How was I going to be a different kind of mother than my own mother had been with her own baggage? Being a mother of six, and homeschooling them, is hard.
goodness of God and beginning to see that He was using all things to conform me into the image of Christ. I didn’t have to be afraid of the world anymore because everything was being used to bring glory to Christ. Do people send you letters asking for advice? Yes, and a lot of those are emails I’d love to answer. My husband says— and he’s right—every time I say yes to that person, I say no to my children and my home. So
you don’t want to see what my inbox is like. What letters touch you so much that you have to respond? I’m very intentional about responding to women who have lost children, or to women who have lost a sibling. I understand to some extent what that does to a family. ... Women who are in marriages where there is infidelity, I don’t know where to speak of that pain. Women who have come out of horrific family stories, and they’re struggling with: How can all be grace? How do you respond to laments? God wants us to lament. That’s very different than complaint. Complaint doesn’t see the goodness of the character of God. Lament is honest and authentic about the feelings but knows the goodness and the benevolence of God. How do you respond to questions about the sovereignty of God when there is great pain? I wrestle through this. Can I give thanks in the dark, because if I can’t give thanks in the dark, if I can only give thanks in the good, what does that say about who God is? When I can give thanks for the things that make no sense to me, the things that hurt, that is my public manifestation of what I say I believe, which is God is in control, that nothing happens randomly. He is at work in all things. If I believe He is real, and He is using all of these events in my life for His ultimate good, it may be painful for me in the moment, but it’s ultimately to shape me into being more like Christ. I can trust Him. A
WORLD NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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10/28/11 11:17 AM
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11/3/11 11:55 AM
Spiritual notes
Noteworthy new Williams tribute and Cash collection have edifying endings BY ARSENIO ORTEZA
>>
WORLD NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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WHAT’S OLD IS NEW: Williams (above) and Cash.
WILLIAMS: MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES • CASH: HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
O made headlines by inadvertently comparing President Obama to Hitler, Hank Williams himself was back in the news— years after his alcohol-related death at the age of . The occasion was The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams (Columbia/Egyptian), a collection of country, rock, and pop performers singing compositions that Williams didn’t live to finish. Sony had originally asked Bob Dylan to set the lyrics to music and to record the entire album. Dylan, however, settled for doing one song, “The Love That Faded,” a lament especially well suited to his unique, splintersand-all delivery. He then sought out other kindred spirits to complete the rest. One of those “spirits,” Hank Williams Jr.’s daughter Holly, is literally kindred. So perhaps it’s inevitable that her slow waltz “Blue Is My Heart” sounds like a song to the grandfather she never knew rather than a song to a lover who threw her over. And perhaps the irresistibility of setting Williams’ lyrics to / time is inevitable too, as five other Lost Notebooks acts—Dylan, Norah Jones, Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell, Levon Helm, Sheryl Crow—follow in Holly Williams’ steps. The result is an album that feels both old-timey and sad even when its lyrics, as in the case of Lucinda Williams’ aching “I’m So Happy I Found You,” celebrate bliss. An exception is “The Sermon on the Mount,” which Williams probably intended to record under his gospel-music pseudonym “Luke the Drifter.” As sung in two no-nonsense minutes by Merle Haggard, it cuts to the quick and ends the album on a spiritually edifying note.
Because it begins in and concludes in , Columbia/Legacy’s latest collection of previously unreleased Johnny Cash recordings, Bootleg : Live Around the World, ends on a spiritually edifying note too. Granted, hearing Cash “live around the world” isn’t as exciting as hearing him live at Folsom Prison or San Quentin, but that says more about the audiences than it does about him. “Here’s a song called ‘I’ll Never Forget Ol’ Whatsername,’” he cracks on Disc One before launching into “The Rebel—Johnny Yuma.” Later: “No, I don’t drink anymore—I don’t drink any less, but ...” By Disc Two he was re-born and being introduced by President Nixon at the White House as an American treasure. Then the Jesus Movement hit, and he was singing “Jesus Was a Carpenter” and “He Turned the Water into Wine”—“religious songs,” he tells a crowd, “that [say] something for the people of today.” Judging from the response, Cash was right. But by , years after Bootleg leaves off, the audience for Cash-sung songs, religious or otherwise, had dwindled. So he undertook the spoken word and accepted Thomas Nelson Publishers’ invitation to read the entire New Testament in the New King James Version. Freshly reissued as Johnny Cash Reads the New Testament (Signature Series), the -disc, -plus-hour box set could not have re-arrived at a better time. To an age undergoing petrifaction with the silica of / newspeak, Cash’s steady, husky, Arkansas-accented reading of the most influential and direct literature in the English language cuts like a double-edged saw. There are minor pleasures too, such as finally hearing the New Testament’s polysyllabic Semitic names pronounced correctly. But it’s the accumulating force of hearing the New Testament’s major themes that makes the recording sound like Cash’s greatest hit. A
Email: aorteza@worldmag.com
11/2/11 9:43 AM
CHRIS PIZZELLO/AP
Reviews > Music
NOTABLE CDs
Five pop and rock new releases > reviewed by
Come to the Well Casting Crowns The only thing wrong with this album is that there’s nothing wrong with it. In other words, it’s exactly what one would expect from albumgenerating software when uploaded with the top- essential st-century ingredients: songs sung by a man, songs sung by a woman, songs sung by both a man and a woman, scriptural and vernacular exhortations, praise, slow and mid-tempo songs, loudness, quietude, and rousing earnestness. It’s dueling with Adele atop the album charts. Make of that phenomenon what you will.
Hysterical Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Alec Ounsworth’s most impressive accomplishment is that, from bits of early New Order and U, he’s fashioned a shimmeringly anthemic sound that keeps the keening thinness of his voice from being annoying. He even delivers the mellow change of pace “Misspent Youth” without making the Hamlet pose he strikes in it seem ridiculous. As for the poses he strikes elsewhere, they’re tougher to assess because the music’s whooshing grandeur tends to overwhelm the words. It’s probably just as well, as the music seems to be the point.
Fastlife Joe Jonas
Alice Cooper’s Welcome My Nightmare (Universal) is a sequel to his million seller, Welcome to My Nightmare. So it’s easy to understand why a major label would want a piece of its action. Throw in Cooper’s old producer Bob Ezrin and four members of his original band, and you’ve got as surefire a recipe for a hit as any -yearold Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is likely to concoct. But the most important ingredient is the music. And even in his youthful prime Cooper was better at serving up singles than at delivering full-course meals. So it’s par for his course that three songs stand out: “Ghouls Gone Wild” (a Ramones-worthy hybrid of “Summertime Blues” and “California Sun” with lyrics that Weird Al Yankovic might envy), “Something to Remember Me By” (the latest of Cooper’s gorgeous romantic ballads), and “I Am Made of You” (a bold and heartfelt declaration of dependence on Christ).
Vice Verses Switchfoot
CHRIS PIZZELLO/AP
WILLIAMS: MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES • CASH: HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
Jonas Brothers fans tend to be Hannah Montana fans. So people who buy and play this album will probably feel that they’ve been-there-done-that with Miley Cyrus’ Can’t Be Tamed.. The concept is “former teen idol tries to prove he’s grown up.” So electronic beats, cliché-heavy songs breathlessly sung to elusive hotties, songwriting and production by committee, Autotune, and faux machismo abound. And then there’s Lil Wayne—whose contributions to the second of three versions of “Just in Love” explain the parental-advisory sticker.
SPOTLIGHT
Blogging about this album last September on the Huffington Post, Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman wrote, “We wanted a record that would speak to the polarity of our existence, the darkness and the light, the despair and the hope.” They also apparently wanted the hardest sound of their career, the better perhaps to pound home their theme, which is basically Romans : in existential clothing. Bold stuff—bracing even. Only on “Selling the News,” in which Foreman refrains from saying “Fox,” do they lack the courage of their convictions. See all our reviews at mag.com/music
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11/2/11 9:44 AM
Mindy Belz
Find your family first
They aren’t just to have around for the holidays; they can rebuild whole communities
>>
VALUED FAMILY: Levi with his wife Hannah and their children.
WORLD NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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As he departed, he sensed he might not see his family again. His father counseled, “Our prayers will follow you even when we don’t know where your path has taken you,” and, “You will always be with your family, because your family is the body of Christ. Wherever you go, find your family first.” At a church prayer service to bid William farewell, his grandfather pronounced Aaron’s blessing over him: “The Lord bless you and keep you …” William left and war came. He did not see his family for five years. By then, the Islamic armies had murdered his father and burned to the ground his town. His mother, three brothers, five sisters, extended family, and villagers all had scattered—some eventually to refugee camps in Uganda or Kenya, some to new villages, likely never to be together again. Multiply across the million killed and million displaced in Sudan’s two-decade civil war, and you begin to comprehend the total decimation of the family as an institution—and the burden that gradually swelled inside William, by then an engineer. When he launched Operation Nehemiah in , it was not only to rebuild walls in Sudan but also to rebuild families and communities: “What war did not destroy of families, the refugee camps and the system did. The family became a relic.” You can read about the community built from the ashes in news editor Jamie Dean’s wonderful cover story, “Home is where the start is.” And more about William’s life in his book, The Bible or the Axe. But beneath the waterworks, the health clinic, and the agriculture projects is the story of families made whole again, starting with William’s own. His brother Michael, who struggled with alcohol and other trouble in his years as a war refugee, is back, pastoring a young church where he recently baptized new believers. A nephew has been trained as the community’s own doctor. In fact, all eight of William’s siblings are back in South Sudan (his mother having died years ago), living and working together, as families uniquely can do but often don’t, to rebuild a community and restore war-torn people. William makes several trips a year from Operation Nehemiah headquarters in Massachusetts. As often as he can, he takes his own family—his American wife Hannah and their six children, ages to nearly months. Postwar Sudan and post-Christian America, says William, have much in common when it comes to restoring biblical families. A
MINDY BELZ
W T we anticipate time with our families. For some of us that will include time with estranged family members, rebellious relatives, broken ones, and the just plain difficult. Much as I love to sidle up to a groaning board with loved ones, I don’t actually know any Norman Rockwell families, do you? The war that Western culture wages against our families is well rehearsed: mounting acceptance of divorce, infidelity to one another, infidelity to God in following His design for families, and treating children as accessories (or last year’s accessories). At our best, we can be our own families’ worst enemies too. We let jobs and other callings carry us far from parents, grandparents, and siblings. We let “priorities” crowd out just spending time together. Career and material pursuits sap our time and energy, and once-traditional family tasks—caring for the sick, tending the family property, even fixing dinner—we delegate to strangers. On a windy, rainy night recently I went to just spend time with a family that knows the meaning of family breakup as few do, and the value of families made whole again. William Levi is the first Sudanese man I ever met, more than a decade ago in Washington when as a young, single refugee he was about to testify before a congressional committee. William is the descendant of Messianic Jews in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatorial state, and one of nine siblings. At age he escaped—literally ran away—from captivity by Sudan’s Islamic army. In mortal danger, he had to leave his village and his close-knit family, arriving four years later in the United States.
Email: mbelz@worldmag.com
11/3/11 10:28 AM
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11/2/11 9:02 PM
The dramatic rise in recipients of U.S. supplemental nutrition assistance may be more about selling the program than feeding the needy by Marvin Olasky
U
battered women’s shelter. Eventually she entered a training course at The WorkFaith Connection, a Christian program in Houston that prepares motivated people to get jobs and persevere in them (see p. ). Four years ago the only job she found right away was in a distant part of the city: With no car, it took three hours by bus each way to get there and back. She worked four hours per day. That was when Solis reluctantly joined the millions on welfare. She had grown up believing that dependence on government was a sign of failure, but “I needed food stamps to feed my daughter.” She worried about her daughter’s perceptions: “What are you teaching your children when you don’t stand up for yourself?” When Solis finally garnered a full-time position, she kissed food stamps goodbye: “I stopped on April , . That was a good day for me.” For Solis, welfare worked the way it is supposed to work: temporary help that saves children from destitution and gives a work-seeking parent time to get on her feet. The experience of Scott Wesley was different. At age , while heavily using cocaine and alcohol, he impregnated his girlfriend, and over the subsequent years they had four children and lived off numerous welfare programs, including food stamps. He felt no pressure to work: “I knew the rent would be paid and the children wouldn’t go hungry.”
WILL VRAGOVIC/ZUMA PRESS/CORBIS
, most children in the United States on Thanksgiving could look forward to a food-laden table that would visually represent the bounty of God brought to them by the hard work of parents. That is no longer the case. A thoughtful study by Washington University professor Mark Rank projects that half of U.S. children are or will be in a household that uses food stamps at some point during their childhood. The study, “Estimating the Risk of Food Stamp Use and Impoverishment During Childhood,” published in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, also forecast that more than percent of children with single parents will spend time in a household receiving food stamps. Those are projections, but the facts themselves are ominous. Between and the number of Americans in the food stamp program—recently re-named the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or —rose from million to million, Given the rise in unemployment from percent to percent during those years, we could expect some change in the number of people using food stamps—but more than two-and-a-half times as many? Two Houston residents, Jean Solis and Scott Wesley, exemplify the uses and abuses of food stamps. Seven years ago Jean Solis, then with a -year-old daughter, lived in a
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IT’S A SNAP: A child stretches to grab a box of instant mashed potatoes while shopping with her mother in Brooksville, Fla. The family of six gets just over in food stamps per month.
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Wesley and his girlfriend never married, in part because that would have reduced their welfare income. He stole goods that they wanted and traded food stamps for drugs, a common tendency: “When the police raided drug dealers’ houses they’d find caches of food stamps.” Later Wesley started manufacturing and selling meth. He eventually went to prison, falling upwards because God changed his thinking there. When Wesley came out three years later he found a job and has been employed for four years now. He criticizes use of food stamps by those capable of working: “They allow you to be irresponsible.” It’s hard to know how many of the million Americans now enrolled in are, like Solis, using food stamps for temporary help, and how many like Wesley are using them as an aid to irresponsibility. This is not an argument against ’s existence, since those working hard to find full-time jobs—and unable to do so since the recession—need help, and often more help than they currently receive. But the drive to enroll more and more people in is part of an ideological campaign that has gone unreported. The marketing of food stamps includes four elements: Advocates arguing that food stamps should be seen as equivalent to Social Security, something that everyone in a particular demographic receives regardless of need. Advocates arguing that those who turn down food stamps hurt their local economies. Because of perverse incentives, they are right. States competing to increase the number of residents on food stamps, with journalists lauding the “winners.” advocates working to break down resistance from the elderly and other resistant populations, including the Amish.
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add up to trouble in THE CARD WAY: A customer two ways. First, the easy availability of govholds a Link card, Illinois’ version of food stamps, before paying for ernmental funds sucks in some and creates groceries at a store in Chicago. a dependent attitude with long-range detriment to them and their children. Second, given budget pressures, we are likely to end up with watery soup, with some desperately needy families not The message soon spread around the country. In Vermont, getting enough to provide good nutrition to children. the Burlington Free Press opined, “The food stamp benefit is The Brookings Institution in developed a new way to not a welfare program; it’s an entitlement program. Those look at food stamps. Its report, “Leaving Money (and Food) on who qualify are entitled to receive these government benethe Table,” spoke of “unclaimed benefits” when eligible fits.” In California, Food for People leader Deborah Waxman individuals did not sign up for food stamps. Brookings argued, told the Eureka Times-Standard, “This is something you’ve “State and local leaders need to now get serious about paid into just like Social Security or Medicare.” boosting participation in the food stamp program.” Later that Since wealth is no barrier to receiving Social Security year and in , other activists and think tankers, such as payments, states such as New York and Ohio waived limits on the Food Research and Action Center and the National the amount of savings an income-eligible person can have Priorities Project, offered similar messages.
IN NEED: People wait in line to apply for food stamps at the Department of Family and Children Services in Lawrenceville, Ga.
They crisscrossed Cook County, going from food pantries to city agencies to churches to community centers to … speed up the sign-up process.” A journalistic reversal from the late s also aided the food stamp surge. From to stories often stated that states with the lowest percentages of people on welfare were winning the competition to help people become independent. Recently, newspapers have turned that thinking upside down by viewing the greatest dependency-creators as the winners. For example, a decade ago the Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.) might have headlined one story, “New Jersey has th-best independence rate.” Now it was, “New Jersey has th-worst participation rate.” Similarly, the Miami Herald reported, “Florida ranked th worst in the United States, with percent of the state’s low-income residents receiving food stamps.” An alternative report could have been, “Florida ranked th best in the United States, with percent of the state’s low-income residents working to put food on the table instead of becoming
PAUL BEATY/AP
ERIK S. LESSER/THE NEW YORK TIMES/NEWSCOM
The s message—Don’t get onto welfare. Don’t be dependent on government—has flipped to Welfare is your right, and if you have qualms, don’t think of food stamps as welfare. Think of them as an entitlement like Social Security. and still receive stamp benefits. States did away with “stamps” for food and issued cards that look just like credit or debit cards. Poverty advocates—food bank employees in San Antonio and San Diego, AmeriCorps volunteers in New Jersey, students at California State University and other institutions—raced to sign up food stamp users, interpreting guidelines as broadly as possible. Other organizations jumped in: H&R Block gave tax preparation clients food stamp applications and instructions on filing them. The New York City Central Labor Council, the umbrella organization for member unions, made a big enrollment push. A Business Wire article last year described how “the Greater Chicago Food Depository equipped food stamp outreach coordinators with Sprint G-powered laptops.
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dependent on government.” The s message—Don’t get O has tried to speed up new onto welfare. Don’t be dependent on government—has flipped to food stamp enrollment. On Nov. , , just before Welfare is your right, and if you have qualms, don’t think of Thanksgiving, the Department of Agriculture sent a food stamps as welfare. Think of them as an entitlement like letter to state administrators complaining that some of them Social Security. were running their food stamp programs in a way that was Despite such pressure and financial logic, opposition to “problematic and resulted in a more complex and difficult increasing dependency has enrollment process.” That year popped up in places. In , in southern Ohio, Warren even before the latest surge County commissioners began, a former Maine state threatened to pull out of employee, Shannon Leary, because new rules made a wrote in the Kennebec Journal, family with more than Can food stamps be regarded “The state should not take , in assets and savings as economic stimulus? more people accepting benefits eligible. Contacted this fall, as a victory. … During a meeting Commissioner Dave Young The Department of Agriculture in recent years has of public assistance supervisors recalled, “They were literally announced that every billion spent on food stamps and administrators, the person driving up in Mercedes [to generates billion in economic activity—which means running the meeting told us collect cards]. I think that we purportedly help others by going on welfare. The that percent of those who there’s something inherently Eureka Times-Standard reported that “the local economy” met the eligibility criteria for wrong with that.” could be saved, “one food stamp at a time.” food stamps were receiving the That is unusual but possible, Newspapers uncritically accepted that figure, which benefit. We were told that was since Ohio applicants for food originated with a study, “Effects of Changes in Food good but the goal was to have stamps may own their own Stamp Expenditures Across the U.S. Economy.” But are percent receiving the homes and surrounding land, food stamps truly an economic stimulus? A closer look at benefit. It struck me as odd motor vehicles, furniture, that report shows that they are only if Washington borrows then, and still does today. jewelry, and pension funds, the money and increases our gargantuan federal deficit. Should we not be striving for with no limits to their value. Otherwise, they hurt the economy and increase less usage of benefits?” Young said his county did not unemployment. Leary continued, “As a pull out of , yet “Nothing Department of Agriculture publicists have ignored self-employed adult with a changed.” Administrators have some crucial findings in their own study. First, authors young family several years ago, made growing the welfare rolls Kenneth Hanson and Elise Golan concluded that borrowing I found myself eligible for food a priority: Young says he’s been by the U.S. government to expand food stamps would stamps. But I had the same told that if food stamp “allow recipients to shift cash income previously spent on determination as my parents applications were checked, “the food to nonfood spending, recipient households increased not to use them. ... The state program would slow to a standtheir spending on nonfood items by . billion.” should not be in the business still.” Young says concerning his In other words, three-fourths of food stamps made no of pushing so hard to get peoprotest, “We were not trying to difference in the quantity or quality of food that families ple to take public assistance. ... be inhumane. Everybody needs had: Instead, parents would save money on food and use We need to promote a culture a helping hand occasionally. It that money to buy other things. that gives people the ability to shouldn’t be a way of life. It Second, Hanson and Golan concluded, “If the same be independent rather than should be a last resort.” recession-driven increase in [food stamp] benefits is financed maintain a culture where Food stamp proponents through increased taxes or other budget-neutral means, the benefits are easily attainable.” have tried to break the will of stimulus effect of the increase in expenditures is dampened The Cleveland Plain Dealer those among the elderly who, or even reversed.” In their simulation, “Low-income housereported in that the Ohio following American traditions holds increased spending on non-food goods, but mid- and Department of Job & Family of independence, are reluctant high-income households reduced spending by even more.” Services was ordering officials to sign up (see next page). The More money for government, but less overall household in two counties that “feature Boston Globe reported, income and spending, led to less economic activity. In this the state’s largest Amish “Advocates for the elderly are scenario household income fell by billion and , populations to lift dismal pushing hard to get area senior jobs were lost. So much for the food stamp stimulus. —M.O. food-stamp participation citizens in need of assistance rates.” County official Tim to apply for the federal food Taylor said, “No matter how much we do, the Amish won’t stamp program, but pride and embarrassment stand in the sign up,” and Amish farmer Levi Miller said his poor neighbors way.” The Globe quoted officials in Newton, one of Boston’s would just say no: “We believe that we are our brother’s affluent and liberal suburbs, emphasizing that is “like keeper.” After discussing putting up a billboard within an Social Security or Medicare—something that seniors have paid Amish enclave to promote food stamp use, state and county taxes into and have earned the benefits in return. … We officials agreed that the attempt would be fruitless. educate seniors that this is a program they are entitled to.”
HELPING BY HURTING
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CHANGING ATTITUDES The readiness of many to think of government welfare as the first line of defense against poverty shows a huge cultural shift. When E. W. Bakke interviewed , heads of families in New Haven in the s, the comment by one accountant turned ditch-digger exemplified the frequent refusal to be dependent: “I’d rather stay out in that ditch the rest of my life than take one cent of direct relief.” The political impact of these beliefs was that whenever New Deal proponents emphasized welfare programs for those who could work, animosity toward Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal grew. On the other hand, “temporary” programs could be acceptable, since the economic emergency was seen as a plague that eventually would run its course. New York’s prototypical relief program of the s, the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, suggested through its double emphasis that subsidies would be short-lived. Franklin Roosevelt called his nationalization of the idea the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (). Some leaders within the Roosevelt administration also retained the older values and saw programs only as “temporary.” Bureau of the Budget Director Lewis Douglas, for example, warned emphatically that “thousands would settle into governmentmade jobs” if programs were long-lasting, and the result would be long-term economic collapse. Douglas argued that any program given time to sink roots “might become so great
How food stamps morphed from temporary relief to permanent entitlement
that it might be impossible to end it.” U.S. Surgeon General Thomas Parran told a Senate committee that “self-reliance, the satisfaction of work, the joy of acquisition, the sense of equality, the opportunity of leading a normal family life” were vital to good health. Roosevelt himself acknowledged the danger of welfare programs becoming “a habit with the country.” In November , he said, “When any man or woman goes on a dole something happens to them mentally and the quicker they are taken off the dole the better it is for them the rest of their lives.” Early in Roosevelt argued, “We must preserve not only the bodies of the unemployed from destitution but also their self-respect, their self-reliance and courage and determination.” Later that year Roosevelt noted, “In this business of relief we are dealing with properly self-respecting Americans to whom a mere dole outrages every instinct of individual independence. Most Americans want to give something for what they get. That something, in this case honest work, is the saving barrier between them and moral disintegration. We propose to build that barrier high.” Welfare reform in the s was an attempt to recover these s attitudes. It was successful for a while. The food stamp participation rate—the percentage of those eligible who enrolled—had jumped from percent in to percent in , but it fell to percent by the end of the decade. The number of food stamp recipients fell
from million to million. A Rockefeller Institute study of New Yorkers showed that two-thirds of the nearly , people who left welfare during the late s found jobs, and only one in five went back on welfare. By the results were clear, as the Cleveland Plain Dealer noted about changes in Ohio: “Many of the , families leaving welfare are doing so because family members have found work. … A survey conducted for the state found that a year after leaving welfare, percent of the people were employed, averaging hours a week at . an hour.” That year President Bill Clinton himself bragged in a speech to the Independent Insurance Agents of America: “ If I had said … we’ll cut the welfare rolls in half, you wouldn’t have believed that. … We know now, because of the success our country has had, that if we work together and we set common goals we can achieve them.” That year also a Los Angeles Daily News writer asked the right question: “In terms of measuring compassion, which is better: encouraging the California woman to turn to welfare or empowering her to find the independence that she had forgotten she could achieve?” Of course, an unemployment rate lingering at percent makes job-finding harder than one at percent. A loss of manufacturing jobs also hurts those without skills prized in offices rather than factory floors. But a change in attitudes, and not only a change in material circumstances, drives increased food stamp enrollment. —M.O.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEMPORARY FIX: Men of the Civilian Conservation Corps on their way to building a new road at Camp Dix, N.J., in the s.
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FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE: A woman waits for a ride after collecting groceries for her family at the Grace St. Luke’s Food Pantry; an assortment of cards (below).
FOOD PANTRY: ZUMA PRESS/NEWSCOM • CARDS: REUTERS/NEWSCOM
Some conservatives have attacked food stamps because of the cost: billion this year. That is a lot of money in a battered economy, but a greater problem is the change in consciousness, with welfare changing from temporary assistance for the desperate to a normal part of life. In the key sentence of a popular song was, “He’d fly through the air with the greatest of ease, that daring young man on the flying trapeze.” Today officials croon, Flop into the safety net. You’re entitled to it. Living on a food stamps budget is certainly not steaks and salmon. The maximum benefit for a family of four is about per meal, and the average is about per meal. Some could use more than they get, but the House of Representatives wants to cut expenses as part of a plan to reduce deficits. If political leaders and media continue the push to add millions more to the rolls, they are likely to diminish the resources available for the truly needy, create cynicism about the program as a whole, and accustom millions more to a life of unnecessary dependency. New Orleans food bank director Briane Greene told the Times-Picayune: “Food stamps are the first line of defense against hunger. Food banks are the last line of defense.” That has it backwards. Americans generally and the poor specifically would be far better off if church and community programs came first and federal programs were the last resort. A
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Touching lives in
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Chicago community development corporation puts a new face on a battered neighborhood space
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Sunday morning members of the Lawndale Community Church in Chicago were lined up at a microphone to share the burdens and blessings of life: a child struggling with addiction, an anniversary, a dangerous illness, a long-awaited college graduation, and a loved one facing the streets after jail. “Lift up this one in prayer,” a pastor repeats: “Let’s lift him up.” Twice each Sunday morning, spirited music begins and people stream into a gymnasium that doubles as an auditorium. Banners proclaim, “Loving God, Loving People.” Blue-cushioned metal chairs fan out in sections around a small square platform. It’s an oasis of temporary harmony within a tough place—and Pastor Wayne “Coach” Gordon has lived there for more than three decades.
by Joel Hannahs in Chicago and Indianapolis Gordon felt called as a young man to work with the African-American community, so he moved into Lawndale in with his wife, Anne. They stayed despite repeated apartment break-ins in the early years. He coached high-school football. The teens on his team didn’t go to church. When he asked them about it, they said they didn’t have anything to wear and didn’t think they’d be welcome. So Gordon started a Bible study for them right there by the weight racks. It grew into a service and kept growing. One reminder of those early days is the nametag Gordon wears at church. It reads “Coach,” the name he’s kept all these years from his initial work here as a high-school football coach and teacher. Thirty-six years later the church has grown to about , members and spawned ministries along Ogden Avenue. Across the street is the Lawndale Christian Health Clinic. A new clinic
the church office is now a -computer technology lab, available for public use. Gordon doesn’t see himself as the of a big operation: He’s a relationship builder, he says, and the one that God brought here first. Seated in his office, he talks easily while displaying some of the energy that played a part in building the extensive work. He repeatedly jumps to his feet to grab a brochure, a book, or a news clipping, or to point to the North Lawndale map on his wall. Among his enthusiasms is a new affordable housing apartment building that just opened a few blocks away where Martin Luther King Jr. once lived. The riots battered North Lawndale, and it never came back economically. Then drugs became a problem. “You saw discouragement, a sense of hopelessness,” said Willette Grant, a lifelong Lawndale resident who serves as hospitality coordinator for the church.
building will soon open down the street. Started by the church, the clinic is an independent charitable organization with a governing board made up largely of church members. With satellite locations, it served , last year. Over the years, the Lawndale Community Development Corporation has refurbished residences, including the -plus unit Renaissance Building, which the city signed over for a dollar. Young artists brighten rough spots that people walk by each day. Even the boards over a window can become a canvas for a painting. A back room a few doors from
With poverty rates around percent according to the census, the church focuses on building young people into future community leaders. Some projects— the Lawndale Christian Legal Center that provides neighborhood youth with competent legal representation, the Firehouse Community Arts Center in a reclaimed fire station, and the “House” Hip Hop Service—meet particular needs of the young. Gordon thinks the best way to help poor neighborhoods is to live in one, interact with neighbors, and see needs that might not be apparent to those who parachute in from outside. For example, residents years ago knew that North Lawndale didn’t have a single restaurant where a family could sit down and eat
SCOTT STRAZZANTE/GENESIS PHOTOS
s in tough places COURT ORDER: Gordon (blue shirt) visits with a church member and former Hope House resident; Sean Logan shoots baskets in the Lawndale Christian Health Center—the gymnasium also serves as the Lawndale Community Church’s worship space.
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Finding hope
Men’s recovery center boasts new starts
FRAMED: Pastor Atkins at the Hope House “Wall of Encouragement” that honors former residents.
While Crissy Brooks was living in Venezuela, working with a program that started and built new schools, she found herself thinking about pockets of poverty in her home community, Costa Mesa, Calif. Inspired by , Brooks and others started the Mika Community Development Corporation in . It emphasizes mentoring and after-school efforts through a community center and a youth action team. Mika also sponsors a healthy marriage initiative, organizes home visits to listen to residents and pray—all building friendships and trust. Noel Castellanos grew up on the Texas border, became a youth worker in San Francisco and San Jose, and started a church in Chicago’s Little Village, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. He notes that suburban churches are realizing that “the poor are coming to us,” and are often helping blighted neighborhoods by bringing volunteers, financial support, and services from lawyers and doctors. Castellanos is now of and a member of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Matthew Watts looks at prison population growth rates, like the high rate in his state of West Virginia, and sees a mission field that churches miss: not those already incarcerated but those rapidly on the way. Educated as an engineer, Watts now works to improve West Virginia neighborhoods through youth programs, job training, re-entry programs, and housing improvements. He notes that children who fall behind in reading are much more likely to end up facing a judge: “I’m trying to get churches to realize we’ve got to be involved early.” A
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When the phone rings at Lawndale Community Church’s Hope House, -year-old Adonnis Johnson answers. A moment later he is offering reassurance. He’s been to jail too, he tells the caller. He came to Hope House with a bag and a willingness to change. Johnson is cheerful. He’s been out of jail for nearly a year and at Hope House Men’s Recovery Home for days. He has a small wooden cross on a leather cord around his neck, a Bible close by, and a Gospel hip hop music disc in his player. “Hope House teaches you to be a better man,” he says. Under the leadership of “Pastor Joe” Atkins, the program’s director, most of the bunks are full. At any one time he’s helping or so men with troubled pasts get a new start through the six- to nine-month program. The men wake up at a.m. Five days a week they have Bible study and prayer. Each week, they help convert the gym across the street from the church offices into a worship space for a day. Some work at the neighborhood pizzeria, Malnati’s. George Clopton, , finished at Hope House in . He now works full time doing maintenance on the restored housing in the neighborhood, but he also shares his story with Hope House newcomers. “I’m a living witness that change can take place in one’s life,” he says. He tells newcomers that a few years ago, he was struggling with drugs and alcohol. Then he rode his bike past Hope House and wondered whether there was something there for him: He ended up coming back to ask. “I wanted out of that lifestyle I was in,” he said. “I began to build a relationship with the Lord through the Bible program.”—J.H.
together. The church partnered with established Chicago pizza chain Lou Malnati’s to bring Chicago deep-dish pizza to the community. The brick restaurant—“a full-service restaurant with soul”—is several doors down from the church offices, in a churchowned building. This Malnati’s eatery turned its first profit last year. Gordon also has been a leading force in building the Christian Community Development Association () into an organization with a national conference that last month brought to Indianapolis , people, including students from colleges. includes many others who are leading forces in their own communities. Here are just a few: Frank Alexander is pastor of Oasis of Hope Baptist Church in Indianapolis, which helps the poor through “comprehensive community involvement.” For teens, a youth work orientation program helps them to learn “what it means to get up and go to work.” The teens learn to discern their interests and talents, and then work for four weeks with local businesses. For the elderly, a churchcreated nonprofit development corporation has constructed two senior citizens buildings of apartments each, and units of mixed-income housing. Throughout, Alexander notes that when Jesus spoke about poverty He emphasized spiritual poverty. LeRoy Barber was a church leader in Atlanta but felt that the lives of members often fell far short of biblical teaching. He and his wife, Donna, became the first administrators of Atlanta Youth Academies, established in to offer lowincome families a Christ-centered education. He is president of Mission Year, which attaches an - to -year-old to a church for one year in a program of community and neighborhood service. The program has been going for years, with people participating each year in six major cities.
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HOLDING
FAST AS CHURCHES AROUND THE WORLD PREPARE FOR PERSECUTION SUNDAY THIS MONTH, AFGHAN CHRISTIAN SAYED MUSA TELLS HOW HE SURVIVED GOVERNMENT-LED IMPRISONMENT AND ABUSE BY MINDY BELZ
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’ up a hill beneath shade trees and across a busy intersection to the gate of the three-story building where Sayed Musa lives in a two-room apartment with his family of eight. I ring the bell and someone buzzes me in. In the hallway I’m greeted by smiling children and ushered into a bright kitchen where the white tiles shine and the counter is clean and cleared like you see only in glossy magazines. At a flatscreen television two children are watching an episode of Alias. Then from the bedroom emerges Musa himself, wearing a pressed shirt over creased khakis, looking thin but nothing like the man many of us came to know a year ago. Then Musa’s home was a prison in downtown Kabul. Our meeting marks the first time the Christian convert, , has met with a reporter to tell his story since gaining freedom and finding himself in a new, undisclosed location outside Afghanistan.
FINALLY FREE: Musa speaks from his new home outside Afghanistan.
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“TWO THOUSAND YEARS BUT FOR ME EVERYTHIN S
M in a village in central Afghanistan, the son of hardworking Hazaras, an oppressed ethnic minority: “I was Muslim and I went to the mosques, I prayed and was strict.” The name “Sayed” means direct descendent of the prophet Muhammad. (The name “Musa” often has been transliterated Mosa or Mossa, including by .) As a first officer in the army under the Soviet-backed government in , Musa stepped on a landmine on patrol
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Musa’s story made headlines and stirred officials worldwide last year after agents from Afghanistan’s National Security Directorate (akin to the ) jailed him for converting from Islam to Christianity. His is a penetrating study of the persecution of converts from Islam—often labeled apostates under Islamic law who can be put to death—as churches and faith-based organizations highlight the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on Nov. . Musa was one of several Christians arrested in May , following the nationwide broadcast of a videotape showing an Afghan-American and others baptizing Afghans. The videotape turned out to be two years old, but a parliamentary election campaign was on, and Nasto Nadiri, host of a Noorin show that first aired the clips, was running for a seat. Taking a stand against Christians and the West was a way to stake a position against the Karzai government and its supporting parties. The television station announced it would take evidence of Christian evangelism to parliament, and Karzai’s allies took the bait: Abdul Sattar Khawasi, deputy secretary of the lower house, said all Afghan nationals who converted to Christianity should be publicly executed. Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar ordered authorities to draw up a list of foreign organizations working in Afghanistan to investigate possible Christian activity. Throughout June and July, mostly faith-based organizations—many with longstanding humanitarian work in Afghanistan—had their offices and in some cases homes of workers visited and records searched by security officers. The government ultimately cleared them. Up to Christians were jailed then released, locals said, but no one knew what had become of Musa. For two months authorities handed out no notice of his arrest or charges against him. His wife didn’t learn of his whereabouts until an inmate released from the same jail visited her with news of her husband. She saw him for the first time following his arrest on July . The crackdown jolted religious freedom advocates. The Karzai government is a signatory to the Declaration on Human Rights, which calls for freedom of religion and equal access to “a fair and public hearing.” It also forbids “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.” Afghanistan’s constitution, drafted with U.S. oversight in , states in Article : “Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law.” The jailing of religious minorities after nearly a decade of fighting marked a bipartisan setback for the United States—as both Presidents Bush and Obama were on record promoting broad-based, representative government in Afghanistan with equal rights for all as an essential way to tamp down al-Qaeda and affiliated insurgents. The imprisonment of Musa—an amputee with six children (including one who is handicapped and cannot speak), a medical worker who had done nothing more violent than change his religion—spelled reversal of U.S. aims.
members died. The destruction and grief was overwhelming, said Musa. While he worked with others to find survivors amid the rubble, two Western women showed up to help also. Who are these women? Musa asked a neighbor. “They are Christians, followers of Jesus Christ,” was the reply. “That was the first time I heard the name of Jesus Christ,” said Musa. “I saw that they were really good people, and I thought I should find who Jesus Christ is.” Musa met other Christians while working for the . “I could not dare to ask but finally I did: ‘What is a Christian? Do you have a book?’” he said to one, eventually receiving a Bible and an offer to answer his questions. Reading it on his own, he said, “I realized this is the word of God. I did not find any difficulty in the Bible, but the Quran for me is difficult. It’s in Arabic and I don’t speak Arabic. Two thousand years ago Jesus spoke, but for me everything became new.” Several weeks later, Musa and his wife were baptized. Did you tell friends you had become a Christian? I asked. “As I studied the Bible, in my heart it was like a flame. I was never afraid. I spoke of the word of God, and some appreciated it, but some were against me.” Musa discovered enough interest in his newfound faith that the convert opened his home Friday evenings for what became a Bible study and worship time. “Sometimes there were or , sometimes or ,” he said. Friends described him as “full of boldness” and one recalled Musa reciting from memory the gospel of Matthew. At an Easter celebration he gave his testimony before an Afghan audience of about . Not everyone in the audience was a Christian. Relatives opposed Musa’s conversion, as did some colleagues. As the crackdown against Christians erupted, one colleague reported him to authorities. Musa said another alerted him that he would be arrested, so he left his work at “to go to headquarters because I thought someone there could help me.” But on the way a plainclothes policeman arrested him and jailed him in the security directorate prison only blocks from . He had a small pocket Bible, he said, which prison authorities confiscated and never returned to him. “After that they beat me. They asked me many questions: ‘How many Christians are there? How many foreigners are working with you? If you say any foreigners’ name I will release you,’” recalls Musa. The beating by security officers continued off and on for two months. He admits, “I lied about some things—because I didn’t want others to be treated this way.” Musa was not the only Christian convert to be arrested. In Herat two Afghans along with two Western workers—one South African and another Korean-American—were jailed in August. One of the Afghans, held for days, described for me his Aug. arrest at gunpoint, and said he was beaten and imprisoned with “murderers, the worst people … they threatened to kill me.” The others arrested along with him also were released within a month. Authorities arrested Shoib Assadullah, , in Mazar-e-Sharif in October for allegedly giving someone a New Testament. He remained in jail until April and, like Musa, reported beatings and mistreatment while imprisoned. TRAUMA VICTIMS: Musa shows a boy how to put on a new pair of artificial legs outside Kabul in .
EMILIO MORENATTI/AP
YEARS AGO JESUS SPOKE, RYTHING BECAME NEW.” in Kandahar. The explosion forced partial amputation of his left leg, and Musa spent the next month in a hospital and most of the next year in rehab. But the trauma led him to a career working with the disabled. He became an orthopedic therapist for the International Committee of the Red Cross () in Kabul—a position he would hold through the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the U.S. invasion in , and until his arrest last year. During pre-Taliban fighting, a bomb shattered a house in the Kabul neighborhood where Musa lived. Inside eight family
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M was Ahmed Shah Reza, whom Musa had met at Christian gatherings but soon discovered to be a spy working, he said, for Grand Ayatollah Mohseni, a hardline Shiite cleric who runs an Islamic school in Tehran. In jail Reza renounced Christianity and was released by order of the attorney general. Musa was accused of apostasy, and the attorney general’s office announced he could be hanged pending a trial. But scheduled court appearances came and went, postponed as the government faced mounting embarrassment over the case. Americans working in Afghanistan who knew Musa wrote to the U.S. embassy in Kabul to protest that he was illegally detained and denied due process. An Aug. letter read: “If it is found that Mossa’s life is in jeopardy because he exercised his right to choose his own faith, I entreat that the US Embassy do what it can to ensure his safety. ... The US government has been actively engaged in Afghanistan since , spending billions of dollars, exerting millions of hours of manpower, and losing precious American lives in order to ensure that the Afghan people enjoy these basic human rights. If one cannot enjoy these rights, none can enjoy them.”
Members of Congress and European diplomats also began to press their respective embassies to pressure the Karzai government for his release. Five members of the House international religious freedom caucus also wrote to Kabul head Stocker Reto. Yet throughout Musa’s ordeal, and despite over years working for the Red Cross, representatives never visited him or intervened on his behalf. Reto and officers in Geneva said the agency had to remain “neutral.” Kabul prisons have come under new scrutiny since the released a report in October on prison conditions, documenting beatings and torture under the watch of the National Security Directorate and other branches. Under the Leahy Amendment, the United States is blocked from funding facilities where such abuse takes place. But while the report focused on Taliban detainees, transfers from Guantanamo, and other “armed conflict” prisoners, it said nothing about those jailed over non-violent issues, like Musa—even though the assisted in the survey for the report. The staunchest advocates Musa had outside the prison were a European couple, former neighbors in Kabul. They contacted officials, organized prayer meetings, and set up prison visits—sometimes successful, often not. They are not named in this story because they continue to work in Kabul. But none of the mounting international pressure then made a difference. Colder weather set in and Musa began his sixth month in captivity in an unheated, overcrowded detention room. He didn’t have a blanket or change of clothes until late September and slept on a mat on the floor. Meals of rice and soup came twice a day. Worse, taunts and beatings grew constant. A man he describes as the “prison mullah” called him an infidel and encouraged inmates to abuse him. They beat him with wooden sticks, kicked him to the floor, punched him, and spit in his face. Someone produced a skullcap, forced it on him, and mocked him as Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. Then he was raped. Seated in his bright kitchen now, Musa struggles to recall that time with words. He was “in despair,” he said. His family had been forced to flee to Pakistan, kicked out of their home by the landlord and threatened by neighbors. He had only visits from the European couple to look forward to, and little news from outside. He began to write and smuggle out letters— in all—sent with the couple from the prison in a bag containing his dirty laundry. One, a two-page letter addressed in Musa’s cursive to “the international church of the world and to the president brother Barack Obama,” caught the attention of political and church leaders. He described the torture in prison, his lack of legal representation (several government-appointed lawyers had refused the case of an “infidel”), and said: “I am alone between holders of terrible values in the jail like a sheep.” He signed it, “your destitute brother.”
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, the edition of Operation World, an encyclopedic global prayer guide, lists Afghanistan number in a ranking of “Countries with the Fastest Growing Evangelical Population.” Number is Iran at . percent growth over the five-year period -, with Afghanistan’s growth rate at . percent and all other countries at less than percent (estimated growth rate in the United States is . percent). A major factor in that statistic, according to Operation World editor Jason Mandryk, is that the five-year Taliban regime eradicated indigenous churches and church groups, and Mandryk estimates Afghan Christians to now number in the hundreds. “The increase of Afghan believers is impossible to document, yet undeniable,” he said. (The State Department estimates the number of Christians in Afghanistan between and ,.) The growth rate includes the influx of Western aid workers who are Christians, although expatriate workers and Afghan believers rarely worship or congregate together for fear of endangering or drawing attention to one another. “When you read Scripture you see that persecution is the inevitable result of church growth and people resolutely and radically following Jesus,” said Mandryk. “They might not represent large numbers, but the growth rates tend to be higher where persecution is most prevalent and intense.”
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For weeks Musa said he believed he was only awaiting his execution. When officials told him he would be hanged in three days unless he converted back to Islam, he asked them to be sure to hang him publicly. U.S. officials grew increasingly aware that the case was a black eye on the already bruised record of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan. After the letter was publicized, the U.S. embassy and others successfully pressured Afghan officials to move Musa to the Kabul Detention Center, a facility inside the provincial governor’s compound reserved mostly for Taliban fighters, where Musa slept in a corridor to avoid further FELLOW PRISONER: beatings. Shoib Assadullah. According to sources, Gen. David Petraeus—then commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan—raised the case in an early December meeting with Karzai (spokesmen for both governments would not confirm the discussion). Sima Samar, who chairs the Afghanistan Independent Rights Commission and was one of two female cabinet ministers under Karzai’s interim administration in -, confirmed in December that Karzai was aware of Musa’s case. But as snow blanketed Kabul and the year ended, Musa’s despair deepened. One night he says, “I cried and asked the Lord, ‘Why did you do this? I did not do any bad things. Why don’t you help me?’ During the night I saw a dream and in it Jesus ... saying, ‘Musa, I am always with you.’ I am lying on the ground and Jesus gave me His hand.” Musa said he woke up in a sweat, but afterward, “When people in prison speak bad to me, I laugh at them because I see that my Lord is alive.” The ordeal wasn’t over, and when British Sunday Times reporter Miles Amoore visited Musa in early February, he described the convert as weak and limping, “looking haggard and speaking nervously in Dari, the local language.” Guards had forbidden him to speak in English. “I don’t care if they crucify me upside down,” Musa told Amoore. “My spirit will still be alive. I am only afraid of God. Only he can send my soul to hell.” Not long after that interview, officers sent Musa to the attorney general’s office to meet two officials, one an ambassador from the undisclosed country where Musa now lives and then U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. Both apparently were prepared to offer Musa and his family asylum (the U.S. embassy
in Kabul did not confirm that the meeting took place, and several sources close to the case asked that further details not be divulged). Musa says he told both diplomats, “I love much my country, I do not want to go, I love my community, I love my people, I love my work and my patients. But if you insist then you know better.” He said he would not volunteer for asylum, he would have to be forced to leave. The ambassadors departed, and officials from the attorney general’s office returned. They made it clear to Musa that the only way he could remain in Afghanistan was to renounce Christianity and return to Islam. He refused. Someone came to take his picture, and several days later diplomats came to collect him from jail. At night they took him to the airport, where he boarded a jet and was flown from Afghanistan in February. His family joined him three weeks later. In a new land, Musa and his family have some support from the government and a charity group, but he can’t legally hold a job yet, and for eight months his children did not attend school. Now five of his six children, who range in age from to years old, are in school. The family has received important medical care—including overdue treatment for Musa’s amputated stump and surgery to remove shrapnel from his other leg. And they have found a supportive church that is providing fellowship along with clothing and other essentials. Challenges remain. Culture shock runs deep. The family must learn a new language to manage, and Musa says they have been cautious about interacting with other Afghan refugees because most are Muslims who may again put Musa’s life in danger. In Norway Afghans at a refugee processing center attacked a Christian convert in September, scalding him with boiling water and acid. And just this month, Afghan refugees in India came under new threats of attack (see “Well-founded fear,” July , ). For now, he is careful not to discuss his whereabouts and is not sure what his family’s long-term plan will be. Musa, who often calls himself “the sinnest person in the world,” said he gradually came to see that “if I die or if I am released, it is the same.” But now that he is released, he says, “Life is really good. I have my family, they are , and it was all the plan of God.” A NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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TALK OF THE TOWNS After a bus tour of important swing states, the president left people happy to see him but not necessarily convinced that he should get four more years in Washington BY EDWARD LEE PITTS
in North Carolina and Virginia
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PHOTOS BY JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
CAMPAIGN CHARISMA: President Obama greets diners during a lunch stop at Reid’s House Restaurant in North Carolina on Oct. , the second day of his American Jobs Act bus tour to discuss employment and the economy.
in late October after entering Reid’s House Restaurant, located in North Carolina just below the Virginia border. I wanted to know where President Barack Obama had sat. Just one week earlier, the president’s . million black armored bus, Ground Force One, had come to Reidsville and this roadside diner with the self-proclaimed “best food in town.” Soon I found myself back outside digging through my car for enough change to buy a late lunch. Reid’s House is a cash-only establishment. However, owner Clint Marsh said he told Obama he’d make an exception and accept a check from him with proper identification. No such luck for me. In , by just three-tenths of a percentage point, North Carolina went
Democratic in a presidential election for the first time since . Neighboring Virginia also chose Obama, going Democratic for the first time since . But one year away from the elections, Obama can no longer count on support from these two states. His approval ratings in both Virginia and North Carolina now are below percent. On a mission to give these numbers a boost, Obama left behind the slog of legislating in Washington and spent three late October days in the two states. This gave voters here an up-close view of the president’s campaign charisma. At Reid’s, Obama asked one diner if he’d eaten all his vegetables before dessert and told a couple married for years that he had years to catch up to them. Outside, Obama talked to a woman’s grandmother on a cell phone and asked a brewery worker if he had any samples. Obama seems more comfortable with this brand of street-level retail politicking than he does with Capitol Hill–level legislating. The next months will afford Obama plenty of opportunities to play to his strength. Overcoming an aggressive campaign fueled by Obama’s likely billion campaign war chest will be the biggest hurdle for the eventual Republican nominee. Reporters filed news accounts of Obama’s North Carolina and Virginia bus swing with favorable crowd comments. One onlooker said Obama is a “handsome fella” while another said, “We love him dearly.” One lady swore she’d never wash the hand Obama shook. I wondered what the people in these mostly small towns would say a week later, after the excitement of the presidential entourage had worn off. Would the realities of the persistently high unemployment plaguing their communities trump the president’s lingering charms? would not foot the bill for a million bus, so I drove myself in my Jeep Liberty. “The country was headed in the wrong direction when (Obama) took office,” said Carol Creed, my seatmate along the L-shaped counter inside Reid’s where I sat on a stool and ate the same ., two beef patties Master Burger ordered by Obama. “But he has done nothing to help it. I’d give him an F. He’s failed.” Creed, a retired insurance worker, lists Democrats John Kennedy and Jimmy Carter as two of the best presidents in her NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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lifetime. But she faults Obama for not having a plan other than throwing more money at the nation’s problems in the form of bailouts, stimulus, and new entitlements. “We already have too much government in just about everything,” she said. The unemployment rate in this town of 15,000 is nearly 12 percent. That’s higher than the national average. Young people, including two of Creed’s three children, are abandoning Reidsville for work in bigger cities like nearby Greensboro. “I would have asked him if he would bring some jobs with him to Reidsville,” said Faye Cayton, a waitress at this Waffle House–style diner who was off the day Obama visited. Chesley Overby, retired from the Navy, said he is “super impressed that Obama went in there and got Bin Laden.” Such approval of Obama’s foreign policy is a common refrain on my trip. But Betty Talbot, who works at a local hospital, said she has grown tired of Obama’s strategy of blaming George W. Bush for the nation’s economic problems. “He controlled Congress for two years,” she said. “Why didn’t he get anything done then?” When asked about the 2010 healthcare law, Talbot just shakes her head. After finishing off my chocolate pie (owner Marsh boasts that Obama ordered two desserts—the pie and the banana pudding. But I had enough change leftover for just one), I drove deeper into the state, past trees sprinkled with fall colored leaves,
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ob Noyes got a 20-minute notice that the president was coming to lunch at his Countryside Barbeque restaurant in the city of Marion. Located off the interstate near Asheville, N.C., Marion has a population of 8,000. According to its welcome signs, Marion is “where main street meets the mountains.” When Obama’s motorcade arrived on Oct. 17, police blocked off entrance and exit ramps along the interstate, forcing travelers stopped for gas to take extended breaks. Inside Countryside Barbeque, agents conducted a security sweep with bombsniffing dogs, locals eating lunch submitted to checks with metal detecting wands, and two chefs traveling with the president supervised the cooks as they prepared Obama’s pork platter. The menu says this popular plate is “made with lots of love” and includes sweet potato fries seasoned with brown sugar. Obama went to every booth in the restaurant before taking his meal to go. He heard concerns about tight budgets, layoffs, bailouts, and regulations. A week after Obama’s visit, Noyes, the restaurant’s owner, said he is concerned that most of the president’s advisors have academic backgrounds rather than business experience. “They haven’t been out here in the trenches going through the trials that we do,” said Noyes, who is quick to add that he is frustrated with
nearly all of Washington’s partisan gridlock. “When both parties cover their tails we don’t solve anything.” Local music store owner Woody Killough, who has written Obama a couple of times, said he is willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt for having to manage the war and the economy. “I can’t hardly work and eat ice cream at the same time. Now that the war is over and soldiers are coming home he has to focus on jobs.” Obama left the barbeque restaurant after 35 minutes but not before paying for the meals of one table of diners. Obama’s bus headed deeper into the Blue Ridge Mountains. But there remained one place in Marion that Ray Davis wished the president had visited. Davis pastors the Clinchfield United Methodist Church located less than four miles from Countryside Barbeque. Here at this one-story red brick church a team of volunteers serves hot meals to about 500 people each week. The program started two and a half years ago after Davis visited a local elementary school for lunch. There he saw a girl shovel the scraps of her lunch into an empty milk carton. “What are you doing,” he asked. “Mr. Davis, I’m taking this home so I can have something to eat tonight,” the girl replied. Davis started a backpack program providing 285 children with a pack of food to take home every Friday. Then the economy got worse. So Davis expanded the meal program. He now has 65
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volunteers and relies on donations to cover the weekly cost. The unemployment rate in the county is more than percent. But counting those who have stopped looking for work, Davis thinks the real unemployment figure is somewhere between to percent. Several of the area’s textile mills and furniture factories that formed the community’s economic backbone have shut down. Residents who lost homes began sleeping in their cars. Then they lost their cars. A tent city sprouted up near Marion’s railroad tracks. “I came up with this program so they can save what little finances they have to keep their homes and cars,” Davis said. “But that hasn’t worked out for many.” Davis refuses government funding— “too many conditions, too much paperwork,” he says—but he still regrets that Obama, so close in his trek through Marion, did not visit. “He could have seen the people who are hurting and suffering and the people who are trying to take care of them without the government’s help. You can talk about it all day long. But I believe our politicians would have greater passion if they could see.”
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Virginia, I had one more stop to make on my backtracking of Obama. Driving through the center of Brodnax, Va., my odometer barely registered one mile from one welcome sign to the next along the town’s Piney Pond Road. Email: lpitts@worldmag.com
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Here Obama seemed to get the best reception of his trip. During a group photo someone yelled, “Yes we can!” Stopping next to a childcare center and a one-story brick post office, Obama shook the hands of bystanders young and old including Wesley Morris. I met Morris a week later outside the same post office. The owner of a local rental company, Morris said it was hard not to be impressed with Obama’s “good personality.” But he accused the president of not changing the Washington culture like he promised. “The change he has brought has not been good,” Morris said. “We can’t stand more months of this much less four more years.” Morris opposes Obama’s proposed tax increases: “Why are you going to penalize somebody for getting off their front porch and making something of themselves?” He also thinks that Obama’s insistence on bigger government shows that he doesn’t grasp that the country is broke: “I’m an economics major, and I can’t wrap my mind around it. But I do know that I can’t eat steak five times a week when I’m broke.” However, two retirees also visiting the post office said Obama deserves a second term. “I don’t think Congress has really supported him,” said Alvin Hayspell. “They are just kicking him any way they can,” added Nathaniel Harrison. Obama’s campaign tactic to blame Congress for the stagnant economy seems to be taking hold with several people I talked to on my trip. “If they
“THE CHANGE ... HAS NOT BEEN GOOD”: Obama chats with people at the Countryside Barbecue restaurant in Marion, N.C. (left) and greets local residents in Brodnax, Va.
vote against taking steps that we know will put Americans back to work right now,” Obama said on this bus tour, “then they’re not going to have to answer to me. They’re going to have to answer to you.” But the biggest discovery I had following in Obama’s footsteps was the near unanimous discontent over Obama’s challengers. Creed in Reidsville said she is tired of the debates. “Everybody huffs and puffs and says whatever they can to get into office.” Hayspell of Brodnax answered my question about the Republican contenders with a question of his own that should unsettle conservatives: “Who’s running?” Obama’s trips to court voters in states that bucked their traditions in will continue over the next year. Of the nine states that went Democrat in the presidential election after voting for a Republican in , eight are listed as toss-ups for . For Obama to win, he likely needs to recapture them all again. Obama will be in his element on the campaign trail. But, as his armored Ground Force One racks up the miles in the coming months, Obama’s reelection hopes may not survive too many homemade roadside signs like the one a woman held aloft as the presidential motorcade drove through the North Carolina mountains last month: “We Believed, We Voted. Now What.” A NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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STANDING UP FOR ITS RIGHTS: Cobern outside LifeCare Austin.
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s of the times A Texas pregnancy center finds itself a target of a national campaign to use local politics to undermine pro-life counseling services ustin LifeCare pregnancy center owns a light green building on a busy road about five miles north of the University of Texas. Painted floral topiaries flank the front door. The center is pretty. Its soft green and purple color scheme is a holdover from the 1990s. It’s feminine but not frilly. Pam Cobern, LifeCare’s executive director, wants to update the center’s decor and make it less feminine so as to welcome the increasing number of men who now come to the center. But that’s in the future. Right now she’s dealing with a new law the Austin City Council has imposed on LifeCare and three other pro-life centers. The law mandates that they post signs stating, “This center does not provide abortions or refer to abortion providers. This center does not provide or refer to providers of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved birth control drugs and medical devices.” Failure to post the sign is a misdemeanor, punishable with a fine of $250 for the first offense, $350 for the second offense, and $450 for the third offense. But it’s hard to see how any clients coming to LifeCare could be confused about its services. The name “LifeCare” doesn’t sound like an abortion clinic, and framed copies of a “Commitment of Care”—a list of nine promises—hang both in the reception area and client waiting room. Promise No. 7 reads, “We do not offer, recommend or refer for abortions or abortifacients, but we are committed to offering accurate information about abortion procedures and risks.” Since the law’s passage in April 2010, LifeCare has displayed in both English and Spanish the city-required sign printed in black ink in the city-mandated font. But LifeCare added to it these words printed in red ink: “This center provides accurate information and services to women who desire to have the facts related to abortion and other alternatives, in order to help them make fully informed decisions about their reproductive health and the health of their unborn children.” After the city-mandated words about birth control, LifeCare added in red: “except for married clients.” Last month LifeCare and the other centers filed in federal court three separate suits against the City of Austin claiming that the law is an “unconstitutional abridgment of Austin LifeCare’s rights to freedom of speech, association and religious free exercise.” Samuel B. Casey, an attorney with the Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project, said the ordinance is the “result of a private political organization using the power of government to attack another organization based on that organization’s ideas and speech.” The Alliance Defense Fund and Texas Center for Defense of
by SuSan OlaSky in Austin, Texas photos by Kevin Vandivier/Genesis
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POSTED: LifeCare Austin volunteers work to organize Hannah’s Closet (above); the sign required by a new city law.
Life are also helping LifeCare with its suit. Cobern says LifeCare has to stand up for its rights. If it doesn’t, other centers in other cities will face the same kind of harassment. She has evidence to back up that claim. A political arm of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL ProChoice New York) posted on YouTube a video that lays out a nationwide strategy to pass similar laws wherever sympathetic local officials will take up the cause. The video dubs prolife centers “brainwashing outfits” and accuses them of “emotionally bullying” vulnerable women. The video also charges the centers with pretending to be “full service health centers,” and says the laws are necessary to promote truth in advertising. It shows an alliance of pro-abortion activists and elected officials working together to devise the strategy and carry it out. Pam Cobern gave me a tour of her center so I could better understand its services. We started in Hannah’s Closet, a room that used to look like a closet. Now it’s set up like a store with clothes for baby girls hanging on one wall and those for baby boys on another. It is the heart of LifeCare’s “Earn While You Learn” program. By taking classes— offered in both English and Spanish—
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that cover life skills, budgeting, and parenting topics, LifeCare clients earn ‘baby bucks’ that they spend in Hannah’s closet. Cobern says Earn While You Learn came about after she heard a client say, “Everything I have for my baby came from LifeCare.” Cobern was dismayed: “Are we enabling this? That’s not what we’re here to do.” She also heard volunteers who were burned out and concerned that some clients had developed an entitlement mentality—but she says Earn While You Learn has “shifted everything around.” Clients like it because they are earning stuff rather than taking handouts: They can spend their baby bucks on small things or save them to buy a new crib. Volunteers like the program because it clearly helps their clients, because they can build relationships with clients over a longer period of time, and because it helps to engage fathers. If the baby’s father also takes classes, clients receive double baby bucks. Some of the classes meet several times a week, and others for an hour. In , clients have taken
classes. Participation by men has increased so much that LifeCare plans to offer a curriculum developed by the National Fatherhood Initiative. Clients can take classes and shop in Hannah’s Closet until their children are year old. Next on our tour was the counselors’ room. Only people who know the code can get into the locked room where the center keeps confidential medical records, as well as counseling resources and curriculum materials. LifeCare is in the process of becoming certified to meet the same standards for patient confidentiality as any medical office. Cobern showed me one of the forms that counselors use with clients. Developed by a team from the University of Ottawa, the Ottawa Personal Decision Guide helps clients to think through “‘tough’ healthcare decisions that may have multiple options; uncertain outcomes; benefits and harms that people value differently.” With abortionminded clients, LifeCare also uses Planned Parenthood’s surgical consent form to go through abortion risks. Cobern says teens make up about onefourth of LifeCare’s clients, and percent of LifeCare’s clients are older than . That makes sense, Cobern says. Teens often live at home and have a support network. Young women are more likely to be on their own. They may already have children. They are more likely to need the support of a place like LifeCare. LifeCare offers sonograms to pregnant clients under the supervision of the center’s medical director. He is an M.D. and his license covers services provided by the center’s two volunteer doctors, two volunteer R.N.s, and a volunteer certified ultrasound stenographer. Altogether the center has over volunteers who serve in a variety of ways, including counseling, abstinence teaching in the schools, and mentoring. Cobern says the pregnancy center movement has always been apolitical. “It’s hurt us in the long run,” she says: “We need to let policy makers know about our services.” She points to a statistic: percent of center clients indicate on exit surveys that they “would recommend the center to a friend.” She points to the sign ordinance as a perfect example of what happens when centers keep those good statistics to themselves: “The city council doesn’t have any clue what we do.” A Email: solasky@worldmag.com
10/31/11 9:44 AM
“Addresses the subject with keen logic, a grasp of history, and thorough exegesis of biblical literature.” -Forward by Dr. Paige Patterson, President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary “Exhaustive research presents a powerful case for abstinence.” -Dr. Jim Richards, Executive Director, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Destroys “myth that the ancients had no way of preserving grape juice.” -Dr. R. L. Sumner, Biblical Evangelist “A masterful job explaining the times and customs of Bible days and the scriptural use of the word ”wine” -Jeff Schreve, pastor, FBC Texarkana, Texas “The clarity, logic, and thoroughness, an outstanding attorney uses… This work is outstanding. I recommend it strongly” -Judge H. Paul Pressler, Justice for the 14th Court of Appeals, Houston, TX • Numerous quotes from ancient and modern authorities • Examines ancient wine recipes, practices and preservation • Study of controversial Bible passages 304 pages.
$21
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11/1/11 10:45 AM
Victo V 3
ictor Manuel Watters lay in a hospital bed in his family’s home with his head shaved, his body weak, and his breath failing. With his breath, however, he sang, prayed, and spoke with his many visitors. He told his friends, siblings, step-siblings, adopted siblings, and adoptive parents that he loved them. “Today is the last day I’m going to live, unless God has a different plan for me,” said young Victor to his family. “And I pray that you would just follow God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
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The adoption paperwork took a year to process. As that progressed, so did Victor’s cancer. Ewing’s is a type of bone cancer that mostly children develop. Corrine’s cancer, like 15 percent of cases, didn’t show itself in the bone. Victor’s, however, had metastasized and was in his spine. “They told us he probably wouldn’t survive a year,” Deb said.
haNdout photos
Mike and Deb Watters had an all-American life. Mike, a college baseball player at the University of Michigan met Deb, a field hockey player, in the weight room. Both involved in Christian groups on campus, they eventually married. After a stint with a minor league baseball team, Mike went to law school at Indiana University Bloomington before working at a large Indianapolis law firm. Deb worked at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. They later moved to the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville, where Deb homeschools most of their five children and Mike works as a lawyer for a large hospital system. Their church, Bethlehem Baptist, is known to promote adoption, and many families there have adopted children. At one point, Deb told a friend at church that “God would have to hit me over the head to get me to adopt.” She already had a handful of children, and growing up she’d had bad experiences with an adoptive relative in her extended family. Plus the Watterses’ youngest daughter, Corrine, had started limping in 2006 at age 6, and had pain in her right pelvis. Later, she was diagnosed with a cancer called Ewing Sarcoma. That led to surgery and chemotherapy treatments in 2006-2007. The family spent a week in the hospital every few weeks for Corrine’s in-patient treatment. “In March of 2007, we started seeing this little boy in the hospital,” said Mike. “He
never seemed to be with anyone. We started asking around.” The Watterses learned he was from an Indian reservation in northern Minnesota and that he also was being treated for Ewing Sarcoma. His name was Victor. Victor, age 9, had mostly lived in the hospital since he was diagnosed in 2006. His mother had several children by different men and substance abuse problems. Victor’s latest foster family gave him up for a while because they were traveling, so Victor was often alone in the hospital, sometimes lying in bed watching cartoons and clutching a stuffed animal. The Watterses made a point to befriend him. “Victor was a real likable kid. He was friendly. He just kind of melded into any situation,” said Mike. “That was something God uniquely suited him for, given the dysfunction of his family life.” Deb said she and Mike kept wondering, when they went home from the hospital, how Victor was doing. They couldn’t imagine how a young person could battle cancer all alone. One night in their kitchen, Mike looked at Deb and asked, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” She was. They wanted to be his foster parents or adoptive parents if that was best for Victor. They spent weeks inquiring about Victor’s situation with the White Earth Band of the Ojibwe Indian tribe and with local and state authorities, who were grateful for their interest. His eight siblings were parceled out to various family members or foster families. “He had no stability,” Deb said. “He was a ward of the state, starting from the time he was diagnosed.”
WORLD November 19, 2011
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tor’s story
When their daughter was diagnosed with cancer,
Mike and Deb Watters didn’t foresee how it would
lead to a life- and community-changing adoption
handout photos
But they were able to adopt Victor in 2008. The Watterses introduced Victor to soccer. His first season, Deb remembers when they cheered for Victor on the soccer field, he would stop, turn, and wave. He played every season he could until 8th grade, when medical treatments and the advancing cancer left him with a limp. He enjoyed fishing and playing Airsoft guns in the woods with his brothers and neighbors. He was part of the Watterses’ church life. He hadn’t had much religious upbringing in the American Indian traditions. One day, the Watterses were memorizing Bible verses and talking about John 3:36 and what it meant to believe in Christ. Victor asked if he could do that. So Deb prayed with him. He later told his church that he often thought he could battle cancer by his own will and his own strength. “Through God’s grace, I met the Watters family. God decided He wanted to move me into a Christian family. So I became a Watters.” Those events, he said, showed him that God is sovereign over all things, even cancer. As his family and social life blossomed, Victor’s health continued to wilt. “We never told him what the doctors were telling us: that he had very little time to “I BECAME A WATTERS”: victor (seated at right) with his family.
by Paul Glader
live,” Deb said. “We wanted him to enjoy being a kid and enjoy life.” The cancer worsened this past summer, and 14-year-old Victor became bedridden and had to go on oxygen support. He spent that time in the Watters home, welcoming visitors young and old. “He wanted to share the gospel. He wanted to say goodbye,” Mike said. Victor shared his faith with each of his biological siblings, some of whom expressed faith in Christ. He also shared with neighbors, friends, and strangers. “I love you with all my heart,” he said to his family, “and hope that you stay strong in the Lord and that you never leave Him.” Victor died the morning of Sept. 7, 2011. A columnist in The St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote a column about Victor and his family. Hundreds attended his funeral, including his biological mother and siblings. Thousands saw videos on YouTube about his life and a message by Rev. John Piper based on 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 titled, “Victor Watters Converses with Death.” In the vein of C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, the message simulates a conversation between death and Victor. While cancer took his young life, Victor’s story continues to spread the idea—to believers and nonbelievers alike—that adoption based in Christian love can change a life and touch a community. A november 19, 2011
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Hostile takeovers
Violence, theft, and public friction come to the Occupy Wall Street protests
F
by TiFFany Owens in New York
rom New York City to Oakland, Calif., the Occupy Wall Street protests have increasingly come to represent more than opposition to big banks and fiscal dishonesty. In the past few weeks, the protests also have had the unintended consequence of increasing conflict concerning civil freedoms and public safety. In Oakland, protesters faced off with police officers in a heated protest on Oct. 25 in an attempt to reclaim as a campsite a plaza in front of City Hall. Bay area police officers launched beanbags and sprayed tear gas at protesters who tried to re-enter the Frank Ogawa Plaza, which was closed on Oct. 25 for sanitary cleaning. Police said they responded defensively to protesters who threw rocks, bottles, and cans of paint at them. They arrested more than 100, with one serious injury reported. Mayor Jean Quan authorized the raid after thousands of protesters continued camping and cooking overnight despite the city’s warning a week before. Tensions in Oakland escalated on the evening of Nov. 2 as 3,000 demonstrators succeeded in temporarily closing down the Port of Oakland, while others broke into a downtown building and set fires. When police came, demonstrators threw rocks, bottles, and other items. In Atlanta, police shut down Woodruff Park and arrested 52 Occupiers after they refused to leave. Occupy Atlanta criticized Mayor Kasim
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Reed for restricting their freedom, but Reed told The New York Times: “The attitude I have seen here is not consistent with any civil rights protests I have seen in Atlanta, and certainly not consistent with the most respected forms of civil disobedience.” The protests also are taking a physical toll on participants. During the Oakland clash between protesters and police, an object fractured the skull of Scott Olsen, an Iraq War veteran, who remained hospitalized at the end of October. Although it’s not clear whether the object came from police or protesters, Olsen became a symbol of resistance and of what some consider police brutality. But police have casualties of their own: New York City’s Downtown Express reported that at least 20 police officers have been injured due to the protests. In New York City, police tried to manage the 24/7 occupation of Zuccotti Park, some say at the expense of protecting other boroughs. A high-ranking officer told the New York Post that the protests are to blame for the increase in shootings this year: “Normally, the task force is used in high-crime neighborhoods where you have a lot of shootings and robberies,” said one source. “They are always used when there are spikes in crime as a quick fix. But instead of being sent to Jamaica, Brownsville, and the South Bronx, they are in Wall Street.” The Post reported that the Occupy Wall Street marches can require up to 3,000 officers—10 percent of the force. When they aren’t marching, the protesters hold meetings at “General
INCREASING CONFLICT: Protesters and police clash in oakland (top three photos) and Atlanta (bottom right); Scott olsen lies on the ground bleeding from a head wound after being struck by a projectile in oakland. CLoCKWISe From ToP LeFT: KImIHIro HoSHINo/AFP/GeTTy ImAGeS • KArL moNDoN/ mCT/LANDov • rAy CHAveZ/mCT/LANDov • DAvID GoLDmAN/AP • JAy FINNeburGH/AP
WORLD November 19, 2011
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Occupation religion What about religion at protest sites? Occupy Boston has a “Sacred Space” where individuals from diverse religious backgrounds can come to pray or meditate. At other Occupy sites “protest chaplains” are praying with protesters. Catholics Online in an October editorial concluded, “If the movement focuses on authentic human and social ideals, while avoiding the seductive pitfalls of the very “SACRED SPACE”: secularism that has created so many of our problems in the occupy boston first place, then an opportunity may be at hand.” residents read and Case McCarty and Charles Wang in Los Angeles, though, pray in the faith and believe the protesters’ focus on social and economic restrucworship tent. turing is misdirected. The two members of Reality, a local nondenominational church, have spent hours at City Hall handing out homemade brochures with “Where is our hope?” in front and quotations from Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and others interspersed within, along with Bible verses such as Deuteronomy 15:11, Romans 3:23, and Ephesians 2:8-10. “We wanted to … let them know that they are loved and that there is one hope that we are all looking for and that’s Jesus,” explained McCarty. They’ve received mixed reviews. Some Occupiers have laughed. Others shoved the fliers into their back pockets. Others stopped by their table to talk. One man even went with them to church. So far, they do not have a lot of company in presenting the gospel. “A lot of churches are backing away from the political movements,” said Wang. But McCarty notes, “We couldn’t have orchestrated a better opportunity to minister to people on a personal level. ... It’s a group of people who are sick and tired of what the government has promised them and of being lied to. … They’re at that place where we all were before we became Christians … where Jesus [met] us.” So far, most church support for the protests comes in social and economic terms, but Wang and McCarty are striving to listen to protesters and offer deeper answers. They take the position that human suffering is an issue of the heart, not social organization. They have the support of their church and are trying to get more people to come out with them, but not as a publicity stunt: “We’re less concerned with what our particular church can do … but more with how we can encourage the church everywhere to know what’s going and how they can contribute in this way,” Wang said. Some protesters are hostile to evangelism, but McCarty believes that others aren’t. He told a story of a man at L.A. City Hall who sat next to him and expressed disappointment because he thought there would be more churches out there. “It doesn’t help that they don’t believe in church in general,” McCarty said. “[Now] they see the church is turning the back on them too. … It broke my heart that some of them were looking for that when they came out there.” —T.O., with reporting from California by Mary Jackson; the Associated Press also contributed to this report
elise AmeNdolA/Ap
Assembly” where they try to solve through democratic discussion problems of food distribution, community relations, and internal crime. The campsite has become a magnet for the city’s homeless who come for free food. In protest, the irate camp’s kitchen crew served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to send the General Assembly a message: No fancy meals until someone gets rid of the free riders. Contributions of food and money have made life easier for Occupiers but also raised questions about use and management of the $500,000 in the Occupy Wall Street account and smaller amounts in other cities. Thefts of money and MacBooks alternate with on-going discussions of solidarity and America’s economic future: “We are daring to imagine a new socio-political and economic alternative that offers greater possibility of equality,” explains the website. Technology is crucial to this movement. Self-promoted as an imitation of the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement depends heavily on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube, and Tumblr. The General Assembly website hosts various forums for discussion ranging on topics from where to use the bathroom to how to survive the approaching winter. These resources and the General Assembly are supposed to provide a sense of organization and progress that sympathetic mainline media bulwark. New York magazine, though, reported that an emphasis on equality is leading to faction among protesters. For instance, a policy that all belongings in the camp are communal bothers some attendees who want to keep their things separate. Others have complied and never seen their belongings again. Situations like these fuel criticism about the movement’s emphasis on equality and horizontal leadership: How exactly will anything be accomplished and what exactly will that be if no one is ultimately responsible? How long will the movement be able to sustain itself? What’s to keep protesters from breaking off into separate factions or sub-protests? Sub-protests and counter-protests of sorts are emerging: A Tea Party group in Richmond, Va., is demanding the city refund an $8,000 fee it paid for permission to use the same grounds that Occupy Wall Street protesters have used without charge for several weeks. A WORLD November 19, 2011
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Notebook SPORTS TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE HOUSES OF GOD MONEY RELIGION
CHARLIE RIEDEL/AP
Penultimate greatness
SPORTS: This year’s theater of Game was more than a baseball game; it was a history lesson BY MARK BERGIN
>>
A - allows two runs to score, sparing a team from sure defeat and extending the World Series to Game . The year? — and . A walk-off home run in extra frames ends an epic back-and-forth grudge match, pushing the Fall Classic to a final decisive game. The year? —and . A broadcaster named Buck commemorates one of only four game-winning home runs in World Series history, inviting viewers back for an unlikely Game with the understated refrain, “We’ll see you tomorrow night.” The Year? —and . Few would disagree that the St. Louis Cardinals’ - series victory over the Texas Rangers to claim baseball’s highest crown ranks among the most compelling theater in the game’s storied history. And the height of that drama unfolded—as it has so often in years past—in Game . On Oct. , the Cardinals twice found themselves backed against a seemingly unscalable wall. And twice they scaled it, replaying some of baseball’s most memorable moments in the process. The first such moment played out in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Cardinals third baseman David Freese faced a two-out, two-strike pitch with his team trailing by two runs. Freese ripped the offering from Texas closer Neftali Feliz into right field. Outfielder Nelson Cruz appeared fooled on the play, hesitating in GAME CHANGER: St. Louis’ David Freese hits a walk-off home run during the th inning of Game of baseball’s World Series against the Rangers. NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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WORLD
11/3/11 8:46 AM
Notebook > Sports
WORLD NOVEMBER 19, 2011
23 SPORTS and TECH.indd 74
NBA Commissioner David Stern
HARD COURT The scheduled start of a hugely anticipated season has come and gone with nary a final score to show for it. Owners and players remain locked in a labor dispute that threatens the recent uptick of momentum born of gripping playoff action and compelling superstars. The primary disagreement centers over the percentage of basketballrelated income that should go to players. The owners want a - split. The players want . percent. And by some strange calculation, both parties deem that discrepancy worthy of an argument that could trample the delicate and surprising sprout of growth that last season afforded. —M.B.
bottom of the th that pulled the Minnesota Twins into a three-gamesapiece tie with the Atlanta Braves, pushing the series to a final decisive game. has previously ranked the World Series the best ever played—and with good reason. The series three times required extra innings and had four games end on the final pitch. Taken in total, the affair may never meet its equal. But as Game goes, the version may be the best yet. And that is no small matter. A
CRUZ: CHARLIE RIEDEL/AP • BUCK: FRANK MICELOTTA/PICTUREGROUP VIA AP IMAGES • STERN: NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES
remembered for the play, however unfair. The Texas slugger had more to do with the Rangers’ postseason success than any other player, blasting a recordtying eight home runs during the team’s playoff run. Buckner, likewise, delivered clutch hits during Boston’s run but carries the label of World Series goat to this day. Cruz might have avoided such associations had the Rangers managed to overcome the ninth-inning gaffe in extra innings. It seemed they might on the strength of a two-run Josh Hamilton blast in the top of the th. So unlikely was another Cardinals comeback that New York Times editors prematurely MISSED OPPORTUNITY: Nelson Cruz can’t come up with a triple off the bat of Freese during the ninth inning of Game .
posted an online story heralding a Rangers World Series victory. The article recounted the history of frustration that has characterized the Texas franchise and declared that now new images of ultimate success “will live in Texas sports lore.” Those images proved remarkably short-lived, as St. Louis mustered yet another last-hope, tworun rally to tie the score. The comeback robbed Texas lore but forever cemented the game’s place among the heights of World Series lore. And then the final act. As if the drama to that point were not enough, Freese stepped to the plate again in the bottom half of the th, this time as a lead-off man with the score tied and the bases empty. He homered, straight away to dead center field, and Busch Stadium quaked. From within the roar of the crowd, baseball aficionados could almost hear the echo of another Game moment: Carlton Fisk’s solo shot leading off the th inning of the World Series had capped a Red Sox rally to stave off elimination and force a Game . But the echoes of that memory were dim compared to an audible voice that emanated from the ghost of Game past. Broadcaster Joe Buck played specter: “We will see you tomorrow night,” he said as the Freese homer sailed out. Buck stole it, of course, from his late father Jack, who delivered the identical refrain years earlier almost to the day. On Oct. , , Jack Buck had the perfect call for a lead-off Kirby Puckett dinger in the
Email: mbergin@worldmag.com
11/3/11 8:48 AM
TOP: X PRIZE FOUNDATION • BOTTOM: MELANIE GONICK
his pursuit of a catchable ball that eventually ricocheted off the wall for a tworun, game-tying triple. The play conjured memories of another defensive miscue, that of Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner, whose misplay of a ground ball in Game of the World Series resulted in two runs for the Mets and a heartbreaking loss. Like Buckner, Cruz will be ever
Notebook > Technology
Slick systems
contest highlights new and faster ways to cleanup oil spills By daniel jameS devine
>>
CREDIT
ToP: X Prize FouNdaTioN • boTTom: melaNie GoNick
During last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 4.9 million barrels of crude spewed into the ocean for three months before Bp workers could cap a broken wellhead. Only a quarter of the oil was recovered or burned. The spill was a fiasco, but one positive outcome was that it motivated ingenious minds to improve methods of collecting spilled petroleum from the seas. The X Prize Foundation recently announced winners of its oil-cleanup contest, drawing attention to oil spill innovators: Elastec/American Marine: This oil spill cleanup group, based in Illinois, is
the largest such company in the United States. Its engineers put their heads together to build a cleanup system that uses spinning discs mounted in rows and installed on a floating platform. The discs have grooves that oil sticks to naturally. When they’re spun rapidly, they lick up voracious amounts of oil from seawater, channeling it to a collection tank with 90 percent efficiency (meaning only 10 percent of the collected liquid is seawater). While average oil recovery systems collect about 900 gallons of oil per minute, Elastec’s disc-based system collected an astonishing 4,670
gallons per minute during the X Prize contest, earning it a $1 million first-place PRIZE WINNERS: elastec’s award. disc-based oil recovery NOFI: system (left); NOFI’s This flexible v-shaped boom. Norwegian company earned second place for its V-shaped, inflatable boom that corrals oil and then separates it from the water. noFi’s system was used extensively during Gulf cleanup, with positive feedback, and its “Current Buster 6,” used during the contest, collected 2,712 gallons of oil per minute. OilShaver: Built by a group of Norwegian companies, the OilShaver consists of two long, floating arms lying parallel that skim the surface of the water while being towed by a boat. A series of flaps “shaves” the oil from the water and channels it to a pump, where it is transferred to the ship. Protei: Cesar Harada began designing sailboat drones after becoming frustrated with Gulf spill cleanup efforts. His Protei 6 prototype is a flexible, wind-driven craft about the size of a dolphin that he hopes will be able to drag a tail of absorbent boom through the paths of oil spills. (It’s still in development and was not part of the X Prize competition.) The drones could be steered by remote control or onboard sensors—and since they lie flat in high winds, they wouldn’t need to come to shore during storms.
Seeing through walls Ever wish you had X-ray vision? MIT researchers have created a device that can spot people or other moving objects behind solid concrete walls. It works by sending out microwaves and measuring the wavelengths that are reflected back: When something behind the wall moves, the system detects the change in wavelength and displays the movement on a monitor. If the device were mounted to a vehicle (it’s a bit bulky at 8½ feet), its creators think U.S. soldiers might use it to spot enemies in urban combat situations. —D.J.D. email: ddevine@worldmag.com
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Notebook > Science
By the numBers
Private space
The age doctors should begin treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, revised down from age 6 in new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The group approved medication for preschoolers if behavior therapy fails to be effective.
Congress worries about NASA’s growing reliance on private firms BY daniel james devine
WORLD November 19, 2011
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The unanimous vote, with one abstention, of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee recommending that boys be immunized against sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), a cause of genital warts and anal cancer. Assuming the CDC adopts the recommendation, the Merck-made vaccine Gardasil would be routinely offered to boys as young as 11. —D.J.D.
ROCKET: BRUCE WEAVER/AFP/GETTy ImAGEs • GARDAsIL: HARRy CABLUCK/AP
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$6 billion over five years to continue investing in commercial spaceflight. SpaceX, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp., and Blue Origin are among the companies competing for government funds to take astronauts to space. “From my perspective, the business case is not very compelling,” said Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas, at a space committee hearing. Hall feared that if private firms fail to attract commercial customers besides nASA, it may put the government in the position of “bailing out” the firms in the event they are unprofitable. Other lawmakers at the hearing worried the cost of private spaceflight would be more expensive than the $63 million per seat U.S. astronauts are already paying to ride aboard Russia’s Soyuz rocket. In response to the worries, SpaceX Ceo Elon Musk guaranteed his company would charge nASA only $20 million per seat. And as for commercial customers, SpaceX currently has 35 private contracts, worth over $1 billion, to launch satellites. Other firms in the space game: Orbital Sciences, which plans to deliver cargo to the space station next year with its Taurus 2 rocket and Cygnus capsule; and Virgin Galactic, which intends to take thrill-seekers and scientists on short suborbital flights by 2013.
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The 368-ton Falcon 9, a sleek, 180-foot aluminum lithium alloy rocket filled with liquid oxygen and kerosene, could launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., as early as Dec. 19. Sitting in the rocket’s nose will be an unmanned spacecraft named Dragon. After liftoff, Dragon will separate, attain orbit, conduct communications and maneuverability tests, and then—upon nASA approval—dock with the International Space Station. The rocket and capsule weren’t built by nASA, though. They are the handiwork of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a private firm that has received some $300 million in government grants and has a $1.6 billion contract to deliver space station cargo for nASA while the agency redesigns its own rocket system, which may not be ready for a decade. Between 2006 and 2008 SpaceX botched three Falcon 1 launches. The company’s success—or failure—in sending a spacecraft to the space station will be a symbolic answer to a real question: Can private companies handle space transportation while nASA builds a replacement for the space shuttle? Not everyone thinks so. Some Democrats and Republicans in Congress balked in October when nASA asked for
Effectiveness of a new vaccine against malaria in 5- to 17month-old children, according to preliminary results from a vaccine trial among 15,000 African children, the primary victims of malaria, reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. The vaccine was less effective in younger infants.
CREDIT
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Notebook > Houses of God
Constructed in 2005, the Queen of Peace Church is a Roman Catholic church in the Arey Ksat village outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Southeast Asia is suffering through its worst monsoon season in years, causing at least 700 deaths in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines and flooding from bodies of water such as the Mekong River near Arey Ksat.
November 19, 2011
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Notebook > Money
Euro nightmare
Problems in Greece—and europe—continue to grow By WarrEn ColE Smith
The problems in Greece led ratings agency Moody’s to say it might issue a credit warning for France, while both Fitch and Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s credit rating. At home, IBM and Apple posted lower than expected thirdquarter earnings. That news stoked fears of slower technology spending. Nonetheless, more economists believe a double-dip recession is unlikely. They say the United States will show modest but measurable growth: not big numbers but “plus numbers, and not minus numbers,” said Ken Goldstein of the Conference Board. “That’s the good news.” One positive sign: Homebuilding is ticking upward. September saw the best numbers in 17 months. Most of the gain came from apartment construction. Single-family home construction, nearly 70 percent of homes built, rose only slightly. Still, builders began work in September on 658,000 homes, a 15 percent increase from August. That’s not nearly the 1.2 million needed for a healthy housing market, but it is a tentative step in the right direction. —W.C.S.
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IPO dROUght Initial public offerings, or IPOs, have been virtually non-existent this fall. Entrepreneurs considering IPOs say it’s just too risky, in part because regulations and government jobs programs proposed by the Obama administration have unpredictably manipulated the markets. Therein lies an irony: IPOs are among the private sector’s most powerful job creators. The 1990s saw an average of more than one IPO per day. By contrast, the 2000s have averaged barely one per week, and some months much less. Since Sept. 1, only two U.S. companies have gone public. When Pandora went public earlier this year, its staff increased by a third in a matter of months. In 1977, Apple had three employees. When Steve Jobs took Apple public in 1980, the IPO produced more than 300 millionaires, some of whom formed job-producing companies of their own. Today, Apple employs 46,000 worldwide. Currently 215 companies are waiting to go public, the longest waiting list since 2001. Of course, not all of these entrepreneurs will create jobs like Jobs, but all of them will immediately start hiring, and at least a few of them will grow to employ thousands—if the government will get out of the way. —W.C.S.
greece: Petros giannakouris/aP • jobs: cHristoF stacHe/aFP/getty images
NUMBERS UP
forced to call it off after France and Germany warned that if the referendum failed, Greece would have to leave the eU. Nonetheless, a growing chorus says the best solution is some form of bankruptcy, because pulling Greece out of the frying pan encourages bad behavior by Italy, Spain, and other nations nearly as troubled. Also, a default will force the eU to solve other structural problems with the euro and trade imbalances between member nations. All of which is to say that this “permanent” solution also may be temporary. Marc Touati, chief economist at Assya Compagnie Financiere in Paris, said eU leaders “stopped the hemorrhaging,” but they “have only saved it temporarily. Unfortunately, the fundamental problem concerning the absence of growth has not been resolved.”
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It’s been nearly two years since Greece admitted it was broke, and while the European Union’s band-aids have averted complete collapse, it was not until Oct. 27 that member countries could agree on a permanent solution. European banks have already written down Greek debt 20 percent or more, but the new deal will require a 50 percent write-down. The eU and International Monetary Fund will provide $140 billion in rescue loans. Greeks have rioted over the eU’s required austerity measures. But without them—and the bailout money such contrition will earn—Greece will surely default on its debt. That’s why Prime Minister George Papandreou’s initial decision to hold a referendum on the deal caused consternation—and why he was
Notebook > Religion
Extreme diversity Methodists create a multi-religious school to train pastors
BY TIMOTHY DALRYMPLE
>>
T of American seminaries is an old story. The inauguration of “the world’s first interreligious university” is not. The Claremont School of Theology is collaborating with the Academy for Jewish Religion in California and the Islamic Center of Southern California to produce Claremont Lincoln University, an ambitious endeavor to train religious leaders for a multireligious world. The member institutions of the consortium will still ordain the pastors, priests, rabbis, and imams, but the university will offer a concentration on interreligious studies as well as master’s and doctoral degrees. As Philip Clayton, provost of the new university, explained in a symposium on the future of seminaries, “We are in the midst of the biggest change in American religiosity since the founding
of this country.” Interreligious tensions are many and strong. So we can remain “ensconced” in the old forms of academia and ecclesia, or we can become “change agents” to “educate the nextgeneration leaders for an emerging church.” The Methodist-affiliated Claremont School of Theology nearly lost its accreditation in due to financial problems, and enrollment had been dropping there just as it has at many mainline Protestant seminaries. So in , Claremont voted to establish an interreligious university. The demand for ministers who can navigate the treacherous waters of religious diversity is, according to Clayton, “off the charts.” The move to multi-faith inclusivity also allows the school to attract more tuition-paying students. The move has prompted pushback. In January , the University Senate of the United Methodist Church sanctioned Claremont for its financial practices and for pursuing its “substantial reorientation” without sufficient church consultation. While many Methodists
A PASTOR, A RABBI, AND AN IMAM WALK INTO A SCHOOL... A press conference at Claremont School of Theology announcing the launch of Claremont Lincoln University.
favor interfaith reconciliation, they worry about the execution. Does it communicate charity to place a cross and a minaret and a Buddhist pagoda at the center of the campus, or does it amount to compromising core beliefs? Yet the school is plunging forward, with plans to add programs for Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Baha’i. As Daniel Aleshire, executive director of the Association of Theological Schools, told Inside Higher Ed, theological schools are often “ahead” of “the thinking in their respective denominations or ecclesiastical bodies.” But are they leading in the right direction?
CLAREMONT: ADAM LAU/AP • CAMPING: MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/AP
GREECE: PETROS GIANNAKOURIS/AP • JOBS: CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
CAMPING OUT
Another doomsday came and went with nary a body lifted heavenward but plenty of snickering from skeptics and atheists. When the end of times failed to materialize on May , Harold Camping insisted that a hidden, spiritual judgment had been delivered upon the earth and the physical apocalypse would arrive on Oct. . However, five days prior to Oct. , Camping, who suffered a stroke in June, announced in an interview with documentarian Brandon Tauszik that he would retire from leadership of the Family Radio Stations. He also expressed an uncharacteristic reticence to speculate on when this earthly calendar would end. Camping, , developed his predilection for doomsday prophecies decades ago, and resisted attempts from other Christian teachers to persuade him that he should not speculate on the specifics of the apocalypse. Camping misled his flock, including many who sacrificed jobs and homes to spread his message, and gave potent ammo to the New Atheists argument against the rationality of Christian belief. All reference to Camping’s prophecies has been scrubbed from the Family Radio website, and the ministry has encouraged its followers instead to live in perpetual readiness. A receptionist at Family Radio told that percent of the employees at the Oakland, Calif., headquarters did not believe in the Oct. prediction. “I don’t believe in any of this stuff that’s going on,” she said, “and I plan on being here next week.” —T.D.
NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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College of the Ozarks is seeking a Headmaster for a new college preparatory high school located on its campus in Point Lookout, Missouri. The qualified candidate would be responsible for hiring teachers, implementing a classical curriculum, maintaining an environment of high standards, and working with departments across the college to create innovative programming for the school. The candidate will also be responsible for ensuring that a Biblical worldview is incorporated into all school programs and for maintaining a focus on the institution’s century-old mission, including its academic, Christian, cultural, vocational, and patriotic goals. Candidates should have a strong and vibrant Christian faith, an understanding of classical education, and impeccable character. Candidates should also have a master’s degree or PhD, as well as previous administrative or teaching experience. Send a resume, official transcripts, and three letters of recommendation (including one from your pastor) to: Vicki Wrosch Human Resources College of the Ozarks PO Box 17 Point Lookout, MO 65726 or email wrosch@cofo.edu College of the Ozarks is a small (1,350 students), liberal arts, workstudy college with a commitment to evangelical Christian faith and service located in southwest Missouri near Branson (www.cofo.edu). College of the Ozarks is an EO/AA Employer.
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Mailbag
“Deep waters”
(Oct. ) Thank you for your extensive, compassionate, and accurate coverage of northeastern Japan. I was born and grew up in the home of missionary parents in Tohoku and Sendai, the largest city close to the earthquake’s epicenter. Christians should pray for the restoration of this beautiful land and her precious but lost people. , Naperville, Ill.
“Holding translators accountable” (Oct. ) Wycliffe needs to be encouraged to hold firm to the true rendering of “Son of God” for our Muslim brethren, perhaps with explanation, and leave the concerns about readers’ perceptions to the Holy Spirit. Greeneville, Tenn.
For Briarwood Presbyterian Church to withhold translators’ support seems highhanded and self-righteous. Those translators are highly trained. Let them do their work as unto God, not Briarwood or the .
the “Emperor Has No Clothes” award. Now I hope that other reporters on the sidewalk will take off their rosecolored glasses and admit the truth that has been under their noses for a painfully long time.
Cut Bank, Mont.
I thought this column was too critical of the president. I am not defending bad judgment, but suggesting the Obama administration may be “dumb by design” is close to calling the president dumb.
teaching of the Bible. The cross is also very offensive to many people—will that be next? Wixom, Mich.
Because of their sacrifices, their love of Jesus, and translating His word, I will continue to support Wycliffe as I have for the last years.
Norwich, N.Y.
Belz really hit the nail on the head. His assertion that we elected a child as president to do a man-sized job is a perfect portrayal of how I view this president and his administration. Alto, Mich.
. . St. Augustine, Fla.
“Confidence game” (Oct. ) Joel Belz’s column on President Obama was good enough to have earned
“Road test” (Oct. ) A friend and I have this disagreement over how angry one justifiably can be toward “bad” drivers. In his mind, they’re
Norcross, Ga.
I have worked “in the field” in North Africa for around years. Large numbers of workers from many nationalities and organizations have never liked this attempt at changing Scripture. I have seen many Muslims understand about Jesus being the Son of God by simply having them read in Luke , where Mary asks the angel about the fact that she’s a virgin. We need to trust the Lord that His Word is “living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword.”
PAPUA, INDONESIA / submitted by Jason Mellinger
around the world
Algeciras, Spain
Having been a missionary for years, I have some understanding of contextualization, but I don’t understand obscuring theology to avoid “offending” the sensibilities of those who violently disagree with the clear Send photos and letters to: mailbag@worldmag.com
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Mailbag being unsafe and endangering other people. I’m much more on Andrée Seu’s side, but I don’t think she went far enough. Whether or not you assume there’s a reason people seem to be acting badly, you should extend grace regardless. Sarah hartman Chattanooga, Tenn.
Thank you for Seu’s reminder that we so often do not have all the information when someone else’s behavior lights our fuse. The last time I saw someone “texting in church!” it was actually the Bible app on his iPhone.
Christians have forgotten that we are called to “hate what is evil.” To forget this is a perversion of the truth. This column does an excellent job of reminding us that good and evil cannot coexist. kathlEEn m cclEllan
Sikeston, Mo.
“The Palestinian blunder” (Oct. 8) Mindy Belz’s take on “The Palestinian blunder” reminded me of why we value this magazine so highly. Nowhere else have we read such profound, clear, and concise explanations of the real background of major events in our wounded world. Bill SwEnSon
ElainE nEumEyEr Big Canoe, Ga.
Having my son in the front seat when I drive him to school has become to me a mirror, showing a self-absorbed, competitive, unforgiving, and never-wrong dad of whom I am completely ashamed. It’s a good thing he knows something of God’s forgiveness. DaviD DilEaS Amherst, N.Y.
“Online Mormons” (Oct. 8) This article on “Mormon mommy bloggers” presented Mormons whose flair and style is coveted by others. The last two sentences tried to articulate some priority, but unless the readers are aware that Latter Day Saints are a cult truly not committed to Christ as the only way of salvation, then it simply presents the Mormon way as a good lifestyle. mikE FaSt Burns, Ore.
“Rough justice” (Oct. 8) So many prominent commentators, Christian and otherwise, misinterpreted as blood-lust the audience reaction to Rick Perry’s execution remark at the Oct. 22 Republican debate, but Janie Cheaney got it right. She correctly interpreted the audience reaction as a yearning for justice within a system of justice, so-called, run amok. PEtEr kuShkowSki Portland, Conn.
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St. Louis, Mo.
“A DREAM deferred” (Oct. 8) I’m grateful for this thoughtful and balanced article on the challenges facing young people brought illegally to the United States by their parents. I used to believe that illegal immigrants should go back, wait their turn, and come back legally, but after becoming an immigration counselor I’ve learned that there usually is no legal way for immigrants to come and no line to wait in. We need comprehensive immigration reform, making it harder to enter unlawfully but easier to enter lawfully, and giving those like Carlos the chance to earn the right to stay in the United States. matthEw SoErEnS Wheaton, Ill.
Houses of God (Oct. 8) Thanks for choosing my father’s church, the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, for your Oct. 8 feature. It might interest your readers to know that the huge blue dome that spans the building is not attached to the building but rests on ball bearings in a track that extends around the perimeter. koula hazEll Durant, Okla.
“Loving their enemies” (Oct. 8) Thank you for this article on the work of Shevet Achim. I found it very uplifting. Living in Israel, I completely agree with Miles’ conclusion that the New Testament is the only possible
10/28/11 10:37 AM
peace treaty and that “the conflict in the Middle East is spiritual at its core.” Eilat, Israel
“The red (state) scare”
Health care
for people of faith
(Sept. ) This column described McCarthyism as associated with a “paranoid style,” but as Paul Kengor pointed out in Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century, during much of that era, anti-communist investigations were led by Democrats as vigorously as by Republicans. The opening of Soviet archives after the dissolution of the and the release of the Venona transcripts demonstrated that much of the s-s “red scare” was well-founded.
Woodland Hills, Calif.
“A place forgotten” (Sept. ) Thanks for the / anniversary issue. As I read about the passengers on United Flight , I was moved to tears. It was about real people and real lives, and the photos—it was almost more than I could process, but I’m glad I tried. Thank you for remembering and, by doing so, honoring the thousands of ordinary people who died that day or whose lives have been forever altered.
North Royalton, Ohio
Correction Minors in the United States illegally can be deported under current law— but that is not a priority for immigration officials (“A deferred,” Oct. , p. ).
LETTERS AND PHOTOS Email: mailbag@worldmag.com Write: Mailbag, P.O. Box , Asheville, - Please include full name and address. Letters may be edited to yield brevity and clarity.
If you are a committed Christian, you do not have to violate your faith by purchasing health insurance from a company that pays for abortions and other unbiblical medical practices. You can live consistently with your beliefs by sharing medical needs directly with fellow believers through Samaritan Ministries’ non-insurance approach. This approach even satisfies the individual mandate in the recent Federal health care law (Sec. 1501 (b) of HR 3590 at pg. 327, 328). Every month the more than 18,000* 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 at 1-888-268-4377, or visit us online at: www.samaritanministries.org. Follow us on Twitter (@samaritanmin) and Facebook (SamaritanMinistries). * As of August 2011
Biblical faith applied to health care www.samaritanministries.org
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10/28/11 10:36 AM
Sow seeds of friendship that will flourish through a lifetime of ministry together.
What would it be like to study under pastors?
Find out at RPTS.
1.888.440.6277
midamerica.edu
Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary www.rpts.edu 866-778-7338 info@rpts.edu
There’s room on campus for religious freedom...
Her University threatened to expel her Christian Club for holding a foot-washing ceremony.
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KRIEG BARRIE
...very little room.
See their story. Facebook.com/SpeakUpU
10/28/11 10:40 AM 9/21/11 2:13 PM
Andrée Seu
Cell conversions When we stop protecting ourselves from disappointment, we can start believing for joy
KRIEG BARRIE
>>
I prison connections in my life. At a cookout in the backyard I looked up and suddenly noticed that four people milling around the grill had done time. There is a cliché about prison conversions, but I see it differently. It’s not that they’re conversions of convenience. They’re mostly genuine, but when you get back out, “the world, the flesh, and the devil” are still leaning on a lamppost, filing their fingernails waiting for you: Welcome back Jack. So when I got this letter from Jack (we shall call him that) I was cautiously optimistic. Which, it turns out, is a distinct biblical category of spiritual response: “And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’” (Luke :). When something is this good—like Jesus walking into the room after being dead, or Jack talking like a new creation after being dead and in jail—you tend to want to protect yourself against disappointment. An excerpt: “So how have you been? I’ve been praying that He would comfort you as much as He has me. I’m doing great! All I do all day is read the Bible if I can get my hands on one, and I work out. Last time I was locked up I was craving cigarettes the whole way through up until the very last day, but this time I haven’t even craved it since the first day, and I prayed on it. I’m kind of cautious to write to you about how my relationship with God has grown so much in just this short time, because I feel like no one will believe me.” Of course, there are precedents for that too (the lack of a drawn-out evolution, that is), like on the Damascus Road. And Paul himself didn’t necessarily buy into a stereotypical conversion pattern. “Agrippa said to Paul, ‘In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?’ And Paul said, ‘Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains” (Acts :-). After release Jack went back to his old job, but called me a week later at the end of a long day at work and sounded bad: “I can’t do this anymore.” It was a high-paying gig, and perfectly legal, but (Jack decided) not honoring to God. “Do you want me to come pick you up?” I asked. He did and I went. In the car he didn’t say much, except this: “When Peter and that other guy left their nets to follow
Email: aseu@worldmag.com
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Jesus, did they go back home first to earn money?” I told him I didn’t think so. The next day, he went in and quit his job. Normally I would call that irresponsible (and his siblings did just that), but I was thinking it over, and if you are a hit man for the Mafia and get saved, you don’t say, “I’ll do just a few more jobs till I have enough money for Bible school.” So I applauded the move—and then started second-guessing because, after all, the work was not illegal and the jobless rate is high. I asked David, my friend from prison (natch), if Jack had been hasty in leaving gainful employment. David said: “Andrée, there are two kingdoms—the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. Anything that has to do with the darkness you should flee from.” The Lord provided a position within a week, laying floor tiles hours a day at half the pay, with a boss who yells at him because Jack can’t understand instructions given in Korean. We were at the kitchen table and Jack talked about working when it was hot as blazes and the boss was screaming louder than usual and Jack was on his knees leveling a floor, conscious of his own misery. It was the oddest thing, Jack said: “All of a sudden, in the middle of all that, I realized God really loves me.” Which flipped a switch in me, somehow, and made me start believing for joy instead of disbelieving for joy. A NOVEMBER 19, 2011
WORLD
10/28/11 11:35 AM
Marvin Olasky
Punching paper walls
High unemployment is a poor excuse when settling for a life of welfare dependency
>>
I in our cover story that million people on food stamps is too many? That the prospect of half of America’s children living off food stamps is unappealing? After all, unemployment remains high and the politically wellconnected get government grants and loans, so why shouldn’t the poor grab what they can get? More examples of governmental favoritism have come to light since our latest critique of corporate welfare (, Oct. ). For example, a half-billion taxpayer dollars are going to Tesla Motors, which includes among its funders three big donors to President Barack Obama—Steve Westly, Elon Musk, and Nick Pritzker. The Occupy Wall Street folks are right to be upset about such deals, and here’s a humble suggestion to them: Move your demonstration to Lafayette Park, across from the White House. They should also picket a rhyming couple, Al Gore and John Doerr, who are partners in a venture capital firm that backs Fisker Automotive. Doerr is a California billionaire who hosted President Barack Obama at a February dinner, and Fisker left even liberal ABC News fuming: “With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.” Hmm—with U.S. taxpayer dollars used to create jobs in Finland (building a luxury electric sports car that
WORLD NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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KRIEG BARRIE
will sell for ,) why shouldn’t a person with below-average income give in to the Obama administration’s attempt to get more and more people onto welfare? The answer is simple but may not be satisfactory: Two wrongs don’t make a right. Is emphasizing work unfair in a year featuring percent unemployment? Folks can’t get jobs in today’s economy, can they? Counselors at The WorkFaith Connection, an impressive Christian charity in Houston, say, Yes, they can. The key concept: People are leaving work or getting fired every day and have to be replaced, so “If you want to work, you’re going to get a job.” The key evidence: Men and women who are statistically the least likely to get jobs— percent of WorkFaith clients are felons—are getting and keeping them. One room at WorkFaith on North Post Oak Road has photos of the more than , men and women who have graduated from job readiness workshops over the past four years. Point to a photo and President Sandy Schultz can say, most of the time, where the graduates are working. The key element, she says, is attitude: “They shift from an attitude of entitlement—‘What can you do for me?’—to one of gratitude: ‘What can I do for you?’” The felons are grateful to have a second chance, because statistically they are the least likely to be hired. One man came to WorkFaith and said, “I’ve got seven felonies, so no one will hire me.” He’s now a foreman at a roofing company. That’s not an isolated example. WorkFaith has found that percent of graduates get a job and percent continue in that job for at least a year. If felons can do it, anyone can. What I saw at WorkFaith—we’ll have a full article about it next year— reminds me of what a formerly left-wing counselor at an anti-addiction program told me years ago: He had believed that the poor are trapped behind brick walls, but after seven years he had learned that the walls are paper and they can punch right through. So what if a person has messed up? In the movie Black Hawk Down a sergeant tries to turn down an assignment by saying he’s been shot. His colonel replies, “Everybody’s shot. Get in and drive.” Yes, some are physically or mentally unable to punch, or drive. Others need temporary, emergency help—but million Americans, and more each year? The problem with that enormity is not primarily the cost in dollars but in lives. It’s wrong to tell millions of poor people that their situation is hopeless and that they should settle into a life of dependency. They and all of us are created in God’s image and capable of doing great things. A Email: molasky@worldmag.com
10/28/11 9:54 AM
We are Serious about the Gospel
Dan DeWitt | IL | Ed.D Graduate Dean of Boyce College and Founding Pastor of Campus Church
KRIEG BARRIE
he Southern Seminary Doctor of Education degree will equip you to serve as a leader in Christian educational institutions or in the educational ministries of the church.
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Our Ed.D. will provide a practical yet theologically-grounded curriculum that can be completed in 30-months from anywhere. For more information see www.sbts.edu/edd
Visit us at sbts.edu
10/25/11 11:13 AM
THANKSGIVING is a Jewish holiday . . . sort of
The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles serves as the foundation of the American celebration of Thanksgiving. Luis de Torres, a Jewish interpreter who accompanied Columbus in 1492, gave the holiday bird its name, tukki—the Hebrew word for “big bird.” So, in a way, we can thank the Jews for Thanksgiving. But there are other reasons to be thankful for the Jewish people: • Great biblical role models: Moses; Joshua; Deborah; Esther; Peter, Paul & Mary (you know which ones we mean), to name a few. • A Jewish team of authors to give us His Holy Word. • Jesus was born a Jew. God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you . . .” (Genesis 12:3). And the greatest way to bless the Jewish people is to share the gospel with them. We’d love to partner with you and enlist your help as prayer support for the work being done here in the U.S. and around the world to reach Jewish people with the good news. Check out our online newsletter, RealTime, and sign up for your free monthly e-subscription at:
jewsforjesus.org/realtime
60 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94102-5895 • jfj@jewsforjesus.org
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