recently cooked their family suppers early and then sat down for 'four unin terrupted hours of watching TV child ren’s programs. The result was for warded to the Federal Communications Commission and included what the amazed mothers saw. There were 13 murders and assorted killings, 14 slug- gings, six kidnappings, five holdups, three explosions, three instances of blackmail and extortion, three thefts, two armed robberies, two cases of arson, one lynching, one torture scene and one miscarriage. One mother clocked 104 gunshots during a half-hour serial; an other found sudden death “ shudderingly described” 14 times in 20, minutes. The mothers concluded that there was not one episode, not one character, not one emotion seen, which their children might emulate" to their gain. Solomon's Mines Large scale prospecting is under way to determine whether King Solomon’s ancient mines can be exploited in this 20th century. Where for centuries there were only camel caravans now there is feverish activity with tractors, drilling equipment and scrapers. An official re port discloses that important finds have been made including rock phosphate, ce ramic clays and glass sand, also the ex istence of extensive deposits of manga nese and copper ores. In the years that lie ahead, without a doubt, there will be continued discover ies of desirable wealth in the Holy Land area, so much so that this territory is destined to become the envy of many of the surrounding nations, projecting the attack described in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Cigarettes No Aid Recently 20 non-smokers and 20 cig arette smokers, averaging 14 years of age, were chosen at random from New York City public schools. Impartial rec ords were kept by ten teachers for a number of months to determine the ef fect of cigarettes on education. Some of the statistics showed: poor memory, the smokers averaged 12 to the non-smokers one; impaired hearing, the smokers 13 to the non-smokers 1; bad manners, the smokers 16 to the non-smokers 2, and failure in promotions, all the smokers failed while only 2 of the non-smokers failed. There seems to be little or no doubt but that the regular use of this weed is a definite impairment to educa tion not only in teen-agers but with adults as well. 22 Million The United Bible Societies of the World reported more than 22,000,000 copies of the Scripture were distributed throughout the world in 1951. It is the opinion of this group to continue the use of colporteurs but recommendation was made that greater use be made of local churches and congregations. Stress was also laid upon the place of the Bible in the home and women delegates sub mitted a report urging a world-wide campaign to bring the Bible into a more central place.
Not So Miraculous Recently there appeared a number of pictures in the public press purported to be evidences of one of the Roman Catholic “miracle's.” This picture showed the sun near the horizon after noon on October 13, 1917. Thousands of people had gathered that day on the spot where three Portuguese children claimed they had seen visions of the Virgin Mary and declared they had seen the noonday sun swirl and dip to her. Now comes the in formation that the pictures are fakes and were not taken in 1917 but in 1921 at sunset. Official refutation has come from Catholic sources but, of course, much of the damage has already been done. Due to repeated instances of this sort, one is led to wonder if the publi cation of a so-called miracle and its later repudiation is not the Catholic method of procedure. Certainly it is true that the Catholic populace has been fed repeatedly on so-called “miracles.” Singing Mission In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a singing mission is being planned, the first of such projects in the nation. The 3500- seat coliseum has been reserved every night for a week for singing by massed choirs from a number of counties. The thought behind the mission is that the Word of God can find its way into the hearts of people on the wings of song. It is the announced objective to have the hymns of the church sung and whistled on street cars, buses, hotels, theatres and everywhere that people congregate. Christ In Christmas «3* Already working on its announced theme of “Keeping Christ in Christmas,” a newly-formed committee in Wilming ton, Delaware, has outlined a three- point program for the coming holiday season. Their first object is to emphasize the spiritual values of Christmas at pub lic gatherings; secondly, to discourage the pre-holiday office parties; thirdly, to set up civic cribs depicting the Nativity scene as public reminders of the real meaning of Christmas. 60% In 24 Years & Church membership in the United States increased nearly 60% in the last 24 years and now includes some 57% of the nation’s population. In the same period the country’s total population rose only 28.6 %. It is calculated that there are some 45,000,000 Protestants, 22,000,000 Catholics and nearly 4,000,000 Jews over 13 years of age. While perhaps the greatest growth was noted by the smaller holiness sects of Protestants, the older and larger bodies continued to make impressive ad ditions to their official membership. The Southern Baptist denomination doubled their membership in the 24-year period, adding 3,500,000 members, or more than the total of all the smaller churches percentage gains. God And Americans Jt The American people are inveterate poll takers. In the list of questions
asked frequently in surveys the religious items loom large. There is little doubt but that the American people are con firmed theists although they do not practice church attendance and Chris tian service as much as they should. A recent poll had as its query whether or not churchgoers are better educated and more successful than the rest of the population. The concensus of the findings was that the highest percentage of church members was found among those who were best educated, and had the highest earning power. As the education and economic status of the population decreased, church membership also de creased. Persons without any church af filiation were found in increasing num bers as either income or education di minished. More Persecution Continued outbreaks of Roman Cath olic intolerance find their way into the news.. On March 20, a Presbyterian Church at Ibague, Colombia, was stoned by a crowd of children led by three Roman Catholic priests. This was pre ceded by a celebration marking the ar rival of a statue of the Virgin and the broadcasting of anti-Protestant propa ganda. The Evangelical Confederation of Co lombia has compiled a list of 23 acts of religious persecution which it said have taken place in the country during the last three months. Among the incidents cited were the fatal shooting and beat ing of a Seventh-Day Adventist, and the case of a mounted policeman who was said to have ridden into a Protestant church during services, threatened the worshipers and beaten the pastor with a whip. In our own land, the Times-Chronicle of Jenkintown, Pa., refused to print the advertising copy submitted by “Men of Faith,” the Men’s Bible Class of Faith Community Church. These advertise ments had been placed in answer to the Knights of Columbus ads also running in the same paper and bore such cap tions as “ Protestant Belief in the Vir gin” and “The Peter Whom the Protes tants Know and Honor.” The publisher denied any Roman Catholic pressure but refused to indicate the sources of ob jection. TV Fare •S* A group of San Francisco mothers
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