Below are this week's Articles of Interest as compiled by Mr. Van Baker. This collection of articles is cultivated by Mr. Baker with the goal of highlighting some of the trends, upheavals, and things to watch for in our society. These articles are not necessarily the express views of the United Church of God, Mr. Baker, or me as the pastor, but they are informative of what is occurring in our nation and culture. In accordance with Christ's warning to correctly discern the times (Matthew 16:1-4), it is wise to be aware of what is going on around us.
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America's Waning Naval Dominance – Like the dominance of democracy or the absence of great-power war, freedom of navigation is one of those features of the modern world that we often take for granted because we forget how exceptional it really is. For most of history, the seas were neither safe nor free. Pirates and privateers seized ships and stifled commerce. Nations protected their own commerce and no one else’s. This really changed only with the ascendancy of the Anglo-American sea powers from the 18th century onward. In wartime, Britain’s Royal Navy conducted blockades that were the terror of its enemies and the neutrals that traded with them — including the United States. In peacetime, Britain’s interest in securing trade routes that connected a far-flung empire made the seas safer for others as well. And when Britannia’s rule faltered, amid the global wars of the 20th century, Washington stepped in.
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/the-us-waning-naval-dominance-and-chinas-surge-should-worry-you/

[Gallup] Church Attendance Has Declined in Most U.S. Religious Groups – As Americans observe Ramadan and prepare to celebrate Easter and Passover, the percentage of adults who report regularly attending religious services remains low. Three in 10 Americans say they attend religious services every week (21%) or almost every week (9%), while 11% report attending about once a month and 56% seldom (25%) or never (31%) attend. Among major U.S. religious groups, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also widely known as the Mormon Church, are the most observant, with two-thirds attending church weekly or nearly weekly. Protestants (including nondenominational Christians) rank second, with 44% attending services regularly, followed by Muslims (38%) and Catholics (33%).
https://www.realclearreligion.org/2024/03/26/church_attendance_has_declined_in_most_us_religious_groups_1020844.html

Americans Want a "Religious" President – Does religion factor into who people vote for president? A Pew Research Center survey released last week found that 94% of Americans say it is very important or somewhat important for a president to live a moral and ethical life.
https://www.realclearreligion.org/2024/03/25/americans_want_a_religious_president_1020450.html

People Soon Paying with Hand, Face And Eyes – A Taiwan-based company expects people to soon pay for goods and services through their “facial recognition, fingerprints, eye scans, and handprints.”
https://www.worthynews.com/94237-people-soon-paying-with-hand-face-and-eyes

Is the Church of England About to Say 'Sorry' for Christianity? Is the Church of England going to apologise for Christianity? A report by something called the Oversight Group has declared that the Church should say sorry publicly, not just for profiting from the evils of slavery (through investment in the South Sea Company) but for ‘seeking to destroy diverse African traditional religious belief systems’. And having apologised, it recommends the Church ‘reach beyond theological institutions’ and ‘enable all Africans to discover the varied belief systems and spiritual practices of their forbears and their efficacy’. If all beliefs and practices are as good and truthful as each other; if attempts to replace one set of religious ideas with another are wrong, then all Anglican missionary activity is wrong, and some of its bravest modern martyrs, the African Christians who suffered and died for their faith, were misguided. [rest of article behind a paywall]
https://www.realclearreligion.org/2024/03/21/is_the_c_of_e_about_to_say_sorry_for_christianity_1019860.html

Childhood's end – Phone-centered childhood is a disaster, writes Jonathan Haidt in The Atlantic. In the early 2010s, "adolescents in rich countries traded in their flip phones for smartphones and moved much more of their social lives online — particularly onto social-media platforms designed for virality and addiction," he writes. Then, younger children "began to get access to their parents’ smartphones and, later, got their own iPads, laptops, and even smartphones during elementary school." Depression, anxiety, self-harm rates rose sharply in the U.S. and other developed countries, while teens reported more loneliness and friendlessness. Academic achievement went down in the U.S. and globally beginning in the early 2010s.
https://www.joannejacobs.com/post/childhood-s-end

Ex-Catholics in Rome reconnect with roots, spirituality in paganism – As Romans search for alternatives to Catholicism, some have turned to Jupiter, Minerva and Juno.
https://religionnews.com/2024/02/21/ex-catholics-in-rome-reconnect-with-roots-spirituality-in-paganism/

'The Ark and the Darkness' Hits Top 3 at Box Office – A new film that points to scientific evidence validating the biblical account of Noah's Flood landed in the #3 slot at the box office when it was in theaters this week. The movie points to the veracity of the biblical account of the global catastrophe, highlighting the facts that prove Noah's Ark is not just a fun Bible story to share with kids.
https://www2.cbn.com/news/entertainment/scientific-evidence-noahs-flood-ark-and-darkness-hits-top-3-box-office

Dogs in the Bible – Everyone loves dogs— don’t they? Dogs— or 'celeb' in Hebrew — are humanity’s best friends. We welcome them into our homes, we walk them, feed them, clean up after them and excuse their bad behavior. But in ancient Israel, people had an entirely different view of dogs. There is evidence in the Bible that physical violence toward dogs was considered acceptable (1 Samuel 17:43; Proverbs 26:17). To compare a human to a dog or to call them a dog was to imply that they were of very low status (2 Kings 8:13; Exodus 22:31; Deuteronomy 23:18; 2 Samuel 3:8; Proverbs 26:11; Ecclesiastes 9:4; 2 Samuel 9:8; 1 Samuel 24:14). In the New Testament, calling a human "a dog" meant that the person was considered evil (Philemon 3:2; Revelation 22:15). Therefore it is surprising that Caleb, one of the great Hebrew spies [Numbers 13], means “dog” in Hebrew.
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/daily-life-and-practice/dogs-in-the-bible/