World News and Trends: Global distrust of political leaders
Citizens of the world fear for their safety and security, perhaps primarily because they don't put much confidence in their political leaders.
Citizens of the world fear for their safety and security, perhaps primarily because they don't put much confidence in their political leaders. The Gallup International polling organization carried out a survey of some 50,000 people in 60 countries last year. This poll revealed that most nations distrust their politicians in a major way.
Worldwide, a disturbing 63 percent believe their politicians are dishonest. Regionally, Latin America tops the poll with a whopping 87 percent holding that view, followed closely by West Asia and Africa with 84 percent and 82 percent respectively. Germany is not far behind with a surprising figure of 76 percent, considerably above the average statistic in Western Europe at 46 percent.
In the United States and Canada the figure is 50 percent. On the positive side, the mistrust figure is very low in the Netherlands at 12 percent, which means that well over 80 percent of the Dutch trust their politicians to be honest. An incredible 97 percent of Singapore's citizens believe in the honesty of their leaders.
Particularly in the West, there are reasons for the belief that politicians are not only dishonest, but behave unethically. The absence of authority and the erosion of privacy in our e-mail age are two specific reasons.
A Sunday Times writer stated: "We live in an age in which authority is absent . . . In America the decline of authority has been particularly swift. The erosion of privacy means that every public figure has soiled his laundry on the Internet—affidavits and all. Only recently [during the previous administration] the presidency was reduced to evidence about oral sex" (Dec. 5, 2004, emphasis added throughout feature).
One of the great lessons of the Bible is that although we need to deeply respect our leaders, we should not put our ultimate trust in them. The Scriptures teach us that we should trust God. (Sources: Reuters, The Sunday Times [London].)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: January - February 2005
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
