Magyar Egyház, 1971 (50. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1971-01-01 / 1. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 13 Robert Morris: Around The World “The world is again reminded that millions of human beings are in chains — denied virtually all their civil liberties. The world is again reminded how insecure is the control by Moscow over the people whom it captivates. This is true not only for the satellites but for the USSR as well. The world is again reminded that the captive peoples still represent, for the free world, a potential force for swaying the seeming collision course that the Russian leaders are steering as they push for world conquest. The people of the Captive Nations are valuable allies. We have to sustain their aspirations for liberty. There are thousands of occurrences every year that give us an opportunity to keep this hope alive — not cruelly but realistically. The recent events of Poland remind us again how often we have let these people down, first in 1944 and then over and over again in the recent span of contemporary history.” —Twin Circle Church Still Alive In Eastern Europe VIENNA (AP) — The Christian church is still alive in Eastern Europe though there is no evidence Communist regimes have abandoned their efforts to have atheism replace it. Religion appears to be holding its own in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania. It is worse off in Bulgaria and in bad shape in Albania, Communist China’s only European ally. The situation refers to Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox churches, and in some degree to the Moslem belief. Students of East European affairs say the Communist regimes apparently have decided to tolerate religion among middle-aged and elderly peoples. In Czechoslovakia, Catholic and Protestant churches are tolerated as places of worship but prohibited from active proselyting and political activities. in Romania churches are frequented by young and old. Young men wishing to become priests may find less red tape than in other Communist-ruled countries. Even during the era of the late strong man Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, there was less pronounced anti-church policy than in other East block countries. In Bulgaria, the Soviet Union’s most loyal follower in the East bloc, religion seems very restricted despite government claims to the contrary. The official news agency says every citizen can profess the religion he likes, but emphasizes efforts to “free believers from religious deception.” TROUBLE IN THE SOVIET UNION “The evidence of ferment in the Soviet Union,” declares Frank J. Shakespeare, Jr., director of the U. S. Information Agency, “is becoming particularly interesting and potentially significant.” Among other things he cited the growth of an underground press, the circulation of unpublished manuscripts and writings, particularly among the intellectuals; official denunciation of the award of the Nobel prize for literature to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who criticizes aspects of the Soviet system and two of whose three major works are unpublished in Russia; The expulsion of three American correspondents this year, public letters of criticism from intellectuals, trial and exile or imprisonment of dissidents, defection of two ballet dancers from a traveling Soviet troupe in Greece, and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich’s defense of Solzhenitsyn. “Too many things from diverse sources,” declared Shakespeare, “indicate that there is more bubbling in the Soviet Union than before.” The communist party was rocked further when two young workers at a Kiev scientific research center — both Communists, and therefore, supposedly good atheists, Vanya Markin and his bride Lena, chose to be married in the beautiful old Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev. “Vanya and Lena,” says Harry Trimborn in the Los Angeles Times, “represent a new element in the Soviet view of troublesome youth. For they are part of a growing number of young people attracted to the church, its rites, history, and physical beauty.” ADULT EDUCATION Five men appointed in 1968 are serving on the LeDain Commission of Inquiry in Canada to look into all aspects of the non-medical use of drugs. Interim reports of the commission’s findings leave no doubt that illicit drug use, particularly among young people, is growing rapidly in Canada. Most significant, however, is the finding based on studies of more than 30,000 pre-high and high school, students pointing up that the heavier the parental use of drugs the more likely a child will be a user of psychoactive and illicit drugs. One study showed that 33 per cent of marijuana users have mothers who use barbiturates, and about 20 per cent have mothers who use stimulants, and 36 per cent have mothers who use tranquilizers. “Speed” shows an even more dramatic relationship between parental and child drug use—46 per cent of the mothers of speed users take tranquilizers, 32 per cent use stimulants, and 43 per cent use barbiturates. “Such findings carry very direct implications for parents and for education,” comments H. David Archibald, director of the Addiction Research Foundation in Toronto. “They certainly suggest that educational methods will have to involve parents to a much greater degree than has been done so far.” The basic principle of “like parents, like children” is being recognized more and more in relation to the drug problem. Dr. John Ramsey, psychiatrist in San Antonio, Texas, an area where some 50 per cent of high school students have tried dope and 10 per cent are steady users, says that in addition to drug education for youngsters, adult education programs would be “most, most helpful.” Another psychologist in the same area emphasizes that “parents need to realize they are responsible for the way their children turn out.” A five-month survey of drug use in Port Washington, Long Island, found that parents’ habits were a major factor in student drug use. Survey questions included queries about parental drinking habits, smoking, and the use of such drugs as sleeping pills. “Parents’ habits which showed the greatest effect were drinking habits,” the study summarized, “specifically how many drinks the parents have when they drink and how often they get drunk.” Students who had seen their mothers drink at some time or another had a much greater tendency to use drugs than did those whose mothers were nonusers of alcohol. It seems axiomatic that children learn from their parents, but this relationship is too often forgotten by parents themselves when they search for reasons why their children become involved in the drug scene. Often one of the reasons—perhaps the major one—lies at their own doorstep. For this reason it is becoming all the more important that drug education be directed as much to adults as to the youth—or even more. —Listen Magazine
