items of interest

with contributions from Gail Russell Chaddock, Randy Peyser, Mark Noll

Maybe light really was first

" 'God said, "Let there be light:" and there was light.'

"It is certainly a beautiful poetic statement. But does it contain any science?... [To] an astrophysicist, [it] made no sense to have light come first, and then to claim that the Sun, the moon and the stars ... were created only subsequently," says Bernard Haisch, the staff physicist at the Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Laboratory in California. Then he became involved in research on the zero-point field, which "is a background sea of light whose total energy is enormous."

Speaking of this research, he goes on, "If we are right [about the zero-point field], then 'Let there be light' is indeed a very profound statement, ... as one might expect of its purported author. The solid, stable world of matter appears to be sustained at every instant by an underlying sea of quantum light."

Reported in Science & Spirit
September/October 1999

Views of God

A wide-ranging international survey conducted last year revealed that 45% of those responding to the poll think of God as a person and 30% think of Deity as a force or spirit. Roughtly 14% have no specific image of God, and 8% do not believe God exists. (3% did not answer.) According to the study, people with less education tended to think of God as a person, while the more educated tended to think of God as a spiritual force. The London-based market research company Taylor Nelson Sofres and the Gallup International Association surveyed individuals in sixty countries for the study.

"The world is religious, but not in love with God"
Religion Today
December 15, 1999

OVERCOMING RAGE

"What we really need to do is improve the quality of parenting and appeal to the ethical spirit of our children." says Peter Breggin, director of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. "We do just the opposite when we drug [angry young people]. You can't drug the spiritual energy of the child and at the same time have a full appreciation of their moral power." Breggin is the author of Reclaiming Our Children: A Healing Plan for a Nation in Crisis (Perseus Books).

Gail Russell Chaddock
"Sharp differences in strategies for dealing with rage"
The Christian Science Monitor
December 21, 1999

Working for peace

"Although there is no way to scientifically measure the connection between millions of people engaged in prayers for world peace and the signing of peace treaties, there certainly appears to be a strong correlation.

" 'Many people believe that prayer is a passive thing,' [says James Twyman, known as the Peace Troubadour because of his concerts in war-torn areas]. 'These examples show that true prayer ... is probably the most powerful force in the whole universe. ... When we ask for something to happen ... the attention is on the fact that we don't have it now. But when we feel that it has already occurred, then we put out an energy that actually draws that reality to us. Gratitude is a key element.' "

Randy Peyser
"Pieces for Peace"
Solimar
Summer, 1999

When power is destructive

Throughout Western history, power has been a far more potent narcotic than the ... physical means that humans have used to get high. Power feeds on itself.... Power nurtures the idolatry of self.... It thrives in environments that stifle the fruit of the Spirit."

Mark Noll
"The gift of humility"
Christianity Today
December 6, 1999

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