Prayer for love and progress in China

BY ROSALIE E. DUNBAR, NEWS EDITOR

This launches the first of a new weekly feature designed to spotlight current news and offer spiritual insights to support readers' prayers for the world. Casting a prayer-based light on the world is one way "to include all mankind in one affection," wrote Sentinel founder Mary Baker Eddy (No and Yes, p. 39).

China has the largest economy in the world after the United States. It comprises about 6.5 percent of the world's total land area, and its population, which exceeds one billion, accounts for about 23 percent of the world's people. Forecasters predict a $320 billion trade surplus for China this year. Those numbers alone convey a feeling of massive power and influence.

Among the countries that are feeling this influence are several in Africa that were described in a recent series in The Christian Science Monitor. China's hunger for natural resources has led it to befriend developing countries, some of which are run by brutal dictatorships. Its willingness to overlook human rights abuses has led to criticism from some Western nations for its "hands-off" approach (see "How China's quiet support shields a regime called 'genocidal,' " June 26, 2007, p. 1.)

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Vegetarian? Vegan? A spiritual view...