c. 2007 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) Once the Christmas frenzy ends we quietly collect the year’s memories, review what’s happened, and hope for what’s ahead.
Here’s my news round-up for 2007:
In Zarinkhel, Afghanistan, U.S. Army medics treated children’s infections, cuts and colds, and handed out gloves and winter jackets. Once the Americans left, the Taliban collected the clothing and made a bonfire.
In Para, Brazil, a 15-year-old girl arrested for petty larceny was jailed for nearly a month with 34 male inmates who repeatedly raped her. The judge who imprisoned her, Clarice Maria Andrade, reportedly ignored a police request to transfer the girl.
In Queensland, Australia, nine Aborigines who pled guilty to gang-raping a 10-year-old girl went free. Officials explained she had been gang-raped once before, when she was seven, by juveniles who also went free. Judge Sarah Bradley oversaw the proceedings.
Enough? These are not the headline stories of the year, just a sample from a single day _ December 12, 2007 _ in The New York Times. They may be enough, however, to dash your hopes for the coming year. The 2008 calendar is bright and clean, but the past is a great predictor of the present and beyond.
We tend to focus on the “big” news: elections, war, the economy. But small stories better describe our fractured world community. We stare in disbelief and ask: How can adults take warm clothing away from children? How can a female judge lock up a girl with 34 male felons? How can another female judge set nine child rapists free?
With news like this, we wonder about humanity. How can the powerful and educated act so coldly and so crassly?
The people are poor? Yes, they are. Zarinkhel, Para, and the Aborigine settlement of Aurukun, Australia, are among the poorest places on the planet. But money and technology don’t seem to make a difference. On Dec. 12, The New York Times also reported the following:
In Gurgaon, India, a well-to-do outsourcing capital, two boys took turns shooting a third in the chest and head at Euro International School. Fourteen-year-old Abhishek Tyagi died.
In Austin, Texas, two boys broke into a woman’s home and tried to rape her. They carried what police called a “rape kit” for their premeditated crime. One boy is 11 years old, the other is 14.
These areas are not impoverished. The boy-criminals are not uneducated or ill fed. It is not about money.
Yet, if money makes no difference, what does? It is facile to say religious belief would cure any of these newsmakers, young or old. Technology and political structures aren’t doing any better. I think these people have no hope.
While Pope Benedict XVI was writing his new encyclical on hope, similar stories ran in European papers. Benedict speaks to our common question: In what can we hope? Faith, he contends, grants hope that there is a reason for life, that there is a goal. Religion teaches the essential points: who a person is and what a person must do to be truly human.
Where shall we place our hope?
Do we place hope in political structures? Structures _ the military in Afghanistan, the judiciary in Brazil and Australia _ have failed in their own ways. Benedict says structures alone cannot guarantee moral well-being.
Do we place hope in human freedom to do good? The pledge of innocence is short-lived, at least in India and Texas. Benedict says freedom must be constantly converted to the good.
As the New Year beckons, we can consider what we hope for. If we believe there is a God, and a reason for the universe, no matter our religious understanding, there is hope. Faith, as Paul points out in his letter to the Hebrews, is the assurance of things hoped for. Have a good year.
(Phyllis Zagano is senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University and author of several books in Catholic Studies.)
A photo of Phyllis Zagano is available via https://religionnews.com
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