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1•
s,i~~
by
Stanley R. Rader
The
Basic Cause of Conflict
Kinptou,
Jamaica,
·Novemb«
20:
In
Seplember
1973,
Mr. Herbert Aimstrong
and
1
were plaliJling a visillo Beirut, Lebanon. We were very mucb aware oflhe
lensions in that city as a result of
~e
activilíes of the Palestinian Liberation
Organizalion (PLO) and other splinler groups. We had also just compleled a
seven-day visíl in Santiago, Chile, where the civil strife was evidenl and was
followed only three weeks later by the overthrow of lhe governmenl of Presiden!
·Allende.
In
fact, President Allende was killed in the very office where
Mr.
Armstrong and
I
had been received.
We were discussing our forthcoming visit to ·Beirut with a very knowledge–
able European leader and were somewhat surprised to be cautioned in such
strong terms that we should not make the visit at that time. Tension in the
Middle East, of course, was mounting as Israel continued
10
strike against the
PLO and its bases in the southem-most part ofLebanon.
Nothing occurred during our visil that proved lo be dangerous, although a
very few days after our departure a lerroris.l organization raided the local branch
of the Bank ofAmerica. Severa! people, including an American, were killed, and
within three weeks of our departure the "Holy Day War" between Israel and its
Arab neighbors broke out, although Lebanon itself.was not d,irectly involved.
Since
October
1973,
the PLO has removed its primary headquarters from
Beirut to Damascús, but Beirut
still
contínues lo harbor thousands of heavily
armed Palestinian commandos.
In
the same southem-mosl part of the country of
Lebanon· there
ha
ve been frequent border incidents between the Israelis and the
PLO terroJ'ÍSts,
i9clu~g
seyeral. inv.'1lving .the sense!ess slaugbter ofwomen and
• :.
~
.
gu,¡~iF:~tb.at·have
rO!J!lly
~- ~
.consáence of the
civilized
wodd.
For many months now tbe"very" danger thál
Mr.
Armstrong and 1 were
cautioned so urgently to avoid has appeared in the form of a bloody civil war
between the extreme right-wing Christian elements and"the leftist factions ofthe
Moslem community. Despite elforts by Presiden! Franjieh and various prime
ministers who have held office during the past months, the only results so far
have been
!"
series of short-lived cease-fires: No one knows how many people
bave actually been killed, but the fatalities run up inlo the thousands already and
they mount daily. As 1write today another cease-fire is being observed.
6
· Tbe battle between the Christian and the Moslem oornmunities is an
eco–
nomic or class war, although it is often erroneously classifted by some as a
religious conllict. Since achieving complete independence from France a.fter
World War
ll,
l.:ebanon
has
been controlled politically and economically by the
Christian elemenl Although the country is democratic with an official power–
sharing politicat structure (the Co¡;LStitution provides tbat the presiden! shall be a
Christian· and the prime minister a Moslem), the Christian element, in actuality,
controls both the Parliament and the bureaucracy and has powe.r far in excess of
that which is any longer acceptable to the Moslem community with
its
rising
expectations
and
demand for equality·.
The conllict that
has
exploded in Lebanon is tbe same kind of conllict that
has plagued Northem lreland . for a much longer period of time. Again, that
cooflict is described by-some as a "religious war" between Catholics and Protes–
tan
!S,
but it is essentialy a conllict between the underprivileged Catholic cornmu–
nity and the elitist and politically dominan! Protestan! cornmunity.
For more
tban
forty years Mr. Armstrong
has
dedicated
bis
!ife to promoting
better understanding between peoples everywhere.
In
so doing, he has stressed
that there is a basic cause for all human conllict - cooflict between people as
individuals, conllict between classes, and conllict between nations (which we call
war). He
has
based bis conclusions on years of observation and travel, as well as
upon study and research. He has managed to
firm
up the caiiSe of conllict in a
very simple but profound statement: Men and nations líave been living througb–
out recorded history according to tbe get principie rather than in accordance with
tbe give principie.
Today 1 am in Jamaica, and .in a few days
Mr.
Armstrong will be sp-eaking to
_tbousands in the National Arena, as he has
in
other places throughout the world.
Jamaica
is
a developing country, and. its leaders have been striving to eliminate
the inequality that has led to class division and strife and has prevenled the
development of the Jamaican pepple, both before and after Jamaica became
independent from Great Britain. Already we have met with the govemor general
and the minister ofeducation to discuss plans for a lasting and importan! project
to be carried on in cooperation between the Ministry of Educalion and the
Ambassador International Cultural Foundation - a project that we hope
will
play a substantial role in helping the people of Jamaica to achieve the transfor–
mation of its educational system that
is
so essential for Jainaica's development
into a modero society in
this
technological age. O
letters
O..e
Man's Smolr.e
Ron Beideck's ..O..e Man's Smoke ls
Another Man's P.oison" is one of the best
exposiíions against the use of the weed
1
have ever read!
lt
comes directly to the poin.t, succinctly,
poin.tedly, and often caustically, yet with
that sense of humor that most of us non–
smokers seem to relain
~ven
in the pres–
ence of
al!
the eftluvienl
Living as
l
do in
Ibis
tobacco-land atmo–
sphere in. North Carolina, it
is
ditlic:;~dt
to
make the points
1
usuaUy
tiy
to make
against tobacco - the facts, the statistic:s;
the statements of famous non-smokers
tbrough the centuries. But, my small per·
sonal crusade goes on daily.
1
think
it would be a marvelous thing
if
Plain Tnuh
could olfer reprints of Bei–
deck's piece for distribution in such places
as. Kiwanis
meeti.n~
City Council meet–
ings, any old "smoke-fi.lled" room.
E.W.,
Chape!
Hill,
NC
As a mcmber of SMEL · (Smoking
More/Eojoying
Less),
1 must say that the
article
One Man's Swwke .. .
{Vol XL, No.
18, 11/117:5) resembled something 1 mighl
fuld in. an ovcrpopulated caule pasture.
Many peoplc havc sulfercd and died from
cancer, emphysema, et ·aJ, becausc of thcir
use of tobaoeo; bowever, l have yet to hear
of a similar case due.to second-hand "side–
stream" smoke. Picase understand, l'm not·
advocati.ng cigarettes. Far from il
Someday, 1 will quit smoking. Maybe
when it obstructs and irritates my senses to
an undesirable degrec, maybe when I sud–
denly awake from sle,epin.g and
~ugh
my
guts up, maybe when my health is immedi·
ately threatencd, for sure when I die. (I
hope it doesn' t take
thatlong.)
When 1 do
quit, however, it will not be due to my
local GASP (Group Against Smokers' Poi·
lution) age¡¡t's liarassment, nor will it be
due to Mr. Beideclc's articles. Our Secre–
tary of State would be the Mt to infonn
you that harassment only breeds bostile
retaJ!ation aod is oot
an:
acceptable form of
diplomacy.
lf
Mr. Kissinger were to arrive
at a peace conference and use tactics of
sarcasm, fac:etiousness, insults, and mock–
ery toward the opposition. he could expect
immediate war, aod quite possibly a per–
sonal punch in the labonza!
Present-day smokers are far beyond out·
side stimuli. We will quit only wheo wc are
ready to quit, when and/or
if
evcr. 1 there·
fore recommend to
Mr.
Beideclc and to the
members of GASP that they devote their
time. and talents to discouraging future
smoking candidates, through education,
legislation to c:urb the future use, manufac–
turing and sellíng of tobacco products, and
otber subtle means.
Again, I rem.ind you that the Surgeoo
General waros that barassin.g cigarette
smokcrs may be detrimental to your
health. You may even receive a puncb in
the labonza!
Scott
Scbilling.
Kansas City, MO
PT in Public: Places
Could we have another subscription sent
to our sandwich place? lt
seems
our cus–
tomers enjoy a double feedíng. Ooe for
their tummy and ooe for their
spirit.
And I
don't want to say, ' 'No," wben they ask me
for a 'copy, but my c:oUection has now
many issues missing.
Mrs. Rene Stapfer,
Brea, CA
While sitting in a doctor's office waiting
for my brother, I became acquainted with
every form of sports literature printed in
the United States. I was
aJso
c:onfronted
with an . assortment of women's fashion
·magazines, cbild.ren's storyboolcs, and, of
course,
Reader's Digest.
.
Folded into quarters on the bottom of
the booki'&SC was a newspaper of sorne
sort; wby
1
piclced it up is beyond me. Tbe
crio.lded up newspaper was a copy of
f/ain
Truth
dated September
20, 1975. 1
read a
great dcal of that edition and
I
can hon–
estly say it was the ñrst time 1 have ever
read a publication.of assorted articles and
found
al!
of the articles were of in.terest to
me•
1 am not an extremely religious pers0n. l
·am a very youog
mAn
competing in· the
world of business. 1 have always bad an
enthusiastic interest in world alfairs and
business. My interest in religion h!'S been.
at the most,
minimaL
At the time l read the
edition of
Plain Truth,
my Christian inter–
est was probably at its higbest plateau. in
many years. 1attribute th.is fact to the event
that 1 bad just completed the boók,
Enthu–
siasm Makes the Diffe"nce
(N. V. Peale).
This fact made the time of the reading
most
proper~
1 enjoyed the ability of your
writers to combine the three most impor·
tant aspects of liVing: business, world af–
fairs and religion . .. not necessarily in that
order.
Relaxiug ••••
Tony
Carsoñ;
Bend, O~
Regarding
Rela.xing Your Way lo Bet/J!r
Health,
1 don't
thinlc
1 oould have read it
more enjoyably than the way you have put
il1 wish to congratulate you very sincerely,
and hope many more readers will beneñt
from the good sound advic:e therei.ñ. Life
c:ertainly would be better for
all -
just
thinlc
of aU the woeful faces t!lat would
disappear. Thanking you and loo!ting for–
ward to many more good articles of
Ibis
nature. Please
obli~e.
Ivy
Clark,
,
Leeds, ENGLAND
You rec:ently had an article in
Púzin
Truth
(Sept. 6th copy) called "Relaxíng
Your Way to Better Health" by Carole
Ritter. Next month I have been asked
to
give a speecb at a local high scbool on the
subject of body/mind and their rclation·
ship lo one another. 1
thinlc
it would be
most beneficia!
if
each student could re–
ceive a copy of
Ibis
article as weU. Of
course, 1 woullf need at least a bundred
copies. Is
Ibis
possible?
JwBak.er,
Linwood, NJ
•
Yes - this reque.st was taken care ofby
our Mail Processing Center.
JANUARY 1976