The physicist, Fritj of Capra, a Noble Prize winner, wrote this about humanity’s tragedy:
“It is a multidimensional, complicated crisis that is affecting our life, health, means of livelihood, quality of environment, social relationships, economy, technology and politics…For the first time, we find ourselves on the brink of the total extinction of man and every form of life on this planet. Five hundred million people suffer from malnutrition. About 40% of the world’s population are deprived of health services. Thirty percent of them have no drinkable water. Paradoxically, half of our scientists and engineers dedicate their research efforts to arms production technology.” (Al-Badil magazine, No. 23.)
Newsweek, the American magazine, depicts a grim picture of the social and economic life in Britain:
“In Britain there are 3.5 million unemployed persons and more than 6 million living on the governmental dole, which can in no way secure a small portion of their daily needs. Britain has two faces: The backward and poverty stricken north, and the industrial and extremely wealthy south. The most that the government can offer is some U.S. $42 per week, housing and health expenses not included. About 50% of the whole population control 93% of the country’s resources. The remaining 7% is in the hands of half of the population, the majority of whom live under conditions which are peculiar to Third World countries.”
The magazine noted that “Britain is moving toward division into two separate and dissimilar sectors…The unjust distribution of wealth has caused social class variation. The community is under the curse of addiction, violence, loosely integrated families, homeless children of whom upwards of 1,500 die per annum because of malnutrition.”
Another report reflects the antagonistic spirit which toys with humanity’s resources and transforms the joys of life and man’s happiness into hunger and destruction. This report states that “More than U.S. $600 billion a year, which equals the total foreign debt of the developing countries, is spent on military budgets.” (Al-Safir newspaper, June 9, 1983.)
Other reports draw a picture of death and terrible starvation in a world saddled with materialistic systems and regulations and the avaricious spirit induced by the philosophy of materialistic civilization. One report tells us that 40,000 children die every day; 100 million people go to bed hungry; 10 million children are reduced to physical and mental handicaps, (Syrian newspaper, Tishrin, February 10, 1982) and 97 out of 1,000 children die in the developing world as a result of starvation. (The Washington Post and Al-Watan, January 1, 1982.) In 1981 5 million children below the ages of five died from starvation. (Syrian newspaper, Al-Ba'th, September 17, 1981.)
The report goes on to say that of the 170,000 victims of starvation who die every day, 40,000 of them are children and about 800 million people are on the brink of death because of malnutrition and abject poverty. (Tishrin, January 28, 1984.) On the other hand, “$1 million is spent every minute on destructive weapons while 525 million people suffer from malnutrition and a lack of basic hygiene facilities.” (Al-Watan newspaper, June 9, 1980.)
The misuse of wealth and abuse and degradation of man’s life at the hands of materialistic civilization is demonstrated by a statement by Robert Latti: “For the production of dog food, the amount of one American canine’s share of food in 1967 is almost equal to the average Indian citizen’s income.”
Gerard Chalicon wrote: “…every French family out of three has a dog and every one out of four has a cat. Consumption of this specially prepared food for these domestic animals increased from 14 million cans in 1961, to 280 million cans in 1970. These animals consume 2 million tons of food. This quantity can satisfy at least 12 million Asian children, for it contains, particularly in cats’ food, much protein. “I fully understand the pleasure which the domestic animal can provide, but how could these animals be given priority over children? …my sorrow would be less than when I see these animals better cared for than Vietnamese children." (Le Monde, August 22, 1972.)
“The money invested in the pet food industry increased by 20% per annum. Recently, it has equaled the total volume of children’s feeding. It soon would exceed this. (Only 1 out of 10 pets and one dog out of seven feed on synthetically prepared food.) The meat of whales, which are at the point of extinction, is partially used in producing dog and cat food. This industry seemingly makes enough profits for its owners. In our advertisements from now on, we can print pictures of contented and satisfied animals next to pictures of hungry children as a symbol of our civilization.” (Rene Dimond, Socialism or Barbarism, Hasan Qaysi (trans.).)
FAMILY DISINTEGRATION
Figures also speak of the tragedy of the family under materialistic civilization and man’s loss of matrimonial harmony and psychological stability which is never attained except in close-knit families.
Woman’s Own (October 1985) draws a horrible picture of the communities that turn their backs on religion and marital values. That magazine notes: “In the U.K., one child out of every six born in 1984 was illegitimate. According to statistics concerning married women, two out of every five (those who continued their marriage between 5-15 years) admitted to having had extramarital relationships. The number of rape cases increased by 27% during the first six months of the current year compare to the same period last year. The Home Office disclosed that some 780 rape cases were reported in England and Wales alone, compared to the official figure (613) during the first half of 1984.”
SPREAD OF CRIME
Reuter News Agency (December 2, 1985.) said in a wire service report that an average of four children are killed every week in Britain by their parents according to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The spokesman for the society said: “The problem is far more dangerous than anyone can imagine.” He disclosed that the most fearful figure is that nearly 200 children die every year as a result of their parents’ crimes. In addition to that, every fortnight, one British child is slaughtered by his other relatives.
A Sinhalese newspaper disclosed that 1,000 Sri Lankan children die daily in Colombo alone. A report published in The Sun spoke of great numbers of women going to Colombo to get rid of their illegitimately conceived fetuses through abortion.
SEX AND DISEASES
Moving away from the natural man-woman relationship, and the proliferation of adultery, debauchery, immorality and homosexuality and other perversities, have brought on venereal disease epidemics such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and AIDS. These diseases have become rife and represent truly terrible threats to man.
The Sunday Times warned in a report that the British may face the possibility of the death of 10,000 people before the end of the current decade as a result of AIDS. The report further added that the figures concerning AIDS nearly doubled every 9 months and that Britain, which had 512cases of AIDS, was on the same level as the U.S. four years earlier. The report lashed out at the lax attitude of the British to the potential threat of AIDS, noting that the health authorities were late in realizing the alarmingly appalling dangers created by this virus.
Another report stated: “The most appalling of the venereal diseases which threaten the entire western population is the newly discovered disease known as AIDS. It compelled people to review the entirety of sexual relations between men and women. This disease spreads like fire in the straw, particularly in the U.S., where millions of people suffer from it. So far, no cure has been discovered to check it. It is a result of illicit sexual relations and sexual perversity. Slowly and dreadfully, the victim of this disease dies after the collapse of his immune system.”
The World Health Organization reports that between five and 10 million people are carriers of AIDS. “This figure is likely to go up rapidly to somewhere between 100 and 200 million before the end of this century if no effective measures are taken to stem the tide of AIDS.” (Al-Tadhamon magazine, London, No. 204, March 7, 1987.)
“In the U.S., the known cases of AIDS jumped from 181,000 in 1981 to 350,000 in 1987. Public health services estimate fatalities at about 20,000, which might increase to 50,000 in 1991.” (United Press International, May 5, 1987.)
More recent figures are even more alarming. The Research Almanac in 1996 states: "Over one million people in the U.S. are HIV positive but only 1/2 know that they are infected. The number of teens getting AIDS is doubling every 14 months. AIDS is the #6 killer of 13-24 year olds. 1 out of 500 college students test positive for HIV."
PSYCHOLOGICAL COLLAPSE AND DRUG ABUSE
Because of loss, suffering, homelessness, nervous and psychological diseases, helpless man has taken refuge in alcohol and drugs in a bid to escape his painful existence. This has led to suicide, murder, and the total degradation of the human spirit.
The U.S. Department of Health disclosed that 5.8 million people were addicted to cocaine in 1985. Approximately 19% of the American population had taken marijuana, cocaine or other drugs at least once in 1985. (Kuwaiti magazine, Al-Mujtama, No. 806, p. 27.)
The former Soviet Union estimates 40 million Russians are addicted to alcohol.
Jeune Afrique, the Paris-based magazine, wrote that 60% of traffic accidents and 40% of divorces are attributable to alcohol. (Al-Mujtama, p. 28.)
CONCLUSION
These statistics clearly show us that the tragic consequences of materialistic life which has discarded belief in God, morals, and spiritual values. We can see by these statistics the degree of man's suffering, the deep bitterness of his life and the worry, hunger, pain, loss and terror that has diminished his happiness and stability.
These 'signs' call on every sane person to contemplate these facts and shoulder his human responsibility to rescue himself and his fellow man from the catastrophe looming over the world.
Let's review our way of thinking, the system of our society, the formation of our mind, our ideology, the quality of our civilization and our knowledge so we can escape the fire that has laid waste our serenity and scientific and social achievements.
Civilization that does not believe in true faith, moral and religious values, has made man feel bored and lost. It has deepened his convictions of the meaninglessness of life. The philosophical base on which contemporary materialistic civilization is built is rooted in denying the existence of God, refusing moral and religious values, believing in the materialistic world alone and seeking sensuous and physical pleasures.
Humanity chose this path only to incur unspeakable woes on itself.
If man wants salvation he should search for the real goal of his life and the world around him. How did it begin? What is his responsibility? What system of life should he adopt to be in harmony with the world around him?
Let's look for an answer to the origin of existence.
