Participation in the Christian faith in the United States - trending downward

Pew Institute data 2015

The United States is often perceived to be the major bulwark against the trend of falling participation in the Christian religion in developed Western countries. Images of Southern Baptist choirs, evangelical preachers with syndicated programs and activist social justice ministers populate many contemporary film, television and online media mediums. But how accurate is this image with reality ? According to research from the Pew Institute, the truth is heading in the opposite direction.

The Christian faith in the United States is in decline and by a marked level.The percentage of adults (aged 18 or older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in only seven years from 78.4% in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. Commensurately, the number of Americans describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular" has increased from 16.1% to 22.8% over the same period. This drop, according to research by the Pew Institute, is mainly driven by declines amongst mainstream Protestants and Catholics.

For the organised mainstream Christian religion, the most concerning element is the decline in support in the Millenial generations and the ageing of the population for adults who are Christians. As a result of increasing non-affiliation with religion, the median age of mainstream Protestants is 52 years of age and the median age of Catholic adults is 49. This gentrification bodes badly for the future.

Fully 36% of young Millenials (those between the ages of 18 and 24) are religiously unaffiliated and 34% of older Millenials (aged 25-33) likewise. There is also time-trend data indicating that people in older generations are increasingly disavowing association with organised Christian religion.

Studies such as these from the Pew Institute are massive in size (sample sizes are over 35,000) and complexity including multi-ethnic and multi-faith research work. The factors for this decline will be multifaceted including changing lifestyles, values and demographics, weak institutional leadership, various moral/ethical scandals in major Churches over the past decade and societal fragmentation in the digital world to cite a few.  At a time of rising militancy in the Islamic faith, the correlating but unrelated decline in Christian support is not a positive development.

Red wine - indulgence or instrument of good health

Much conjecture and debate continues on the relative merits of red wine to health, in contrast to all other alcoholic beverages which are perceived to have negative properties. So what are the properties of red wine that provide these supposed advantages ?

Possibly a longer lifespan according to the Harvard Medical School. Resveratol, a compound found in the red grape skin stimulates a protein with anti-ageing properties. The same compound is conjectured to improve short-term memory through interaction with the hippocampus region of the brain. Resveratol is also theorised to reduce the risk of cancer by acting as a protein blocker for tumour cells.

Other properties of red wine include: procyanidins, found in red wine tannins which have a positive effect on cardiovascular health;  Tempranillo and Rioja which possibly lower cholestrol levels; polyphenols which slow bacterial growth in the mouth and thus slows tooth decay.

Other claims which are often made about the miraculous properties of red wine include improving eye health and even helping to stop the common cold. There is little factual evidence to support these assertions but when enjoying a glass its a reassuring thought that a good Pinot Noir or Merlot may be the magic bullet which beats the common cold.

Film Review - Leviathan

Russian film directors often have a style of film-making which captures both forbidding grandeur and small municipal detail simultaneously, effortlessly juxtaposing the two into an immediate relationship. Thus is the case with the Russian film, Leviathan directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and written by Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin.

The film's story is set in the coastal town of Teriberka is Russia's northern region near the port city of Murmansk. A simple handyman, Kolya is pitted against the corrupt town Mayor, Vadim, who has used town powers to appropriate Kolya's home for redevelopment as a resort. Kolya's life is already  in turmoil as his son, Roma has rejected his new step-mother, Lilia placing a strain on family relationships. An old army buddy, now a prominent Moscow lawyer, Dmitri arrives to support Kolya and face down the mayor and corrupt town officials however his efforts are compromised when he has an extramarital affair with Lilia.  This a film which explores the cracks in social contracts when fate, power and money intervene. Aleksei Serebryakov is well cast as the hot-headed Kolya with Roman Madyanov as his protagonist, Vadim the Mayor. Elena Lyadova as Lilia and Sergey Pokhodaev as Roma make up the rest of the family unit. This story has no happy ending and Kolya's fate seems inevitable in the context of this Russian reality.  

The film's desolate location shoots in the Kola peninsula (Kirovsk, Monchegorsk, Olenegorsk) and on the coast of the Barents Sea (Teriberka) provide an imagery which is both stark and yet majestic in its melancholy expanse. In this setting it's no wonder that the Russian locals turn to the vodka bottle to lubricate and lessen the burden of their existence.

The film has won a string of awards including Best Screenplay at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Best Foreign Language Film at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, Best Film at the London Film Festival and the 32nd Munich Film Festival, plus a Golden Peacock at the 45th International Film of India.

Half a minute past midnight - The threat of antibiotic-resistant superbug bacteria

The threat posed to public health by antibiotic resistant bacteria has been well known since the early 1990s however recent reports in the media of potential discoveries of new drugs has given hope that the threat is being mitigated, if not resolved. This is an unduly optimistic and premature belief.

The recent report on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) to the UK Prime Minister in December 2014 highlighted that antimicrobial resistant infections currently claim over 50,000 lives each year across Europe and the United States alone. In 15 European countries more than 10% of bloodstream Staphylococcus aureas infections are now caused by methicillin-resistant strains (or MRSA) with some countries now approaching 50%. Drug-resistant tuberculosis prevalence amounted to 480,000 new cases in 2013 worldwide and reported cases of drug resistant malaria have started increasing in South East Asia particularly in Myanmar and Thailand. The death toll from drug resistant malaria is only available as a vague estimate of between 10,000 and 200,000 people worldwide, mainly children. The tough gut-bacteria known as Enterobacteriaceae of which the best known is Escherichia coli (or E-coli) have also been found to have drug-resistant strains. In the United States, currently 4% of Enterobacteriaceae are drug resistant and in Greece it has reached 68% for the strain of Klebsiella.

Research from the United States has found that drug resistant bacteria from cattle has been able to become airborne and move distances for further contamination.

Without effective prophylactic antibiotics to reduce infections, many surgical procedures would become too risky to undertake. Four areas of high-volume medical intervention would particularly be affected: caesarean sections for births; joint replacements; cancer surgical treatment; and organ transplants. In effect modern medicine would be plunged backwards into the pre-antibiotic period.

In early 2015, the discovery of Teixobactin, a small molecule antibiotic was announced in the journal Nature. Teixobactin was found to effectively kill both Staphylococcus aureas and Mycobacterium tuberculosis without the bacteria developing resistance. However this drug has not yet undergone clinical trials involving humans and is at best 5 to 6 years away from this stage of testing. A newer class of drugs termed carbapenems have been in use but a significant number of these remain suspended from development due to economic and regulatory hurdles. Even so carabapenem-resistant bacteria are on the rise.

And what are the causes of this growing health crisis ? Drug development is less than half the problem with over-prescribing/misuse of antimicrobials, and counterfeit/sub-standard drugs being sold over the counter without a prescription being major culprits, particularly in developing countries such as parts of Africa, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Researchers have found drug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in street puddles in Delhi, India and in water samples taken in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Although infection control in hospitals can provide short term solutions, the fundamental need for new discoveries, faster pathways for antibiotics to be available and stricter management of drug access and use remains the pivotal changes needed.

The link to the research findings for Teixobactin is at the link below:

Nature: Teixobactin

The link to the UK report can be accessed at the link below:

Review Paper: Tackling acrisis for the health and wealth of nations

Australia's decline in renewable energy investment

The Clean Energy Council's diagram below shows the strength of the industry and its value to Australia in 2013 but with reports that investment in large scale renewable energy has declined by 88% to $240 milion by the end of 2014, what is the future ? Australia has fallen from 11th in the world ranking for renewable energy investment to 39th.

The Age of New Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism. The word often conjures the impression and images of fanaticism, extremism and a strict literal interpretation of doctrine. The term is usually associated with religious connotations and   unconditional adherence to a set of irreducible beliefs. It's  key characteristic of rejection of diversity of opinion or tolerance of any form of alternative intepretation poses a challenge to any society operating on a pluralist and diversity model. Fundamentalism is usually associated with conflict but this is not always exclusively the case. In the early 21st Century new fundamentalism has emerged based on old beliefs and paradigms but with new messaging methods.

Historically, Islam has experienced several periods of turmoil based on fundamentalism or in some cases forms of nationalism which have been linked to religious beliefs (however inappropriate this form of association may be). Since the 7th Century, there have been many Shia and Sunni internal religious conflicts and in later centuries, state-level expansionism by Islamic caliphates or States. This is by no means unusual as Christianity, Hinduism and Shintoism have also been linked to Nationalism or quasi nationalist causes at various times and engaged in various actions to expand their territorial influences.

Fundamentalist conflict and expansionism has often attracted followers from other parts of the world distant to the actual geographical location in which the conflict is taking place. Therefore it's not unusual that entities such as Daesh (or Islamic State [IS] as it tries to present itself ) might attract followers from other nations and societies. What has made Daesh effective in the promotion of its ideal has been the careful alignment of its message to similar conflict narratives and dramatic motifs conveyed in Western  media.

This theme has been explored by Jeff Lewis, Professor of Media and Cultural Politics at RMIT,  who has commented "..consider the ways in which our news is structured, and the political debates which are perennially laced by visions of social, economic and ecological collapse.....IS has mimicked the style and force of these heroic and erotic apocalyptic narratives. An examination of the IS images and narratives reveals the same masculinist potency as Hollywood thrillers.."

During the 1930s and until the commencement of World War II, Nazi Germany was supported by sympathetic fascist movements which existed in the United States, Great Britain, the Baltic States and across Europe. The dire nature of Hitler's movement did not dissuade support for his ideology, which in many respects also had elements of a death cult, as evidenced by the conduct of the regime during the war and at the end in 1945. During WWII, the police/security organisation of the Nazi State, known as the SS (which coincidentally had the death's head as their emblem) had over 350,000 troops drawn from over 25 countries serving in its military arm, the Waffen SS. The German Army, the Wehrmacht, had many more bringing the total number of foreigners under German command to around 1 million.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) between the Republican Government and the Nationalists under General Francisco Franco, in addition to the support for the two sides afforded by various Governments, over 45,000 volunteers from around the world supported the Republic of whom 32,000 were in combat roles in the International Brigades. A further 10,000 served in various capacities in medical, nursing and engineering. These volunteers were drawn from Europe, the United States and beyond. They were just a fervent in their belief for the cause as those who were born and lived in Spain.

Challenging and disproving the legitimacy of the public media narrative of Daesh in the Middle East remains as important a task as actual military action.

The Photograph and Australia - Exhibition Review - Art Gallery of NSW - 21 March to 8 June 2015

 

Migrants arriving in Australia - David Moore, 1966

The Photograph and Australia is the most substantial large-scale thematic photographic exhibition that has been held in Australia for the past 25 years. Covering the period from the 1840s to 2015 and drawn from 35 private and public collections from across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the exhibition investigates the role that photography has played in shaping Australians views of the world, themselves and each other. The exhibition explores four themes: settler and indigenous relations; exploration; portraiture; and transmission being spread over nine rooms in the main temporary exhibition space at the Art Gallery of NSW.  The images in the exhibition trace the evolution of the photographic medium and its many uses covering documentary, commemorative to speculative and conceptual while posing questions about how Australia has been represented and imagined through photography.

The nine rooms in the exhibition are separately titled with sub themes: Self and Image; Imaging Place; People and Place; Picturing the colony; Cities and Communities; Becoming Modern; Critique; Technology; and Time and Transmission.  The selection of works contains some of the earliest examples of photography from the mid to late 19th Century hence special dimmed lighting enables ease of viewing.

Artists represented include Morton Allport, Richard Daintree, Paul Foelsche, Samuel Sweet, JJ Dwyer, Charles Bayliss, Frank Hurley, Harold Cazneaux, Olive Cotton, Max Dupain, David Moore, Sue Ford, Carol Jerrems, Tracey Moffatt, Simryn Gill, Robyn Stacey, Ricky Maynard, Anne Ferran, David Stephenson and many others.

This is a must-see exhibition which has been in the planning for over four years and contains many unique and fragile works rarely seen in public. The exhibition runs until 8 June 2015.