Biblical Archaeology

In less than three months, two remarkable archaeological finds have come to light. On October 21, 2002, the Biblical Archaeology Review announced the discovery of the burial box or ossuary of Jesus' brother, James. If fully authenticated, the ossuary ranks as the most sensational New Testament artifact found in modern times. Then, on January 13, 2003, Israel's daily Ha'aretz reported a tablet inscription from 2,800 years ago that provides evidence for the Jerusalem Temple near the time of its construction.

The tablet may be Israel's most significant find ever. It is a tablet of dark sandstone, the size of a legal pad, inscribed with ten lines in ancient Phoenician script. It tells about Temple repair plans under Judah's King Jehoash (or Joash), echoing the biblical accounts in II Kings 12:5-17 and II Chronicles
24:4-14. Many scholars believe Solomon completed building the Temple in 959 BC, and a tablet from Jehoash's era would have come a mere century and a half later. Electron microscope testing of the surface and carbon dating confirm authenticity and the dating back to Jehoash's time, according to specialists at the Geological Survey of Israel.

Of the two artifacts, the Temple tablet has the more dramatic implications. Most biblical scholars believe in the existence of Jesus and James, but radical "minimalists" raise doubts about the Jerusalem Temple and the existence of King Solomon, who built it. It could also affect the unending religious tensions in the Holy Land that center on the area Muslims call the Haram Sharif, known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount. Even though never mentioned in the Koran, it has recently been designated as "Islam's third-holiest site," and Muslim leaders often deny that the Temple ever stood there. The new find
could not only undergird the historicity of the Temple, but also give additional credence to the authenticity of the Bible.

Birthrates

The Washington Times reports:

» In developing countries around the world, total fertility is down from six babies per woman in 1960 to 2.9 today.

» American population growth shows no signs of slowing. The resident population of the United States is now nearly 289 million, up from 281 million in April 2000. That implies a growth rate of close to 1% per year, higher than China's (0.7%) and a little below Iran's (1.2%).

» Black, Asian, and American Indian women are having babies at about the replacement rate (2.1 per woman), with non-Hispanic white women a little under it (1.87 in 2001). Hispanics, however, reached a fertility level of 3.16 children per woman in 2001 and now have a higher birthrate than Mexican women. With the Hispanic population growing, the U.S. crossed the replacement-level fertility rate in 2000 for the first time since 1971.

» From 2000 to 2001, the number of white and black babies fell, while the number of Hispanic babies rose 4%. Hispanics bore 21% of all newborns, up from 14% in 1989.

» Projections show that by the year 2100 non-Hispanic whites will make up 40% of the U.S. population (compared with 69% today), blacks and Asians will comprise 12% each, and Hispanics will constitute 33% of the population.

Media Influence

Research conducted at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, suggests the behavior of children as young as one year old can be influenced and even manipulated by what they see on television programs and advertisements. "Children as young as 12 months are making decisions based on the emotional reactions of adults around them," said Dr. Donna Mumme, a Tufts psychologist, who led the research. "It turns out that they can also use emotional information they pick up from television. This means adults might want to think twice before they . . . let an infant see tele-vision programs meant for an older person. What is remarkable is that one-year-olds paid attention to televised stimuli and used information presented on television to guide their subsequent interactions."

American Education

High school seniors are studying less but getting better grades than their predecessors, according to a nationwide study by UCLA. The cause: Grade inflation has been increasing due to pressure on teachers from students and parents to help them become more competitive for college. Thirty-three percent of students said they spent six or more hours per week studying or doing homework—the lowest percentage since the survey question was first asked in 1987—46% of whom managed to graduate with an A-average in 2001. Only 17% earned A's in 1968, while 44% did in 2000.