Eye on Faith

Monday, February 6, 2017

Coca-Cola: A mixed 'blessing'

(Public Domain)

A few well-placed commercials regarding the blessings of diversity can’t offset the many well-known hazards of drinking Coca-Cola.

Ever since John Stith-Pemberton (“in attempts to cure his morphine addiction”) concocted Coke, questions have been raised regarding its alleged health merits. Although one of Coke’s earliest ads called the drink “Refreshing, Exhilarating, Invigorating,” criticism of its ingredients soon mounted.

“One of the first noted criticisms of Coca-Cola was that it produced serious mental and motor deficits.” That was back in the early 1900s. Studies have been detailing valid concerns ever since.

In 2015, the Harvard School of Public Health declared that “people who drink 1-2 cans of sugary beverages daily are 26% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.” In 2017, Tamil Nadu decided to no longer sell Coca-Cola products because the company “exploits the [Indian] state’s water bodies while farmers [are] facing severe drought.” In 2007, PETA “criticized the company” for cutting into faces “of chimpanzees to study the animals’ nerve impulses used in the perception of sweet taste.”

These are just a few of the voluminous claims against Coca-Cola. Nevertheless, the company continues to flourish across the globe. International holdings, rather than love of multilingual humanity, could be what’s really sweetening those “Sugar Bowl” ads.

Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Coca-Cola

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Super Bowl: Gluttons for punishment

Commercial Chicken House (USDA photo)

If all the football-fetish food that Americans traditionally consume were placed in one big Super Bowl, it could look something like this: 104.9 million pounds of avocados, $1.2 billion worth of beer, cider and malt beverages, $227 million worth of potato chips, 11 million slices of Domino’s pizza and 1.33 billion chicken wings. That’s not counting the veggies, dips, popcorn, sandwiches, wine, whisky, tequila, vodka, gin, rum and other such fare.

Belching viewers, however, need not worry. Digestive disturbances pale in comparison to the lifelong injuries sustained by actual players.

Resources

http://abcnews.go.com/US/staggering-amounts-food-eaten-super-bowl-sunday/story?id=45217629

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Presbyterian 'zebras' earning their stripes

Standing Guard (Photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim)

Jim Rigby is the “longtime minister” of Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. He recently posed these questions: Do we stand up for human rights now? Or do we act like zebras on the Serengeti, hoping that the lion eats us last?

Many within this congregation that sits about “three hours from the Mexican border” have risen from their pews. They have literally opened doors to a mother and son “fleeing civil strife in Guatemala.” These undocumented immigrants have been living “in the Sunday school teacher’s office” since last spring.

Anticipating a possible Trump “wave of raids and deportations,” Rigby has joined forces with other activists in “sanctuary cities.” Travis County’s new sheriff, Democrat Sally Hernandez, promises “not to detain people based solely on their immigration status.” This has not gone over well with Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who has countered with deep cuts in state funding to the Austin area.

Austin activists are thus far standing firm. They uphold the vital contributions that immigrants have made to local “agriculture, construction and biotech,” while decrying deportations “that have ripped local families apart.”

Resources

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/we-cannot-afford-to-make-our-community-less-safe-by-driving-people-into-the-shadows/2017/02/02/f14ed2d6-e5ac-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html?utm_term=.d4f746d462cf