Scholastic Update articles from December 1996

Scholastic Update archives from December 1996

The many faces of Islam: radical Islamic movements are fueling a debate over the true meaning of Islamic law.(Cover Story)
December 6, 1996... Residents of Kabul, Afghanistan, awoke on the night of September 26, 1996, to the sounds of anguished cries. They left their homes by the thousands and gathered at the gates of the presidential palace. There, they watched members of the...

Russia: born again: after 75 years of religious repression, Russians are finding religion and flocking back to church.(Cover Story)
December 6, 1996... Not far from the Kremlin, in the center of the Russian capital of Moscow, a colossal structure has risen from the ruins of Communism. The newly rebuilt Cathedral of Christ the Savior, with its soaring towers, stands as a gleaming symbol of...

The power of the pope: Pope John Paul II may be the most influential and well-known religious leader in the world.(Cover Story)
December 6, 1996... Nearly every Sunday morning, a crowd of some 60,000 people stands for hours in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. They are waiting for a glimpse of the most influential religious leader in the world: Pope John Paul II, the spiritual leader of...

How the world worships: for billions of people, the world's great religions offer hope, spiritual guidance, and meaning to life.(Cover Story)
December 6, 1996... Religion isn't easy to define. For most people, religion is an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and practices. Some religions worship one God, some revere a number of gods, and others are more concerned with a philosophy of life than a...

The great potato chip debate: a new chip adds fat to the fire in the debate over over federal regulations.(fat-free potato chips made with olestra)(includes related information on the federal bureaucracy)
December 6, 1996... Finally, you can have your potato chips and eat them too. Lay's Max potato chips, now being test-marketed in three American cities, have no fat, half the calories, and all the taste of the real thing. But the bags carry a warning. The...

Hope for peace in troubled Timor: a Nobel Peace Prize draws attention to a remote island's struggle for independence.
December 6, 1996... Seven months ago, and half a world away from the United States, a soldier shot and killed an unarmed 16-year-old high school student named Felipe Gusmao. The boy was suspected of favoring independence for his tiny Asian Pacific island home,...

Guts and glory.(soldiers describe World War I)
December 6, 1996... August 1914. The nations of Europe were facing off in what would be the bloodiest war up to that time. In Paris, a young American named Bert Hall met a friend to discuss joining the French Army. "We weren't fooled into believing that the World...