"Ark of Hope" comes to Rockford. (The Right Perspective).

When I received the September 23rd issue of THE NEW AMERICAN, I was immediately captivated by the headline for William F. Jasper's article on "The New World Religion." Being a student of the Bible and various faiths/religions, I was interested in the topic.

Mr. Jasper wrote about the United Nations' Earth-centered "religion," devoting major space to something called the "Ark of Hope." He described this ark as a blasphemous copy of the biblical Ark of the Covenant, in which Moses placed the Ten Commandments, Aaron's rod, and a sample of the manna that God sent from heaven. Instead of the Ten Commandments, the Ark of Hope contains a papyrus version of the Earth Charter and other writings, including those from children supposedly expressing their hopes and aspirations for the world.

My first impression was that THE NEW AMERICAN had perhaps exaggerated somewhat. I had never heard of an Ark of Hope, and I try to be well-read in such topics. I showed the article to my assistant, Mrs. Jacque Swanson, who, like me, is a born-again Christian. But after that I did not give the article much thought -- until Mrs. Swanson called my home a few weeks later on the evening of Friday, November 1st, to ask if I had read the local paper. I had not, so she read the article to me. We were both astounded to learn that the Ark of Hope would be in our community (Rockford, Illinois) for the weekend!

And so it was. Participants used the ark's twin, 96-inch "unicorn horns" to parade the wooden box around town; the mayor joined in the activities at city hall; and public schoolchildren were conscripted to write about the ark and what it means to our aspirations for "a just, sustainable and peaceful global society," as the Rockford Register Star put it.

The ark was even the center of attention in a religious "Ceremony of Hope," celebrated on the Lord's Day at Emmanuel Lutheran ...