What are Your Events of 2003?

The December issue of my denominational newspaper presents “2003 – The Year in Retrospect”, with photos relating to eleven significant events. They are:

1. President Bush puts Saddam Hussein on notice.

2. An unprecedented anti-war movement erupts on the eve of the attack on Iraq.

3. Steve Waugh announces his retirement as Australian cricket captain.

4. Michael Jackson arrested.

5. California wildfires.

6. Cyclone Zoe devastates the Solomon Islands.

7. England soccer player David Beckham receives an OBE from the Queen.

8. World AIDS Day.

9. SARS outbreak in China.

10. Afghan refugees.

11. Australia’s Uniting Church votes to accept gay priests.

I don’t know about you, but some of those events weren’t at all significant for me.

So, here’s my own brief list:

1. The liberation of Iraq, and the overthrow of the tyrant probably responsible for the deaths of more Muslims than any other person in the past 50 years.

2. The early flowering of democracy in the Arab world.

3. Continuing mass slaughter in the Congo, with particularly horrific attacks on women.

4. The North Korean gulag continues to imprison 200,000 of its citizens – including many Christians – in terrifying death camps.

5. Christian leaders express intense moral outrage over the liberation of Iraq, while largely remaining silent on the plight of those in the Congo and North Korea.

6. Christian leaders work themselves into a tizzy over gays in the church, while largely remaining silent on the plight of those in the Congo and North Korea.

I’ve just nervously added a comments facility to my site (it was a lot easier than I expected). Please feel free to make your own lists.

December 13^th, 2003