Like most boys born in the last few decades, my sons love Star Wars. Each new movie is greeted with enthusiasm, and Rogue One is no exception. As a fan of the movies myself, I usually look forward to sharing this cultural experience with them. Nevertheless, Rogue One gave me some pause as the reviews described it being a darker story and more focused on war than on the more traditional coming-of-age narrative that Star Wars usually focuses on. I decided first to go view the movie with my wife, in part to see if it would be appropriate for our children.

On September 21, 1897, the New York Sun published an editorial which began with: “Dear Editor—I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?” The letter was from a little girl named Virginia O’Hanlon. What was the response?

NBC News reports, “Researchers have found a rare and frightening superbug gene on a U.S. pig farm and say their discovery suggests raw meat could carry the dangerous germs into the human population” (December 6, 2016). According to the report, the gene imparts bacteria with resistance to carbapenems, a family of antibiotics used in “last resort” cases when nothing else will work.

Reports coming out of Syria describe the desperation of people trapped in the besieged city of Aleppo. One young man who posted videos of the death and destruction occurring in the city said in a clearly worried voice, “I can’t see what is happening in street, but I hear bombs approaching… There is no safe building left. Possible that we (will be) exposed to bombing any moment” (USA Today, December 13, 2016).

Church attendance in Western “Christian” nations has been falling steadily for decades. In America, less than 20 percent of the population now attends church each week (Statistics and Reasons for Church Decline, Richard Krejar) and in England, less than 2 percent of the population attends church each week (The Guardian, January12, 2016).