OBAMA-IMMIGRATION-CHRISTMAS
Obama links Christmas story to immigration
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Barack Obama is comparing illegal immigrants to Mary and Joseph on the first Christmas.
The Bible says the couple actually obeyed a Roman decree by traveling to Joseph’s ancestral town for a census.
But at an immigration forum in Nashville, Obama noted that Mary and Joseph were “strangers” in Bethlehem when she was about to give birth to Jesus, and there was “no room at the inn.”
The president said, “If we’re serious about the Christmas season, now is a good time to reflect on those who are strangers.”
Obama defended bypassing Congress to grant deportation relief and work permits to millions of illegal immigrants. His action would affect those who have been here more than five years and have children.
Republicans want to use their authority over federal spending to force Obama to roll back his decision.
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250-a-05-(President Barack Obama, addressing immigration forum)-“thinking about immigration”-President Barack Obama says the Bible’s Christmas story involves Mary and Joseph who were strangers in Bethlehem. ((cut used in wrap)) (9 Dec 2014)
< 251-a-09-(President Barack Obama, addressing immigration forum)-“who are strangers”-President Barack Obama says when Mary was about to give birth to Jesus, she and Joseph were strangers in Bethlehem who could find no room at the inn. ((cut used in wrap)) (9 Dec 2014) < 249-w-33-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor, with President Barack Obama)–President Barack Obama is comparing illegal immigrants to Mary and Joseph on the first Christmas. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (9 Dec 2014) < IMMIGRATION LEFT OUT Immigrants in limbo over Obama immigrant rules DENVER (AP) — The Obama administration is trying to deport some of the immigrants it says should be allowed to stay in the country. President Obama last month proposed deportation relief for immigrants with U.S. citizenship children and no criminal record. Arturo Hernandez fits that description, but he is taking refuge in a Denver church to avoid federal agents who are trying to deport him. Hernandez’s problem is his deportation case predates the president’s order. On Tuesday. Hernandez’s family and religious leaders flew to Washington to join with representatives of other immigrants seeking sanctuary in churches to urge the federal government to back off its deportation efforts. Hernandez has a 9-year-old daughter who is a U.S. citizen because she was born in Colorado. His wife and 15-year-old daughter qualify for deportation relief. NYC SYNAGOGUE ATTACK Lawyer: Man who stabbed student was bi-polar NEW YORK (AP) — Police say an emotionally disturbed man stabbed an Israeli student in the head at an international Jewish organization in Brooklyn early Tuesday, then was shot and killed by a police officer after lunging at him with a knife. Calvin Peters, who was 49, can be seen on amateur video waving a knife in the Chabad-Lubavitch (hah-BAHD’ loo-BAH’-vihch) headquarters at about 1:40 a.m. after police say he attacked Levi Rosenblat, who was studying inside. Officials said Rosenblat was expected to survive. Peters had a documented history of mental illness and had been arrested 19 times since 1982, most recently in 2006 for drugs, police said. He had also been to the Chabad-Lubavitch before, which is open to the public at all hours. Sound: 190-a-16-(Jeffrey St. Clair, family attorney, in statement)-“them to grieve”-Family attorney Jeffrey St. Clair says the attacker’s family is shocked at the incident. ((note cut length)) (9 Dec 2014) < 189-c-17-(Warren Levinson, AP correspondent)-“coming in 2006”-AP correspondent Warren Levinson reports New York police don’t consider this a terrorist attack. (9 Dec 2014) < 188-v-32-(Warren Levinson, AP correspondent)–New York police killed a man early today at a Brooklyn synagogue after he stabbed a student there. AP correspondent Warren Levinson reports. (9 Dec 2014) < ISRAEL-AMERICAN ARRESTED Israel indicts American over plot to bomb Muslims JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli officials say an American Christian who passed himself off as an ex-U.S. Navy SEAL faces charges of trying to blow up Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem. Israeli police and the Justice Ministry identified the man as 30-year-old Adam Everett Livix. The Justice Ministry said Livix underwent a psychiatric evaluation Tuesday after his indictment Monday on charges of illegal weapon possession and overstaying his visa by more than a year. His indictment comes at a time of rising tensions in Jerusalem, mostly over a disputed holy site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and Jews as the Temple Mount. It is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism. This isn’t the first time there have been allegations of a foreigner threatening a holy site in Jerusalem. In 1969, an Australian Christian started a fire at the complex’s Al-Aqsa Mosque in hopes that it would hasten the second coming of Jesus Christ. The man, Denis Michael Rohan, was subsequently committed to a mental institution. POLICE PROTESTS-CHURCHES Churches to hold services focused on black men WASHINGTON (AP) — Many African-American churches are holding special services on the theme “black lives matter” this Sunday, asking congregants to wear black and pray for the black men in their community. The Washington Post says the denominations involved are the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and Church of God in Christ. The services come on the heels of two different grand jury decisions declining to prosecute white police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men. On Nov. 24, a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury declined to indict an officer in the killing of Michael Brown. On Dec. 3, a New York City grand jury declined to prosecute an officer captured on video applying a fatal chokehold on Eric Garner. Both decisions have set off demonstrations nationwide. NOAH’S ARK PARK Billboard campaign promotes Noah’s Ark attraction PETERSBURG, Ky. (AP) — The Christian ministry building a massive wooden ark in northern Kentucky has launched a billboard campaign promoting the project. Answers in Genesis says in a release that the campaign is a response to opponents of the project, including “anti-Christian activists.” Construction crews have been moving earth and pouring concrete at the Grant County site to make way for a 500-foot-long ship modeled after the biblical story of Noah. The first billboard is up in Lexington, and others are planned in Frankfort and Louisville. Answers in Genesis, which also built the popular and controversial Creation Museum, says the campaign will include a digital board at Times Square in New York. The project was announced in 2010, but slow fundraising stalled the plans until a groundbreaking was held earlier this year. CHURCH ARSONS 2 men arrested in arsons at 3 Delaware churches DOVER, Del. (AP) — Two Delaware men have been arrested on arson charges in fires at three churches in the Felton area, all in a four-hour period. The Delaware State Fire Marshal’s Office says the first fire happened around 2 a.m. Dec. 2 at the Healing Hands Christian Church, which was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. As crews battled that blaze, another fire was reported at the Manship Chapel. The last fire came at 5:30 a.m. at the Laws Mennonite Church. Deputy fire marshals arrested 26-year-old Alex Harrington Jr. of Frederica and 25-year-old Joseph Skochelak of Dover on three counts each of arson, burglary and conspiracy. The damage to all three churches is estimated at $86,000 total, with most of it at Healing Hands. No one was injured. SCHOOL COMPLAINT Group objects to students sent to ‘purity’ event LUVERNE, Minn. (AP) — A humanist group is objecting to a public school in Minnesota sending students this fall to hear a speaker promote sexual abstinence. The American Humanist Association sent a letter Tuesday to Luverne Public Schools. The letter says students were sent during school hours on Sept. 30 to hear a presentation by Jason Evert of the Chastity Project. The group contends students and parents were not informed about the event’s religious aspects beforehand. The group wants assurances from school officials that they won’t endorse similar programs in the future. Luverne Superintendent Gary Fisher says 92 students from a ninth-grade health class went to the event, and he’s looking into the complaint. NUDE SUNBATHER Warrant recalled in 77-year-old nude sunbather case SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A court is recalling an arrest warrant for a 77-year-old Utah man who police say was sunbathing nude in his backyard next to a church parking lot. Records show the court mistakenly issued the $5,000 cash-only warrant in a lewdness case against Myron Lee Kipp. Prosecutor Cristina Ortega on Monday told the Salt Lake Tribune that Kipp didn’t miss a court date as the warrant originally stated. The Farmington man is pleading not guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of lewdness, four involving a child. Police say Kipp’s neighbors reported the nude sunbathing March 5. His yard has a chain-link fence without privacy slats. Police say children could see him, but Kipp told an officer he could do what he wanted on his property. MOSQUE PLAN-TOWN SUED Muslim group sues town over blocked mosque plan BENSALEM, Pa. (AP) — A Muslim congregation is suing a suburban Philadelphia town for rejecting its plan to build a mosque. The approximately 200 families who make up the Bensalem Masjid (ben-SAY’-lem MAHZ’-jid) have worshipped for six years in a rented fire hall. The congregation says Bensalem has rebuffed its request for a zoning variance even though there is no other available land zoned for religious use. Meanwhile, it says the town has granted variances in recent years to other religious denominations. Congregation members tell The Philadelphia Inquirer all they want is the same freedom to practice their religion as other religious groups in Bensalem. The suit claims their constitutional right to the free exercise of religion is being denied. VATICAN-FAMILY Vatican: Bishops should move forward on family VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has set the stage for Pope Francis’ next church meeting on the family, urging bishops to be guided not just by doctrine but by Francis’ message of mercy and the “turning point” of the first meeting that sought to provide better pastoral care for gays and divorcees. That meeting was marked by deep divisions over how to welcome gays and Catholics not living in sacramental marriages while also insisting on church teaching. The Vatican has sent out a new questionnaire seeking input on family issues from clergy and lay Catholics around the world. Their responses will help form the basis of debate for October’s meeting of top churchmen who will make final recommendations to Francis about how the Catholic Church can better tend to its families. Among other things, the questionnaire asked how the church can care for families with gay children and provide sacraments for Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the church. Church teaching holds that without an annulment, such Catholics are living in sin and are thus ineligible to receive communion. VATICAN-REFORM Pope notes resistance to reform but moves ahead VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is convening his advisers to chart the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, acknowledging resistance to his changes but saying he welcomes the debate and is nevertheless undeterred. It’s the seventh time the group of nine cardinals, representing five continents and the Vatican, have met to plot a revamp of the Vatican administration, which Francis has said needs to be overhauled to make it more efficient and responsive to today’s church. In an interview with Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper on the eve of the meetings starting Tuesday, Francis acknowledged internal resistance to his changes. But he said opposition is healthy because it gets “the resistance out into the open.” LEGION OF CHRIST Lawsuit over $60M gift to Catholic order in court PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island Supreme Court justices are raising questions about the conduct of a disgraced Roman Catholic order, but they also are expressing doubts that lawsuits against the order will be able to move forward. The justices heard arguments Tuesday in a case involving $60 million given to the Legion of Christ. Mary Lou Dauray says her late aunt, Gabrielle Mee, would not have given the money if she had known its founder secretly fathered three children and molested seminarians. She says her aunt was manipulated into donating. The Legion argued that Dauray does not have standing to sue. A superior court judge agreed in 2012, and threw her lawsuits out. On Tuesday, justices pointed out that the superior court judge had been critical of the Legion’s conduct. A decision is expected later.
