GOP 2016-CARSON-PYRAMIDS
Carson stand by his statement on pyramids
MIAMI (AP) β Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is standing by his view that Egypt’s pyramids were probably built by the biblical patriarch Joseph to store grain for an impending famine, and not as tombs for pharaohs.
In a video from 17 years ago that was posted online this week by Buzzfeed News, Carson referred to the Genesis account of Joseph predicting famine. In the video, Carson said his belief that the pyramids were used to store grain was more likely than the conclusion accepted by archaeologists, who believe they were built as tombs.
In Florida Thursday, Carson was asked about his earlier statement. He said, “Some people believe in the Bible like I do and don’t find that to be silly at all.” Carson then accused “secular progressives” of trying to “ridicule it every time it comes up.”
A spokesman for Carson’s Seventh-Day Adventist Church says Carson’s beliefs about the pyramids are “his own interpretation.”
Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis, says most of the pyramids were built before the time of Joseph and it’s clear they were built as tombs for the pharaohs.
Sound:
268-w-34-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor, with GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson and Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis)–Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is standing by his view that Egypt’s pyramids were probably built by the biblical patriarch Joseph to store grain for an impending famine, and not as tombs for the pharaohs. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (5 Nov 2015)
< 246-a-04-(Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis, in AP interview)-“are, they’re tombs”-Ken Ham, the CEO of Answers in Genesis, says the pyramids weren’t built to store large quantities of grain. (5 Nov 2015) < 247-a-05-(Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis, in AP interview)-“Joseph’s time anyway”-Ken Ham, the CEO of Answers in Genesis, says it’s unlikely that the biblical patriarch Joseph had the pyramids built. (5 Nov 2015) < 245-a-05-(Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis, in AP interview)-“for the afterlife”-Ken Ham, the CEO of Answers in Genesis, says the pyramids were not structures that the biblical patriarch Joseph built to store grain. (5 Nov 2015) < 248-a-10-(Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis, in AP interview)-“in the afterlife”-Ken Ham, the CEO of Answers in Genesis, says the pharaohs buried in the pyramids were believed to need food in the afterlife. (5 Nov 2015) < NORTH KOREA-DETAINEE BOOK Kenneth Bae, detained 2 years in North Korea, releasing book SEATTLE (AP) β Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen who was detained in North Korea for two years before his release last November, plans to tell his story in a book. W Publishing Group, an imprint of Christian publisher Thomas Nelson, says “Not Forgotten: The True Story of My Imprisonment in North Korea” will be released next spring. Bae, a Christian missionary and pastor, has family in the Seattle area but moved to China in 2006. He began leading tours to North Korea in 2010 but was arrested in 2012 while leading a tour group to a special economic zone and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for alleged anti-government activities. Bae suffered medical issues in detention. He was freed along with one other American detainee after a secret mission to the reclusive Communist country by James Clapper, the top U.S. intelligence official. SCHOOL CHOICE Public mulls exclusion of religious schools from tax credit HELENA, Mont. (AP) β Public-school advocates are arguing that a state agency rightly determined the Montana Constitution prohibits private religious schools from a new scholarship tax credit program. But private-school supporters say the Department of Revenue overstepped by excluding religious schools in proposed rules for the program that begins Jan. 1. The department held a public hearing Thursday on the proposed rules that will allow tax credits for donations of up to $150 to scholarships for private schools. Nine people, including legislators and representatives of religious organizations and schools, spoke against the proposed rules. They say the Legislature intended the tax credit to benefit all students. Five people, most representing teachers’ unions and public school associations, argued that the state constitution prohibits even indirect appropriations to religious schools. FULL GOSPEL-WALKER Baptist pastor to preside over international faith group NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) β The senior pastor of a Nashville megachurch will become only the second presiding bishop of Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship International. Bishop Joseph Walker III of Mt. Zion Baptist Church will be installed Friday at Tennessee State University’s Gentry Center. Founded in 1994, Full Gospel is a fellowship of churches and individuals from more than 40 U.S. states and over 300 international churches. As Full Gospel’s presiding bishop, Walker will focus on global activism, personal accountability and making the black church relevant to younger generations. Walker will remain the senior pastor of Mt. Zion, which he grew from a handful of congregants in 1992 to 30,000 members worshipping at three locations in Nashville. Walker is also the founder of Nashville Unites, a community-wide effort to address social injustice amid the fatal shootings of unarmed black men by police officers. REFORM JUDAISM-TRANSGENDER RESOLUTION Reform Jews approve far-reaching transgender resolution ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) β U.S. Judaism’s largest movement has approved the most far-reaching resolution in support of transgender rights of any major religious organization. Members of the Union for Reform Judaism passed a resolution Thursday affirming equal rights for transgender people at the group’s biennial meeting in Orlando. There was no opposition on the voice vote. The resolution calls for congregations and camps to have gender-neutral bathrooms, encourages gender-neutral language at Reform Jewish institutions, suggests training on gender issues for religious school staff and encourages advocating on behalf of the transgender community. Other religious organizations have passed pro-transgender resolutions, but none go as far as the one proposed by the Union for Reform Judaism. LGBT PROTECTIONS Indiana Chamber backs statewide gay rights protections INDIANAPOLIS (AP) β Less than a year after big business helped pressure Indiana Republicans to scale back their religious objections law, the state’s powerful business lobby has decided that wasn’t enough and says the state needs to extend protection from discrimination to people based on their sexual orientation. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce is calling on Republican Gov. Mike Pence and the GOP-controlled Legislature to extend the state’s civil rights protections to bar discrimination against people based on their LGBT status. The issue drives a wedge between two stalwart pillars of the Republican Party’s base: the business establishment and social conservatives. Tensions have simmered since spring, when the Legislature passed the religious objections law, which social conservatives said was needed to protect the rights of those who object to homosexuality for religious reasons. The law was changed to address worries that it could sanction discrimination against gays and lesbians. HAMTRAMCK-MUSLIMS Detroit enclave to have what will be Muslim majority council HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (AP) β A diverse Detroit enclave known for its Polish heritage will have what’s believed to be the nation’s first Muslim-majority City Council. Hamtramck residents on Tuesday elected Yemeni-American Saad Almasmari and re-elected Bangladesh natives Abu Musa and Anam Miah. They join Bangladeshi member Mohammed Hassan. Muslims now hold four of the council’s six seats in a city that was settled by Germans, became predominantly Polish in the early 1900s and now has a slight majority of Muslims from Yemen, Bangladesh and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Almasmari told television stations WDIV and WXYZ that they will “represent everybody.” The city council in nearby Dearborn has an Arab-American majority but not all are Muslim. REHABILITATING RADICALS US faces task of helping terror suspects return to society WASHINGTON (AP) β The arrests of dozens of American supporters of the Islamic State have focused attention on whether enough is being done to de-radicalize terror suspects who enter prison having absorbed the group’s violent ideology, and who will ultimately be released into the society they once railed against. Even as the Obama administration launches programs to keep young adults from embracing extremist messages, there’s broad agreement that more needs to be done to rehabilitate terror suspects. The Bureau of Prisons currently has about 350 prisoners with a history of, or connection to, international terrorism. Only a fraction will remain imprisoned for life. The bureau says it works to ensure radical ideas aren’t being spread in prisons, but doesn’t have special programs for these offenders. ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS Jordan: No cameras inside mosques at Jerusalem holy site AMMAN, Jordan (AP) β Jordan’s King Abdullah says the interiors of two mosques at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site will be exempt from monitoring by security cameras. The fate of the walled compound in Jerusalem β known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary β is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is the holiest site in Judaism and was home to biblical Jewish Temples. Muslims believe it is the spot where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the plan to install round-the-clock video monitoring at the site last month in a bid to quell weeks of violence. Israel welcomed the idea, saying it could counter Palestinian claims that it was trying to increase Jewish access to the site. But the Palestinians criticized the plan, saying Israel could use the cameras to spy on and arrest people. King Abdullah’s remarks Thursday appear to be an attempt to allay those concerns.
