AIR FORCE OATH-GOD
Air Force: ‘So help me God’ in oath is optional
LAS VEGAS (AP) β Air Force officials say they have changed their policy on enlistment oaths and will now let airmen omit the words “so help me God” if they choose.
The decision comes after an airman at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada struck out the words on his Department of Defense reenlistment paperwork and ran up against a policy that prohibits omissions. His attorney says the airman was told by his commanders that he must swear to God or leave the Air Force.
The case went up to the Department of Defense General Counsel, which has now ruled that “so help me God” can be left out if an airman prefers.
Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James said, “We take any instance in which Airmen report concerns regarding religious freedom seriously,” and “we are making the appropriate adjustments to ensure our Airmen’s rights are protected.”
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EBOLA
Faith motivates many Ebola doctors
WASHINGTON (AP) β Why would an American doctor risk his life to treat Ebola patients in Africa?
That question was raised Wednesday at a congressional hearing.
Missionary Dr. Kent Brantly, who contracted Ebola in Liberia but recovered after being evacuated to the U.S., responded that Christians believe Jesus told them to “love your neighbor as yourself,” and that your neighbor is anyone who is in need.
He said missionary facilities currently provide up to 70 percent of the health care in sub-Saharan Africa
New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith said he believes many members of the military who are sent to West Africa will treat Ebola sufferers with the same faith and compassion that motivates volunteers.
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EBOLA-AMERICANS
Doctors expect Nebraska Ebola patient to recover
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) β Doctors in Nebraska treating a U.S. doctor battling the Ebola virus say they now expect him to make a full recovery.
Fifty-one-year-old Dr. Rick Sacra (SAY’-krah) contracted Ebola while working at a missionary hospital in Liberia. He’s been hospitalized in Omaha since Sept. 5.
Dr. Phil Smith is the medical director of the Nebraska Medical Center isolation unit where Sacra is being treated. Smith said Wednesday that an initial set of blood samples from Sacra sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed a decreased amount of the virus in his blood.
Doctors are now awaiting results of a second set of blood samples.
Dr. Angela Hewlett, associate medical director of the unit, says there must be two negative blood tests done 24 hours apart for Sacra to be released.
US-COLD-CASE-SENTENCING
Man drives across US, confesses to 1997 homicide
PHOENIX (AP) β A cold case homicide has been solved after a man, apparently wracked with guilt, drove across the country to confess killing an Arizona woman with a flashlight more than 15 years ago.
Matthew Gibson has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after driving from North Carolina to Arizona to turn himself in to face charges that a prosecutor said wouldn’t have come without the 55-year-old’s surrender.
The 1997 death of Barbara Leone Brown in Bullhead City, Arizona, has agonized Gibson, who has found religion according to his attorney.
In a statement Gibson provided to authorities last month, he wrote, “Only the good Lord knows what that night was all about, but I’m deeply sorry for that night.” He adds that he had wept over the killing for years.
CARTER CENTER-TOWN HALL
Jimmy Carter defends recent speech to Islamic group
ATLANTA (AP) β Former President Jimmy Carter says he didn’t hesitate to address a Muslim convention last month in Detroit.
Carter told an audience in Atlanta Tuesday that members of the Islamic Society of North America “are very moderate in their position, they’re against violence, and so I had no compunction about going to visit them.”
The former president said the Islamic society’s annual meeting attracted thousands of people, including Muslim clerics from the U.S. and abroad who signed a pledge to help reduce the abuse of women and girls.
Carter said he’s working with Muslim leaders who agree that the Quran and other scriptures teach that “all people are equal in the eyes of God.”
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SAUDI ARABIA
Top Saudi clerics issue edict against terrorism
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) β Saudi Arabia’s highest body of religious scholars has issued a stern ruling calling terrorism a “heinous crime” and saying perpetrators including Islamic State militants deserve punishment in line with Islamic law.
The Council of Senior Religious Scholars said in its fatwa, or religious edict, that it backs the kingdom’s efforts to track down and punish followers of the Islamic State group and al-Qaida. The clerics are appointed by the government and are seen as guardians of the kingdom’s ultraconservative Wahhabi school of Islam.
Their statement underpins the kingdom’s broader efforts to deter citizens from joining extremist groups that want to bring down the Western-allied monarchy.
It is considered a religious sin and a criminal act in Saudi Arabia to rebel against the king, who oversees Islam’s two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina.
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ISRAEL-WAILING WALL
Prayer notes removed from Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall
JERUSALEM (AP) β Thousands of prayer notes, some simply addressed to God, have been removed from the stones of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem ahead of next week’s observance of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Using wooden sticks, workers removed the pieces of paper from their crevices. The operation is carried out twice a year β before the Passover festival and at the Jewish New Year, in the autumn. The notes are then buried according to Jewish ritual.
Derl Crawford , a tourist from Mississippi, said it was a “wonderful thing” to witness.
Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Rabbi of the Western Wall, says the notes are tucked into the ancient wall by Jews and non-Jews alike. He says, “God hears everyone’s prayers.”
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ISRAEL-CELEBRITY RABBI
Israel official: plea bargain for celebrity rabbi
JERUSALEM (AP) β An Israeli official says a multimillionaire celebrity rabbi with a following in the U.S. has accepted a plea bargain in a high-profile bribery case and could face a year in prison.
The official says Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, as part of the plea bargain, agreed to admit to bribing a senior Israeli police officer for access to his police file in 2012. He says prosecutors would seek a year-long jail sentence for Pinto.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official Israeli announcement.
He said as part of the plea bargain, Pinto has agreed to turn state’s witness in a separate bribery case against another police officer, the head of a unit known as Israel’s FBI, who later resigned.
VATICAN-SRI LANKA
Pope OKs canonization for Sri Lanka’s 1st saint
VATICAN CITY (AP) β Pope Francis has approved the canonization of Sri Lanka’s first saint, bending Vatican rules to bypass confirmation of a miracle.
Francis is expected to canonize the Rev. Giuseppe Baz, a 17th century missionary, during his January visit to Sri Lanka.
Vaz was born in India in 1651 but chose to work in Sri Lanka amid persecution of Catholics by Dutch colonial rulers, who were Calvinists. He is credited with having revived the Catholic faith in the country.
The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis approved the decision by the Vatican’s saint-making office to canonize Vaz. The process was the same Francis used to canonize St. John XXIII without a second miracle attributed to his intercession.
Francis has waived Vatican saint-making rules on several occasions and has promised to give Asia more saints.
