- [Announcer] This is CBN NewsWatch.
- And thanks for joiningus for CBN NewsWatch.
I'm Heather Sells.
We begin with the controversy surrounding
government-funded religious teachings
in some federal prisonsby The Nation of Islam.
The Washington Examiner reported this week
that the group lead by Louis Farrakhan
has received hundredsof thousands of dollars
from the US Government since 2008.
Mark Martin joins us now inthe CBN Newsroom with more.
Mark.
- Heather, the Washington Examiner reports
Nation of Islam leaders have received,
they have received at least
$364,500 in contracts and awards
from the US Bureau of Prisonsand the Department of Justice
between fiscal year 2008 and 2019.
The chairman of theHouse Homeland Security
Subcommittee on Counterterrorismand Intelligence,
Representative Peter King,spoke out against the funding.
King told the Washington Examiner,
"Categorically, no group or entity
or individual associated in any way
with Farrakhan or the Nation of Islam
should receive any federal funding.
What Farrakhan preaches ishatred and Anti-Semitism
and racism, and to use anyfederal money for any group
that he's involved withthat do any type of teaching
or proselytizing is just wrong."
The Nation of Islam adamantlydefended the funding
saying the program is "agreat benefit and blessing
to the American Penal system."
A longtime leader in theNation of Islam Research Group,
Demetric Muhammad, wroteon researchminister.com,
"As effective as MinisterFarrakhan's message is
and has been, it should be supported with
the resources it needs to remain
a strong presence withinthe prison system."
Muhammad blasted theWashington Examiner report,
calling it lies, distortionsand false characterizations.
CBN News reached out to theFederal Bureau of Prisons,
which issued a program statement entitled
Religious Beliefs andPractices which says,
"All media resources willbe previewed by staff,
or any other staff-designated volunteers,
prior to distributionand materials shall not
denigrate or disparage any other
religion or religious groups."
And Heather, CBN News also reached out
to the Nation of Islam,the Department of Justice,
and Representative Peter King, for comment
on the controversy surrounding the
federal funding of Nationof Islam prison lectures.
They have not yetresponded to our inquiry.
Heather, back to you.
- Thank you, Mark.
Well, Alana Goodman, withthe Washington Examiner
joins us now with moreon her exclusive story.
Alana, why would the Federalgovernment need to fund
Nation of Islam religiousstudies in prison?
- Well, that's a greatquestion and it's one
that a lot of people were-
I mean, people were just shocked when
I was talking to them about this.
I spoke to analysts whoresearch hate groups,
and you know, they said there's no reason
why an organizationlike The Nation of Islam
should be getting any moneyfrom the federal government.
This isn't necessarily justa freedom of religious issue.
Obviously it's fine to havematerials, things like that,
that you can read in a prison,
but this is about federalfunding going to this group,
and this is an organization that has been
declared a hate group bythe Anti-Defamation League,
the Southern PovertyLaw Center, and others.
So they have a long history of that.
- Right, it's really interesting.
Well, does the US Bureau of Prisons
fund other religious groups
that spout this kindof hatred in this way?
- That's a great question.
I mean, would they fund an organization
like the Aryan Brotherhood, for example?
There are a lot of racist type groups
that are in prisons andproliferate in prisons,
and I have not heard of any other group
that has this kind of background besides
The Nation of Islam thathas received funding.
- In your story you talkabout how the Bureau
has to review the religious materials.
Why do you think that the Bureau is
funding these studies, knowing the racist
and anti-Semitic themes in them?
- That's a greatquestion, and I have asked
the Bureau of Prisons aboutthis, and they don't want to
talk about the details of the contract.
They said that the initial contract
was over six years ago, and so
they don't keep theirfiles for over six years.
So we really don't knowexactly what was in there
and exactly what is being taught.
But I will say, based on analysts
who I've spoken to about this,
anti-Semitism and kindof anti-white bigotry
is a foundational principle
in The Nation of Islam philosophy,
so you know, it's not just the fact that
their leader, Louis Farrakhan, goes out
and goes on television or on Twitter
and compares Jews to termites,
it's also that this is a fundamental part
of The Nation of Islam philosophy,
and it really can't be separated from it.
- Mm-hmm, you also report the
Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee found as many as
three dozen US citizens whoconverted to Islam in prison,
then traveled to Yemen,possibly for Al-Qaeda training.
Can you tell us any more about that?
- Yeah, so this was something that
was also raised to me when I spoke
to Congressman Peter King,
you know, radicalization in prison
has been something that he has focused on
for years on the HouseHomeland Security Committee,
and it's something thathas been a big issue,
even recently in thenews, where we saw this
Christmas marketplaceshooting in France recently,
and that was carried out by somebody
who had reportedly beenradicalized while in prison.
So this is a big concern, and
as Congressman King toldme during our interview,
this is something thatshould concern all Americans.
- Alana, where do you see this all going?
Do you expect this funding to continue?
- Well, it has droppeddown under President Trump.
Under President Obama itwas about five times more
funding was going to this,
so we've really seen it dropoff a lot in the last two years
and I don't know if thattrend is gonna continue,
but you know, the Bureau of Prisons
didn't say whether they're gonna
cut off this program or not.
It seems like they're kindof defending it in some ways,
so we'll have to justwait and see on that.
- Right, well, it'll beinteresting to see the fallout.
Alana Goodman, thanks foryour report and your time.
- Thank you.
Well, many of us probably have
never heard of the Uighur people.
They are an ethnic minorityliving in western China
in a region known as East Turkistan,
and many Uighurs areMuslim, some are Christian.
The Chinese government has reportedly sent
tens of thousands of them toCommunist reeducation camps.
On Thursday, human rightsactivists in Washington
and around the world marchedon behalf of the Uighurs.
Former congressman, FrankWolf, called the marches
a turning point of greater awareness
for moving to push the Chinese government
to end its persecution of the Uighurs,
Christians, and other faith groups.
Thousands of asylum seekersare headed back to Mexico
after the US changed itsimmigration policy on Thursday.
The US and Mexico have made a deal
to keep them south of the border
during the course oftheir asylum hearings.
Homeland SecuritySecretary, Kirstjen Nielsen,
says it's an effort tokeep the asylum seekers
from staying in the US illegally.
"Aliens trying to game the system
to get into our country illegally
will no longer be able todisappear into the United States.
This will also allow usto focus more attention
on those who are actuallyfleeing persecution."
Well, one argument inthe immigration debate
is that those who come to the US
will do jobs that Americans won't do,
making them good for the US economy.
But as Paul Strandexplains, there is debate
over the fiscal impact of immigration.
- Taxpayers foot the billfor welfare programs,
and non-citizens areadding plenty to that cost.
Steven Camarota of the Centerfor Immigration Studies
has just added up all the numbers.
- We found that 63% ofhouseholds headed by non-citizens
had one or more people in that household
who's using at least one welfare program.
- [Paul] That's almost double the rate
of American-born citizens.
- In terms of food programs or Medicaid,
the share of immigranthouseholds with somebody using it
is about twice that of the native-born.
- [Paul] This is what happenswhen millions of low-wage,
less educated immigrants flood the nation.
- If you bring in low-wage workers,
they, and very oftentheir US-born children,
qualify for a host of programs.
If you had to put itinto a bumper sticker,
it's that there's a highcost to cheap labor.
- [Paul] These folks arealso three times as likely
to be uninsured, causingAmericans to bear much more cost.
- Non-citizens in general,and immigrants in general
have very high rates of lacking insurance,
usually double or triplethat of the native-born.
But what happens when someone shows up
in an emergency room?
They're gonna get care.
We're not gonna notthat, and it's gonna come
at taxpayer expense anyway.
- Or at the expense of other sick people,
who those hospitals will justhit with much higher bills
to make up for those whogot their care for free.
Camarota points to the solution.
Make an immigration systemthat mostly takes in
more educated peoplewho are more qualified
to get the kind of jobsthat will allow them
to afford insurance and keep off welfare
so you don't have to foot the bill.
Paul Strand, CBN News, Washington.
- President Trump is warning that a
partial government shutdowncould last a very long time.
House Republicans passed aspending bill late last night
with $5 billion for a border wall,
and now 60 votes are neededto pass it in the Senate,
but Democrats are not budging.
In a tweet, the President said
if there is a shutdown, theDemocrats will be at fault.
The President is urgingSenate Majority Leader,
Mitch McConnell to pass thebill with a simple majority
instead of the vote.
If the government does shut down,
800,000 federal workerscould face furloughs.
For a more in-depthanalysis of what a shutdown
could mean for our government,
tune into Faith Nationtonight at 6:00 p.m.
on the CBN News Channel.
Well, as Washingtonpoliticians continue to fight
over President Trump's demand for funding
to build a border wall, ordinary Americans
have taken matters into their own hands.
Triple amputee and PurpleHeart recipient, Brian Kolfage,
has launched a GoFundMe pageto raise money for the wall.
It's already raised anincredible $12 million.
More than 200,000 peoplehave donated to the effort.
Kolfage says, "I feel deeplyinvested to this nation
to ensure future generationshave everything we have today.
It's up to Americans to help out
and pitch in to get this project rolling."
The Pope responded today to a year
of devastating revelations of sexual abuse
and cover-up in the Catholic Church.
He dedicated his annual Christmas speech
to the issue that has causeda crisis of confidence
in the Catholic hierarchy.
Pope Francis blamed leadersfor refusing to believe victims
and vowed that going forward the Church
will not cover up or dismiss such cases.
(speaking foreign language)
- [Interpreter Voiceover] Let it be clear
that before these abominations,
the Church will spare no effort
to do all that is necessaryto bring to justice
whoever has committed such crimes.
- A church in Laurel,Maryland is able to worship
in its downtown building again
after a zoning fight with the city.
Redemption Community Churchsued the city of Laurel
earlier this year, chargingthat its zoning code
placed unconstitutional burdens on it.
The lawsuit alleged thatthe city required extra fees
and paperwork for houses ofworship in the downtown area,
while giving local businesses a pass.
The suit is still not formally resolved,
but the city has alreadymade zoning changes
that allowed the church to resume worship.
A rise in murders in onesouth Alabama community
has police concerned.
A Facebook post explained whythey think it's happening.
"This is happening because we have
turned away from God and embraced Satan.
We may have not meantto do so, but we have.
It is time to ask forGod's help to stop this."
The police also calledon parents to be strong,
and for the community to support officers
as they fight crime.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation
has condemned the postand says it is illegal
for a government entityto endorse or criticize
religious belief.
Well, Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu says
Israel will step up its fight
against Iran's military presence in Syria.
The announcement comes twodays after President Trump said
the US is pulling troops from Syria.
He said ISIS has beendefeated in the country.
At a joint conferencewith Greece and Cyprus,
Netanyahu said America'sdecision to pull out
will not limit Israel'sability to operate there.
Instead, it will keep up the pressure.
(speaking foreign language)
- [Interpreter Voiceover]We'll continue to act
very aggressively against Iran's attempts
to entrench itself in Syria.
On these two fronts, we don'tintend to reduce our efforts.
We will intensify them.
I know we are doing thiswith the complete support
and backing of the United States.
- [Heather] The PrimeMinister added that Israel
will continue its efforts to neutralize
Hezbollah terror tunnels.
The tunnels run from Lebanon to Israel.
And for more news from the Middle East,
be sure to watch JerusalemDateline tonight at 9:30
here on the CBN News Channel.
Still ahead, looking for alast minute Christmas gift?
Maybe you should considerbuying a goat or even a llama.
World Vision is here with a live look
at their animal gift catalog.
- God Almighty is a God of blessing.
He always wants to bless his people,
but how do you get that blessing,
and what principleswill unlock that secret?
- [Announcer] In MiraculousBlessings, Pat Robertson
shows you how to open the floodgates
of God's awesome blessings in your life.
- In order to have a blessing,you've gotta be blessable.
- [Announcer] Discoverwhat the Bible has to say
about God's covenant of blessing,
the laws of blessing,
and what are the hindrances
to the blessings of God?
- The words of Jesus, they are as valid
as the law of gravity, andif we follow those laws,
we will be blessed.
- [Announcer] You'llsee amazing true stories
of everyday peoplewhose lives were rescued
and transformed by God'smiraculous blessings.
- But even the doctors acknowledge
that this had to be a miracle.
- [Announcer] Call 1-800-700-7000
or visit CBN.com to become a CBN partner
and get Miraculous Blessings today.
- Hello, I'm Terry Meeuwsen.
Did you know there are morethan 148 million orphans
in the world today?
148 million.
But it was three littlegirls that taught me
about the plight of orphans.
My husband and I spent nearly a month
immersed in the daily activitiesof a Ukrainian orphanage
as we waited to adopt three sisters.
I saw firsthand the utter loneliness,
the pain of rejection,and the overwhelming
desire to be loved.
That experience changed me forever,
and out of it grew aministry from my heart
called Orphan's Promise.
Today, we're helping orphansand vulnerable children
in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Thousands of childrenare now in safe homes.
They're being educated, andthey're learning life skills.
I'm asking you to join with me,
and become family to these children.
Will you call the numberon your screen right now?
Because every child deservesa chance to be happy.
There's still time for youto change lives this year
by giving a tax deductible gift to CBN.
Your gift helps bring food, shelter,
clothing, medical aid, andhope to people here at home
and all around the world.
Because your gift is tax deductible,
you'll be saving money on your tax bill
as you share the love of Godwith people in desperate need.
You'll be a great blessingand you'll be blessed as well.
Call now or go to CBN.com.
- The season of giving is here,
and if you'd like to give agift that will help a person
in a developing country, youmight want to take a peek
at World Vision's animal gift catalog.
Efrem Graham is live withBrian Duss to tell us more.
Efrem.
- Hi there, Heather.
I am here in the barn withWorld Vision's Brian Duss,
literally the gift catalog once again
coming to life around us.
So giving animals for Christmas,what do we need to do?
- Yeah, this is one of myfavorite times of the year.
You know, scripture says they will know
we are Christians by our love,
and what better way than to give back?
You can go to the WorldVision gift catalog
and you can buy a gift.
It lets them know that ananimal is made in their honor.
You can get an adorable bunny.
Goats are our most popular item.
Goats give about 16 cups ofnutritious milk every day.
So when you buy a goatfor a family in Africa,
they can drink the milk, make cheese,
sell the milk or cheese, andthey can buy school supplies,
all that sort of stuff.
And if the goats make alittle mess on the floor,
you just put it in thefamily garden, it's great.
- I love it, I love it.
Now, let's real quickly introduce us
to some of the animalswe're surrounded by here.
- Well, we got Butterscotch right now.
- Butterscotch in your arms.- We've got Benji
and Mo back again, we have Sandy
and hiding over here we got Fig Newton.
Fig Newton's a little shy,and then Lily the sheep
is taking a little nap.- Just a little break.
- She doesn't understandhow live TV works.
- Not yet anyway.
Now in terms of, this couldalso be a teaching opportunity
for parents and their children.
Instead of rushing out to the store
to do some last minute stuff,
you could actually take care of this
from the confines of your home
and teach a lesson to your kid.
- Yeah, having traveled to theMiddle East with World Vision
I can't forget that Jesus Christ
was a Middle Eastern refugee.- Yeah.
- And when you go on worldvision.org,
you have an opportunity to pick up a gift
and let your child know, you know what?
This isn't the seasonof gimme, gimme, gimme.
It's about giving back, soyou can let them know that
in the United States wehave been greatly blessed,
and scripture says, one ofmy favorite verses in Luke,
it says to whom much isgiven, much is required,
so I love that we have the opportunity
to be a part of God'swork all over the world.
World Vision works in 100 countries,
including the United States.
- Wow, where all have you managed to visit
to see people's hard earned money
from here and all over the world at work?
- This year, I've been to manyplaces, but just this year
I had a chance to go to Zambia
and I also had a chanceto go to Somaliland,
which is very challenging right now.
One of the things we're doing right now,
which you can help outwith in the gift catalog,
is you can get fishing nets.
People used to be herdsmen,but there's a six-year drought,
and now they're being forced to the coast
where there's a huge supply of fish
but they aren't fishermen yet,
so you can literally teach a man to fish.
(laughs)
It doesn't get any better than that.
- No, absolutely, absolutely,
and where are you planningto go in the year ahead?
Wouldn't it be great to go and see?
- You know, I see whereyou're going with this,
and I think that right here we should say
how would you like to go with me
and World Vision tosee our work in Rwanda?
- Now, am I gonna say no to that?
Of course not.- Of course not.
- I would love to do that.
- World Vision is one of the,
the number one providerof clean water in Africa,
and so water is such animportant part of life.
If you have food, but youdon't have clean water,
how can you go to school when you're sick?
So oftentimes in Africa,the average distance
people walk for cleanwater is six kilometers.
Little girls shouldn'tbe collecting water.
They should be goingto school and learning,
and being all the thingsthat God wants them to be.
- Amen, amen.
Once again real quick, wheredo people find the gift catalog
to make this stuff happen?
- Folks can go to worldvision.org.
- All right, BrianDuss, thank you so much.
Always a pleasure,always a pleasure for me
to put on my overalls oncea year to come to the farm.
Thank you so much.
Heather, back to you.
- Thank you so much, Efrem,and as you mentioned,
you can learn more aboutWorld Vision's gift catalog
by visiting their website.
Well, after the break we will take a look
at today's trending storiesfrom Faithwire, stay with us.
- [Announcer] Parents,the Superbook Bible App
is a great way to get yourchild reading the Bible
because in today's busyworld, we can use some help.
The free Superbook Bible App has fun stuff
your kids will love.
They'll have a blast learning the Bible,
playing great games, watching cool videos,
discovering heroes in the Bible.
They'll have fun whilethey learn God's word.
The Superbook Kid'sBible App, available now.
- [Announcer] Life, it'smeant to be lived fully.
(mellow music)
Jesus said it, "I came to give you life."
Life to the fullest.
Life in your family.
Life in your finances.
Life in your body, mind, and spirit.
(mellow music)
Life in your every day.
(mellow music)
At CBN.com, we're takingwhat Jesus said seriously.
(mellow music)
We're here to help you discover life.
(mellow music)
Life.
Live it fully.
Cbn.com.
(mellow music)
- We had four jobs that didn't go right,
but you know, we didn'twaver in our faith.
- That's when God put on my heart
that we needed to do the well.
(mellow music)
- [Man] Within a couple of days we got
an insurance refund check thatwe had no idea was coming.
- And here we are, you know.
This year it's just booming.
- You go out and help other people
and you get rewarded for it.
- [Announcer] Get PatRobertson's latest teaching,
Miraculous Blessings.
- Christian singer, FrancescaBattistelli, pairs up
with a music legend to givethe performance of a lifetime
and a child born with only
2% of his brain stuns doctors.
CBN's Jessica Chackoand Dan Andros brings us
this week's trendingstories from faithwire.com.
- Well, acclaimed Grammy nominated singer,
Andrea Bocelli, performs on TBN
with Christian artist,Francesca Battistelli.
Here to tell us more about it, Dan Andros.
Dan.
- Yeah, so Francesca was pretty stunned
when she just got a call outof the blue from Andrea's team
and they were just like, heydo you want to fly to Italy
and perform in this special with us?
And she's like uh, didI hear you guys right?
They're like, yes, andso she's like absolutely.
You know, obviously AndreaBocelli is considered to have
one of the most beautifulvoices on the planet.
So she jumped at the chance to do it,
went over to Italy, filmedthe special for TBN,
which is a Christmas special,which is interesting because
Andrea said, Francescaactually told us at Faithwire
that when she was talking to Andrea that
his faith is very important to him
and he actually said that hedoesn't get a chance a lot
to talk about his faith because
people don't ask him about it.
So I found that pretty interesting, and so
you can watch this specialon faithwire.com right now.
It's in the article, but Ijust found that interesting
that the media tends not toask him about his faith angle
and so he wanted to express that.
- Next up, a child bornwith only 2% of his brain
is thriving, and has doctors believing
it's nothing short of a miracle.
Dan, this is an incredible story.
- Yeah, this absolutely is a miracle.
Shelley and Rob Wall, they had gone in
for their 20-week ultrasoundand what happened was
instead of finding anormal health situation
they found multiple severe issues,
including spina bifida, and another issue
that causes the skullto fill up with fluid,
and so when he was born,they found that he only had
2% of his brain matter,which was obviously
very sad for the family,but because his brain stem
was intact, they were able to feed him
and he was able to eat,so they just decided
to soldier on and they kept going.
Well, fast forward to three years later,
they had a much anticipated brain scan,
and doctors can't explainit, but 80% of his
brain matter had sort ofregenerated and come back,
and they could not explain andaccount for why it happened.
They simply attributed it to a miracle,
and now Noah is six years old
and he is doing amazingly well.
He can spell his own name,he can hold conversations,
and he continues to progress,
and he's really just awalking miracle at this point.
- That's an amazing story, thanks Dan.
Well, for these stories and more,
visit Faithwire on Facebook and on the web
at faithwire.com, back to you.
(light music)
- [Announcer] When you give,
smiles grow bigger.
When you care,
homes are happier.
When you comfort,
the hurt goes away.
(light music)
When we all come together to love,
miracles happen.
- Hello, I'm Terry Meeuwsen.
Did you know there are morethan 148 million orphans
in the world today?
148 million.
But it was three littlegirls that taught me
about the plight of orphans.
My husband and I spent nearly a month
immersed in the daily activitiesof a Ukrainian orphanage
as we waited to adopted three sisters.
I saw firsthand the utter loneliness,
the pain of rejection,and the overwhelming
desire to be loved.
That experience changed me forever,
and out of it grew aministry from my heart
called Orphan's Promise.
Today, we're helping orphansand vulnerable children
in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Thousands of childrenare now in safe homes.
They're being educated andthey're learning life skills.
I'm asking you to join with me
and become family to these children.
Will you call the numberon your screen right now?
Because every child deservesa chance to be happy.
- Hello, is this thing on?
Hey, kids, do you love games
and do you love discovering things?
Well, do ya?- Yeah!
- [Announcer] Then you're gonna love this.
It's the new freeSuperbook Kid's Bible App.
You can play games, watch videos,
find answers to your questions,and a whole lot more.
The new Superbook Kid's Bible App.
Free downloads available oniTunes and Google Play now.
(solemn music)
- I'm Sergeant Major JeremyHoppe from US Army Africa.
I want to wish all my friends and family
in Monroe, Washington, a happy holiday
and a Merry Christmas.
- Hi, I'm Airman Rachel Richter.
I'm here deployed in Nigeria, Africa.
I just want to say happyholidays to my Mommy and my Daddy
in Pompano Beach, and MerryChristmas to everybody.
(solemn music)
- And as you just saw, manyof our military members
are spending Christmasaway from their family,
serving our nation abroad, but one family
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,got an early Christmas gift,
and it all started witha boy's Christmas wish.
This young boy had asked onlyfor his dad this Christmas.
This video of him postedon Twitter went viral
when he was told he had aspecial gift he could open early.
He didn't know what to expect,and when he unwrapped it,
his Christmas wish came true.
His dad stepped out of the box.
Well, that is all for today.
Thank you so much for joining us.
We hope you have a great night.
