Jesus

Fear-mongering The article "Prison guards cool to Corbett's reduction plan" (Monday) shows the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association's fear-mongering campaign against reducing prison populations. Corrections Secretary John Wetzel plans to reduce the inmate population by more than 2,500 next year by making the corrections system more efficient. The officers' union's claim that this reduction requires releasing violent criminals into the streets lacks any teeth.

Rick Dunham is the president of Dunham+Co., which advises charities, and the author of Secure: Discovering True Security in Turbulent Financial Times In a rather bizarre line of reasoning, President Obama claimed at the recent National Prayer Breakfast that Jesus would favor his plan to increase taxes on the rich. His logic is based on two passages in the Bible: "To whom much has been given, much is required" (Luke 12:48) "Love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew 22:39)

Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, who was archbishop of Philadelphia from 1988 until 2003, was a prayerful man. While he visited all his parishes on a regular basis, a practice for which he was praised and loved by everyday Catholics, he seemed to prefer the solitude of meditative communion with God. If his faith is true, he has now met the object of his contemplation face to face, the robes and the miter left behind. He is as one of us, a sinner before the seat of an all-just, all-merciful God. I have always trusted God to do the right thing in these circumstances, and I have likewise always been relieved that he insisted on reserving this judgment entirely to himself.

HARRISBURG - A Lutheran pastor yesterday told environmentalists that there is a scriptural basis for opposing Marcellus Shale drilling and legislation pending in both state houses to regulate it. The Rev. Leah Schade, pastor of the United in Christ Church in Union County, wore a hand-sewn white patch that said, "WWJF - Where Would Jesus Frack?" and dropped to her knees to demonstrate the power of prayer. Asked later to answer the question on her blouse, Schade said, "I don't believe Jesus would be fracking anywhere.

CAPERNAUM, Israel - A new trail across northern Israel offers travelers the chance to walk - or trot - through New Testament sites in the footsteps of Jesus. The newly opened Gospel Trail winds for 39 miles, heading south from Nazareth, across gentle green hills, through Jewish and Arab towns and down to Capernaum, the fishing town where Jesus is said to have established his home base. The Tourism Ministry believes the new trail may attract as many as 200,000 Christian pilgrims to northern Israel over the coming year.

James Carroll is a columnist for the Boston Globe Each year in our house it falls to me to place the figures of the creche on the mantle - the kneeling Mary and Joseph; the infant in his tiny manger; the dark-skinned Magi with turbans and gold; camels laden with treasure; the donkey with fixed eyes; the ox, indifferent; the shepherds, one leaning on his crook, one cradling a lamb; an angel. The wise men are brilliantly draped in reds and blues, the others in browns and grays. The baby has his arms open to the cosmos.

By Barbara Shelly 'Tis the season to mix politics and religion. Republican candidates are working fervently to stake out their free-market credentials in advance of the inconveniently scheduled Iowa caucuses. "Occupy" protesters are refusing to come in from the cold. You knew it was only a matter of time before somebody brought Jesus into the argument. This week, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, kicked up a bit of a storm on CNN's "Belief Blog" by declaring that "Jesus was a free marketer, not an occupier.

BOISE, Idaho - An Idaho man accused of firing an assault rifle at the White House believed he was Jesus and thought President Obama was the Antichrist, according to court documents and those who knew him. At one point, he even suggested to an acquaintance that Obama was planning to implant computer tracking chips into children. Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, of Idaho Falls, was charged yesterday with attempting to assassinate the president or his staff. He is accused of firing nine rounds at the White House Friday night - one cracking a window of the first family's living quarters - while Obama and the first lady were away.

A 6-year-old Camden boy was recovering from surgery Monday after having his throat slashed by his stepfather, who talked of uniting the child with Jesus, authorities said. Darrell Flood, 25, of Camden, was arrested Sunday and charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and Camden Police said. Flood used a knife to slash the child's throat around 3 a.m. Sunday in the Tamarack Apartments on Ferry Avenue, authorities said.

An exhibit of Rembrandt's paintings of Jesus at the Philadelphia Museum of Art has prompted conversations in Bible study groups, over lunch, and in adult-education classes before Sunday services. The subject is the image of a Christian savior whom Rembrandt depicts in a way that broke with tradition in the mid-17th century. Neither fine-boned nor fair-haired, the Dutch master's pivotal renderings show a Jesus with dark hair and Semitic features, a seeming embrace of his Jewish heritage.