Thread: Fake News: ABC’s Dowd Repeats False Claim Joseph and Mary Were ‘2 Immigrants’ in Nati

Fake News: ABC’s Dowd Repeats False Claim Joseph and Mary Were ‘2 Immigrants’ in Nativity Story



by WARNER TODD HUSTON
24 Dec 2016

ABC chief political analyst Matthew Dowd jumped to his Twitter account to make the shop-worn and false liberal claim that Jesus Christ’s parents, Joseph and Mary, were “two immigrants” in Bethlehem in the tale of the first Christmas. It all amounts to fake news that is over 2,000 years old.

Going back thousands of years for his Christmas Eve fake news, Dowd skewed the Christmas nativity story by saying Joseph and Mary were “immigrants” who were turned away by many in the town.

“Let us remember today,” Dowd wrote, “2 immigrants, a man and his very pregnant wife, sought shelter & were turned away by many. She gave birth in a manger.”

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Matthew Dowd
✔@matthewjdowd

Let us remember today 2 immigrants, a man and his very pregnant wife, sought shelter & were turned away by many. She gave birth in a manger
4:25 AM - 24 Dec 2016

This claim that Joseph and Mary were “immigrants” is a mischaracterization long used to push a modern-day policy of immigration amnesty. If even Jesus Christ’s parents were “immigrants,” how can today’s American Christians be against open borders and amnesty?

But the truth is, the famed Biblical couple were not “immigrants.” Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem to register for what was essentially Caesar’s Internal Revenue Service. The pair had made their way to Bethlehem to register for a government census so that they could be assessed a tax bill.

The key excerpt comes in the Book of Luke, Chapter 2, (New International Version), which reads:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Neither Joseph nor Marry were in town to “immigrate” to Bethlehem. They were there in order to be identified and registered by the government.

But even if Joseph and Mary did intend to move to Bethlehem in the Christmas story, they would still not be “immigrants” because their home town of Nazareth and the Christmas story town of Bethlehem were still in the same country. You can only be an “immigrant” when you are leaving one country and entering another.

Also, showing his unfamiliarity with the Christmas story, Dowd made the mistake of saying that Mary “gave birth in a manger.” That would have been quite a trick, because a “manger” is the wooden box Baby Jesus was placed in after his birth. In fact, Mary gave birth in a stable and then her baby was laid in a manger.

Liberals also warp the Christmas story in other ways. Joseph and Mary are often claimed to be “homeless” and “poor.” In truth they were neither. They had a home in Nazareth, and Joseph was a carpenter for a living and had a middle class lifestyle for his day.

While he didn’t mention this false “poor” claim in his original Tweet, Dowd made a followup Tweet alluding to the false claim that Joseph and Mary were “poor,” with a drawing of a nativity scene “without any Jews, Arabs, Africans, refugees, poor people.”

View image on Twitter

Matthew Dowd
✔@matthewjdowd

Here you go people. A nativity scene without any Jews, Arabs, Africans, refugees, poor people
9:51 AM - 24 Dec 2016

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...ativity-story/

Joseph and Mary were Jews in Roman occupied Israel, the Jewish nation before its destruction by the Romans. This was before the Romans destroyed Israel and drove the Jews into exile and before the Romans tried to destroy the memory and history of Israel by naming the territory "Palestine".

If anything, it was the Romans who were immigrants more like our immigrants today -- occupiers, really, colonists -- hoping to destroy the country, obscure its history and subsume it under an imperial international order.

The reason baby Jesus was born in the manger, was NOT because people were turning them away, it was because the Inn in Bethlehem was full by the time they arrived, no different than if you were traveling to any city or town in America and arrive late at night during a big event and all the hotels and motels are booked.

Our CORRUPT MEDIA is also the DUMB MEDIA. These people like Matthew Dowd are so stupid they are the perfect pawns for the Puppet Masters pushing their agendas. They are also tasteless and classless hacks with no respect for the American People or our precious Christmas Holiday. They are big mouth talkers with nothing to say. They are sinking these media giants all on our their own and will soon go the way of Blockbusters Video Rentals, having been outdone by better cheaper alternatives.

It seems everyone is into 'fact checking' these days - maybe we should send these people a copy of the
Gospel of Luke.

Dowd lampooned on Twitter when attempt to politicize the Christmas story backfired

by Kathryn Blackhurst | Updated 25 Dec 2016 at 9:19 AM

When Matthew Dowd of ABC News attempted to portray Mary and Joseph as “immigrants” who were “turned away by many,” the Twitterverse promptly swatted down the assertion from the network’s chief political analyst and mercilessly mocked his bungling butchery of the Christmas story.

Dowd, attempting to link the Biblical story of the birth of Christ to the contentious political issue of immigration, pointed to Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea.

“Let us remember today 2 immigrants, a man and his very pregnant wife, sought shelter & were turned away by many. She gave birth in a manger,” Dowd tweeted.

The problem for Dowd, however, lies in the fact that Mary and Joseph really were not immigrants.

Matthew Dowd ✔ @matthewjdowd
Let us remember today 2 immigrants, a man and his very pregnant wife, sought shelter & were turned away by many. She gave birth in a manger
2:25 AM - 24 Dec 2016

As Luke 2:1-7 reveals, Mary and Joseph began their journey in Nazareth and concluded it in Bethlehem. Did these two cities exist a considerable distance apart? Sure. But Mary and Joseph weren't immigrants at all.

As the Gospel of Luke reads, "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn."

In Dowd's effort to politicize the Christmas story and presumably issue a subtle jab at President-elect Donald Trump's immigration and refugee policies, facts didn't seem to matter -- since Mary and Joseph travelled from one city to another in the same country. And it didn't take long for Twitter to call him out on his blunder.

"You don't Bible much do you?" one person responded to Dowd's tweet. "Ahh, so you just morphed that story into something it wasn't to support your point. That's today's journalism for you."

Matthew Dowd ✔ @matthewjdowd
@R_Optimist actually i do.
Reluctant Optimist @R_Optimist
@matthewjdowd Ahh, so you just morphed that story into something it wasn't to support your point. That's today's journalism for you.
4:36 AM - 24 Dec 2016

"Weird when people try to fit history into their ideology," another responded. "You can have compassion without making up facts. That is what radicals do."

Matthew Dowd ✔ @matthewjdowd
@TCBnole you have no idea what my ideology is. Try compassion for one day.
TCBnole @TCBnole
@matthewjdowd you can have compassion without making up facts. That is what radicals do
8:01 AM - 24 Dec 2016

"But Mary and Joseph were traveling in Israel where they were from. They were not immigrants," another pointed out to Dowd.

metamemette @metamemette
@matthewjdowd I hope that everyone who celebrates Christmas, including those who don't believe in God will think of those who are displaced.
����Trumpland ���� @Vexed_American
@metamemette @matthewjdowd yeah we do. But Mary and Joseph were traveling in Israel where they were from. They were not immigrants.
7:24 AM - 24 Dec 2016

Two responders got into a small argument with one saying, "Oh calm down! Seriously it's Christmas Eve. How about demonstrating some love, light and peace."

"Calm down? This started because someone twisted the story to fit a political narrative," the second person responded. "Yes, your implication was that people who are for tight immigration are failing their faith."

Matthew Dowd ✔ @matthewjdowd
@Daily_Planet_1 @metamemette @Vexed_American it is funny. I made no partisan or political statement. Just stated a scene.
DailyPlanet @Daily_Planet_1
@matthewjdowd @metamemette @Vexed_American Yes, your implication was that people who are for tight immigration are failing their faith.
7:54 AM - 24 Dec 2016

"@matthewjdowd I take your point, but was a temporary trip from Galilee to Judea really 'immigration?'" someone else tweeted.

Matthew Dowd ✔ @matthewjdowd
Let us remember today 2 immigrants, a man and his very pregnant wife, sought shelter & were turned away by many. She gave birth in a manger
Atty Tom Dickinson @AttyTMD
@matthewjdowd I take your point, but was a temporary trip from Galilee to Judea really "immigration?"
2:34 AM - 24 Dec 2016



To sum up the entire conversation, another person tweeted a gif of Trump from one of the presidential debates saying, "Wrong!"

Matthew Dowd ✔ @matthewjdowd
Let us remember today 2 immigrants, a man and his very pregnant wife, sought shelter & were turned away by many. She gave birth in a manger
Marcus Hawkins ✔ @HawkinsUSA
@matthewjdowd pic.twitter.com/v3iH8SP0l6
7:27 AM - 24 Dec 2016
(video of Trump saying 'wrong' in tweet)


https://www.lifezette.com/polizette/...ph-immigrants/