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good morning and welcome to 'mosaic'. i am ron swisher. it is a privilege to host 'mosaic'. on behalf of my cohost, we welcome you into this new year. this begins my 19th year as cohost of 'mosaic' . and my good colleague and friend, the late hugh burrows asked me. one of the things he did about six times , he asked us to give a highlight of some of the top religious and secular stories of the previous year and i do that last year with two of my colleagues and friends. and i welcome reverend dale witherspoon. and reverend jim hopkins. >> good morning. >> some people know your charges and where they are but i never asked about your family background and some of the family you have spouses and

children. tell us, dale. >> i am married to reverend debbie weatherspoon. she is ignited methodist pastor who is on sabbatical. working on her doctorate of ministry. in the area of engaging faith in the public square. i have two sons. wesley, a graduating senior at el cerrito high school and his younger brother justice, a freshman at el cerrito. i have a brother and sister to live in the sacramento area and a cousin in oklahoma -- in oakland. >> karen and my wife and i have been married 41 years. we have three adult kids . aaron, a physical therapist . kristin, a registered nurse . and ethan who is completing his program to be a journeyman electrician in the alameda county electrical workers union. we have four grandsons. i am

pastor jim to some but my grandsons call me hop pop. >> it is great to have you both. i did not realize we did not give the audience your background a relationship with family. i think that is important. before we go on a break soon, one of the two top stories that are important from last year. >> certainly, the relationship of the evangelical, white evangelical christianity and the embrace of the president. seemingly unfailing embrace of the president, no matter what is a story that needs to be examined in question. >> 81% , i think, still. >> he seems to fight for their causes and regardless of his inability to tell the truth , is absolutely immoral immigration policies, his

misogyny , there seems to be very little that will separate him from his base and his religious base. >> christianity today article, seemed to push back. >> at the end of the year. mark galli said, come on. trust matters. how can we trust this person? a lot of the leading evangelical voices came back and said, but look at what he has done for us and the judges he has appointed. his standing to be antiabortion. this is the best president we have ever had. >> dale , what would be your story? >> along the same lines. impeachment and how much time has been spent dealing with the issues of impeachment. think about dr. martin luther king and talking about how important character is. in this impeachment, we are overlooking character and immorality and dealing with policies. this impeachment fight will go on

into 2020 and i think this is taking away from our government officials. caring for the people in our nation, the marginalized, those that are homeless. i think the impeachment has been a big story taking at the news. >> thank you both. we will explore these issues further. join us with dale and jim.

welcome back to 'mosaic'. the history of doors goodwin said leadership is five quality, humility, empathy, resilience, self-awareness and self inflection. i thing my colleagues have these qualities and i am i they are here with us. dale and jim, tell us more about the stories of this past year that i thought were important to our society and world . >> reflecting on our conversation last year and i think a story that continues in the news is the shootings, mass shootings . and i think it has been intensified when we have more shootings and places of worship. it seems like not a week goes by. we just had the shooting in texas the other

day. and it is bringing to question whether parishioners should be carrying firearms in churches or not. it is still a disturbing -- it is becoming a new normal. >> from synagogues to mosques to christian communities. >> every place of worship . >> i just don't understand some of the tribalism the creates my kind of violence. it is pretty prevalent in society and the world. what about you, jim? >> it is an important story in the anti-semitism is an ancient evil that seems to be experiencing a resurgence right now. we saw with the shootings in pittsburgh last year and at the synagogue this year and the stabbings at the hanukkah celebrants in new york. and the whole a relationship between religion and violence is a very complex relationship. he would think religion would be a clear voice against violence. but we also

embrace it in a lot of ways and that is the next story. the sexual violence that continues in the church and in the name of the church. perpetrated by church leaders. on vulnerable members of their congregation. certainly, the catholics have received most of the news but southern baptist have struggled. i am not a southern baptist and is not just southern baptists but the whole theology that tends to elevate mail over female, really makes us very vulnerable to that sort of abuse and inability to address the abuse. >> united methodist with not embracing the lgbtq community is a major issue with us. we are still blocking people.

marriage to being open and inclusive in terms of ordination. it is a huge issue. >> it is a huge issue. we had a special general conference in 2019. that special general conference was on one issue in the vote came , which was to retain the language of not welcoming lgbtq i a person's into the church. continuing to have our clergy brought up on charges and trials and as we enter into 2020 , january 1st, some of those laws and prohibitions we will see if we will have more trials and there is lots of movements to resist and all kind of ways to say, no all faults are welcome into the church. when we have our general conference in 2290 in minnesota -- in 2020 in minnesota. if we can change the language or there will be a split in the united methodist church. >> it is a tremendous struggle

of the last 40 or 50 years and now even here, possibly, of a split. >> talk of this affiliation and how do you retain your property. what will that look like. that will be a huge conversation for the united methodist denomination. >> our church , we were this fellowship in 1996 by our original body because we were charter members of the association of welcoming baptist. a little organization said there is place for sexual minorities, their friends and families and allies in the church. that was a hard period of time and i would not want to go through it again neither would i trade it for anything. the struggles, those battles , are addressed week in and week out on conversations large and small across the united states. it seems less a matter

of pronouncement from on high but each conversation coming to accept the truth that in our membership and in our communities in the beloved community, there is a wide range of healthy, sexual expression. >> i saw a little book on the history of notre dame and we know it was almost destroyed in april . the writer took a little of the history and i did not know it was built in 1100 and it took 100 years to build. men and women participated in the building of it and i think since 1803 is the first time it did not have a christmas eve service. >> i read that. >> that hit me as a major story. >> notre dame is a major symbol of the christian faith globally and for it to see the smoke billowing up, it was an attack on the soul of a lot of folks. >> five years to rebuild, they say.

>> that is optimistic, i would think. >> we are coming to the end of the segment. anything else before we close and come back? >> we need to talk about immigration policy. >> climate change. >> separation of the immigration issue. >> thank you for being with us. join us an onyx segment as we look at further stores that have impacted our lives.

welcome back to 'mosaic'. i am ron swisher. before we look at top stories again of this past year i asked my colleagues to mention a few books that they would highly recommend for you to read. >> my favorite book this year has been, gentleman in moscow. a sweep of philosophy and russian history and human interactions. and dignity. life and back, rural america is also a very good inside into what is happening in a lot of lives across the united states of america. >> i did not know that last

book. >> right now on prayer ministry on saturday morning we are reading a book called, naked spirituality. a life with god in 12 simple words. we are into chapter 12 now and it has been a powerful book. chapter 12 some words stock out. how we need to be able to say i'm sorry. how we live with honesty and humility and compassion. i think that is something our leadership of our nation is lacking in humility and the compassion is causing more harm. this naked spirituality is helping us to take a look at our own souls and how we have that walk of faith. >> we finished reading walking by faith and that was another study we did and that was excellent. >> universal christ by richard warrior. the franciscan priest. now is the time,

talking about being a spiritual profit. this other one that is new, the color of compromise, as he talks about how racism and slavery influence the church in its early years. we talked about before closing the last segment, immigration and climate change. would you like to say a word about either? >> with immigration comes this whole terrible practice of family separation. how can that be morally, spiritually, justified in any way, any shape, any form, regardless of party , regardless of background. taking babies from their parents, come on. that should unite folks from across the religious spectrum.

>> true. >> i think one of the things relooking of folks going back 2430 years to find out, do they have misdemeanor or some other charges and using that as a basis to separate their kids may have lived a clean life and a decent life and are working life. just a separation of families is unconscionable. some people say please don't talk about politics on the pulpit. >> i wrote an article about how christmas is profoundly political. there are taxes, there are empires, there is housing shortages. there is immigration. christmas is political and about the uplift of people. and that is political. it is not partisan. politics is an ongoing negotiation how we are going to live in a society that thrives. politics are

profoundly religious. >> climate change. stemming -- standing up for the climate. it is an intergenerational movement. even working with someone like jane fonda and lily tomlin. also on fridays. we are trying to say this is a general a -- a generational issue. we are trying to save the nation and the environment. scripture says, a child should leave them in there is going out. similar to last year with the parkland shooting there were high school students that were leading. our young people are passionate about this country. >> i read where 7 million people have been displaced because of climate change. and the environment . we have amazon concern about , and arctic, all of that. >> all the fires . that we have had in california. although wildfires, kinkaid and geddes

fire. >> she has got us to try to address this because of the millions of people displaced. we have one more segment and we will close with a word of hope and inspiration which is what we truly try to do. >> amen. >> please join us for the last segment with dale witherspoon and jim hopkins.

a composer recently said the tradition is not worshiping ashes but preserving the fire and i hear that as the fire of the spirit. this

is what my colleagues bring to this segment and i am thankful for them. as we close the segment was say a few more words about our hopes for the future in 2020. >> i was watching a comedy special the other day and she was closing out her segment she talked about babies crying and how when a baby cries people go to the baby in the either hug the baby, change the baby, feed the baby, give it love. she said we have a lot of folks today, adults that are hurting and we want to institutionalize and criminalize them instead of going to them letting them know they are loved. giving them a hug. paying attention to them. for me, we are getting to be more of an individualistic society. and we need to reclaim our communal roots that we are all in this together. we don't know our neighbors. we have locks and gated communities. why are we fearing folks instead of understanding we are living together. i would encourage folks to get to know your neighbors on the right and left and across the street. talking

to a stranger. the in community. we come together in times of natural disasters, fires and earthquakes, but why do we have to wait for a natural disaster instead of making that part of our everyday living? >> thank you for that. >> i love that. the power of community, especially the power of beloved community. as we talk about the top news stories of the years we talked about the failings of religious communities. and is a well documented pick but the enduring of faith powered communities needs to be lifted up and noted. this is airing on january 12th. the liturgical calendar, the baptism of jesus. jesus raised his hands and stepped in the water and said i want to be in the number. a community i want to be with. to celebrate the power of our communities , to mitigate against loneliness, defined help, to seek justice.

there are religious communities of christian, jewish, muslim, buddhist, around the globe and across the country that are doing wonderful things and are bringing people together to create the beloved community. >> that is wonderful. i keep inviting you back. to keep that spirit and tell us again where your charges are. -- your church is our. >> eastern hill united methodist church in richmond, california. we have worship services, and sunday school services. and a 10:30 worship service. >> lake shore avenue baptist church. in oakland. sunday worship at 10:00. bible study at 11:30, sunday. tuesday

evening and wednesday mornings. we try to live out the beloved community and welcome for all. >> amen. i hope you have been with us and inspired by these two great pastors and all they bring. we lost so many people this past sure, entertainers and actors and activists at many levels and i thought of tony morris and the african-american woman who won the nobel prize for literature in 1993 and she said that great literature along with great jazz music, has three qualities. memory, history, and imagination. use our imagination as well as understanding our history and mayor memories keep us active and alive. thank you for joining us. i am ron swisher.

from cbs news bay area, this is a sunday edition. a search for suspect after minors were shot on an east bay freeway. it is been nearly a year since a five-year-old girl was shot and killed on the same