coming up the deep national secularism in france. >> there is an idea that the state has a responsibility in france to come forward and regulate religion that otherwise could lead to civil war. >> also the argument in kentucky over building a new theme park that will display noah's ark and it will create new jobs, but should it get rebates on state taxes? major funding for "religion & ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lily endowment, an indianapolis-based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in

religion, community development, and education. additional funding by mutual of america, designed and customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company anñ the corporation for public broadcasting. welcome. i'm bob abernethy. it's good to have you with us. a poll released this week by the pew research center shows that, for the first time, a majority of americans want u.s. troops to leave afghanistan as soon as possible. in a speech from the white house on wednesday, president obama promised to begin the withdrawal this summer. he said more than 30,000 troops will return home by next year. >> america, it is time to focus on nation building here at home. >> earlier in the week, the u.s. conference of mayors called for an end to the war, saying the money would be better spent on domestic needs. nearly 40 religious leaders also

urged an end to the conflict. in a letter to the president, they said peace in afghanistan caot cme tough military force. international concerns are rising for refugees from libya and the middle east. in syria, thousands have flooded into neighboring turkey to escape the syrian government crackwn on protestors. on monday, the united nations marked world refugee day with an urgent plea for countries to keep their borders open to people fleeing violence. according to a u.n. report, more than 4million people were displaced last year, the highest number in 15 years. >> a new study says despite the lingering recession, u.s. charitable donations rose nearly 4% last year. according to the giving usa foundation and the center on philanthropy, americans contributed more than $290 billion to charity in 2010.

the largest increases were in aid to international causes such as haiti earthquake relief. the biggest share of all charitable giving -- 35% -- was to religious organizations. last year's modest gains come after two years of lower charitable donations, which researchers blame on the economy. meanwhile, american muslims are speaking out against a growing movement by many states to ban shariah, or islamic law in u.s. courts. at a capitol hill briefing, muslim leaders said six states are considering measures to prohibit courts from using shariah. 14 others have proposals to ban quote "foreign" law, which islamic groups say is code for shariah. proponents say they want to event extremists from trying

to subvert the u.s. constitution. u.s. muslim leaders say the measures are unnecessary and unfairly single out their faith. >> those individuals and organizations -- who have sought to make this, fabricate this, so-called creeping sharia threat, have tried to make it part of our national scourse -- seek to divide us as americans. this is precisely, at the end, what they seek to do is to marginalize and divide a specific group of americans against other groups of americans." another poll out this week shows that evangelical leaders in the so-called global south -- africa, latin america and asia -- are much more optimistic about the future of evangelicalism than those from the global north, which includes europe and north america. according to the pew forum on religion and public life, a majority of leadersrom the south, 58%, believe that evangelicals are gaining influence in their countries. anwhile, mt leaders from the north, 66, say evangelicals are

losing influence. the survey found that evangelical leaders around the world agree on many social issues. a large majority across the board said abortion is usually or always wrong. 84% also said that society should discourage homosexuality. the survey was conducted at a large meeting of evangelical leaders. this year in france, which has a large muslim minority, the government banned the wearing of full-face veils, niqab in all public places. muslims objected, but the ruling was overwhelmingly supported by non-muslim french people. france says it's for liberty and equality, but it also has an extraordinary, deep, cultural and constitutional commitment to secularism. in the name of preventing civil unrest, and without much public protest, the government has the power to regulate religious practices in public.

deborah potter reports. >> reporter: one iconic image of the paris that tourists come to see is notre dame cathedral, a centuries-old symbol of roman catholicism in france. but inside this catholic church in paris, the sparse congregation reflects a wider truth -- christianity is on the wane across western europe, and nowhere is its decline more visible than in france. >> the eldest daughter of the church, that's what we were called. today, saying you believe in a relign takes a real identification of faith. today, the number has really diminished. >> 20 years ago, about 80% of french people described themselves as catholic. today, it's just over half and less than 5% most of them older regularly go to mass. father briere blames a growing

culture of consumerism and a catholic hierarchy that he says has been too rigid, failing to draw young people into the church. that's true across europe, but france is a special case, a country where religion is widely seen as a source of trouble. if france had an official religion it would be "laicite" or secularism, a principle that's enshrined in this country's constitution and reflects its history of religious wars between catholics and protestants, as well as the french revolution, that basically booted the catholic church from power. that history lives on in french movies and classrooms, where students are taught in gory detail about a 16th- century massacre, when thousands of protestants were slaughtered by the catholic forces of the king. and that history still lies on public display in paris. these are the bones of catholic priests killed and mutilated by a revolutionary mob in 1792, small wonder that the french

concept of separation of church and state is strikingly different from that in the us, says jocelyne cesari, a french political scientist and research fellow at harvard. >> there is this idea that the state has a responsibility in france to control and regulate religion that otherwise can lead to civil war. >> that control extends to the churches themselves, including notre dame, which all became state property 100 years ago, along with existing synagogues. another example -- in france, for a marriage to be legal it has to take place at a city hall. church weddings are ceremonial but not official, and the wall between church and state doesn't end there. >> in the french case it means also restraining or limiting as muh as possible the public manifestation or expression of religious groups. in other words, in france it's better if you act civilly with

no religious affiliation. it's seen as more legitimate, while in america it's quite the opposite. >> but the idea that religion should be kept private has collided with the reality that france has changed. islam is now the country's second biggest religion. france has the largest muslim population in europe -- almost five million, twice as many as in the united states, according to recent estimates. many are the french-born children and grandchildren of muslim immigrants from former colonies like algeria, who moved to france after independence in the 1960s. >> those who practice today are not the same as those who practiced before. they were people who came from their homelands, immigrants, so they tried to be as quiet as possible. today, these are french people who never set foot in the middle east or africa. they were born here, grew up here, and they are practicing

muslims and they are reclaiming their religion. they see themselves as french and muslim. why would they hide their religion? >> they may not want to hide it, but in some cases they're being forced to. over the past decade, the french government has clamped down on the display of religious symbols. since 2004, students have not been allowed to wear headscarves, large crosses, or skullcaps in public schools. the result new muslim schools like this one, where every girl in thisleventh-grade class wears a headscarf. "we come because we can wear it," one of them says. this year the government went further, banning the niqab or full-face veil not just in schools but in all public places. the law affects a tiny minority of muslims, only a few hundred women wear it in france, but those who do were outraged. >> when i hear france -- liberty, equality, fraternity, it's a big lie. i feel like i'm in a

dictatorship. >> the ban is a very bad thing because, you know, every muslim, even men and even women who don't wear the niqab, feel concerned, you know, feel rejected by this ban. >> but the vast majority in france approved of the ban, 80%, according to public opinion polls. >> look, i think secularism is indispensable. it's a protection so everyone has peace, believers and non-believers, and so all these religious, fanatic excesses are regrettable, appalling. i'm very much a feminist. i hate the idea of the veil. >> despite the new laws, a very public display of religion takes place every friday in this paris neighborhood.

streets are closed to traffic so thousands of muslim men can pray outside a mosque that's much too small to hold them all, largely because of property costs. france has just 2,000 prayer rooms and a few dozen full-sized mosques. while the community solicits donations to build new ones, the local government allows this public exercise of religion, to the annoyance of some non-muslims. there are other chinks in the wall of secularism. religious schools can receive state funding. most national holidays come from the catholic church calendar, and once a year catholics from all over flood the streets of paris as they leave on a three-day, 75-mile pilgrimage to the cathedral of chartres. >> but people don't like it. they don't like it, even catholics. the pilgrimage to chartres?

those are fundamentalists, traditionalists. our culture erases religion. we're here but we don't show ourselves. >> olivier bobineau teaches the sociology of religion and lives himself. he's a catholic who wears a small cross on a chain that he keeps hidden most of the time. but one night, at a meeting with high government officials so you leaned forward, you could see it, and somebody said -- >> careful. >> put that away. >> yeah. today it's unimaginable to go against the state, against the public space, and to show a cross, a skullcap, a veil. it's impossible. it's wanting to destroy the state. that's what the french feel. the majority of french people do not think it's possible to be french and muslim. most french people think you

can't be a citizen and believe in god. we are the most atheist people in the world. why? because when you are a believer, in france people think you have lost your freedom, your reason, okay? >> the french also remember the violence that broke out across the country a few years ago. for two weeks, young muslims angry about unemployment and discrimination took to the streets and burned thousands of cars, and that anger has not entirely subsided. >> we are a little anxious. i have to tell the truth. we are anxious. you sense it among the faithful because the faithful are returning to the mosque. maybe that's a positivehing. it's pushing muslims to return to the mosque. they sense a threat, that the days ahead won't be better days for us. >> the tension comes down to a fundamental disconnect, with french catholics seeing islam through their own secular prism.

>> what they are expecting from muslims is this kind of very loose connection with no particular affiliation to islamic organization, with no particular desire to dress differently or to eat differently, but okay, you can be buried as a muslim or you can marry in your -- you can have a religious ceremony in your mosque. this would be okay. >> underlying the debate over muslim dress is the question of security after 9/11. >> people say that's what religion is. it's violence. look at the news, the twin towers, bin laden. the news reinforces the illusion that this is a war of civilizations. >> we think we have work to do to convince the french people, to show them that muslims are patriots, and the proof and history is with us.

>> the great mosque of paris is one piece of thahistory, built by the french government in the 1920s to honor muslim soldiers who fought and died in world war i. at this cemetery outside paris, the only all-islamic burial ground in france, each grave represents a muslim family's decision to call france home. the new generation sees itself as both muslim and french, no matter how uncomfortable that makes their secular countrymen. "for religion and ethics newsweekly," i'm deborah potter in paris. we have another church state story. today on a popular not for profit biblical theme park in kentucky that celebrates creationism. it's founder wants to build a new for-profipark centered on a huge re-creation of noah's ark. should that project receive

millions in state tax rebates because it will attract tourists? lucky severson reports. >> this is the creation museum in northern kentucky. it's a big place with lots of exhibitsepicting the creation of the earth in six days, just as it occurred in the book of genesis. ken ham, a former high school science teacher from australia, is the ceo of the christian ministry that created the museum. >> i'd say the creation museum, what's happened here is way above our expectations. it exceeded all of our visions and dreams. >> he says some of the 1.3 million visitors who've come here in the last four years are simply curious, but a majority, like danella and donna from indianapolis, are believers. >> the bible is the bible, you know. god created the earth and all of it in six days. can't argue with god. >> it's a place where homosapiens and dinosaurs live together in harmony, where adam

and eve explore the garden of eden, and noah builds an ark loaded with creatures small and large, even dinosaurs. ken ham now has plans to build his own ark, a really big one, much longer than a football field, all part of a huge theme park called the ark encounter. he says his ark will have the same dimensions as the one described in the book of genesis. >> genesis, could it be a metaphor? >> ham delivers his views about the ark and creation in 90-second radio spots that air, he says, on over 600 radio stations nationwide. he says his views are gaining traction, although they are not yet widely accepted in the religious community. but it's not ham's version of the creation that troubles reverend joseph phelps, pastor of the highland baptist church in louisville. it's the tax break that has been approved for the ark park. >> i honor anyone who has a different understanding of creation than i or my church might have.

that's not the problem at all. it's when, as in the case of the theme park, when they want to ask for public monies in order to fund putting out their particular point of view. that's where we have a problem. >> it's not really a tax break, it's a tourism incentive, and what it is, it's actually a rebate on the sales tax generated at the particular facility. >> what it is is a tax rebate that would allow the ark park to recoup more than $37 million in sales taxes. under kentucky's tourism act, any company that promotes tourism is entitled to a rebate. the creation museum is considered a nonprofit ministry, but the ark park is intended to return a profit to its private investors. pastor phelps and other religious leaders argue that the tax break would violate the separation of church and state. >> well, first of all, i think it's unconstitutional. i think to put out a particular religious point of view, such as

that theme park, or if it was an evolution theme park, either one of those points of view, if they're coming from a religious vantage point, cannot be merged with government funding, government support. >> don't we have freedom of religion in this country? don't we have freedom of speech? so if you were a christian, and you happened to be running a business that happens to have a christian theme but you are a for-profit business, why is that different to a secular business that's running something that just doesn't happen to have a christian theme? >> the conundrum here is that kentucky desperately needs jobs. >> the ark encounter is going to employ almost a thousand people, and the impact on the number of jobs associated with that is going to be in the thousands, and our particular research has shown it will be many thousands, and it will bring millions and millions of dollars into the community. in fact, the research that we did shows that the economic impact of the ark encounter project over 10 years will be

something like $4 billion. >> kentucky's democratic governor supports the tax incentives. he says he wasn't elected to debate religion, he was elected to create jobs, especially in hard-hit communities like williamstown near where the ark park will be located and where a majority of the unemployed have been out of jobs for over two years. >> the city and the county both are in desperate need like every place in the country for revenue, and this will generate a tremendous amount of revenue. >> wade gutman is the head of the industrial development office and the chamber of commerce for grant county. he says he has slept with a smile on his face ever since he heard the theme parkas going to be in his backyard. >> i would have a definitely different feeling if it was nonprofit. but since it is for-profit, and it will create so many jobs and boost our economy almost immediately once construction starts, i couldn't find anything to be against it about. >> in the original story, noah

basically built the ark on his own shekel. he didn't have any government funding or anything like that involved. >> dan phelps is president of the kentucky paleontological society. he joins other academics who say the theme park sends the wrong message about kentucky. >> they're doing it on the aegis of saying that this will bring a lot of jobs to the state, and it might bring a large number of low-paying jobs to the state, but it's definitely hurt the image of kentucky. jay leno has already joked about kentucky and the ark on his monologue on at least two different occasions. >> but phelps's biggest concern isn't kentucky's image. it's the message the theme park will send to the state's high school and college students. >> almost every year here in kentucky we have attempts to get laws enacted into the state legislature that would promote creationism, and right now outside of the larger cities a lot of students aren't learning very much about evolution. the textbooks soft-peddle it. the teachers tend to avoid the subject basically for fear of

offending people, and the creation museum and the ark park can only make this worse in kentucky. >> so in other words they only want their particular vw presented. they want their view of millions of years and evolution and there's no god presented. they really don't want someone like us having the freedom to present this particular position. >> ham has not minced words in his views of mainline churches that don't espouse a literal translation of the creation. >> yes, i would say that churches aren't doing their job if they're not teaching the book of genesis as it is meant to be taken, because many churches, unfortunately, have taken man's ideas of millions of years of evolution and then they reinterpret the book of genesis. and what we would say is, while we wouldn't question their christian testimony in regard to their salvation, we would say that they re really undermining the authority of god's word. >> i don't preach against creationism, but i would say

that the majority of our church would support an evolutionary understanding of how god created this world. >> and they would support your position against giving them this tax break? >> yes, this church is a strong supporter of the separation of church and state. >> according to some interpretations of the book of genesis, it took noah about a hundred years to build the ark. the ark encounter is scheduled to launch in three years. for "religion and ethics newsweekly," i'm lucky severson in petersburg, kentucky. on our calendar this week, houses of worship across the country are holding special "shared faith" services this weekend. clergy plan to read from the quran and other religious texts. organizers say the event is meant to promote interfaith understanding. also on our calendar, on tuesday, muslims celebrate lailat al miraj marking the time when they believe the prophet mohammed miraculously traveled

from mecca to the site of the al aqsa mosque in jerusalem and then ascended to heaven for one night. that's our program for now. i'm bob abernethy. you can follow us on facebook and twitter, find us on youtube, and watch us anytime, anywhere on smart phones and iphones. there's also much more on our web site, you can comment on all of our stories and share them. audio and video podcasts are also available. join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, scenes from celebrations of the summer solstice held at stonehenge in england.

major funding for "religion & ethics newsweekly" is provided by e lily endowment, an indianapolis-based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community development, and education. additional funding by mutual of america, designed and customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. and the corporation for public broadcasting.