coming up -- interfaith solidarity after the tragic shooting at a sikh temple. plus, jews and christians reflecting on the jewishness of jesus. and what is thought to be the biggest congregation in the world, the yoido full gospel church in seoul, south korea claims 800,000 members! >> announcer: major funding is

provided by the lilly endowment an indianapolis-based private family foundation, dedicated to its founders, christian religion community development and education. additial funding also provid by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. the estate of william j. carter, the jane hensen foundation, and the corporation for public broadcasting. welcome, i'm kim lawton, sitting in for bob abernethy. thank you for joining us. there's been an outpouring of interfaith sympathy and support for the u.s. sikh community after last sunday's attack at a temple near milwaukee that took the lives of six worshippers. in what officials called an act of domestic teorism, a gunman with neo-nazi ties opened fire as local sikhs, or "sicks" as some adherents call themselves, had gathered for a worship service. religious groups across the

spectrum condemned the attack. many communities held prayer services and vigils to remember the victims and to pray for religious tolerance. groundswell, the social action initiative of auburn seminary in new york, gathered thousands of messages of hope and healing for milwaukee's sikh community. they called the project "we're all sikhs today." oundell's director valarie kaur, who is sikh, delivered the messages in person. she joins me now from milwaukee. valarie, thank you for being with us. why did you feel it was important to bring these messages? >> well, this is a tragedy not just for the sikh community, but for all americans, and i know that many americans were hungry to express their love and support in some way. they understand that this is deeply personal for every sikh american in this country, that when we see the television screen we see our own gurdwaras, we see our own aunts and uncles, our own brothers and sisters, our n chdrenaught in the gunfire. and so every message sent, every prayer whispered, every candle

lit has meant so much, not just to the sikhs in milwaukee, but across the country. and we felt it was important to deliver those messages in one piece to the people here on the ground. >> and there in that community a week later, how are people doing? how are they coping? how are they trying to rebuild? >> well, people are in deep grief and sadness, but they're not letting that grief paralyze them. they've understood that this moment is unprecedented in the history of the sikh community. you know, my grandfather came to this country 100 yrs ago, and in 100 years we have never entered the national spotlight like we have in the last few days. so the family members, community members are finding the courage to step before the sea of cameras, to tell the story of the sikh faith to the american public, many of whom are not -- have not known about sikhs before. and they're also finding the courage to call for an end to hate violence, not just against the sikh community, but all americans still struggling in this country. it's been deeply inspiring to be here to witness that. >> and what is there in the sikh

faith, in the spiritual tenets, practices that people are really calling upon during this time of tragedy? >> the spiritual of resilience or chardi kala is deep in the heart of the sikh faith. i was just at the gurdwara when it reopened and allowed community members to step inside. and when they stepped inside it was still a crime scene. there was blood on the carpet. there were bullet holes in the walls and in an instant i saw sikh men and women jump into action. they were scrubbing the floors. they were painting over the bullet holes. they were repairing the broken windows, listening to prayers as they worked together. i was literally watching a community rebuild itself before my eyes, just hours, just days after the attacks. and so i think that spirit of resilience is something that we've drawn upon from not just a hundred-year history in this country, but a 500-year history where sikhs have died for their turbans, died for their faith, but drawn from their faith in order to rise up again and not

be afraid, and that's what i've seen here on the ground in amazing ways. >> and what does this moment mean for the entire sikh community across this country? >> at the town hall meeting the other night, sikh community members spoke to the white house, the department of justice and the fbi, and every single one of them said, you know, what happened on sunday was not an isolated incident. this is part of a struggle that we are experiencing, that we have undergone for so long, to be seen as americans in this country. our children are still bullied, our men are still searched, profiled at airports. we're still facing discrimination in workplaces, in the u.s. militar for example, and we still face racial slurs. we still face hate violence. so they're calling upon our nation's leaders to help this community and all communities who are struggling for full rights and recognition in this country. so this is the work going forward after this week. >> and very briefly, is there a message for all america here?

>> yes. this moment calls us to do much more than put up tougher laws against gun violence. this moment calls us to have a national conversation about the rise of hate, fear and discontent in this country. the difference between the covege of aurora andak cek shows that this is a harder conversation for our nation to have, but this means that everyone, every american listening right now, is called upon to join us, to recommit to a vision of a country without terror, without fear. >> all right, valarie kaur. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you for having me. in other news, the interfaith community also rallied around muslims in joplin, missouri, this week after a mosque burned down in what is believed to be the second arson attack there in just over a month. the fire at the islamic center of joplin came as muslims are observing their holy month of ramadan. local churches opened their

facilities for ramadan prayers and other observances. the national interfaith group shoulder to shoulder renewed its call for an end to anti-religious attacks. members of the leadership conference of women religious, the umbrella group representing the majority of u.s. nuns, gathered in st. louis this week to discuss their response to a highly critical vatican report. more than 900 catholic sisters attended the meeting. this past april the vatican released an assessment accusing the leadership conference of having "serious doctrinal problems." the report criticized the group for being largely silent on right-to-life issues and not doing enough to support traditional marriage. it mandated that the conference come under the authority of three u.s. bishops. many nuns were outraged by the assessment. while there was support for breaking structural ties with the vatican, others argued for continued dialogue. as fighting continues to

rage in syria, a coalition of u.s. muslim groups urged mosques in this country to hold a day of solidarity with the syrian people. congregations were asked to pray for an end to the growing humanitarian crisis and to urge their political representatives to do more to resolve the conflict. meanwhile, the number of syrian refugees keeps rising. aid groups, many of them faith-based, are calling for more support and supplies. in northern nigeria, sectarian violence continues to escalate. earlier in the week, 19 christians were killed in a church shooting, the latest in a string of church attacks led by the islamist militant organization boko haram. in an apparent act of retaliation, two people were killed outside of a mosque. religious leaders are appealing for calm. it can be surprising for some people to think about the fact that the founder of christianity was a jew. many jews and christians haven't spent a lot of time reflecting about jesus' jewish identity.

but several new projects argue that jews and christians alike can enhance their understanding of their own faith traditions by exploring the jewishness of jesus. >> jesus argues with fellow jews. you can't be more jewish than to argue with fellow jews. it's not a problem. >> at the 92nd street "y" in new york, vanderbilt divinity school professor amy-jill levine is making the case that jews and christians alike need to pay more attention to the jewishness of jesus. and e best way to do that, she believes, is by reading the new testament from a jewish perspective. >> if i want to understand jewish history, the new testament is one of the best sources that i've got. >> levine, who is an observant jew, is co-editor of the jewish annotated new testament, a version of the christian scripture with footnotes and commentaries written entirely by jewish scholars. >> the new testament does have extraordinarily beautiful and profound material in it.

paul's hymn to love in 1 corinthians the parables of the good samaritanr th prodigal son, or comments such as "god is love," which is 1 john. this is magnificent material, and everybody ought to appreciate it. i find for myself the more i read the new testament, in fact the better jew i become. >> the jewish annotated new testament is one of several new projects urging jews especially to take a new look at jesus. bestselling author rabbi shmuley boteach's latest book is called "kosher jesus." that notion, he says, is a radical departure from what he learned as a child. >> when i grew up, jesus' name, his very name, w off limit jesus was seen as the archenemy of the jewish people. he was really seen as an apostate and traitor to his people. >> boteach believes the time is ripe for a new paradigm. >> we can't ignore the 600-pound gorilla in the room, which is jesus. christians and jews come together, and they can never

mention jesus. christians are afraid of offending the jews, the jews are uncomfortable with the mention of jesus. >> growing up in a predominantly roman catholic neighborhood in massachusetts, levine had the impression that the christianity of her friends was just a different form of her family's judaism. and then she heard otherwise. >> when i was in second grade, a little girl accused me of having killed her lord because she had been taught that the jews were responsible for the death of jesus. and i couldn't fathom how this religion that had such beautiful attributes and a jewish man named jesus and the same bible was saying horrible things about jews. so i started asking questions. >> she says her lifelong study has shown her how embedded jesus was in the jewish tradition. >> he teaches like a jew. he talks in parables. and jews then knew that parables were not simple banal little stories. they were designed to shake us up, to get us to see the world in a new way, to challenge us. and jesus is just a fabulous

jewish storyteller. >> she says his teachings, such as in the famous sermon on the mount, are expansions of teachings in the torah. >> he's going to the law and bringing out the heart of it, which is also what jewish teaching does. so he says, not only don't murder, he actually says you have to love your enemy, and he's the only person in antiquity i've found who says that. but i think that gets to the heart of scripture. >> levine doesn't shy away from what she calls the problematic passages in the new testament, passages that have been used by christians over the centuries to persecute jews. >> we need to know what the new testament says about the jewish responsibility for the death of jesus, how the new testament characterizes jewish groups, particularly the pharisees, and we need to know that within historical context. that doesn't mean we erase them. it doesn't mean we fudge the translation. it means we deal with them just as jews have dealt with those problematic passages in the shared scriptures.

>> levine believes christians too can benefit from studying the judaism of jesus. >> jews have been arguing about the law since moses came down the mountain. oh, thank you for that "amen." that's lovely. i wish that happened in my synagogue more often. >> on this day, she was a guest lecturer at the evangelical oral roberts university. >> unless christian preachers, teachers, bible study leaders know about first-century judaism, oft what happens is jesus gets yked out of his jewish context and he becomes the only jew who's compassionate toward women, interested in adapting torah, interested in adapting the law to the needs of the contemporary community, the only jew interested in peace among a group of very bellicose, warlike jews. >> she says when christians don't understand jesus' jewish context, it can lead to misunderstandings about his message, which in turn can lead to harmful stereotypes. >> what i hear in a number of

sermons and read in a number of sermons is that torah is difficult to follow, that it's an impossible burden that weighs people down, and then jesus comes along and says basically "don't worry, be happy." in actuality, jews in the first century and jews who practice torah today did not find torah a burden. they found it to be a delight. >> or, she says, many christians will talk about the angry, vengeful god of the old testament in contrast to a new testament god of love. >> it's the same god. merciful, compassionate, generous, loving, but not inclined to take sin lightly either. >> oral roberts university brad young agrees that christians must understand the jewish roots of their faith. he admits many christians have been too busy trying to convert

jews to try and learn from them. >> be honest about your beliefs, share them, but be willing to listen to the other side, and maybe that will change some of your beliefs. maybe our beliefs will change. we need to share it with one another to go to the next step. >> and he acknowledges the question of whether or not jesus was the messiah can't be glossed over. >> we should recognize when we talk about two great traditions of faith, christianity and judaism, that there are very sharp differences, and sometimes understanding the differences are even more important than understanding the similarities. >> rabbi boteach's new book does not accept that jesus was the messiah. nonetheless, "kosher jesus" has been denoued as heresy by some of boteach's fellow orthodox jews who worry that the ideas in it could make jews vulnerable to missionary efforts. boteach argues that jews need to reclaim jesus. >> why are we allowing the christian community to teach us about the christian christ in order to convert when jesus was a jew and we should be teaching them about the jewish jesus in order to enrich their christian experience?

>> for people who are afraid that if jews were to read the new testament and find some of this truly magnificent material the next thing we know they're going to line up at the baptismal font and say, "please convert me." i don't think the way we prevent jews from wanting to convert is toeep em ioranof t new testament. >> looking at jesus through jewish eyes, she believes, not only strengthens the individual faiths but can also bring them together. >> in learning more about each others' traditions, we come better to respect our neighbors, and, if we're really lucky, for jews reading the new testament would give us deeper insight into our own judaism, and for christians reading the new testament with jewish annotations will give christians deeper insight into the lord and savior they worship. thank you very much. >> i'm kim lawton in new york.

now what is thought to be the largest church in the world, the yoido full gospel church in seoul, south korea, with 800,000 members. it's part of the pentecostal movement, preaching traditional christian doctrine, the gifts of the spirit, and both the prosperity gospel and the social gospel. lucky severson has the story. >> there are big churches, and then there's the yoido full gospel church here in seoul, south korea. it's the mother of megachurches, with the largest congregation in the world. on a typical day, 200,000 will attend one of seven services along with another 200,000 or 300,000 watching them on tv and adjoining buildings or satellite branches. while some other churches may be losing members, this one just keeps growing. the main sanctuary here holds 21,000 worshipers packed to the rafters seven times every sunday. each service has its own orchestra, its own choir, its

own pastor. there are hundreds of assistants. there need to be. each service is translated into 16 different languages for visitors. karen kim is a pastor with the church's international division. she says she was shocked when she first moved here from australia. >> i think when you've got people this size, like you have to have structure and you have to have organization because otherwise people would be getting killed. like you can'tust let it all just take care of itself. like there has to be like organized rosters and volunteers and things like that to get people in and out of the service, or these people would literally die and get crushed. >> the level of organization here is striking. senior pastor reverend young hoon lee explains it this way. >> our church operate like orchestra. every day we make perfect harmony and fantastic symphony. >> even though the first christian missionaries arrived in korea in 1784, the so-called

hermit kingdom continued to be buddhi until about0 years ago. that was about the time pastor david cho founded what became the yoido full gospel church, which now has missionaries of its own in 67 countries. >> people don't come to our church because i'm holy person, i'm spectacular christian. no. they come because i supply their need. i meet their need through the word of god. >> actually, pastor cho is one of the most revered evangelists 0 in korea. he was a buddhist until he rejected his religion when he was near death from tuberculosis. he says that's when jesus christ appeared to him in the middle of the night and told him to preach the gospel. so he did. when the country was suffering in poverty and desperation after the korean war, he preached the gospel of hope through prayer. >> every morning at 4:30 people come to church, and they pray

for one or two hours, and all-night prayer meeting on friday evening. >> prayer seems especially important to this congregation. each day buses leave the big church for the ride up to prayer mountain, which includes a sacred cemetery on a hillside. it overlooks a complex of buildings with a church, a hotel, and tiny individual prayer rooms barely big enough to kneel and pray, which some do for hours. >> from a distance, you can hear the sound of wailing coming from the top of the cemetery and people speaking in tongues. >> it's very important to their faith, and speaking in tongues is a way that they communicate with god and that they allow god to communicate through them, and it's evidence of the spirit working in them and them being filled with the spirit. >> from only five members in 1958, yoido full gospel, which is affiliated with the pentecostal movement, grew to be the largest congregation in the

world with over 800,000 members. some satellite congregations have been released to become independent branches, although they're still connected to the big church. there's more than one reason yoido grew so big and so fast, but pastor cho believes men have a lot to do with it. >> god gave me the idea because until that time women were despised, actually, in society. they were not given any important position. and the spirit of the lord said why don't you use women? so i announced that i would start cell ministry and use women as the leader, and many men protested. they felt very bad about that, but i forced my idea. the women were so very happy, and they dedicated -- they were excellent workers. >> they make up the majority of the membership in the church, and they really like to do a lot of volunteering. historically, in church history, pentecostalism has been one of those areas and those branches

of christianity that has been more open to women pastors. >> one reason yoido has grown so big is because of its fundamental message, that if members give to god, he'll give them prosperity, the same message found in numerous megachurches in the u.s. >> many people are accusing me that i'm preaching the gospel of prosperity, but i'm not afraid of being accused because if gospel could not bring prosperity to other people, suffering people, what can you do for them? because gospel must bring prosperity in our spirit, soul, and body and lives. if gospel bring destruction to us, why should we believe in prosperity? >> but pastor cho says personal prosperity is good only if people become rich as well in their spirit and soul. >> people try to bring happiness from their circumstances by being rich, by arriving to their

position in society. but those things soon pass away. they need eternal hope that is coming from inside out, not from outside in. >> tithing is a fundamental part of church doctrine. >> most members give tithes to the church 10%. with that money, we help all the poor people in our society. >> with so many members and so much in tithes, the church could be a powerful political influence in south korea. but pastor lee says the church does not want to become politically active and instead pu more emphasis on the social gospel, helping the poor, like this project outside the church where volunteers collect and dispense clothing for those in need. >> they have a lot of those projects. i think not just in our church, but i think churches around the world are starting realize that the debate between, you know, the social gospel -- just the gospel.

you can't have one without the other, because you both, and they need to work hand-in-hand if you're going to make a difference in our world. >> in the 1960's, korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, with an annual per capita income of about $60. today it's around $30,000. south korea is prospering. pastor cho says he knows one reason why. >> jesus christ. that is the only answer we can give. you come and try to study the reason of prosperity. you can't find out any reason because we don't have a good politician so far. we don't have great business people. >> and if christianity is a faor in the prosperity of south korea, yoido is a significant contributor. 60 years ago there were about 50,000 christians in south korea. today it's more than 10 million, and almost one in ten were baptized in the yoido full gospel church. for religious and ethics weekly,

i'm lucky severson in seoul, south korea. finally, on our calendar this week, muslims celebrate laylat al qadr, or the night of power, when it is believed the first verses of the koran were revealed to the prophet muhammad. on this one day, it is said that prayers hold more power than a thousand months' worth. on august 15th, roman catholics celebrate the feast of the assumption, marking the day they believe mary the mother of jesus was assumed into heaven with her body and soul united. orthodox christians call the day the dormitan, or "falling asleep" of the virgin mary, three days before the translation of her body into heaven. that's our program for now. i'm kim lawton. you can follow us on twitter and facebook whe i have a fan page too. watch us anytime on smartphones. there's much more on our web site as well, including more of my interviews about the jewishness of jesus. 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 one of the vigils after the sikh temple shooting. >> announcer: major funding for religion and ethics weekly is provided by the lily endowment, a family foundation dedicated to its founder's interest in religion, community development and education. additional funding also provided by mutual of america, designing stomized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. the estate of william j. carter. the jane hensen foundation.

and the corporation for public broadcasting.