. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> coming up, former british prime minister tony blair, and his passion for promoting understanding between different faith traditions -- >> i think where there's ignorance, there's usually fear and where there's fear, there could be conflict. >> and in upstate new york this summer, a weeklong celebration of the origins of the mormon church, with a cast of 750. ♪ major funding for "religion

and ethics news weekly is provided by the lily endowment, a indianapolis-based private family foundation, dedicated to it founders and christian religion, community and family tradition. additional funding provided by mutual of america, designing group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. the estate of william j. carter, the james henson foundation and the corporation for public broadcasting. >> welcome. i'm deborah potter sitting in for bob abernethy. thank you for joining us. preparations are underway for the republican national convention in tampa, florida, this week. religious groups have planned a series of events to coincide with the convention. as is tradition, high-profile religious leaders will offer prayers to open and close each session. on the final night, when mitt romney accepts the nomination, cardinal timothy dolan, head of the u.s. catholic bishops and

kenneth hutchins, a prominent mormon, will deliver the prayers. >> a federal appeals court this week struck down parts of two state immigration laws, while leaving in place so-called "show me your papers" provisions. the three judge panel ruled that law enforcement officers in georgia and alabama can check the immigration status of people they stop for other reasons. t the judgeshrew out provisions that made it a crime in either state to harbor or transport undocumented people. several faith groups argued the laws would have prevented them from offering services to immigrants. >> first lady michelle obama was in wisconsin this week to meet with the families of those killed and wounded during the shooting at a sikh temple earlier this month. six people died in the attack by a gunman with ties to a white supremacist group. sikh groups have joined other religious and civil rights organizations in calling for a congressional investigation into hate crimes in the united states. in a letter to the senate judiciary committee, they cited statistics from the southern poverty law center showing a 60% increase in the number of hate

groups since 2000. >> how generous are americans? it may depend on where they live. a new study suggests that people in states where religious participation is highest give the most to charity. the south leads the way at just over 5% of discretionary income. the northeast trails at 4%, but according to the chronicle of philanthropy, if you count only secular donations, people in less religious states actually give more. >> in britain, surveys have found that about half the population identifies itself as not religious. that group definitely does not include the country's former prime minister, tony blair. since leaving office, blair has become more outspoken about his faith and he's put it to work. from his perspective, religion may hold the key to solving global problems like poverty and disease. lucky severson has our report. correspondent: he was to the united kingdom what john kennedy

was to many in the united states: a dashing, young, urbane leader who embodied hope and change and who could put words together like no other politician of his time. >> if we take the whole period of this government we have spent far more in the liberal health service than the democrats have ever seen. >> he is a master of rhetoric and the spoken word, and he uses that for his own very prosperous interests. >> when blair left office five years ago, after serving longer than any other labor prime minister, he was almost as out of favor as he had been popular when he was elected, largely because of the iraq war. but his name could open doors and pocketbooks around the world -- and has. blair moved from number 10 downing street to this mansion in central london, where john adams once resided as u.s. ambassador. now this place doesn't have enough space to house blair's multiple endeavors and charities.

but none seems more important to blair than the tony blair faith foundation. his business ventures and philanthropy range from consulting with developing countries about how to improve systems of government to programs designed to get more young people involved in sports. but blair appears especially energized by what he calls his "counter-attack" against religious radicalism. >> the big issue of our time actually is this, is trying to deal with this extremism based on a perversion of religion and how you get peaceful coexistence between people of different faiths and cultures. >> how do you? >> well, i think by establishing platforms of understanding between people of different faiths and cultures so that they learn more about each other and through knowledge i think, comes the possibility of peaceful coexistence.

i think where there is ignorance there's usually fear, and where there's fear there could be conflict. >> blair serves as the international community's envoy to the middle east, a place divided by, among other things, religious extremism. >> now some people take the view, including many people i know, that, well, the best thing is take religion out of everything. but you won't take religion out of everything. religion's there. it's a fact. faith is a fact. and many people are motivated to do immense good by their faith. >> the faith foundation in central london is fairly buzzing with young do-gooders out to save the world. one program they're coordinating here is called face-to-faith. it's now in 400 schools around the globe, connecting high school kids of different faiths by video conferencing. face-to-ith is now in 20 countries, including the u.s. >> some of our schools in utah have had incredibly meaningful encounters talking to young people, for example, in san francisco, and even within the same country there's such a

diverse set of views about religion. >> blair has a connection with the poverty stricken nation of sierra leone dating back over a decade to the horrible bloodshed of that country's civil war. he sent in british troops who were successful in quelling the violence, but not ending the poverty, the misery or the death rate from the plague of malaria. dr. josephine muhairwe is a team leader for another branch of the tony blair faith foundation operating in third world countries like sierra leone. >> every third child who dies, dies of malaria, and for every four adults who are admitted one of them is admitted because of malaria. >> so we decided to put together a program that could literally save lives so that religion was saving lives rather than taking them. we train imams and pastors and priests.

they give sermons on friday or sunday to their congregations, they pick key people from their congregations, we train them, they train others, so it's a cascade training program, and these multifaith teams of muslims and christians go door-to-door in their local communities teaching the families as to how they can protect their children from malaria. >> sierra leone has a population of about eight million with only about a hundred doctors to treat them all. but many thousands could be saved with something as simple as a malaria retardant net to cover their beds at night. it takes more than just specialized nets to beat malaria. it's education in their proper use and other basic health measures like getting rid of stagnant water. that education now begins with pastors and imams. to back up their message, the blair teams rely on passages from the quran and the bible. >> over 95 percent of people in

sierra leone are affiliated with either church or mosque. so the networks are wide and they are people of authority within their community, so the people listen to them, so that in itself, the model in itself is quite sustainable. >> blair says so far the program has reached over 800,000 people in sierra leone. >> this is not just about promoting action on the anti- malaria front. it's also about trying to give a sense of faith as something that motivates people to acts of compassion rather than acts of conflict. >> blair raises money for his foundations through fundraisers like this event in new york. it was organized by blair team members who are jewish and christian. in this case they're working with sikhs as well in support of a sikh-based project in africa. but most foundation funds come from direct contributions small and large and from himself. he collects huge fees as a consultant to corporations and to countries and can command

$200,000 for a speech. blair's name has cache, although perhaps not what he imaged as a guitar-playing student who modeled himself after mick jagger. as prime minister his duties included participating in the appointment of anglican bishops and archbishops. six months after he left office, blair converted to catholicism, his wife's lifelong religion. he says during his 10 years in office, he prayed about decisions and found solace in church. >> i've always been fascinated by yours and president bush's relationship, and i've always had the impression that faith had a lot to do with it, that the two of you were both men of faith, and that that in many ways drove you in your decisions. >> and we are both people of faith. but your faith can give strength when you're taking a very difficult decision to try and do what you think is right.

in that sense it can be of assistance to you. but it can't tell you what is right, unfortunately. did you ever talk about your faith, or did you ever pray together when you were making these decisions? >> no. no, we didn't. i mean, we talked about faith more generally, just as two people who know each other well, but no, not in relation to the decisions. >> he says he holds former president george w. bush in very high regard. >> whether people agree or disagree with him, or with me indeed, is another matter, but as a leader to deal with, and i think you'd find most of the leaders who dealt with president bush at this time, again, whether they agree with him or disagree with him, found him to be someone of genuine integrity. unfortunately for the former prime minister, many in his own country would not say the same of him. it's been almost ten years since the iraq invasion, and still there are newspaper stories with negative headlines about blair's role in the iraq war. >> i will never forget what he's

done, and you would have to hold me over hot coals several times before you get me to vote for him again. >> hugh o'shaughnessy is a noted british author on developing-world issues who, like many, felt betrayed when blair led the country into war. >> people still keep in their minds the way he treated public opinion. he brushed public opinion aside and launched into this illegal, cruel and lawless war. >> blair continues to believe that history will vindicate him on iraq and is convinced that his faith foundation will help calm a troubled world. >> it's not political ideology that's going to disrupt us, but it could well be religious or

cultural ideology. and that's why the concept of people across the faiths working together is so vital and so fundamental to a peaceful and successful 21st century. >> and that's what you mean by religious counter attack. >> correct. >> whatever his critics say of him, the former prime minister hopes his legacy overall will be that he contributed to world peace, not war. for religion & ethics newsweekly, i'm lucky severson in london. ♪ ♪ >> international relief organizations continue to warn of a humanitarian crisis in syria. amnesty international reports that government airstrikes are killing mainly civilians, including children. and turkey says it will not be able accept many more syrian refugees. it's already taken in 70,000 and has set a cap of 100,000. turkish leaders are asking the united nations to set up a safe zone within syria for those trying to espe the violence.

>> in germany, a local court ruling that circumcising young boys inflicts bodily harm and may be a criminal act has raised an international outcry and a lot of confusion. a leading israeli rabbi met with german officials this week, seeking legal protection for religious circumcisions. the original case involved a muslim child who suffered complications after a medical circumcision. german lawmakers are now drafting legislation to ensure that jews and muslims have the right to carry out the practice safely. >> one year after an earthquake caused substantial damage to the washington national cathedral, masons have made the first major repair to the central tower. a newly-carved stone was put in place as the cathedral announced a new gift of $5 million from the lilly endowment to help pay for restorations. the cathedral has already spent most of the $2.8 million raised after the quake on stabilizing the structure. total damage was estimated at

$20 million. >> joining us now is the interim dean at the washington national cathedral, frank wade. thanks for coming. >> thank you. >> twenty million dollars to repair a building is a lot of money. is it worth it? is there a real value to having cathedrals in the 21st century? >> cathedrals are part of where our culture restores its spiritual values and its sense of mystery. that's really important. we need places like that and the washington national cathedral plays that role in a peculiar way, in a particular way, on the national scene, a great church for national purposes. so i think it's very, very important. we would lose a great deal if we had no place to turn at key moments in our life when we want to remember god, remember mystery in the larger context of life. >> the cathedral has always been a place where dialogue happens and most recently, you've opened up the pages of your magazine to a dialogue or at least a q and a with the two presidential candidates about their faith. why was that important? >> it's important because there's, there's no, while we

separate church and state, there is no separation of faith and state. faith is how you figure out life. it's how you set priorities. the faith of our leaders is a very, very important part of the conversation. it's how they will approach their job. so it's a legitimate part of what goes on. >> and yet some people say it has no place in the election campaign and we shouldn't really talk about it and the candidates don't talk about it very much. >> no they don't. but it's emotionally laden. faith is, it carries a lot of emotion with it. we've done wonderful things in the name of faith. we've done terrible things in the name of faith. it's a very uncontrolled emotion in a culture, in a society. so people are nervous about it but that doesn't make it less important. indeed, it makes it more important that we talk about it, ground it in understanding. >> you've said that both of these candidates come with assets from their faith backgrounds and liabilities. can you talk more about what you mean? >> well, every, every faith background, every denomination, every christian journey, every faith journey has limits, things

that it does or does not do. you know, governor romney and president obama both have grown up and formed their faith in different ways certainly but formed their faith in marginalized churches in our society and so that constitutes a limit on the worldview that you get in that place. now these are very broad strokes and very, you know, very generalized things. both of these people from those churches have felt a call to serve this nation and the other and the world in wonderful, wonderful ways. but their faith communities have within them an intense inner loyalty that comes to a marginalized church and that's somewhat of a limitation. it obviously has not limited these two people. >> why do you think so many americans have sort of confused or uncertain feelings about the faith of these two candidates? you have some evangelicals saying mormonism, the church of jesus christ of latter day saints, is not actually

christian. and you have a large percentage now, it's actually a growing percentage, of people who say that well president obama is a muslim. >> i think that. i don't know why people do that. it's difficult to talk and think about the faith of other people and because the african american tradition of president obama and the mormon tradition of governor romney are not part of the general experience of our popution, we have trouble understanding it. you know, faith tends to speak in absolute terms. it makes it hard to think about how other people experience it. it's difficult for a whole country to get their head around that as we are proving right now, which makes our conversation even more important. >> thank you so much. frank wade, interim dean of washington national cathedral. >> my great pleasure. thank you. ♪ ♪ >> for mormons, a hilltop in upstate new york is sacred ground. it was there, they believe, that

an angel appeared to the founder of their faith, joseph smith, and helped him find the golden plates that became the book of mormon. for 75 years, members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints have celebrated their history with a pageant at that location. this year, more than 35-thousand people attended. artistic director brent hanson says the goal is to reach out to people who are curious about what makes mormons tick. >> the hill cumorah pageant is a volunteer operation. all the actors a staff members are here out of the goodness of their hearts because they believe in the cause and they're excited to be participants in it. >> it's the first time i've ever been this part. so i get married on stage and then i travel through the wilderness before they have the boat scene. and that's probably one of my favorite things to do. >> this year the cast has 750 people in it.

and that's part of the excitement of the show, it's just plain big. the cast members are from across the united states, 30 some states this year, several international families participating. the pageant is loaded with costumes, special effects. the soundtrack has been recorded by the mormon tabernacle choir. this site in the palmyra, new york area is really the cradle of our faith. it's where joseph smith lived when he first began to receive revelations from our father in heaven. this is the site where the book of mormon was translated largely and where it was eventually published. that was in 1830. and it is exciting to be in the actual place where some of these

is e-vents that are so special to us as members of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints took place, there's a sense of coming home. a sense in some ways of a pilgrimage, although that's not a tenet of our faith exactly. the story starts out in the book of mormon with a group of people who leave jerusalem. they're led by a man who's had revelations from god. >> the lord spoke to me in a dream last night. he told me to take my family and go into the wilderness. >> leave jerusalem? >> those people are eventually led to the american continent. it's their new promised land. after they arrive, they have problems. there are brothers who don't get along, who have different ideas about how things should be run. and eventually they split into two groups of people and they have ongoing conflict for centuries.

the book of mormon was written by those ancient prophets in america, and as their civilization deteriorated, the last of those prophets hid the record. >> some day your words will be given to a people of another nation so they too can know the fullness of the gospel of jesus christ. the words that nephi wrote became part of the book of mormon. this sacred record would be continued by one prophet after another through all the thousands of years that nephi's people would live in the promised land of america. >> those people were waiting for the arrival of jesus christ, just like the people in the old testament were, and they were promised that after his resurrection in jerusalem he would visit them here, and that scene depicting the savior's visit to those ancient americans

at the meridian of time is certainly the highlight, the climactic scene of the pageant. >> he ordained 12 disciples who served him in america as the 12 apostles served him in the old world. >> ye are my disciples, ye are a light unto this people. this is the land of your inheritance given unto you by thy father. write the things which ye have seen and all that i have said. some day i will establish a great nation in this land, a free nation, and i will give them the words ye write. ye shall be a witness unto them. >> that's perhaps what makes us different from the rest of christianity, the concept is that it's a restoration of what had been before and had been lost. >> and i shall take these plates

wherever the lord commands and hide them. and then the lord will keep these plates safe until he raises up a prophet in the latter days. he will send our record forth to convince the world that jesus is the christ. it will be called the book of mormon. >> at the end of the pageant we are introduced to joseph smith as a character. we view joseph smith as a prophet, just like the prophets of old, and we see enacted on the stages and hillside of the pageant moroni coming to him, giving him the plates, telling him to translate it and get it published. >> joseph, you will translate this book by the gift and power of god. the lord has a great work for you to do. >> in 1829, joseph smith

translated the book of mormon, and in 1830 it was published in nearby palmyra, new york. at the lord's command, god's holy priesthood was restored, and the church of jesus christ was once again organized on this earth. >> i have great hopes every night that there will be some people who will really connect, who will be searching for the kinds of answers that we're offering and that their lives will be changed then. >> the savior will return. soon he will be here. ♪ ♪ >> that's our program for now. i'm deborah potter. you can follow us on twitter and facebook and watch us anytime on smartphones.

there's much more on our web site as well. 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, sounds and scenes from washington national cathedral marking the one-year anniversary of the earthquake that damaged it. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> major funding for religion and ethics news weekly is provided by lilly endowment, dedicated to its founders interest in religion, community development and education. additional funding also provided by mutual of america, designing customized, individual a gro retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. the estate of william j. carter, the jane henson foundation and the corporation for public broadcasting.