coming up, tim o'brien on the issues and personal stories behind the gay marriage cases the supreme court will soon hear. >> and, a kim lawton report on the growing number of american adults, now almost 20%, who are not affiliated with any religion. how might they influence american politics?

>> welcome. >> welcome. i'm bob abernethy. it's good to have you th u at the vatican, as the catholic cardinals chose this coming tuesday to begin the papal conclave, more groundwork was laid this week for the selection of the new pope. our managing editor, kim lawton, reports from rome. >> since monday, the cardinals have been gathering for a series

of meetings --what they call "congregations" -- to discuss the future of the catholic church. >> that's where they meet and have speeches, listen to each other, do some logistical planning for the conclave. some of it's very boring. but the important part that they do there was actually talk about some of the issues that face the church and what they think is needed. >> father thomas reese is doing analysis of the papal transition for national catholic reporter. he says the cardinals' most essential work this week took place outside the meetings. >> over the coffee breaks, over dinner and lunch where the cardinals have a chance to talk to one another, get to know one another, asking them, you know, what do you think are the issues facing the church, who do you think would be a good pope? >> many cardinals said they didn't want to be pressured to begin the conclave too quickly. >> well, this is a huge moment. leadership comes from the top and you're electing the top leader, the man who's going to set the tone for the church. that's very important.

>> there was controversy after some italian media leaked detailed accounts of the cardinals' meetings. >> that made them say, 'what's happened to the freedom to speak in the congregation? if you don't have confidentiality, you don't have freedom. and so everybody took the position -- it happened the last time, too -- well, we'd better just not give interviews at a. and so the cardinals agreed to that. >> the media blackout meant that us cardinals had to stop holding their general media briefings. >> the american cardinals of course came to rome, and they wanted to do things just like they do in the united states, so they called press conferences to help the media do their stories, to feed some stories to the media because if you don't feed the beast, it will devour you. so they were pretty smart, i thought, in having these stories. in other parts of the world, this just isn't done, and in rome, they don't like this. >> some 5,000 journalists from around the world have sought media credentials to cover the

transition. but the cardinals' voting process for the new pope is supposed to take place under the strictest of secrecy. >> when it comes to the conclave, they're going to be actually locked up inside, no phones, no internet, no email, not even letters, so that's going to be really isolating. now, once they come out, typically what happens is the stories start to leak out, about who was leading and how the votes went, and we'll probably find out that sooafter the conclave is over. >> people around the world are watching it all with a sense of keen anticipation. >> somebody wrote me a note today saying they are praying for an inspired choice. i think everyone is. >> catholics believe the pope is part of an unbroken line of church leaders that stretches directly back to st. peter. and despite the challenges, they say electing peter's successor is indeed a momentous occasion. i'm kim lawton at the vatican. >> as the cardinals conferred with each other in rome, in washingt, at a recent event at

the catholic university of america, members of a panel of distinguished lay catholics were asked to name the qualities they think a new pope should have. one panelist was miguel diaz, the most recent u.s. ambassador to the vatican. kim lawton moderated. >> why don't we just go down the line real quickly. margaret? >> i would pick joy, you know, our church, it really needs that energy and that joy. >> i think maybe the additional word that i'd add to joy is mediator. you know, right now the church in the world and in the united states is a complex thing. >> my word would be confidence, i think, and i say that because i believe the catholics are hoping for a leader who confidently engages the world, unafraid to proclaim church teachings, even when they're countercultural. >> i really think that we need a pastor because there's so much suffering in the church. so a pastor, a diplomat, to deal

with the, and to, and to constructively relate to the tremendous diversity that it's all around us. >> in a new poll released this week, "the new york times" and cbs news asked a sample of american catholics what they want in a new pope. more than half -- 54%, said they want him to emphasize more liberal teachings than those stressed by benedict the 16th. a majority also wants a pope who favors married priests and women priests and one who is against legalized abortion and the death penalty. >> in other news, the united nation's refugee agency this week warned of a full-scale disaster as the number of people fleeing the violence in syria surpassed one million. and many more have been internally displaced. refugees are said to be leaving the country at a rate of 7,000

per day. most have fled to lebanon, followed by jordan and turkey. jordan's king abdullah ii called on the international community to help with the quote "tremendous burden." >> later this month, the supreme court will hear arguments in two closely watched cases on gay marriage, an issue that starkly divides religious groups. several have filed briefs both in support of and against gay marriage. and some have called for a time of prayer leading up to the oral arguments. today, a look back at tim o'brien's report on the issues and personal stories behind these supreme court cases. one is the defense of marriage act, doma, passed by congress in 1996. the other is california's proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage but was overturned by an appeals court. >> four years ago, voters in california approved proposition

8, an amendment to the state's constitution banning same-sex marriage in the state, only to have it overturned two years later by a federal judge who said the amendment denied gays and lesbians the equal protection of the law guaranteed by the u.s. constitution. >> today, we are more american because of this decision. >> a huge decision that would require all states to recognize gay marriage should the u.s. supreme court agree. the second case involves the federal defense of marriage act-doma, for short. the law denies same-sex couples who marry the same federal benefits routinely accorded heterosexual marriages, including many tax benefits like the right to file a joint return. doma is being challenged by edie windsor, whose relationship with thea spayer spanned more than 40 years. they had met in the early '60s and were at one another's side for decades. they registered in new york city

as domestic partners as soon as they could in 1993. but they wanted much more. >> we want to do the vows and we want to exchange rings. >> spayer had been stricken with multiple sclerosis, and her health was failing. but that did not keep her and edie from hopping a plane to toronto, canada, where in 2007 they were wed. >> i thea spayer, choose you, until death do us part. >> two years later thea passed away, leaving the bulk of her estate to edie, now 83, which resulted in an estate tax bill of $363,000. even though new york recognized their marriage, edie did not qualify for the marital deduction allowed heterosexual marriages because of the defense

of marriage act. a federal appeals court in new york found that also violated the guarantee to equal protection, but went much further. after noting a long history of discrimination against gays and lesbians, the court concluded any law that makes distinctions based on sexual orientation must be subjected to "heightened scrutiny," and the government must present "exceedingly persuasive" proof that the distinctions further "an important government interest." should the u.s. supreme court agree, it would be much more difficult for congress or any city or state to discriminate against gays and lesbians on anything, not just marriage. the justice department ordinarily defends laws passed by congress, even those it doesn't like. but after the new york court's decision, president obama said his justice department would no longer defend doma in court. >> those who had fought for passage of the defense of marriage act were understandably

dismayed. >> this is about what our children are going to be taught in elementary school. it is about stepping in between a parent and their child and imposing a new morality, or absence thereof, upon our children. >> republican leaders in the house said they would defend the law themselves. >> i raised my hand to uphold and defend the constitution of the united states and the laws of our country, and if the justice department was not going to defend this act passed by congress, well, then we will. >> whether the house has the legal right to defend the law in the supreme court is unclear. a similar question arises with prop 8 in california, where the state has also decided not to defend that law, giving the justices an easy out for a narrow decision or to sidestep the issue altogether if they choose. historically, the court moves very slowly on social issues-following the trends, rarely leading them. the court took the lead in 1954, desegregating the nation's

schools, igniting the civil rights movement. resistance was massive, however. it wasn't until 1967 that the court got around to addressing interracial marriage in the case of richard and mildred loving, who were convicted of violating virginia's law against interracial marriage, a felony punishable by prison. the supreme court ruled 9-0 to throw out their convictions, chief justice earl warren writing, "the freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness." virginia's law "had no legitimate overriding purpose independent of invidious racial discrimination." the decision went against public opinion. interracial marriage was illegal in 16 states at the time, and a gallup poll showed 73% of those surveyed disapproved of it. race relations have come a long way since 1967, and proponents

of same-sex marriage see similar progress for gays and lesbians. >> i think this is an area in which we've seen tremendous movement over the last 15 or 20 years, and people are on a journey. i mean, as a lesbian i had to go through my own journey when the community first started talking about marriage, and i was, like, "are you kidding? marriage? it's not for us. that's never been for us." and yet, as i thought about it i realized i do want to get married. once i let myself believe it was possible, i want to marry the woman i love. >> the court will not be writing on a blank slate. twenty years ago, the justices threw out a constitutional amendment in colorado that would have prevented cities from protecting gays from discrimination, and in 2003, the court rejected a texas law that made gay sex a crime. justice anthony kennedy, whose vote could be critical on the same-sex marriage question, wrote both decisions and in striking down the texas law said

this about gays and the gay lifestyle. >> the petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives. the state cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime. their right to liberty under the due process clause gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government. it is the promise of the constitution at there is a realmf persal liberty which the government may not enter. >> justice kennedy insisted the court's opinion did not directly apply to same-sex marriage, but dissenting justice antonin scalia saw it differently -- >> at the end of its opinion, the court says that the present case 'does not involve whether the government must give formal recognition to any relationship that homosexual persons may seek to enter.' do not believe it. today's opinion dismantles the structure of constitional la

that has permitted a distinction to be made between heterosexual and homosexual unions. >> a federal appeals court in boston agreed with scalia's interpretation and last may became the first federal appeals court to throw out doma, citing kennedy's decision in the texas case as authority. >> when a state says you're married, does the federal government, as it has always done in the past, agree with that state definition? this is the first time that the federal government has ever reached in and said, "we don't care what you say, state. we're going to have our own definition of marriage." and we don't think there's any legitimate reason for the federal government to take this unprecedented action. >> throwing out doma would not require all states to recognize gay marriage, but striking prop 8 possibly could. a number of mainstream religious groups do not support gay marriage. >> authentic, biblical, historic, orthodox christianity has always affirmed marriage being one man and one woman. >> and the court in new york addressed the religious

concerns, distinguishing civil marriage from holy matrimony. judge dennis jacob wrote "the w is not concerneditholy matrimony. a state may enforce and dissolve a couple's marriage, but it cannot sanctify or bless it. for that, the pair must go next door." that the country has become more tolerant of homosexuality would seem to be unmistakable, and it may also be irreversible. for "religion & ethics newsweekly," i'm tim o'brien in washington. >> we continue this week our look back at a series we did last fall on the nearly 20% of americans -- one in five -- who say they have no religious affiliation at all. kim lawton went to ohio last october to talk with experts and voters on the political leanings of this group -- sometimes called the nones, n-o-n-e-s.

it's said that when pollsters show them a list of religions and denominations they reply, in effect, "none of the above." our survey of thnones was ne in coopetion with the pew forum on religion and public life. here is kim's story, as it ran just before the november election. >> in the battleground state of ohio, volunteer monette richards is making calls for state and local democratic candidates. she wants to encourage liberal voters, and especially those who support abortion rights, to get out to the polls next month. >> we get the government that we deserve because we get the government that we vote for. and right now it's not good enough for me. >> richards is part of a growing force on the political scene -- the 46 million americans who say they are not affiliated with a religion. their numbers have been rising rapidly, and they are heavily democratic. >> something like a quarter of people who identify with the

democrats or lean towards the democratic party are in this unaffiliated category. that's a lot of votes. that's a major group. >> professor john green directs the bliss institute at the university of akron and has long studied the relationship between religion and politics. >> religious affiliation has often beenlosely associated with the major party coalitions, with the democrats and the republicans each drawing on different religious communities, and sometimes fighting over religious communities that are pretty evenly divided between the two parties. well, as people are less involved in organized religion, then those relationships change. >> the religiously unaffiliated, often called "the nones," are about twice as likely to describe themselves as political liberals than as conservatives, and they strongly support legal abortion and same-sex marriage. in a breakdown by faith group, the religiously unaffiliated are now the largest constituency for democrats, outnumbering black protestants, white mainline

protestants and white catholics. >> in 2008 about three quarters of religiously unaffiliated voters voted for barack obama over john mccain. this group, the religiously unaffiliated, was as heavily supportive of democrats and barack obama as evangelicals are of republicans and as they were of john mccain. >> although people of faith all together still make up the majority of the democratic coalition, for many years, the democrats battled a perception that they were not as friendly toward religion as the republicans. as director of faith outreach for the democratic national committee, reverend derrick harkins has been working to change that perception. >> people of faith make up a significant and important and valuable part of who we are as democrats and that's across the spectrum of faith traditions. >> green says the growing number of religiously unaffiliated voters cou complicatthose

efforts. >> how do they for instance get the black protestant churches to mobilize voters and to be very enthusiastic about their platform and their candidate without turning off unaffiliated voters, and how do they appeal to those people and get them involved and excited about the candidate without alienating some of the religious communities that support the democratic party? it's a really interesting problem. >> harkins asserts that the democratic tent is wide enough to accommodate all. >> in having respect for that broad spectrum of faith traditions, we also certainly have respect for people who may not practice. the president often says himself that we need to honor and respect those who certainly practice faith and indeed those who may not. >> we are a nation of christians and muslims, jews and hindus, and nonbelievers. >> the rising number of religiously unaffiliated may be posing new challenges for the republicans as well. although they still make up only about 11% of the gop, a disproportionate number of them are young.

about a third of all adults under the age of 30 are "nones"" at the university of akron, these members of the college republicans say they aren't affiliated with any particular faith. they worry that their party's close relationship with the religious right could weaken its viability in the future. >> with the republican party focusing so much on religion and getting the religious vote, i think it might kind of burn out the people in my age group who are like "well you know i'm not really that religious and if they're focusing so much on religion, you know, maybe that's just not me." >> it's more about what they believe politically rather than religiously because that doesn't really have an effect on society as much as it used to in my opinion. >> according to our new survey with the pew forum on religion and public life, almost 70% of the religiously unaffiliated say that churches and other religious institutions are too involved in politics. only 46% of the general public agreed with that. >> people who say they're not religiously affiliated are much

more likely than others to say that they think religious organizations are too political, they are much more likely to say that there's been too much religious talk from politicians, they're much more likely to say they think churches and other houses of worsh shod keep out of political matters. >> when you can't get into office unless you profess your religion and talk about how religious you are, it's a very big problem for us. >> like most religiously unaffiliated voters, monette richards doesn't want to hear politicians quote from the bible or make other overt religious appeals. she believes candidates can eliminate the god-talk without alienating faith-based voters. >> i don't know that there should be any offending or marginalizing the religious just simply because they aren't pandering to them anymore. >> but most americans still do see a role for religion in politics. about two-thirds of the general public say it's important for a president to have strong religious beliefs.

a majority also say it doesn't make them uncomfortable when politicians talk about their faith. in today's politics, republicans can't win without strong support from evangelicals. >> what values do you apply to your politics? >> progressive, social justice. we're all in is together kind of thing, it doesn't have to be a me against you, democrats versus republicans or anything. it's, you know, move forward, help the people that need help. >> unaffiliated republicans say they also want to be known as values voters. >> there's many people that are out there who i'm friends with who i know who do not believe in anything, who are not affiliated with any religion, but they believe in that strong economical growth, they believe in that strong values just they don't take it from the values from god or from whoever, they te it from the values of themselves. >> one challenge may be getting those religiously unaffiliated

voters to the polls. in recent elections, the "none"" voted at lower rates than their religiously affiliated counterparts. but given their rising numbers, experts say a politically organized and active movement of the unaffiliated could play a key role in the political landscape for years to come. i'm kim lawton in akron, ohio. >> and in the election in november, the nes did, indee play a big role. according to exit polls, 70% of them voted for president obama. on our calendar, this weekend, hindus celebrate maha sivaratri, which honors their deity lord shiva. finally, as if egypt and israel did not have enough other problems, both countries were afflicted this week by huge swarms of locusts, some of them the size of small birds. just three weeks before

passove for jews, israel's locust invasion -- from egypt, recalled the 8th plague of biblical times when the pharaoh was punished for refusing to let the israelite slaves go. crops have been lost and drivers, all but blinded. but modern pesticides do seem to be blunting the attack. that's our program for now. i'm bob abernethy. you can follow us on twitter and facebook and watch us anytime on the pbs app for iphones and ipads. thre's much more on our website. 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, while the cardinals in rome prepare to choose a new pope, catholics in germany marked the retirement of their native son benedict the 16th, now pope emeritus.