coming up, lucky severson reports on how the country's jails and prisons have become last resort caretakers for the mentally ill. and 2013 is the 50th anniversary of a pivotal year for the civil rights movement. kim lawton talks to renowned author taylor branch about the role black churches play. major funding for "religion and ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lili endowment,

an indianapolis-based private family foundation dedicated to its founders interests in religion, community development, and education. additional funding also provided by mutual of america. designing customized, individual, and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. and the corporation for public broadcasting. welcome i'm bob abernethy, it's good to have you with us. there was a renewed international push this week for an end to the civil war in syria. at this week's g-8 meeting in northern ireland, participating countries called for peace talks to be held as soon as possible, but did not demand that president bashar al assad step down. they pledged $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid. religious groups were mainly supportive of the effort saying a cease-fire should be the top

priority. some, however, cautioned against president obama's recent decision to arm the syrian rebels. two prominent u.s. catholic bishops warned that would only increase the violence and suffering. evangelist franklin graham voiced similar concerns, adding the opposition is no better than the assad regime. according to the united nations, 93,000 people have died in the two-year conflict. the number of syrians fleeing the violence has surpassed 1.6 million. in other news, as part of the new gun safety measures from the white house, vice president biden this week issued guidelines for institutions, including houses of worship about responding to a mass shooting. one of the suggestions, fight back. congregants are advised first to try to escape, then to hide, and as a last resort, adults are told to use aggressive force to

disrupt or incapacitate the shooter. houses of worship are told to decide their own policies on weapons in accordance with local laws. exodus international has been a controversial christian group that promoted repairive therapy to try to change the sexual orientation of gays. but now, exodus has announced it is closing, and launching a new ministry, instead, to help churches host thoughtful and safe conversations about sexuality. exodus' president allen chambers issued an open apology to gays and lesbians for, quote, years of undue suffering and judgment at the hands of exodus. he acknowledged that had pushed many people against faith. however, chambers said he would not apologize for his continued beliefs about what he called the scriptural boundaries surrounding sex.

next week, the u.s. supreme court is expected to hand down several decisions sure to be controversial, not least in the religious community. one is on the validity of gay marriage. another is affirmative action in college admissions. should the race of an applicant be a consideration? tim o'brien has a preview. >> reporter: the case was brought by abigail fisher, who claimed she was denied admission to the university of texas at austin because she is white. >> i hope the court rules that race and ethnicity should not be considered when applying to the university of texas. >> reporter: but the university of texas, like most major american universities, does consider race and ethnicity in order to promote diversity in the student body. the university's vice president for diversity and community engagement says so many factors are considered, the decision of who to admit never turns on race alone. >> diversity, and must be more

appointed, racial diversity is used as one factor among many. so much so that it's very difficult to pinpoint, oh, that student would have gotten in if they were white or if that student would are got in because they're black. what we know is that there are african-american students who are denied admission with higher credentials than white students. >> reporter: lawyers for the obama administration, in defense of affirmative action, pressed that claim to a skeptical supreme court. here's an excerpt. >> the two applicants are entirely the same in all other respects. >> the point -- >> and if the ability to give a racial preference means anything at all, it certainly has to mean that the minority student gets in and the other one doesn't. >> i disagree, justice scalia. what texas i think has made clear -- not everyone in underrepresented group gets a preference, gets a plus factor. >> it's not a matter of not everyone. it's a matter of two which are

identical in all other respects. >> right. >> what does the racial preference mean if it doesn't mean in that situation the minority applicant wins and the other one loses? >> lawyers for the university unable to say how much diversity is enough or just when considering race may no longeren necessary. the only thing to have changed since the supreme court allowed race to be considered ten years ago is the composition of the court. the author of that decision, justice sand california o'connor is now gone, replaced by justice sam alito who has been hostile to affirmative action. in 2003, o'connor was the fifth and deciding vote in favor of affirmative action. alito could now well be the fifth and deciding vote against it. and if he is? >> the consequences for our university, but for higher education, is we would not be giving the kind of education to all of our students that would be preparing them to work in a diverse and global world. the effect for our students and

our society. >> reporter: don't expect any ringing endorsement from this court of affirmative action, if it survives at all. it's widely believed the court's decision will be reason by justice anthony kennedy, possibly antonin scalia. neither has ever voted to uphold affirmative action. for "religion and ethics newsweekly," i'm tim o'brien, in washington. we have a lucky severson story today about what seems like a countrywide failure to take care of the mentally ill. as a last resort, a huge number of them end up in jails and prisons, not homes or hospitals. but a program in washington, d.c. is helping. >> this is the largest institution for the mentally ill in the state of illinois, and the second largest in the nation. it's the cook county jail in chicago. on any given day, the complex

holds with 10,000 inmates, and on average, one in four is suffering some kind of mental illness. cook county sheriff tom dart. >> i would tell people what in god's name do you think is going to happen? i mean, really when you think about it, the people who are horribly, horribly suffering from mental illness, who have exhausted all the opportunities with their families, who are on the street, where are they going to go? where are they going to go? >> they're going to jail. hundreds of thousands of them. it's happening all across the country. pat nolan is vice president of the nonprofit christian ministry called prison fellowship. >> the sheriffs are the good guys in this. they don't want these people in jail. it's just they become the last resort. we've closed down every other option. >> director of corrections in montgomery county maryland art wallenstein. >> mental illness has become a major component of the correctional system in this country. that was never intended.

and it's bad public policy. >> first, a little history. >> beginning in the '70s, there was a move to empty out the state hospitals because they'd become terrible places and they closed them down. and the community mental health system that was to replace large hospitals simply never materialized. >> but those weren't bad people, they weren't criminals, they were sick, and they needed help. the sheriffs began complaining, saying, they don't belong in jail. please, do something about this. >> how many times do you think you've been incarcerated. >> whew. i know within the last ten years alone, if i total all my time up i've been locked up half of the ten years. >> reporter: he is fortunate that he got thrown into the montgomery county jail, one of the more progressive. there's a special pod here just for the mentally ill, and a staff of trained therapists, like laurie, who works with inmates like omari. >> and when he came in, he was quite unstable, psychotic. and nonmedicated.

>> i have saw some police officer, i have quite a few of those. >> off your medication? >> yeah. >> always off your medication? >> yeah i've never really stayed on medication long. >> and if they had, you know, regular care of a doctor, and treatment, with the right medications, they can live wholesome, fulfilling lives. but if they get off those medications, then they get into trouble. they end up on the street. >> corrections officer corporal christopher walters took special training to help him deal with mentally ill inmates. >> i've seen improvements where they come in. really bad shape and where they get back on their medications. move out of here, go into general population, get a job and do their time and get out of jail. >> this is not an easy job. not belong ago he had knee surgery after an inmate kicked him. >> he was saying that he was

receiving radio frequencies through his brain from bill clinton saying that created a disturbance so he could escape. >> it doesn't make sense on multiple levels. start with obviously the moral, ethical level, it doesn't make any sense to how people are mentally ill in jails. but leap past that and say from a fiscal standpoint it makes no sense. >> incarceration is an expensive proposition and sheriff dart says locking up the mentally ill is even more costly. there's the medication, the special training for staff and extra corrections officers to deal with inmates' psychotic episodes. >> we take what is our average cost here which is about $143 a day. it would defy reason and logic that it isn't at least double. we think it's more triple the nature in cost. >> sheriff dart has now put in place measures to help identify the mentally ill when they're first arrested, to treat them in jails, and monitor them when they're released. but that can only go so far, as he is the first to say.

there is a program that has shown remarkable success in keeping the mentally ill out of jail, called pathways to housing. christy is the executive director of pathways in washington, d.c. >> so our housing and our support services combined cost less than it does to keep someone in jail or the hospital or the e.r. or even the shelter. >> reporter: since 2003, pathways in washington, d.c., which receives government and private funding, has placed over 500 mentally ill people in apartments. most have criminal records. like ellery. >> stealing. fraud. i've done a lot of things. i've been arrested a lot of times. >> reporter: pathways found ellery on the street, asked him what he needed to stay out of trouble, and like most homeless, he said housing. many programs offer housing but only after the individual cleans

up his or her act. pathways offers housing first. >> and then we move the person directly literally from the street into the apartment, and all through that time there's a team of support working with the person comprised of a psychiatrist, social workers, nurse, addiction specialists. >> it's not easy moving from life behind bars and on the street to a life with responsibility. >> i would never imagine having money in my pocket. i would never imagine having a bank account or buying things that i want or going to the clothing store and buying clothes, you know. those were things that i was not used to. >> ellery has been off drugs and on medication now for seven years. >> i would say my attitude has changed a lot. because, my bipolar disorder had me as far as where my anger would go off at any time. you know you and i could be having this conversation and for some reason i would just go off. don't see that every day.

>> so far 85% of pathways clients like ellery have stayed in the program, and out of jail. in fact, no one's viewed the way we treat the mentally ill is not only an ethical issue, it's a fundamental christian value. >> you know, jesus said i was naked and you clothed me. i was hungry, and you fed me. i was thirsty, you gave me to drink. i was imprisoned and you visited me. these are our brothers and sisters. we do have an obligation to them. >> there's now legislation in congress with bipartisan support that would provide funding to state and counties and cities to expand mental health courts, crisis intervention, training, housing, and care, as an alternative to jail for america's mentally ill. for "religion and ethics newsweekly" i'm lucky severson in chicago.

in other news, in france, heavy flooding forced parts of the historic shrine of our lady of lourdes to close. thousands of pilgrims visit the holy site each year. it's believed to be a place of healing and miracles. this week, there was more than five feet of water in the shrine's grotto and hundreds of people were evacuated from the area. church officials called it a catastrophe. president obama has nominated ken hackette, the retired president of catholic relief services, as the next u.s. ambassador to the vatican. hackett led the u.s. bishops overseas relief and development arm for 18 years before retiring in 2011. a mile stone in the orthodox jewish tradition. three orthodox women were ordained as clergy. they were not given the title rabbi but rather will be called

maharat, a hebrew akron up for hebrew law, spirituality and torah. while other branches of judaism allow female rabbis, the orthodox do not. the three graduates all have positions in orthodox synagogues and organizations. they will be allowed to perform some, although not all of the duties of a rabbi. finally, 50 years ago this week, president john f. kennedy submitted landmark civil rights legislation to congress that proposed ending discrimination on the basis of race. the bill wasn't passed until the following year, but its introduction was one of many key civil rights moments of 1963. kim lawton spoke with pulitzer prize-winning author taylor branch about some of the major events of 50 years ago. and the central role played by black churches. >> reporter: in birmingham, alabama, christian leaders from around the country gathered for

a prayer walk to mark the 50th anniversary of some key moments in the struggle for civil rights. there are a lot of anniversaries to commemorate this year. 1963 was a turning point for reverend martin luther king jr. and the civil rights movement. >> 1963 is, without a doubt, the breakthrough pivotal year. i call it the tipping point. >> taylor branch is a you itser prize winning author of several books about the civil rights struggle including his most recent one the king years which emphasizes much of his earlier work. branch says black churches were central in almost all the major events of the movement. >> there was a place of refuge, there was a place where you learn things, where you were entertained, where you laugh, where you debated. >> reporter: but he notes the church's influence was more than practical. >> spirituality, and christian doctrine were the great buttress for the movement, basically

saying citizen's purpose claiming the right to vote and the right to be first class citizens is really the same as our spiritual message that we all have equal souls before god, and that's the -- that's the underpinning of the church. >> reporter: king began his leadership of the movement in 1955, as a young pastor who helped organize the bus boycott in montgomery. by 1963 there had been a sustained effort at marches and sit-ins and other nonviolent forms of protest around the country, but not a lot of progress. >> segregation laws were still in place, and nothing really had changed, and black people couldn't vote in the south, and you were stuck in what bob moses, another leader with dr. king said, was the great paradox. how do you get the vote without power, and power without the vote. in a totally segregated cast. >> reporter: branch says as 1963 began, king was worried that the movement was in danger of losing its moment in history. he decided to go to birmingham, considered one of the most

segregated cities in america. >> his modus operandi before that had been somebody would start a movement or a protest and he would go in to support them. he would be what he called a fireman and he said i don't want to be a fireman anymore. i want to organize something and try to go for broke, because we need to have a sign of progress that we can hang onto. >> in a series of church meetings, king tried to motivate birmingham adults to take part in demonstrations against segregation. but he didn't get the numbers he was seeking. on april 12th, good friday, king himself was arrested during a march. during his two-week detention, he wrote his letter from birmingham jail. today, religious leaders across the spectrum praised the letter's vigorous defense of nonviolent protest. at the time, it was largely ignored by the outside world. branch says king was discouraged, and considered pulling out. then some of his coworkers proposed allowing children to join the marches. it was a controversial

proposition, but king reluctantly agreed. >> this was one of the tremendous gambles in history. >> reporter: the children's crusade, or children's march, began on may 2nd. hundreds of elementary and high school students skipped classes, met at 16th street baptist church and came out marching and singing. waiting police arrested them for parading without a permit. more than 600 were taken into custody but more students kept showing up. birmingham authorities sprayed the marchers with high-powered water hoses and used police dogs to try and restore order. inspired by the children's courage, adults in birmingham and across the country joined anti-segregation protests. >> that broke down those emotional barriers when they saw those children suffering. millions of people said i need to do something about this. >> the kennedy administration had long been wrestling over how to address the civil rights issue. on june 11th, the president went on national television, and citing the events in alabama,

announced he would introduce new federal civil rights legislation. >> we face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and a people. it cannot be met by repressive police action. it cannot be left to increased demonstration in the streets. it cannot be quieted by token moves. >> movement leaders were elated but their joy was short-lived. hours later, prominent naacp mississippi field secretary medgar evers was murdered after a civil rights rally. >> that was a recurrent pattern in the movement that whenever something hopeful happened, you tended to hunch over because something really bad would happen. >> reporter: despite the tragedy, evers' work continued. during a ceremony at arlington national cemetery to mark the 50th san remembersry of his death, leaders said evers' faith was a model for other activists. >> medgar wily evers had a very clear, and deeply rooted belief

that fear and faith could not and cannot occupy the same space at the same time. >> reporter: hoping to convince congress to pass a civil rights bill, movement leaders planned a massive march in washington, d.c. for august 2th. the nation's capital prepared for the worst. >> not widely known, but basically official washington anticipated armageddon, because subliminally, people feel you can't get large numbers of black people in the nation's capital without bloodshed. >> reporter: some 250,000 people peacefully marched for jobs and for freedom. the highlight was king's speech, which closed with his stirring, "i have a dream" rhetoric. >> in many respects that's the only martin luther king speech that most people heard because it was widely publicized, on national television. a whole mass meeting and a whole martin luther king speech on one person was televised. that's a remarkable thing.

people who had never discussed race were discussing race. >> i think this march will go down as one of the greatest, if not the greatest demonstration for freedom and human dignity ever held in the united states. >> reporter: but once again, triumph was brief. less than a month later, on sunday morning, september 15th, birmingham's 16th street baptist church was bombed. four young black girls were killed. the movement was devastated. the november 22nd assassination of kennedy brought further despair, but branch says it also became a catalyst for ultimate change. >> a lot of people said somehow this is about hatred, and somehow the civil rights bill, which is stalled, is about overcoming hatred. and president johnson very skillfully spoke of that, helped essentially turn president kennedy into a martyr for this particular cause. and so history took off from there. >> the landmark civil rights act

was signed into law on july 2nd, 1964. throughout the tumultuous year of 1963 and beyond, branch says king drew on his christian faith to encourage his flock to persevere with their cause. >> you're going to have to have inspirational moments and you're going to have to go through peaks and valleys. and that was the great thing about dr. king's leadership, much of which he got from the bible. but it took redemption, and it took faith and tenacity not just kind of an empty, simple hope, this is easy, to accomplish the work of the lord, and the work of freedom, either one. >> i'm kim lawton, in birmingham. ♪ >> that's our program for now. i'm bob abernethy. you can follow us on twitter and facebook, there's always more on your website, including more of

our interview with historian taylor branch about the 1963 march on washington. and you can read an excerpt from his book "the king years." audio and video podcasts are also available. join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, scenes from the vatican, where pope francis marked 100 days since becoming pope, and celebrated another milestone, the 110th anniversary of harley-davidson motorcycles. the pope blessed thousands of bikes and bikers, and in return was given a black leather jacket, and two harleys for the vatican police force.

major funding for "religion and 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 also provided by mutual of america. designing customized, individual and group retirement products. that's why you're retirement company. and the corporation for public broadcasting. be more.

pbs.

barry kibrick: today on "between the lines," the man who wrote the book that is known as the most trusted source on leadership, james kouzes. i'm barry kibrick. james, along with his co-author barry posner, has written what is celebrated throughout the world as the definitive book on becoming a leader. with nearly two million copies sold, jim joins us now with his fourth edition of "the leadership challenge," a guide that inspires and encourages the heart so that we all may embark on a lifetime journey of significance and personal success. linda ellerbee: i'm a writer today because i was a reader when i was 11 years old, and it was... deepak chopra: you do not need to prove your state of happiness