>> potter: coming up: lherans wrestle with the issuof gay and lesan ministers. and, inner-city pastors o've made itheir missn to save lives, not just uls. >> you've got to comout behind your stained glass windowand come outere and help people, because if you dot all those problems are gointo end up and they are enng up on your doorstep. >> potter: plus, an interaive museum for kids wita religious twi. captioning sponred by the liy endowment

potter: welcome. i'm deborapotter, sitting in for bob arnethy. good to have you withs. this weekend marks thstart of radan, the islamic lunar mth of prayer and fasting. rkets in the muslim world we packed with shoppers apeople stock up on traditional foods for iftar, the measerved when fasting ends each day atunset.8 e fast is one of the five pillars of islaand is nsidered a method of self- urification. muslims belve that it was during the mth of ramadan that the quran w revealed the

prophet muhammad. >> tter: president obama ured the faith community th week to support hihealth care plan, calli it an ethical and moral obligation. a conference call sponsore by more than 30 religis denomations and organizations, the psident accused his crics of distortion and fabcations. >> i know there's been a t of misinformatioin this debate. and tre are some folks out thereho are, frankly, bearing false wness. but i waneveryone to know what health-insurance reform all about. >> tter: mr. obama said it's not true that his plan woul mean government fundinof ortions, as charged again th week in a newd by the family resear council. >> congress wilsoon vote on president obama'sealth care ll, a bill limiting our choices to preserve fe and expandg the choice to end one. >> potter: some cservative christn leaders warn that unless abortion ispecifically cluded, it would be covered "rproductive health."

mainline denominations contue to be shary divided over issuesurrounding homosexuality, and this wee it was the lherans' turn. the nation's laest lutheran denomination, the engelical utheran church in america, hd its biennial assembly in minapolis. and as k lawton reports, crch policy about gays and lesbns dominated the agenda. >> he no fear, we will pray! >> rerter: they prayed for unity. but disagrments over homosexuity were clear as deletes of the evangelical lutheran church inmerica-- the e.l.c.agathered in minneapolis is week. >> we cannot changeod's law ande cannot change what is right nd what is wrong. how about jesus saying, juge not, tt ye not. be judged? >> if you're in favor ofhe amendmt, vote one. if you're oppos, vote two. plse vote now. >> reporter: tre was vigorous debate about whethethe denominati should lift its ban on non-celibate gaynd lesbian clery. aissue was a measure to allow loal congregations to hire gay or lesbian pasts who are in

lifelong, monogamo relatnships. as of friday afternn, a final vote had t to be taken. >> it's certaiy painful when people say th your relationship or your call re t valid. >> reporter: aft acknowledging his relationship with anoer man, atlanta pastor braey schmeling faced a church tri in 2007. he's no long officially recognized as an e.l.c.a. pastor, but his conegation keptim on. schmelg says he hopes the deomination is enting a new era. >> my dreafor the e.l.c.a. would be that we could bea community that reay celebrates gay, lesbianbisexual, transgender leadersn the crch... not just tolerate our presence, but nuinely celebrate the gif that people bring the church. reporter: traditionalists argued that thmeasure violated biblical teachgs. >>we have a clear witness in scripture abo homosexuality. every timeomosexuality is

mentioned in scriptu, it's mentioned in negative light. we n't have any positive referenceso homosexuality in scripture. >> reporter: many said thsame standas should apply to all pasto. and the proposals are just flat out rejection of what t christi church for 2,000 years and moschristian churches today,nd most believers today, still hear and believe: don have sex tside of marriage. period. >> reporter: but pporters argued for different interpretation of scripte. >> i think there e some who ant to see the word as a stac bookhat we are to read literally, and oths of us who see it as a ling, breathing, namic word that continueso be revealed to . >> porter: with nearly five- million membe, the e.l.c.a. is onof the largest denominations in the u.s.

delegates are hoping thdebates won't ar their church apart. they paed a social statement affirming that there is om in the e.c.a. to accommodate difring views on homosexuality, an issuethe statement sai which is not ceral to our faith. >> the social statemt as amended is aproved. >> i don't think this is a church-dividing issue. there areome who will say tha but i'm not one who believeshat. >> think that there will be some deep hurt and the will be some pain. and howe move forward and deal with thats a denomination will speak volumeas to our fidelity to the word of goand to the strength of o unity. >> reporter: bothides acknowledged re debates about homoseality are still ahead. m kim lawton reporting. >> potter: the lutheran delegates so passed an agreement to have ull communion with the united methodis church. that means t nation's two lgest mainline protestant denonations will share ministers, misions and other chrch resources.

the united methodts approved e agreement at their genera conference last year. the supreme court has orded a new hearing foa death row inmate in georg whose case has attracted worldwide atttion. troy davis was coicted of killing an off-dutyolice oicer, but claims he's innocent, and k prosecution witnesses ve recanted their teimony. popbenedict the sixteenth, archbishop desmo tutu and otrs have called his conviction unfair taiwan is now accepting foign aid thelp with relief efforts after the worst typhoon in cades. evacuees have been taking shelt in churches and shrines across the island,nd praying forhe victims of the storm. mourners burned cense, brought offerings and st paper money to t dead, hoping they could find pce in another world. saster officials say 140 people we killed and more than 400 are missing, most presed dead. in ba, u.s. catholic bishops

this week saw how that coury is recovering from last yr's hurricanes, and call for acion to improve u.s.-cuban relations. the bishops visited church being rebuilt with fun donated by catholic harities. and they urged ca and the united stes to "listen to their better angels" and prsed the obama administration tlift the u.s.rade embargo. > the embargo effects people who causes hardship for innent people. and hopefully with thisew environmt that exists in washington and ihavana, hopefully therwill be opportunities r greater anges. >> potter: an sociation of catholic women religio leaders isasking the vatican why the group is being invesgated. th leadership conference that represents almost l of the catholic religiouorders in the ited states is the target of doctrinal assessment, e results of which wille a

cret report to rome. the group was wned eight years ago that it had faid to promotsome of the church's teachings, inclung the male- only priestod. separate apostolic visitatio is looki into what the vatican calls "the quality the life" of all 60,000 american cathoc sters. joining usow to discuss these invesgations is tom fox, editor of the independt wspaper, "the national catholireporter." thanks for ining us. >> great to beere. >> potter: tom, i wonderf you could tell us what aears to be behind these investations or, maybe put another way, what es it em that the vatican is after? >> wellthe truth is that no onreally knows, and that's one of e disconcerting elements. this really has ten the women by surpris they met, as yosaid, with the vaticanight years ago and went over ctain matters, and every year since then they've ben rurning to rome talking to vaticanfficials, been open for

communicatn, and now, out of seengly nowhere, comes these investigations >> potter: whyo you think it might happening now? has there been some ki of change in the make-up religious orrs, or is it just changing philosophies in rme that might bpushing this forward? >> well, ere's been a conflict going back 40 year since the second vaticacouncil, between o models of church. one is e more conservative, traditional model, le-clergy- hierarchical del, and the cond has been the model of t send vatican council, which tressed collegiality, and t women relious of america rely embraced that, and they changed their conitutions to become more collective their o leadership. and they really represent th forefront of this second mel of church. ani think today the older, moreonservative model feels that it's strong ough now,

maybe, to in in this last remnant ofhe second tican council. >> potter: so is it in fect a sort of push to reestablh a kind of orthodoxy in the catholic church in americ >> i think that thers a ntinued concern by the vatic at american catholics are n orthodoxnough, that the women religio may not be orthodox, bu let's be clear this that is is not on traditional teachings on go trinity, jesus. this is... these are teachin on homosexuality, on e male prithood, and the primacy of t catholic church. >> potter: a yet that seems pretty entral to what concerns e vatican. >> that's a very central conce, at this point, to the vatican. potter: so what, then, are t wider implications of an investigation intthe women religious f the catholic church in america? >> right. that's aood question, and i think won religious say that this really representsan

investigatn or an attack, if you will,n the american way of beinghurch, which really has stressed moreay involvement, more religious involvemt, colliality, more countability of... demanded the bishops. and swe're really seeing here maybe thelash of two models, and i think thwomen religious ar right that this really is wer than just the women religious themselve potter: now, there have be some discuions that perhaps what the vican's really doing is sort assessing property for i value. does that have any being, do u think, any validity? >> wellagain, deborah, the fact ishat no one really knows, and so you enup in this speculation. andf course there have been millions of dollars inawsuits against the churchand the church is hting for money. and so some of theomen are at let speculating that rome wants a better assessnt of

thr property values and with n eye on maybe using some of that money to pay some of tse bills. >> potter: obviously,e'll be watching this and rept the results wh we can get them. tom, i appriate you being here. tom foxrom "the national cathol reporter." inlos angeles, a group of inner-ci clergy, many of them inspired byeterans of the civil rights movement, are king their ministries out of the pulpit and intohe streets. instead of only preaching save souls, they e returning to actism: confronting homelessness, unemploment and olence. lucky sevson reports. >> it's time tbreak the ilence. 's time to draw a line sayin this far and no farther." >> reporter:his is the bryant temple rican methodist episcopal church in soh central los anges. the usic will move you, but this is not a celebratn. it's a serve dedicated to

brging an end to the needless deaths of all the boywho will never become men. >> our young people have been dying in the streets y and night where we have hidden o light undea bushel. >reporter: how many kids have been kille say, in the last year? >> about aundred. >> reporter: pastor ugene williams managed survive his inner-city childhd, but the odds are worstoday. he says is partly because too manafrican-american churches haveost their way. >> and so we've ne from a period of ministers le dr cecil murray d dr. j. alfred smith, w taught that it was important to lo your neighbor as yourself, to a place wre ministers belved that it was important that the counity love them. >> reporter: so that's why williams and otherctivist preachers started a progr caled passing the mantle, now in its fourth year at the iversity of southern

califora. it's a nine-day urse where stors, now known as the old lions, teach unger pastors, african american anlatino, how to gecivically engaged in the real-life drama of inr city los angeles. did you everhink that you woulde called an old lion? >> bss the lord, i knew i'd be called old, butot a lion. >> report: cecil "chip" murray retireat 75 as the pastor of the firsafrican methodist episcopal church of los anles, which was e largest a.m.e. church ithe country. he could preach hellfe and brimstone, but heas more concerned about socl issues like homelessss, jobs, violence,nd hunger. we must not only have life ter death, but we must have life afterbirth, even as with the fnder of christianity. he would preachersonal salvion, but he would also preach social salvation. he wld reach out. i ave come that you may hav

life, not i ve come to take you to heaven. >> rerter: pastor mark whitlock is a co-direct of passing the mantl he says because of rev. rray he turnedis life around, so he knows a pastor can make difference, evenith kids society deembeyond hope. >> i would probablye one of those people youould be afraid of in e community, yeah, sold some oduct that were illegal and did some things th i'm not very proud of. >> reporter: now, pastor of chst our redeemer a.m.e. church, he sees w much more dficult it is today for inner city kids to break fe of their environment. he was once one of those kid th need for black churches to get inlved, he says, is urgent. >> it's mmediate, and you look at the challen of gang vience, the number of african arican latinos that are locke up in is country, over a million,he absence of african ericans graduating, particularly africaamerican men graduating fro high schools and eveelementary schools, the attention is necessarnow, and it's anmmediate need to change.

to say we are here toave souls and that's all... you n't save souls in isolatio it's a totality of heartsoul, mind, strength, famil vironment. it iessentially you envonment. >> reporter: pasr murray earned his reputatioas an old lion as a lead of the civil rights movement in clifornia from e very beginning. deste his quiet, humble demeano he has won many battles and concessis from the city and ste, including one that the pole would no longer hold suspects in cke-holds. pasr j. alfred smith is other old lion who led the civilights movement in northern california. he is senior pastor emitus of the allen temple bapst church in oakland. >> the church was thcivil rights movement because he churchnderstood the meaning of "go down, moses, andell old praoh to let my people go." the church understood the

aning of saying "we shall overcome." >> reporr: and after they led t struggle against segration an police brutality and eventually forcecongress to pass cil rights legislation, it was black paors who calmed the fury the la race riots in 92. then things chged. many blacchurches began focusing less on socialustice issues anmore on saving souls and preaching the spel of prosperity,hich teaches that thefaithful will be rewarded with mateal blessings. >> i would just monish those who preach prosperity to remember that the oneho founded t christian church had one pair of shoes. >> we lieve christ came to set the captives free, tbring sight to thelind, to clothe the naked, to find using for those who are lookinfor housing. that's the work the church. wemust return back to the values thamade the black

urch a true success. >> and we came here to tell u young people that we're sorry. we're sry because we left you to fend for yourselves. >> repoter: outside the chapel at the special healing serce, the was an empty casket. no one need to ask why. they allnow someone. >> bring, heavenly fatherwhat only you can give. >> repoer: a few days earlier, someone dued the body of a young man o had been shot in the heajust a few hundred rds from the church. >> it's nderful labels that we' given our children-- gang members, crips, bods. i'm sorr those are our so, those are oudaughters,hose are our cousins, ose are our nieces. so we must n be afraid of our ow and if they're doing wrong, they're doing wrong. selng drugs is wrong. doing cre is wrong. not going to school is wrog. so the church must eak to the moral... take a moral potion on it, but aftewe take a moral position then we must wraour arms around them and lo them

back to a place where theyeel safe in the church. >> reporter: most rents in south central.a. are as caring and loving as parents everywherebut with far greater obstacles. there are few bs, few public parks to get the kids offhe streets, po schools, and not enough role models. there are now twice asany latinos as african amerins, but people all races are starting to realize they're in this together. >> if under the skin all peoe are kin, if a human beings have an area thacan be approached, then we neeto find what that area iand go to it, because the problemare not going to fix themselves >> rerter: there are some signs of ogress. inner city pastors have manad to wrangle so new affordable housing. some of thestimated 40,000 gang members have been persued to try go straight. pastors e getting more invold. and the's one more change on e front lines: a majority of

tho asking to receive the mantle are women. >> that we have to make the difference. thas what i learned today. >> peoplare dying in the streets. we're saying at people are engaging in risky behavior. so you've got to come out bind your stained glass ndows and come ouhere and help people, because if you don't, alof those probms are going to end up, and ey are ending up, on youroorstep. >> reporte they've heard promises ofelp before, promises often notept. now it's the mo trusted men and women in the ighborhood who areffering hope. >> if we lock arms, ife ntinue to move and work together, will improve the communities whe we live, work, and worsh. i came byere to tell you to stand your feet, because we gonna be morbetter. let's gi god some praise. >> reporter: so far, t old lio have passed the mantle to about 400 youngepastors who sem determined to do what

authorities he been unable to do without them. for "religion & eths neweekly," i'm lucky severson in soh central los angeles. >> pr: on our lendar awe mentioned earlier, muims are observing rhamad and hindus are celebrating ganesh chatuhi, which commemorates the birthday ofhe popular deity, rd ganesha. believermark the t-day festival by offering prars and delicacies to the god wi the head of an elephant. the final day of celebratio a statue olord ganesha is taken in a and procession and immersein a body of water. >> potter: the hebrew moh of elul has begun for the worls jews. a time of introspection a stock-taking, it leads to he holiest time ofear in the jewish cendar, including rosh hahanah and yom kippur. these holidays, plujewish tradition and biblal history, are at the hrt of an teractive museum in brooklyn new york. education direor rabbi nissen brenenson gave us a tour the

jewish children's museum. >> you approach the museum, the first thing you see ia giant photmosaic, and as you get cser you realize that it's made of thousands and thoands of smaller photographs of children of alages, of all races. then that contains a spial message, and that ishat we're reay one. thgallery on the six days of creaon and the shabbat, the sabbat contains a shabbat table whe you're actually walking on the table. there are shabbat calesticks, giant crawl-through challah tunnel. inside the tunnel, you can arn about the iredients, the significanc of the special challah bread. hanukkah is also a vorite. we have an olive oil pssing station whe children can acally squeeze their own olive o. they like to do that, and e olive oilepresents the miracle of the oil that happed at the time of e hanukkah story.

i thi we have the world's only touch-screen seder plat and by pressing the scrn and selectg the various symbolic items on the seder plat the childrenan watch short clips of what these sbols represent and the sty of passover. the holiday of ees is called b'shvat, and here at the mueum we have our own special talking tu b'shvat tre >> b'shvat is my birthday. >> he'sort of a storyteller and explains how man is comparedo a tree in many ways. we have our rootsand that's our faith, and we also ha our fruits, and the are the good deedthat we perform. the ourney continues into o kosher supermarket, where children can sn products. instead of comingp with prices, there are tria questions about theosher diet

well as a full-scale kosr kitcn. t last gallery on that floor focuses on valuethat are rooted in jewishradition but have also beme universal, such as kindess, kindness to others, kindne to animals, respecting e environment, charity. >> tter: finally, pope benedict is st-free again. the 82-year-old po broke his wrist sixeeks ago in a fall while he was on vacati, and he'seen sporting a cast ever since. the vatcan says x-rays showed t wrist has now healed, so th po's doctors removed the cast. but he wilhave to have phical therapy. afr the injury, the pope had joked that gomust have been trying to teach hipatience. that's our pgram for now. i'deborah potter. there's much more on oureb site. audio and video podcastsre also ailable. join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, mic from the

lutheran assely in minneolis. ♪ captioning sponsor by the lilly endowment captioned by media access group at wbh access.wgborg rec 2c