coming up, the controversy in new york city over whether churches can hold worship services in public schools. and tough new requirements for voter id in south carolina. is this to prevent fraud? or to keep minorities from voting? plus, the government's partners2ps forhioreign aid with faith-based groups.

welcome, i'm bob abernethy. it's good to have you with us. as the syrian government's crack-down intensified this week, religious leaders called for an immediate end to the violence. at the vatican, pope benedict xvi prayed for peace and issued an urgent appeal for dialogue. the world union for progressive judaism condemned the syrian regime for quote "murdering its own people" and said the international community must intervene. on thursday, the un general assembly overwhelmingly, 137-12,

passed an arab league backed resolution calling for syrian president assad to step down. in washington, tibetan activists gathered at the white house to protest the visit of chinese vice-president xi jinping. human rights and religious freedom advocates urged president obama to press him on china's treatment of tibetan buddhists, uighar muslims and some christians. meanwhile, china said it will allow the u.s. ambassador for international religious freedom, suzanne johnson cook, to visit that country after earlier reports that she had been denied a visa. controversy continued over the administration's policy changes on contraceptive services. a house committee held a hearing thursday on whether the new policy violates religious liberty. last week, president obama announced revisions saying that religion related organizations with moral objections would not

have to offer or pay for birth control. instead, insurance companies would have to provide those services to women free of charge. some catholic leaders supported the change, but others, including the us conference of catholic bishops, said it did not adequately address their concerns. the bishops' opposition is being led by new york's archbishop timothy dolan. dolan is in rome this weekend being elevated to cardinal, along with another american, baltimore's archbishop edwin o'brien. dozens of churches in new york city are citing religious liberty concerns in their battle to be allowed to worship in public school buildings after hours. the new york city board of education had said last sunday was the final day congregations could rent school space for services. on thursday, a district judge gave the churches a ten-day extension. as a court challenge moves

forward, the state legislature is considering a bill to overturn the policy. kim lawton has more. >> reporter: at fdr public school on manhattan's lower east side, abounding grace ministries held what could be one of its last worship services in the building. the nondenominational church has been renting worship space here for the last three years. pastor rick del rio says the reasonable rent was critical to his predominantly low-income congregation. >> it's the only thing we could afford. two, it becomes that place where families can unite, and we really cultivate those relationships so that it is an oasis. >> reporter: del rio describes his church as a source of stability in the neighborhood and says the city's policy is unfair to the people he serves. >> at the expense of the poor they want to go ahead and make

this decision. what do we tell our people? >> reporter: barry lynn, executive director of americans united for separation of church and state, says allowing churches to worship in public schools creates a constitutional problem. >> when a church uses a school on a regular basis it's very easy for a community or the students in that school to think there's a special connection between one religious group and that public school. >> all of this just in case some kid is going to have the wrong perception? why don't you explain to the child that worship, the freedom to worship is one of the most basic rights? teach the kid. you know what? this is a wonderful country, a wonderful city. we all need to be tolerant of each other. >> reporter: del rio and other opponents of the ban argue that churches are being treated differently than other groups, such as alcoholic anonymous and the boy scouts, which still can rent space in new york city public schools. >> the law says there are whole categories of things that can't

be done in a public school. you can't have a commercial event, you can't have a partisan political rally or a convention, and you also can't have worship services, so this is not viewpoint discrimination. >> reporter: thousands of churches around the country worship in public schools. del rio says new york city's policy may be a precedent in what he sees as a movement to secularize the nation. >> if you think occupy wall street can make some noise, there is going to be some real movement here from communities like ours, because we are not going to let this die. going to let this die. >> reporter: abounding grace has found a new temporary worship location for the next few weeks and has joined a coalition of churches fighting the policy. i'm kim lawton reporting. in other news, a new poll shows growing support for gop presidential hopeful rick santorum, especially among

conservative religious voters. according to the pew research center, santorum now leads mitt romney among white evangelical republicans, 41%-23%. santorum's popularity with that group has nearly doubled since january. he also polls higher than any other candidate among white catholics. we have a special report today on south carolina's tough new law on voter identification. enforcement of the law is on hold for now, while the federal government investigates. but sharp debate continues. is the aim to prevent voter fraud? or to suppress the votes of minorities? lucky severson tells the story. >> reporter: this is a scene more than a few americans are familiar with. standing in line at the department of motor vehicles, the dmv. this one is in sumter, south carolina. >> oh, that's your birth certificate? >> reporter: amanda wolf has

been waiting over six months to get the proper papers so she can finally get a photo id. >> i was adopted in georgia, and my name was different on my birth certificate, and plus my birth mother and birth father was on the birth certificate, so we had to go to vital check, and with vital check you have to have a major credit card, which i don't have. >> reporter: and so it went, on and on. amanda had a student photo id when she lived in florida and used it to vote when she moved here, but not anymore, not under the state's controversial new voter id law that was fashioned after an indiana law the supreme court upheld in 2008. state senator chip campsen sponsored the south carolina law. >> and the court has concluded that whatever those hurdles you have to clear to get the id necessary to vote. >> reporter: is worth it. >> it is worth it, that is correct. >> reporter: it is those hurdles, critics say, that will keep some eligible people who lack the proper id from voting.

the south carolina law requires a state- issued photo id, a military id, or a passport. amanda finally qualified for a photo id after she got some free help from a retired judge. attorneys often charge as much as $1,800 for the service. >> to get a photo id in the state of south carolina you have to have your birth certificate, a social security card. license if you've been married. you have to have a divorce decree if you've been divorced, and it's just one thing after another after another, and a lot of the stuff is really difficult to get a hold of. >> reporter: barbara zia is the co-president of the south carolina league of women voters. >> the league submitted our comments, along with other organizations to the state, contending that the law was discriminatory and that thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of eligible voters would be disenfranchised. >> reporter: state

representative david mack --e >> it's horrible. it's designed to suppress the vote of people of color. people of color and poor people, that's exactly what it's designed for. there's no documentation of fraud as relates to voting, and there has been no problem with fraud as it relates to registering people to vote. >> reporter: you don't think people are going to be disenfranchised? >> no. actually individuals who they say they are, who they are supposed to be. >> there are no documented cases of voter fraud by impersonating somebody else to vote for decades in south carolina. we've talked with the state elections commission. they know of none, and they've gone on record saying that there is none. >> if there were cases of fraud they would have been front page news throughout the state of south carolina and other places, and it's just not a problem. >> reporter: state senator campsen insists there have been

cases of voter fraud, and there are some that are still under investigation. he says that it would be contrary to human nature if there wasn't voter fraud. >> and i know this, human nature being what it is will steal. i lock my house. my house has never been broken into, but i lock it, and i don't have to have a thief break into my house and steal something before i'm justified in locking my front door, and so human beings will steal my car, they'll steal my money, and they'll steal my vote, too. >> reporter: braden bunch owns brick's place. he was the head of the sumter county republican party until recently. he thinks requiring photo id to vote is only common sense. >> it's a pragmatic step in order to fix the possibility of irregularity or even just getting rid of these old wives' tales out there, that all kinds of fraud and deceit is going on.

if you have this in place those stories go away. >> reporter: what's happening here is part of a national trend. altogether 34 states have introduced photo id legislation. critics say nationwide it could keep millions from voting. south carolina's own study says african americans are most likely to be impacted. that's why the justice department has put it on hold while it investigates. barbara zia says the law will also make it more difficult for the elderly, the disabled, and students whose ids no longer work to vote. but, she says, it will definitely impede minorities the most. >> and many south carolinians, especially citizens of color, were born at home and lack birth certificates, and so to obtain those birth certificates is a very costly endeavor and also an administrative nightmare. >> reporter: south carolina is one of several states, mostly in

the south, that because of a history of discrimination is required by the voting rights act of 1965 to get clearances from the justice department whenever changes are make to voting laws. dr. brenda williams has registered hundreds to vote. she says the new legislation is reminiscent of the jim crow laws that legalized discrimination against african americans even at polling places until they were abolished by the voting rights act. >> there was a poll tax back during those days, and african americans had to pay a tax. african americans were penalized when they went to even register to vote at the courthouse. they were given literacy tests and had to guess how many marbles were in a jar and different things in order to deter and disenfranchise as many people as possible. >> reporter: does this remind you of that? >> yes, this is just deja vu. >> i ain't never had the opportunity to vote, and i wanted to vote, and i cried

because i didn't have the papers to vote. >> reporter: donna suggs has been a nurse's aide all her life. >> i had no birth certificate. >> reporter: well, can't you just go apply and get a birth certificate? >> no, i was born by a midwife in hartsville, south carolina, and they didn't report my birth. uth i particular births among african american's were not sometimes re co ird hurn t recorded in court houses.s. they were recorded in family bibles, and often a midwife did not record them at all. donna was finally able to get a photo id after an attorney helped her get her birth certificate free of charge. >> now that you've got your photo id. >> you want to see it? >> reporter: sure, i do want to see it. >> okay. >> reporter: so now she is officially donna suggs. >> disenfranchising someone, yes, it is a moral issue. >> reporter: united methodist

minister james williams pastors two churches and operates a funeral home. he says he knows that many of those in his congregation and those he buried never had a birth certificate. in his view voting is sacred, and depriving someone of that right is morally wrong. >> jim crow has changed. jim crow no longer wears a white sheet. jim crow no longer rides in a buggy. jim crow now is in a $3,000 suit driving a mercedes benz. the tactics to keep oppressed has changed. they no longer beat you over the head with a stick. they beat you over the head with legislation. >> it is not harder for a black man to vote than it is for a white man to vote. we all can walk down to the polls together and cast our ballot. it's that simple. >> reporter: if you all have a photo id. >> well, and the point being is that it is an equal burden on a white man to get an id than it is on a black man to get an id. >> reporter: that may not be

quite accurate, but there is little chance that the south carolina legislature will amend the voter id law unless the justice department finds that a significant number of south carolinians will be deprived of the right to vote. for "religion and ethics newsweekly," i'm lucky severson in columbia, south carolina. president obama this week unveiled his proposed $3.8 trillion budget for 2013. the president said his budget was a reflection of quote "shared responsibility." several religious groups were disappointed by his proposed cap on tax deductions for charitable contributions. some humanitarian groups said the budget falls short of promised funding for international aid programs. the u.s. spends less than 1% of its annual budget on nonmilitary foreign assistance.

most of that is overseen by the us agency for international development. its administrator is rajiv shah, who has been a strong advocate for expanding partnerships with faith-based groups. kim lawton talked with him. >> reporter: at the height of last year's devastating famine in the horn of africa, rajiv shah, administrator of the us agency for international development, visited a refugee camp in kenya. there were thousands of families who had walked for days to escape starvation in somalia. he says one woman's story particularly touched him. >> along the way, she literally couldn't continue to carry both of her kids, and she had to make this gut wrenching choice about which child she would carry to safety and which one she would leave behind, and that's the kind of decision that no mother should ever have to make. >> reporter: shah says encounters like that bolster his conviction that the us has a moral obligation to help ease suffering around the world.

it's an obligation, he says, that's also in america's strategic interest. >> we're a nation based on moral values, and when we express those values to communities around the world, we're showing them an america that is an optimistic america, an inclusive america, and a country with whom they want to partner and not fight. >> reporter: shah believes faith-based groups can, and should, be key partners in the u.s. government's humanitarian efforts. >> we want to do our work, which is about protecting people who are vulnerable around the world and expanding the reach of human dignity, as broadly as possible. and often it is communities of faith, faith- based organizations, that are there working when the rest of the world has forgotten about people who have no other place to turn. >> reporter: at 38, shah is one of the obama administration's youngest top-ranking officials. he is hindu and says his interest in humanitarian issues was first fostered by his

parents, who immigrated to the u.s from india. >> when i was seven or eight years old, i don't remember exactly when, i went to visit india, and they took me through slum communities just so i could see how people lived. and i grew up in suburban detroit. i'd never been exposed to that before. and when you see other kids your age, when you're seven or eight years old, living in entirely different circumstances, it affects you in a very profound way, and it has led to a constant motivation i've had. >> reporter: shah took over at usaid on january 7, 2010, just five days before the catastrophic earthquake in haiti. he was immediately pulled into managing what would become the largest humanitarian response in history. after the quake, usaid worked closely with several faith-based organizations to provide food and shelter. shah says he saw firsthand the effectiveness of those groups. >> partners like world vision or catholic relief services that take the time to engage with

communities they're trying to serve, that are willing to be there for the long run, that work in partnership and cooperation with governments so that they are coordinating their efforts and getting the most out of what we, the investments we make. >> i want to acknowledge one particular member of my administration who i'm extraordinarily proud of and does not get much credit, and that is usaid administrator dr. raj shah, who is doing great work with faith leaders. where's raj? where is he? there he is, right there. >> reporter: under shah's leadership, the obama administration has increased its partnerships with religious groups by more than 50%. according to shah, usaid now has 115 different partnerships with organizations of faith around the world, and he hopes to expand that even further. what is it that faith groups bring to the table in these partnerships?

>> well, i think it's a core motivation that's driven by a desire to get results. organizations that are committed to the outcomes, that measure results, that ensure that scarce taxpayer dollars are in fact benefiting those who are most vulnerable often are communities of faith, and we want to work with them to achieve those results. >> reporter: government partnerships with faith groups have been controversial. some critics worry about the u.s. being tied to the religious mission of a particular group or taxpayer money being used for explicitly religious activities, such as evangelizing. >> those are not activities we support. you know, we have a very clear set of defined outcomes and results that we're willing to finance and that we believe we can support, and, you know, frankly, if you look at the broad range of what faith community groups are doing around the world, it's actually service. >> reporter: another controversial partner has been the military. some nongovernmental groups have criticized the growing role of

the u.s. military in disaster relief, especially in areas where the u.s. has been at war. but shah says it can work. he cites haiti as a model. >> many of our ngo partners and others who had previously been sometimes nervous about working with the military came back and said, wow, they were, they were great to work with, they were so responsive to our needs and the needs of local communities and they were really there to serve. and i'm just very proud of the way american men and women in the armed services conducted themselves in haiti, and they made us all proud. >> reporter: is there a concern, though, about the perception of the u.s. humanitarian arm too linked with the military side? >> i don't think we should be concerned about perceptions. i think we should be concerned about results and outcomes, and at times of crisis we will turn to whomever we can, whenever we can, to help save lives and protect people. >> reporter: shah says in an era of budget cutting, u.s. faith leaders from across the religious and political spectrum

have played an important role lobbying congress to keep funding for programs that help the world's poor. >> when people see that great coming together, it reminds us all that on some basic moral issues, we can stand together even in sometimes partisan environments. >> reporter: but he admits in the current climate, it can be difficult to make the argument to maintain foreign aid funding, even though it represents less than one percent of the federal budget. >> at the end of the day when you ask americans what we should be spending abroad, they'll say about 10% of the budget. unfortunately they believe we spend 20% and so we have a lot to do to communicate the fact that this is a relatively small investment. >> reporter: shah says resources must always be allocated for humanitarian disasters. but he says the administration wants to put a new focus on long-term initiatives as well. >> it turns out that for about a tenth the cost, somewhere between one-eighth and one-tenth the cost of feeding someone for a year, you can help invest in

their ability to move themselves out of poverty. >> reporter: and he says the government is well aware that communities of faith have vast potential resources that can be enlisted in the battle. >> there are 330,000 congregations in this country that represent, i think the top ten alone reach more than 100 million people. you know, if we could just reach a small fraction of that community, that's our vision of success. >> reporter: i'm kim lawton in washington. on our calendar this week, on monday, hindus celebrate maha sivaratri, which honors their deity lord shiva. and, celebrations are under way around the world for carnivale, the festive time that precedes lent, the 40-day somber period of prayer and fasting before easter. for western christians lent begins wednesday -- ash wednesday. finally, we remember pulitzer-prize winning "new york

times" reporter anthony shadid, who died this week after suffering an asthma attack while he was covering the crisis in syria. in his middle east reporting, shadid frequently explored the role of religion. we spoke with him in 2005, as iraq was voting on a new constitution. >> religion in itself is one message. the interpretation of that religion is another thing, and i've seen, just as a reporter in the middle east over the past decade, that islam is very pliable in that sense. it's very flexible, and it can be adapted very easily to local movements, local demands, local fights and wars. i think we see it in palestine, i think we see it in lebanon. i think we see it most spectacularly in iraq. >> anthony shadid was 43. that's our program for now. i'm bob abernethy. you can follow us on twitter and facebook, find us on youtube, and watch us anytime, anywhere on smart phones. there's also much more on our web site, including more of kim lawton's interview with rajiv

shah. you can comment on all of our stories and share them. audio and video podcasts are also available. audio and video podcasts are also available. join us at pbs.org.

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