>> lawton: coming up: the difficulties and rewards of creating interracial congregations. and, a bride, a groom, and two and, a bride, a groom, and two different faith traditions-- a big challenge for the wedding planner. >> out of the 25 or 30 weddings we do in a year, right now about half of them, if not more than half, are interfaith marriages. captioning sponsored by the lilly endowment

>> lawton: welcome. i'm kim lawton sitting in for bob abernethy. thank you for joining us. presidentntbama was on the road again this week stumping for comprehensive healthcare reform. in washington, a coalition of moderate and liberal religious groups pledged to ramp up their lobbying for healthcare reform during congress's august recess. clergy will encourage their parishioners to schedule local townhall meetings about the healthcare crisis, and grassroots activists will meet with members of congress in their home district offices. coalition leaders say they believe healthcare is a moral issue. >> reforming healthcare is a

test of how we as a society can come together to heal people's pain and put the value of human life above other interests, like profit. >> lawton: meanwhile, some religious conservatives raised concerns about potential provisions within healthcare legislation. family research council action released a tv ad urging that healthcare reform not include funding for abortions. also in washington, the obama administration held a new round of diplomatic talks with chinese officials. the meetings were designed to strengthen ties between the u.s. and china. the leaders tackled a range of economic and foreign policy issues. but president obama made it clear that supporting human rights and religious freedom were also american priorities.

>> we also strongly believe that the religion and culture of all peoples must be respected and protected and that all people should be free to speak their minds. and that includes ethnic and religious minorities in china as surely as it includes minorities within the united states. >> lawton: despite the worsening economy-- or maybe because of it-- volunteerism appears to be on the rise in this country. according to a new report from the government's corporation for national and community service, nearly 62 million americans volunteered last year. that's the largest number in four years. almost 36% of those people volunteered through a religious organization. in boston, the roman catholic archdiocese has raised the retirement age for priests from seventy to seventy-five. the reason: a shortage of clergy. boston is the nation's fourth largest archdiocese. it has just half the number of priests it had in the 1960's. the new rule only affects men

turning seventy after august 1. those who have health problems can apply for "senior priest" status-- meaning they would serve in limited capacities, such as replacing clergy on vacation or sick leave. archbishop of canterbury rowan williams this week acknowledged that the u.s. episcopal church has provoked "very serious anxieties" across the 77- million-member worldwide anglican communion. he said his church body may have to accept what he called a new two-track system in order to avoid schism. at the episcopal general convention two weeks ago, delegates voted to move forward in allowing more g#,8r:r]:hpgd in creating liturgies to bless same-sex unions. those votes exacerbated long- simmering tensions. williams said one solution may be a new structure with two different styles of being anglican. a tense national debate about racial profiling has continued since harvard scholar henry louis gates, jr. was arrested in

his cambridge home for disorderly conduct. gates, who is african-american, was arrested by sergeant james crowley, a white officer who had responded to a 911 call about a possible break-in. the controversy intensified when president obama said the police "acted stupidly" when they arrested gates. the president later said he regretted his choice of words and he hosted both gates and crowley at the white house thursday for a conciliatory beer. the incident and the ensuing debate show how divisive racial issues can be in this country. even though america has elected its first black president, efforts toward racial integration are often still fraught with difficulties, not least in churches where it's been said that 11 o'clock on sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week. lucky severson reports. >> reporter: if something seems odd or unusual about these worshippers, maybe it's the diversity, all the different colors and nationalities of

their faces. this is the wilcrest baptist church in houston, and pastor rodney woo couldn't be more proud of the cultural and racial mix of his congregation. >> i think my main passion is to get people ready for heaven. i think a lot of our people are going to go into culture shock when they get to heaven and they get to sit next to somebody that they didn't maybe sit with while they were here on earth. so we're trying to get them acclimated a little bit. >> reporter: assuming pastor woo is right, there are a lot of congregations that need to get acclimated. a recent study found that only 7% of churches in the u.s. are integrated. thisisomes as no surprise to ohio state sociology professor korie edwards, author of the book, "the elusive dream." >> we're segregated in housing. even the job market is segregated, and we end up going to churches with people who look like us. >> sometimes, you know, you'll hear the statement of african americans saying, "i have to work with whites. i may have to shop with them. but on sunday, i want to... i don't want to have to worship

with them. i want to be able to just be myself and let my hair down. >> reporter: rice university sociology professor michael emerson, who authored the study on the make-up of churches in the u.s., says racial separation inside most churches is even more pronounced than it is outside for a number of reasons. >> what we found in the study is that churches are 10 times less diverse than the neighborhoods they sit in. >> reporter: emerson also found that churches in the south were the least integrated, partly because african americans are concerned about whites taking over their congregation. >> that's a big fear, right. and when i talk with black pastors, the same thing. if we try to have this move towards interracial congregations, whites will just dominate them. there are so many more of them and they're used to being in the position of power. so they'll just take over and we'll lose the one thingnge do have. and so what happens in these congregations where you have whites and blacks, even though they may be well-intended,

people coming together and wanting to do the christian thing, wanting to serve god together, you're going to find that these kinds of issues that occur outside of the church, come into the church. >> reporter: pastor rufus smith of the city of refuge church in houston is one of very few african americans who leads an interracial church. smith says when he took over the evangelical presbyterian congregation, it was mostly white, bored and dwindling. he said he would only agree to be pastor if members promised to integrate. >> to their credit, many of those core people decided, you know, come hell or high water, we're going to try this thing and give it our best shot, though it was an experiment. and here, now 12 years later, we think it's a grand experience. >> reporter: today the church is

about 45% white, 45% black and the rest hispanic and asian. but pastor smith says the "grand experience" hasn't always been pleasant. >> you're certainly up against the natural stereotypes. you're up against ignorance. you're up against some hard- heartedness and, you know, some outright evil with respect to some people. >> reporter: pastor rodney woo, half chinese, grew up in a black neighborhood, went to an all white church and married his hispanic childhood sweetheart. >> the poor rich. let me tell you who they are. they are the people who have a lot of money and nothing else. >> reporter: when he came here, the church had only two black members out of 180. today, wilcrest baptist has 500 members divided almost equally among whites, blacks and hispanics, with the remainder made up of asians. woo says he didn't realize how difficult it was going to be integrating his church. >> when we started a lot of

people were going, "ah, this is making me feel uncomfortable." whether the kids were in the nursery together, or their kids were in the young group, a lot of parents were fearful that their kids might start dating somebody that was a different race. >> in the beginning stages, there's often a lot of pain, a lot of confusion. a lot of people leave. maybe there's even anger. but if they make it through that, it becomes something that people just a lot of times will say, "i couldn't live without it." >> ask me how i feel. >> how do you feel? >> if i was any better, i would have to be twins. and that's the truth if i ever told it. >> reporter: pastor rufus smith has succeeded in not only integrating his church racially; his congregation comes from all walks of life. when it grew, he deliberately located the church between affluent and low income neighborhoods. carol vance, a former district attorney, was one of the founding members. >> we picked rufus because he's a great pastor, not because he's black. but i think it's wonderful that

he is because we're sitting right here on the edge. and i sort of like to think of our church as the "bridge over troubled waters." >> to me, one of the true tests of the power of the gospel is to unify people across socio- economic, racial lines, which is what the heart of christianity is and was. >> reporter: karen giesen has a doctorate degree in theology. she says she grew up in a white church where people bowed their head, folded their hands and worshipped quietly-- very different from what she experiences at city of refuge. >> the worship style is an issue. none of us are right in probably our heart language style. we're all making a sacrifice to be there. it's a mix. a lot of people go looking for churches saying, "i am looking for the one that ministers to me." and to go here we've obviously all made a choice that we want

to serve there. >> reporter: rebecca miller wants to be a pastor. she says she searched to find a church that felt like a community. >> people worship the way the spirit leads them to worship. i really don't think that there is anybody saying you can't shout, you can't scream, you can't say "hallelujah." or you can't clap your hands. it's not the typical presbyterian "you can't raise your hands" church. >> where we really changed, and we saw the growth, grow at exponentially, was when the church became less than 50% white. and so there was no majority group. and, that just changed the entire mindset. >> reporter: church guitarist jim kruse married a hispanic and adopted an hispanic child. he says he's learning a few things about his own prejudice. >> what we're learning is that you may not come to it thinking you are prejudiced. you may be seriously trying not to be prejudiced.

but then you find out the things you are doing come across as prejudiced. so i think a lot of our effort has been to learn to relax, to let people be people. >> reporter: it would be difficult to find a more graphic example of religion bridging a racial divide than dwight pryor and rick taylor. taylor describes himself as a reformed "redneck." >> from where i come from, to be honest i was taught to hate people like dwight, and to not have anything to do with them, and that they were less than i was. and i believed that most of my life. i truly did. but the lord has a way of showing you your prejudices in your life. >> i grew up in north mississippi. as a little kid on those school buses, watching those people would shout racist names at me, and some of them were deacons

and pastors in our community, it left a cold chill in my heart-- a hatred. >> reporter: dwight is a control systems designer and rick is a retired general contractor. the bond that has grown between them is plain to see. >> racism colors the truth. it makes people not look at other people as if they were human. it goes that deep. it truly does. and christ teaches us that we are all the same. >> reporter: are churches that integrate richer because they did it? >> yeah, i never meet a church that wishes they didn't do it. i never meet a leader that wishes they didn't do it. they will all say to the person, "it's hard. it's difficult. it comes with complexities and confusion." >> reporter: and they will say, if they're like dwight and rick, that church integration may not always come easy, but it comes with rich rewards and improbable friendships. for "religion & ethics newsweekly," i'm lucky severson

in houston. >> lawton: interfaith marriage has become commonplace in this country. but, for a long time, when it came to the wedding ceremony, many couples felt they had to pick just one religious tradition, the bride's or the groom's-- or none at all. today, brides and grooms are finding new ways to incorporate both their religions. betty rollin has our story. >> reporter: sunitha mani is an indian hindu, born in america. her mother calls her a "modern girl." even so, as she prepares for her marriage, she is going the traditional route and then some. it begins with her getting painted with henna, a process called "mehndi." sanjana, the marital makeup chief, explains. >> when it dries up and it starts flaking, it gives you that mahogany like a red burgundy color.

so, in india the bridal colors are red. we usually wear red, maroon, burgundy-- so they say that the bride's hand shouldn't show color of her skin. >> reporter: sunitha met her husband-to-be, ronjit sandhu, who is a sikh, at college eight years ago. >> the henna artists told me yesterday the darker the henna the more your husband and your in-laws love you. so my hands are dark, but not down here so much. >> reporter: the groom's mandate on the wedding night is to find his name hidden in the design. >> the night of the wedding, i'm supposed to find... i'm supposed to search for my name in the henna. and then if i can't find it, basically i'm not allowed to consummate our marriage. >> reporter: the next pre- marriage ritual, performed is the puja, where the bride's family's hindu pandit prays before a sacred fire. >> we pray to lord ganesha asking for his blessings, s s that everything goes very smoothly without any obstacles. >> reporter: when sunitha's parents married, not only were

they required to be of the same faith, but they were expected to marry the person their parents chose. >> we got married-- what 36 years ago. i think it was through communication between my parents and his parents. and they looked at the horoscope and once it was agreed, he came to sit me and that's it. i hardly knew him until i got married. >> reporter: and how do the manis feel about their daughter marrying outside their faith? >> whatever makes our daughter happy and secure in the future, that's what matters, rather than our discomfort. >> reporter: the groom's father, now a widower, and his aunt, also have had some concerns. >> not having the same culture and the language, sometimes it's hard to interact. >> i think that as soon as you hear of a child marrying into a different religion, even though sikhism absolutely tells there's

only one god and all people are equal, the cultural differences- - they creep in after the children come in. >> ideally, you know, you want your kids to be raised as sikhs, but then again once you are out of india, you know, our kids now are raised in this culture. so in this culture, their culture is the same. >> reporter: ronjit has his own ideas about what his childrens' religion will be. >> i think they'll definitely be raised under both religions. you know, they are going to go to temple, they are going to go to gurdwara, the sikh version of a temple. they will essentially learn, you know, about the histories behind both of the religions. her parents are very religious so whether we wanted them or not, they will probably share everything they know.

they share it with me openly, so i'm sure they will definitely do it with our grandkids. >> reporter: the couple decided there was one obvious way to smooth over the religious differences. two weddings-- one sikh, one hindu. the sikh wedding came first, with the groom making his entrance on a white horse named max. the procession is called a "baraat." the bride's extended hindu family awaits his arrival. the families greet each other with an elaborate garland exchange. and here comes the bride. and three hours later, here comes the bride again. two weddings-- one in sanskrit, one in punjabi-- countless

rituals; two receptions; decorations involving hundreds of yards of fabric; banquets; music of two cultures; 400 guests and a costumed horse: putting this together takes a commander-in-chief, otherwise known as a wedding planner. that would be sonal shah and her small army of lieutenants. >> don't forget to tell everyone to take their shoes off, cover their head. when she began her profession one religion was the norm-- not anymore. >> in the last five years since i started doing wedding planning, interfaith marriages have just skyrocketed. out of the 25 or 30 weddings we do in a year, right now, about half of them, if not more than half are interfaith marriages. one of the biggest problems that we face is the whole meat, non- meat issue. so, you know, we did a wedding last year where the groom was irish and the bride was gradrati

indian and her family, you know, strict jains-- no meat, no potatoes. and his side of the family is irish, so obviously they want those things. we really just try to come to a consensus. >> reporter: what did you do? >> we ended up going with the non-meat. but, obviously they weren't happy about it because their guest list consisted of everybody that, you know, ate meat and potatoes. >> reporter: at the mani-sandhu wedding there was also a meat issue since hindus are vegetarians, but meat won out. and then there is the animal issue. at a recent wedding, sonal supervised in washington, d.c., a hindu groom wanted to make his entrance on an elephant. >> it definitely posed a lot of challenges. but yes, we found an elephant. we had the elephant brought over on a semi to downtown washington, d.c. on pennsylvania avenue. so, it was very exciting. but, it was, literally the last

six months of the wedding, all we were worried about was this elephant. >> reporter: back at the mani- sandhu wedding, sonal has made sure that the two weddings faithfully represent the two religions. at the sikh wedding, men and women sit separately on the floor-- shoes off, heads covered. the service centers around the sikh holy book, the guru granth sahib. >> the bride and the groom, they go around the guru, keeping in mind that the guru or god is the center. all their life, because of this way, they will be very easily able to mend their differences if that's what they keep in mind. >> reporter: at the hindu wedding, the bride groom also do a walk-around. >> so that completion of the seven rounds around the fire signifies that they are married and that concludes with the ceremony where the groom offers a necklace... ties a necklace to

the bride and usually they put a little dot, like a kumkum a sindur of the forehead of the bride and that means she's a married woman from then on. >> reporter: at the end of the hindu service, the sikh elders were invited to join in blessing the bride and groom, showering them with rice, flowers and spices for fertility, happiness and peace. >> as long as, you know, they will respect each other, not only as an individual but also respect each other's customs and religion. you know, let the kids learn the better of both sides. and, i think they will be stronger. >> reporter: did it take you awhile to come to this? >> yes. you know, your initial reaction is... you know, you would rather have things, you know, go your way, let it be simple.

but reality is not always simple. >> reporter: this three-day celebration does come to an end. and ronjit and sunitha will be off to hawaii for their honeymoon, knowing that they have the blessings and acceptance of both families. for "religion & ethics newsweekly," i'm betty rollin in utica, new york. >> lawton: reverend frederick eikerenkoetter-- the second- better known as "reverend ike"-- passed away this week at the age of 74. he was one of the first evangelists to use television to spread his message. reverend ike also generated controversy for his emphasis on material prosperity. finally, pope benedict the sixteenth wrapped up his two- week vacation in the alps and headed to the papal summer residence in castel gandolfo. his vacation was marred a bit after he fell and broke his wrist.

this week, the pope said his guardian angel had let him down by allowing the injury. but benedict conceded the angel was probably following "superior orders". he said, "perhaps the lord wanted to teach me more patience and humility." that's our program for now. i'm kim lawton. there's much more on our web site. audio and video podcasts are also available. join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, a recent concert at washington's shiloh baptist church, where artist evelyn simpson-curenton performs "god will take care of you." ♪ captioning sponsored by the lilly endowment captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org