>> potter: coming up: lutherans wrestle with the issue of gay and lesbian ministers. and, inner-city pastors who've made it their mission to save lives, not just souls. >> you've got to come out behind your stained glass windows and come out here and help people, because if you don't all those problems are going to end up and they are ending up on your doorstep. >> potter: plus, an interactive museum for kids with a religious twist. captioning sponsored by the lilly endowment

>> potter: welcome. i'm deborah potter, sitting in for bob abernethy. good to have you with us. this weekend marks the start of ramadan, the islamic lunar month of prayer and fasting. markets in the muslim world were packed with shoppers as people stocked up on traditional foods for iftar, the meal served when fasting ends each day at sunset the fast is one of the five pillars of islam and is considered a method of self- purification. muslims believe that it was during the month of ramadan that the quran was revealed to the prophet muhammad.

>> potter: president obama urged the faith community this week to support his health care plan, calling it an ethical and moral obligation. in a conference call sponsored by more than 30 religious denominations and organizations, the president accused his critics of distortion and fabrications. >> i know there's been a lot of misinformation in this debate. and there are some folks out there who are, frankly, bearing false witness. but i want everyone to know what health-insurance reform is all about. >> potter: mr. obama said it's not true that his plan would mean government funding of abortions, as charged again this week in a new ad by the family research council. >> congress will soon vote on president obama's health care bill, a bill limiting our choices to preserve life and expanding the choice to end one. >> potter: some conservative christian leaders warn that unless abortion is specifically excluded, it would be covered as "reproductive health." mainline denominations continue to be sharply divided over

issues surrounding homosexuality, and this week, it was the lutherans' turn. the nation's largest lutheran denomination, the evangelical lutheran church in america, held its biennial assembly in minneapolis. and as kim lawton reports, church policy about gays and lesbians dominated the agenda. >> have no fear, we will pray! >> reporter: they prayed for unity. but disagreements over homosexuality were clear as delegates of the evangelical lutheran church in america-- the e.l.c.a. gathered in minneapolis this week. >> we cannot change god's law and we cannot change what is right and what is wrong. >> how about jesus saying, judge not, that ye not. be judged? >> if you're in favor of the amendment, vote one. if you're opposed, vote two. please vote now. >> reporter: there was vigorous debate about whether the denomination should lift its ban on non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy. at issue was a measure to allow local congregations to hire gay or lesbian pastors who are in lifelong, monogamous

relationships. as of friday afternoon, a final vote had yet to be taken. >> it's certainly painful when people say that your relationship or your call are not valid. >> reporter: after acknowledging his relationship with another man, atlanta pastor bradley schmeling faced a church trial in 2007. he's no longer officially recognized as an e.l.c.a. pastor, but his congregation kept him on. schmeling says he hopes the denomination is entering a new era. >> my dream for the e.l.c.a. would be that we could be a community that really celebrates gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender leaders in the church... not just tolerate our presence, but genuinely celebrate the gifts that people bring to the church. >> reporter: traditionalists argued that the measure violated biblical teachings. >> we have a clear witness in scripture about homosexuality. every time homosexuality is mentioned in scripture, it's

mentioned in a negative light. we don't have any positive references to homosexuality in scripture. >> reporter: many said the same standards should apply to all pastors. >> and the proposals are just a flat out rejection of what the christian church for 2,000 years and most christian churches today, and most believers today, still hear and believe: don't have sex outside of marriage. period. >> reporter: but supporters argued for different interpretation of scripture. >> i think there are some who want to see the word as a static book that we are to read literally, and others of us who see it as a living, breathing, dynamic word that continues to be revealed to us. >> reporter: with nearly five- million members, the e.l.c.a. is one of the largest denominations in the u.s. delegates are hoping the debates

won't tear their church apart. they passed a social statement affirming that there is room in the e.l.c.a. to accommodate differing views on homosexuality, an issue, the statement said, which is not central to our faith. >> the social statement as amended is approved. >> i don't think this is a church-dividing issue. there are some who will say that, but i'm not one who believes that. >> i think that there will be some deep hurt and there will be some pain. and how we move forward and deal with that as a denomination will speak volumes as to our fidelity to the word of god and to the strength of our unity. >> reporter: both sides acknowledged more debates about homosexuality are still ahead. i'm kim lawton reporting. >> potter: the lutheran delegates also passed an agreement to have full communion with the united methodist church. that means the nation's two largest mainline protestant denominations will share ministers, missions and other church resources. the united methodists approved

the agreement at their general conference last year. the supreme court has ordered a new hearing for a death row inmate in georgia whose case has attracted worldwide attention. troy davis was convicted of killing an off-duty police officer, but claims he's innocent, and key prosecution witnesses have recanted their testimony. pope benedict the sixteenth, archbishop desmond tutu and others have called his conviction unfair. taiwan is now accepting foreign aid to help with relief efforts after the worst typhoon in decades. evacuees have been taking shelter in churches and shrines across the island, and praying for the victims of the storm. mourners burned incense, brought offerings and sent paper money to the dead, hoping they could find peace in another world. disaster officials say 140 people were killed and more than 400 are missing, most presumed dead. in cuba, u.s. catholic bishops this week saw how that country

is recovering from last year's hurricanes, and called for action to improve u.s.-cuban relations. the bishops visited churches being rebuilt with funds donated by catholic charities. and they urged cuba and the united states to "listen to their better angels" and pressed the obama administration to lift the u.s. trade embargo. >> the embargo effects people who causes hardship for innocent people. and hopefully with this new environment that exists in washington and in havana, hopefully there will be opportunities for greater changes. >> potter: an association of catholic women religious leaders is asking the vatican why the group is being investigated. the leadership conference that represents almost all of the catholic religious orders in the united states is the target of a doctrinal assessment, the results of which will be a secret report to rome.

the group was warned eight years ago that it had failed to promote some of the church's teachings, including the male- only priesthood. a separate apostolic visitation is looking into what the vatican calls "the quality of the life" of all 60,000 american catholic sisters. joining us now to discuss these investigations is tom fox, editor of the independent newspaper, "the national catholic reporter." thanks for joining us. >> great to be here. >> potter: tom, i wonder if you could tell us what appears to be behind these investigations or, maybe put another way, what does it seem that the vatican is after? >> well, the truth is that no one really knows, and that's one of the disconcerting elements. this really has taken the women by surprise. they met, as you said, with the vatican eight years ago and went over certain matters, and every year since then they've been returning to rome talking to vatican officials, been open for communication, and now, out of

seemingly nowhere, comes these investigations. >> potter: why do you think it might be happening now? has there been some kind of change in the make-up of religious orders, or is it just changing philosophies in rome that might be pushing this forward? >> well, there's been a conflict going back 40 years, since the second vatican council, between two models of church. one is the more conservative, traditional model, male-clergy- hierarchical model, and the second has been the model of the second vatican council, which stressed collegiality, and the women religious of america really embraced that, and they changed their constitutions to become more collective in their own leadership. and they really represent the forefront of this second model of church. and i think today the older, more conservative model feels that it's strong enough now, maybe, to rein in this last

remnant of the second vatican council. >> potter: so is it in effect a sort of push to reestablish a kind of orthodoxy in the catholic church in america? >> i think that there's a continued concern by the vatican that american catholics are not orthodox enough, that the women religious may not be orthodox, but let's be clear this that this is not on traditional teachings on god, trinity, jesus. this is... these are teachings on homosexuality, on the male priesthood, and the primacy of the catholic church. >> potter: and yet that seems pretty central to what concerns the vatican. >> that's a very central concern, at this point, to the vatican. >> potter: so what, then, are the wider implications of an investigation into the women religious for the catholic church in america? >> right. that's a good question, and i think women religious say that this really represents an investigation or an attack, if

you will, on the american way of being church, which really has stressed more lay involvement, more religious involvement, collegiality, more accountability of... demanded of the bishops. and so we're really seeing here maybe the clash of two models, and i think the women religious are right that this really is wider than just the women religious themselves. >> potter: now, there have been some discussions that perhaps what the vatican's really doing is sort of assessing property for its valal. does that have any bearing, do you think, any validity? >> well, again, deborah, the fact is that no one really knows, and so you end up in this speculation. and of course there have been millions of dollars in lawsuits against the church, and the church is hurting for money. and so some of the women are at least speculating that rome wants a better assessment of their property values and with

an eye on maybe using some of that money to pay some of these bills. >> potter: obviously, we'll be watching this and report the results when we can get them. tom, i appreciate you being here. tom fox from "the national catholic reporter." in los angeles, a group of inner-city clergy, many of them inspired by veterans of the civil rights movement, are taking their ministries out of the pulpit and into the streets. instead of only preaching to save souls, they are returning to activism: confronting homelessness, unemployment and violence. lucky severson reports. >> it's time to break the silence. it's time to draw a line saying "this far and no farther." >> reporter: this is the bryant temple african methodist episcopal church in south central los angeles. the music will move you, but this is not a celebration. it's a service dedicated to bringing an end to the needless

deaths of all the boys who will never become men. >> our young people have been dying in the streets day and night where we have hidden our light under a bushel. >> reporter: how many kids have been killed, say, in the last year? >> about a hundred. >> reporter: pastor eugene williams managed to survive his inner-city childhood, but the odds are worse today. he says it's partly because too many african-american churches have lost their way. >> and so we've gone from a period of ministers like dr cecil murray and dr. j. alfred smith, who taught that it was important to love your neighbor as yourself, to a place where ministers believed that it was important that the community love them. >> reporter: so that's why williams and other activist preachers started a program called passing the mantle, now in its fourth year at the university of southern california.

it's a nine-day course where pastors, now known as the old lions, teach younger pastors, african american and latino, how to get civically engaged in the real-life drama of inner city los angeles. did you ever think that you would be called an old lion? >> bless the lord, i knew i'd be called old, but not a lion. >> reporter: cecil "chip" murray retired at 75 as the pastor of the first african methodist episcopal church of los angeles, which was the largest a.m.e. church in the country. he could preach hellfire and brimstone, but he was more concerned about social issues like homelessness, jobs, violence, and hunger. >> we must not only have life after death, but we must have life after birth, even as with the founder of christianity. he would preach personal salvation, but he would also preach social salvation. he would reach out. i have come that you may have life, not i have come to take

you to heaven. >> reporter: pastor mark whitlock is a co-director of passing the mantle. he says because of rev. murray he turned his life around, so he knows a pastor can make a difference, even with kids society deems beyond hope. >> i would probably be one of those people you would be afraid of in the community, yeah, sold some product that were illegal and did some things that i'm not very proud of. >> reporter: now, as pastor of christ our redeemer a.m.e. church, he sees how much more difficult it is today for inner- city kids to break free of their environment. he was once one of those kids. the need for black churches to get involved, he says, is urgent. >> it's immediate, and you look at the challenge of gang violence, the number of african american latinos that are locked up in this country, over a million, the absence of african americans graduating, particularly african american men graduating from high schools and even elementary schools, the attention is necessary now, and it's an immediate need to change. to say we are here to save souls

and that's all... you can't save souls in isolation. it's a totality of heart, soul, mind, strength, family, environment. it is essentially your environment. >> reporter: pastor murray earned his reputation as an old lion as a leader of the civil rights movement in california from the very beginning. despite his quiet, humble demeanor, he has won many battles and concessions from the city and state, including one that the police would no longer hoho suspects in choke-holds. pastor j. alfred smith is another old lion who led the civil rights movement in northern california. he is senior pastor emeritus of the allen temple baptist church in oakland. >> the church was the civil rights movement because the church understood the meaning of "go down, moses, and tell old pharaoh to let my people go." the church understood the

meaning of saying "we shall overcome." >> reporter: and after they led the struggle against segregation and police brutality and eventually forced congress to pass civil rights legislation, it was black pastors who calmed the fury of the la race riots in 1992. then things changed. many black churches began focusing less on social justice issues and more on saving souls and preaching the gospel of prosperity, which teaches that the faithful will be rewarded with material blessings. >> i would just admonish those who preach prosperity to remember that the one who founded the christian church had one pair of shoes. >> we believe christ came to set the captives free, to bring sight to the blind, to clothe the naked, to find housing for those who are looking for housing. that's the work of the church. we must return back to the values that made the black church a true success.

>> and we came by here to tell you young people that we're sorry. we're sorry because we left you to fend for yourselves. >> reporter: outside the chapel at the special healing service, there was an empty casket. no one needed to ask why. they all know someone. >> bring, heavenly father, what only you can give.oc >> reporter: a few days earlier, someone dumped the body of a young man who had been shot in the head just a few hundred yards from the church. >> it's wonderful labels that we've given our children-- gang members, crips, bloods. i'm sorry. those are our sons, those are our daughters, those are our cousins, those are our nieces. so we must not be afraid of our own, and if they're doing wrong, they're doing wrong. selling drugs is wrong. doing crime is wrong. not going to school is wrong. so the church must speak to the moral... take a moral position on it, but after we take a moral position then we must wrap our arms around them and love them back to a place where they feel

safe in the church. >> reporter: most parents in south central l.a. are as caring and loving as parents everywhere, but with far greater obstacles. there are few jobs, few public parks to get the kids off the streets, poor schools, and not enough role models. there are now twice as many latinos as african americans, but people of all races are starting to realize they're in this together. >> if under the skin all people are kin, if all human beings have an area that can be approached, then we need to find what that area is and go to it, because the problems are not going to fix themselves. >> reporter: there are some signs of progress. inner city pastors have managed to wrangle some new affordable housing. some of the estimated 40,000 gang members have been persuaded to try to go straight. pastors are gegeing more involved. and there's one more change on the front lines: a majority of those asking to receive the

mantle are women. >> that we have to make the difference. that's what i learned today. >> people are dying in the streets. we're saying that people are engaging in risky behavior. so you've got to come out behind your stained glass windows and come out here and help people, because if you don't, all of those problems are going to end up, and they are ending up, on your doorstep. >> reporter: they've heard promises of help before, promises often not kept. now it's the most trusted men and women in the neighborhood who are offering hope. >> if we lock arms, if we continue to move and work together, we will improve the communities where we live, work, and worship. i came by here to tell you to stand on your feet, because we gonna be more better. let's give god some praise. >> reporter: so far, the old lions have passed the mantle to about 400 younger pastors who seem determined to do what authorities have been unable to

do without them. for "religion & ethics newsweekly," i'm lucky severson in south central los angeles. >> potter: on our calendar as we mentioned earlier, muslims are observing rhamadan and hindus are celebrating ganesh chaturthi, which commemorates the birthday of the popular deity, lord ganesha. believers mark the ten-day festival by offering prayers and delicacies to the god with the head of an elephant. on the final day of celebration, a statue of lord ganesha is taken in a grand procession and immersed in a body of water. >> potter: the hebrew month of elul has begun for the world's jews. a time of introspection and stock-taking, it leads to the holiest time of year in the jewish calendar, including rosh hashanah and yom kippur. these holidays, plus jewish tradition and biblical history, are at the heart of an interactive museum in brooklyn, new york. education director rabbi nissen brenenson gave us a tour of the jewish children's museum.

>> as you approach the museum, the first thing you see is a giant photo mosaic, and as you get closer you realize that it's made up of thousands and thousands of smaller photographs of children of all ages, of all races. then that contains a special message, and that is that we're really one. the gallery on the six days of creation and the shabbat, the sabbath, contains a shabbat table where you're actually walking on the table. there are shabbat candlesticks, a giant crawl-through challah tunnel. inside the tunnel, you can learn about the ingredients, the significance, of the special challah bread. hanukkah is also a favorite. we have an olive oil pressing station where children can actually squeeze their own olive oil. they like to do that, and the olive oil represents the miracle of the oil that happened at the time of the hanukkah story.

i think we have the world's only touch-screen seder plate, and by pressing the screen and selecting the various symbolic items on the seder plate, the children can watch short clips of what these symbols represent and the story of passover. the holiday of trees is called tu b'shvat, and here at the museum we have our own special talking tu b'shvat tree. >> tu b'shvat is my birthday. >> he's sort of a storyteller and explains how man is compared to a tree in many ways. we have our roots, and that's our faith, and we also have our fruits, and those are the good deeds that we perform. the journey continues into our kosher supermarket, where children can scan products. instead of coming up with prices, there are trivia questions about the kosher diet as well as a full-scale kosher

kitchen. the last gallery on that floor focuses on values that are rooted in jewish tradition but have also become universal, such as kindness, kindness to others, kindness to animals, respecting the environment, charity. >> potter: finally, pope benedict is cast-free again. the 82-year-old pope broke his wrist six weeks ago in a fall while he was on vacation, and he's been sporting a cast ever since. the vatican says x-rays showed the wrist has now healed, so the pope's doctors removed the cast. but he will have to have physical therapy. after the injury, the pope had joked that god must have been trying to teach him patience. that's our program for now. i'm deborah potter. there's much more on our web site. audio and video podcasts are also available. join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, music from the lutheran assembly in

minneapolis. ♪ captioning sponsored by the lilly endowment captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org