coming up, pope benedict xvi's trip to mexico and cuba. what's the status of catholicism in cuba? plus, jews and christians paying new attention to the jewishness of jesus. and the long lives of seventh day adventists in loma linda, california.

welcome, i'm bob abernethy. it's good to have you with us. pope benedict xvi is on a six day visit to mexico and cuba, his second trip to latin america since becoming pope. it's the first papal visit to cuba since john paul ii went there in 1998. more on the situation for catholics inside cuba, coming up. in cairo, tens of thousands of coptic christians came out to mourn coptic pope shenouda iii, who died at the age of 88. pope shenouda led the coptic church for more than 40 years,

and his death comes as many copts worry about their future in egypt as islamist parties gain more power. religious leaders from around the world praised shenouda for promoting peaceful relations between christians and muslims. but he was also criticized by some younger copts for his support of former president mubarak. it may be several months before a successor to shenouda is chosen. according to church tradition, once three candidates are selected, each of their names is written on a piece of paper and one, who becomes pope, is picked at random by a blindfolded child. memorial services were held throughout france this week for the four victims of a shooting at a jewish school on monday. a rabbi, his two children, and one other child were killed by an islamist militant. france's chief rabbi called the attack an assault on all the

french and at a meeting with french president nicholas sarkozy, muslim and jewish leaders said the violence was not a reflection of islam. the u.s. commission on international religious freedom released its annual report and for the first time, turkey is named as one of the worst offenders. the report cites turkey's restrictions on the freedom of religious minorities to train clergy, offer religious education and own houses of worship. some on the commission objected to including turkey on the list, which also includes iran, iraq, north korea and egypt. cuba, russia and india were among those singled out as countries to watch. as the gop presidential primary race continues, a new poll shows a record number of americans want political leaders to talk less about their religion. according to the pew research

center, an all time high, 38%, say there has been too much expression of faith by politicians. 30% say there has been too little. in 2010, those numbers were almost nearly reversed, with 37% saying there was too little religious talk and 29% saying there was too much. democrats are more likely to say there is too much, although that number has gone up among republicans, as well. the supreme court heard oral arguments this week in a case challenging life without parole sentences for juveniles who commit murder. the lawyer for two teenagers currently serving life without parole argued the sentences constitute cruel and unusual punishment. previously, the court ruled minors can not be executed and the court has also ruled against life sentences for those under 18 who commit crimes other than murder.

pope benedict this week named bridgeport connecticut bishop william lori, the new archbishop of baltimore. lori has been one of the most prominent voices in the us bishops' opposition to president obama's policy on insurance coverage for contraception. the 60-year-old lori succeeds cardinal edwin o'brien, who was appointed to a vatican position. now more on how the pope's trip this week could affect roman catholics in cuba. joining me are kim lawton, our managing editor, and patricia zapor, a staff writer with "catholic news service" who was recently in cuba. pope benedict this week named bridgeport, connecticut, bishop william lori the new archbishop of baltimore. persecution of religion in cuba, are the ordinary cubans wanting to have, able to worship again?

are they wanting to be religious again? >> well, cubans want all sorts of freedom. religious freedom among them. atheism officially wept away in 1992 and since then the catholic church has been creating more space for itself in ways that are trying to reach out to more catholics, more of the general population of cuba. and people want to participate in these things. >> but i think it is, what? a little over half the people who identify themselves as catholics and 5% of them only go to mass. >> yeah, 60 to 70% of cubans identify as catholics but people get their babies baptized and they come back for funerals. so people very culturally catholic. just the stuff in the middle they're out of the habit of participating in. >> how are they opening the visit of pope benedict will affected their lives and maybe provide for space and more

openness? >> when pope john paul ii visit in the 1998, that led to new openness for the church. to them being, the church being able to have outdoor celebrations for easter and so on. and it led to release of political prisoners and all sorts of other types of openness. and people have great hopes that will happen again. that this will help prod in a in a variety of ways. >> if a cuba an catholic wants to participate openly in the church, and not hiding anything, is that person free to do so? or are they persecuted in some even informal way if they're religious? >> i don't have the impression that that, that there is ongoing persecution of people who just participate in the church. we did hear stories of people who very recently, for instance,

a university professor lost the job after being on the board of a highly boundary pushing magazine. so people who press the boundaries a little too much might end up getting smacked ban. but everyday practice, i don't think that's a problem. >> the church leadership has had a delicate balance. having pushed the government on some things, maybe also partner with the government? >> that's been very controversial among cubans themselves, among catholics, among cuban americans, as to whether any kind of dialogue with the government is helpful or not. but it's been working. it's been creating more space for the church to provide social services to start an mba program, to do all sorts of thing that 25 years ago, even 10 years ago would not have been possible. >> i read that there is one priest for every 19,000 cuban catholics. it's got a long way to go.

>> they certainly do. even more priest shortages around the world, that's about as many priests. >> reporter: as there are in the entire miami. but the networks are strong. that's the situation they've encouraged in these intervening years. >> what are these house churches that you've talked about? how does that work? >> places where there isn't a convenient church, people develop ministries within houses and neighborhoods. i encountered of one parrish that had 42 house churches. they don't have a building. >> you wrote a piece saying that cubans, cuban catholics want more. more of everything. >> and they've been getting more. more freedom, more services of the well, more priests, of course. but a little bit more of everything. >> and you think that this visit by benedict will lead to that?

>> there certainly are hopes for that. that just the attention on the church in general, the attention on the progress that they feel has been made. the intention on the problems that still exist might help open things up. >> patricia zapor, many thanks. >> thank you. we're coming up on that time of year when jews observe passover and christians, holy week, ending in easter. the gospels say jesus, as a jew, celebrated passover in the week before he was crucified. but many jews and christians haven't spent much time thinking about jesus' jewish identity. kim lawton has a story today about several new projects which argue that jews and christians alike can enhance their own understanding of their faith traditions by exploring the jewishness of jesus.

>> jesus argues with fellow jews. you can't be more jewish than to argue with fellow jews, it's not a problem. >> at the 92nd street y in new york, vanderbilt divinity school professor amy-jill levine is making the case that jews and christians alike need to pay more attention to the jewishness of jesus. and the best way to do that, she believes, is by reading the new testament from a jewish perspective. >> if i want to understand jewish history, the new testament is one of the best sources that i've got. >> levine, who is an observant jew, is co-editor of the "jewish annotated new testament," a version of the christian scripture with footnotes and commentaries written entirely by jewish scholars. >> the new testament does have extraordinarily beautiful and profound material in it. paul's hymn to love in first corinthians or the parables of the good samaritan or the prodigal son, or comments such as "god is love," which is first john. this is magnificent material and everybody ought to appreciate

it. i find for myself the more i read the new testament, in fact the better jew i become. >> the "jewish annotated new testament" is one of several new projects urging jews especially to take a new look at jesus. bestselling author rabbi shmuley boteach's latest book is called "kosher jesus." that notion, he says, is a radical departure from what he learned as a child. >> when i grew up, jesus' name -- his very name was off limits. jesus was seen as the archenemy of the jewish people. he was really seen as an apostate and traitor to his people. >> boteach believes the time is ripe for a new paradigm. >> we can't ignore the 600-pound gorilla in the room, which is jesus. christians and jews come together, and they can never mention jesus. christians are afraid of offending the jews, the jews are uncomfortable with the mention of jesus. >> growing up in a predominantly roman catholic neighborhood in massachusetts, levine had the impression that the christianity

of her friends was just a different form of her family's judaism. and then she heard otherwise. >> when i was in second grade, a little girl accused me of having killed her lord because she had been taught that the jews were responsible for the death of jesus. and i couldn't fathom how this religion that had such, such beautiful attributes, and a jewish man named jesus and the same bible, was saying horrible things about jews. so i started asking questions. >> she says her lifelong study has shown her how embedded jesus was in the jewish tradition. >> he teaches like a jew. he talks in parables. and jews then knew that parables were not simple banal little stories, they were designed to shake us up, to get us to see the world in a new way, to challenge us. and jesus is just a fabulous jewish storyteller. >> she says his teachings, such as in the famous sermon on the mount, are expansions of teachings in the torah. >> he's going to the law and

bringing out the heart of it, which is also what jewish teaching does. so he says not only don't murder, he actually says you have to love your enemy, and he's the only person in antiquity i've found who says that. but i think that gets to the heart of scripture. >> levine doesn't shy away from what she calls the problematic passages in the new testament -- passages that have been used by christians over the centuries to persecute jews. >> we need to know what the new testament says about the jewish responsibility for the death of jesus, how the new testament characterizes jewish groups, particularly the pharisees, and we need to know that within historical context. that doesn't mean we erase them. it doesn't mean we fudge the translation. it means we deal with them just as jews have dealt with those problematic passages in the shared scriptures. >> levine believes christians too can benefit from studying the judaism of jesus. >> jews have been arguing about the law since moses came down the mountain. thank you for that amen, that's lovely.

i wish that happened in my synagogue more often. >> on this day, she was a guest lecturer at the evangelical oral roberts university. >> unless christian preachers, teachers, bible study leaders know about first century judaism, often what happens is jesus gets yanked out of his jewish context and he becomes the only jew who's compassionate toward women, interested in adapting torah, interested in adapting the law to the needs of the contemporary community, the only jew interested in peace among a group of very bellicose, warlike jews. >> she says when christians don't understand jesus' jewish context, it can lead to misunderstandings about his message, which in turn can lead to harmful stereotypes. >> what i hear in a number of sermons and read in a number of sermons is that torah is difficult to follow, it's an impossible burden that weighs people down and then jesus comes

along and says basically "don't worry, be happy." in actuality, jews in the first century and jews who practice torah today did not find torah a burden. they found it to be a delight. >> or, she says, many christians will talk about the angry vengeful god of the old testament in contrast to a new testament god of love. >> it's the same god -- merciful, compassionate, generous, loving, but not inclined to take sin lightly, either. the professor brad young agrees that christians must understand the jewish roots of their faith. he admits many christians have been too busy to convert jews to learn from them. >> be willing to listen to the other side.

and he acknowledges the beliefs can't be glossed over. >> we should recognize when we talk about two great traditions of faith, christianity and judaism, that there are very sharp differences. and sometimes understanding the differences are even more important than understanding the similarities. >> rabbi boteach's new book does not accept that jesus was the messiah. nonetheless, kosher jesus has been denounced as heresy by some of boteach's fellow orthodox jews who worry that the ideas in it could make jews vulnerable to missionary efforts. boteach argues that jews need to reclaim jesus. >> why are we allowing the christian community to teach us about the christian christ in order to convert when jesus was a jew and we should be teaching them about the jewish jesus in order to enrich their christian experience? >> for people who are afraid that if jews were to read the new testament and find some of this truly magnificent material, the next thing we know they're going to line up at the baptismal font and say, "please

convert me" -- i don't think the way we prevent jews from wanting to convert is to keep them ignorant of the new testament. >> looking at jesus through jewish eyes, she believes, not only strengthens the individual faiths, but can also bring them together. >> in learning more about each other's traditions we come better to respect our neighbors and if we are really lucky for jews, reading the new testament would give us deeper insight into our own judaism, and for christians reading the new testament with jewish annotations will give christians deeper insight into the lord and savior they worship. thank you very much. >> i'm kim lawton in new york. now, a saul gonzales report from loma linda, california, east of los angeles, about the extraordinary number of people there who live into their

90s and even 100s. many of them are seventh day adventists, thriving on vegetables, exercise and faith. >> if growing old means growing slow, well then 89-year-old delmar holbrooke hasn't gotten the memo. >> i'm really getting ready for 90, the big 9-0. my family is already planning it. i am going to ski up at mountain high early in the morning, come down and play a round of golf, and then head out to the beach to surf. >> you're not a sit on the couch kind of guy? >> no way. >> holbrooke credits his energy to a life of exercise and healthy eating, but also his faith. would you be as healthy as you are, in your opinion, without your faith? >> oh, no, no. i am what i am because of my faith. to me that is just as clear as can be. >> like many other residents of loma linda, california, holbrooke is a seventh day adventist. that's the christian denomination that observes the sabbath on saturday.

adventists also emphasize a healthy diet and lifestyle as important expressions of their faith, and because of that emphasis, researchers say adventists often have remarkably good health. >> adventists have an evidence of living longer and dying at a later age. they die of the diseases of the general population, but at a much later age -- eight, ten years later. >> larry beeson is an associate professor of public health and epidemiology at loma linda university. it's a health and science institute affiliated with seventh day adventists that's been studying members of the faith since 1958. >> and they get to that age -- >> through a variety of different things. it's not just one thing. it is their religious -- how they relate to god and their fellow man, their diet, their exercise, their avoidance of tobacco and alcohol. all of that collectively contributes to longevity.

>> and because it has such a high percentage of adventists who live long and active lives, researchers have dubbed loma linda one of five so-called "health blue zones" in the world. >> a blue zone is just an area where there is an unusual occurrence or more than what we would expect of people who live to be the late 90s, early 100s. >> diet seems to be especially important to adventists' good health and long life expectancy. nearly 30% of seventh day adventists practice some form of vegetarianism compared to only about 3% for the u.s. population as a whole. in fact, at many adventist institutions, such as the loma linda health center, only vegetarian meals are served. >> i do follow a plant-based diet and have followed a vegetarian diet all my life, and i know you and all your viewers are going to look at me strangely, but i never tasted any meat.

>> dan mathews is a third generation seventh day adventist and a pastor. we talked to him about the connection between diet, health and religious belief within his faith tradition. >> genesis 21:29 states that god gave mankind grains and fruits and nuts and herbs bearing seeds -- the initiation of a plant-based diet. to not take care of our bodies, which is a part of the stewardship of the earth -- to not take care of our bodies is an affront to our god. >> i feel good. yeah, i do. i feel energetic. >> we met 73-year-old adventist virginia crounse as she was relaxing in a whirlpool. she shared her diet and fitness routines with us. >> i actually eat, most of the time, two meals a day. i'll eat, like, granola or oatmeal for breakfast with two or three fruits -- fresh fruit.

as long as i can remember, i exercise daily, at least six days a week. i walk at least two miles, rain, sun or snow. >> it's not well known, but seventh day adventism has already made its mark on american culinary history in what millions of people eat each and every morning. it's the creation and mass marketing of breakfast cereal by a guy named kellogg. that's john harvey kellogg and his brother, will kellogg, both seventh day adventists who developed corn flakes, one of the first mass-marketed breakfast cereals, in the late 19th century. they saw cereal as a health food alternative to the fatty breakfast foods of their day. >> corn flakes and the other kinds of foods that came out of the kellogg's industry was really trying to deal with the whole grain thing and not trying to throw away all the nutrients when you refine and become white bread. you're throwing a lot of nutrients away. >> in our own time, as americans search for ways to improve their diets and health, some

researchers believe they can borrow some simple lifestyle ideas from seventh day adventists. reducing your saturated fat intake, exercising more -- all that can be done by anybody. they don't have to become an adventist to gain the benefits that we've observed in the adventist health study. >> it is accessible to all of us. >> absolutely. >> at the pool, delmar holbrooke has his own advice. >> you have to keep your mind alive and continuing to grow, and your body just as much. >> for "religion and ethics newsweekly," i'm saul gonzalez in loma linda, california. on our calendar this week, wednesday is khordad sal, when zoroastrians celebrate the birth of their prophet, zarathustra. finally, we are sad to report today the death of lyn lusi, co-founder of heal africa, on whom fred de sam lazaro reported last month. she and her doctor husband were

christian missionaries who ran a clinic in congo. she spoke to fred about a mandate to care. >> there's so much evil and so much cruelty, so much selfishness. it is like darkness. but if we can bring in some light, the darkness will not overcome the light. that's where faith is. >> mrs. lusi was just 62 years old. 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 website, including more of kim lawton's interviews about the jewishness of jesus. you can comment on all of our stories and share them. audio and video podcasts are also available. join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, the cherry

blossoms in washington, d.c. --