i have a great panel, including andrew sullivan and john meecham to talk about it. next, david versus goliath. what small nation is talking on the most populous nation in the world? i'll tell you. then the politics of outer space. america won the race to the moon, but that was 40 years ago. the u.s. is essentially sitting on the bench in the current space race. will that hurt it back here on earth? and is america coming apart? that's what the author of a controversial new book says. i'll ask him about it. first, here's my take. something caught my eye the other day. pat robertson, the high priest of the religious right, had some startling things to say about drugs. i really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol, mr. robertson said recently. i have never used manner, and i don't intend to, he said, but it's just one of those things that, well, i think this war on drugs just hasn't succeeded. the reason robertson is for legalizing marijuana is that it has created a prison problem in america that is well beyond what most americans imagine.

andrew sullivan blogs at the daily beast. he is a former editor of the "new republic." john meecham, from random house, formerly the editor at "newsweek." he is publishing a new biography of thomas edison, and if history is any indication, it will win the pulitzer prize. and matt frank is director of the center on religion and the constitution at the witherspoon institute. welcome all. first, andrew, i have to ask you, as somebody who grew up in england, but grew up a devout catholic, you are watching these elections taking place all over the word. really, outside of the arab world, we are the only country in which religion is deeply embedded in the day to day political discourse. you look at england, france, germany. it would be unthinkable. >> yes. >> the only other place. if you watch the egyptian elections and american elections, there's a lot of religion. why? >> well, i think two things. one, that america has always had a much more religious public discourse and has always had more devoutly religious phenomena than the rest of the world, and i think that's partly

this discussion when we come back. .. >> schieffer: and we are back more with of our panel. >> andrew sullivan said a couple of things you may want to respond to. >> yes. first of all i don't think we are a christian nation. to me the idea of a christian nation is odd, as an evangelical christian because a country can't be redeemed, i think we are a country that was founded on judeo christian values in an attempt to meld those with enlightened ideas of self-government and gentleman does. >> it shouldn't be a christian nation and concerning what andrew said, you know, most of the involvement of evangelicals in the public realm has been defensive, it wasn't offensive, we didn't make a bush on demand abortion and strike down the laws against abortion in all 50 states. we didn't seek to erode the expression of the public square by people of faith, and the republican party is not the only party that tries to claim god for themselves i was at the national prayer breakfast when president obama said god was for universal healthcare, and was for his program, and nancy pelosi said jesus supported her pr

. >>> and andrew sullivan says, forget the church, just follow jesus. let's go "outfront." >>> good evening. i'm john avlon in for erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, new jobs number and the predictable partisan spin cycle. the economy added only 120,000 new jobs in march. that's 100,000 less than last month. the good news, the unemployment rate fell to 8.2%. that's the lowest since february 2009, one month after president obama took office. and not surprisingly, republicans wasted no time in attacking the white house. mitt romney called it a weak and troubling jobs report and said, "millions of americans are paying a high price for president obama's economic policies." now, don't be shocked, president obama saw the glass half full. >> our economy's now created more than 4 million private sector jobs over the past two years. and more than 600,000 in the past three months alone. but it's clear to every american that there will still be ups and downs along the way and that we've got a lot more work to do. >>> so let's cut through the political spin by addin

>>> then andrew sullivan on why he had to wait almost 20 years to get a green card in the united states. it's a fascinating, troubling story. >>> we're also going to look at the war on drugs in mexico. could it actually be working? first, here's my take. a new poll in the united states shows that americans are still deeply frustrated at the slow pace of the economic recovery. that's understandable. unemployment stays stubbornly high. i was just in europe, and they think america is booming. consider this. the u.s. economy is on track to grow between 2% and 3% this year. in europe, by contrast, half the euro zone economies are going to actually shrink this year and not one major european country will grow over 1%. last thursday christine lagard, the head of the international monetary fund and former french finance minister, said there were dark clouds hanging over the global recovery and that the euro zone was at the epicenter of potential risks. borrowing costs for countries like spain, italy, and greece are rising again. what is going on? didn't it look like the europeans had managed to

andrew sullivan asked that this question in news week and he is out with us tonight.cle is about the residents of the jefferson bible on exhibit right now at the smithsonian in washington, d.c. it's a document and what is the relevance for you today? >> here you see one of the greatest americans of all time looking at the new testament and accepting or believing it should guide the politics and wants to see how he should live his life. he finds the words of jesus that leap out at him as the most sublime words and morals and he literally cuts them out of the bible. there is one that is full of holes and another where he is glued these passages in to create a new testament and does it not just in greek, but in latin as well. what did this jesus person tell us how to live? how did he tell us we should be? figure for the way of living our lives under the commands? that is something that is taking it back to the personal and the spiritual. i think it's a marvelous example and i think the spirit of trying to find the truth within him and how to live one's life by it is a wo

no they have andrew sullivan, a blogger guy, forget the church, follow jesus.s -- it's an interesting article. there have been some people that misuse christianity for their own personal gain and if you follow christ you will have a good and fulfilling life. you like this article. >> bob: i did a lot. jefferson cut out the bible. only kept in pieces that were the direct sayings of jesus christ. to the basics of christianity. this is right. not saying we love one another -- not just love one another but love your enemy and forgive those. follow your truest father, not your mother -- jesus walked away from his own mother and father and told other people to do that. to give up power over others because power meanous to have a threat of violence. violence is incompatible with christianity. they're right on the money here 106789% of th. 10% fewer declare to be christian. part of that in the catholic and protestant denomination they are taking religion and taking it from god, where christ did not want it, in politics. >> kimberly: to me this is obvious. they never ha

but in the latest edition of "newsweek" magazine, he the journalist andrew sullivan writes -- christianityf-denial. 50 years and not much has changed. it's probably impossible to expect egocentric politicians to be anything but self-serving. but when tay invoke the name of god, we shouldn't accept their testimony at face value. what are they doing to promote faith, hope and charity in america? or do they greet god like an enforcement from a fellow politician, great to have on side but nothing more than a name? this is what makes dr. martin luther king's legacy so profound. christ himself said, greater love has no man that he lay down his life for his friends. and that's literally what dr. king did on this day, in 1968. thank you so much for watching. dylan ratigan is here to take us forward. dylan, i'm guessing that you prly

street journal, washington post, "new york times", reads the "new york times" columnist, and andrew sullivanrom the daily beast. another thing that happened this week is going to air on rock center this week is that brian williams of nbc interviewed president obama in the situation room at the white house. one-year anniversary of the successful assault on osama bin laden. does that trouble you at all? did northbound allow itself to be used by having that back drop? >> it doesn't trouble me. during the bush administration beginning sort of after 9/11 nbc did a day in the life of the white house, and these are transactions between networks and pole titicians that always happen. we have amazing visuals and in turn you give us the kind of coverage we want, and everybody understands the deal. there are a lot of people who would like to see what the inside of the situation room looks like, and i don't blame a network for making that information available to them. >> okay. you mentioned the white house correspondents dinner, which has become a huge spectacle. rachel, you were there last night. all

andrew sullivan in the daily beast rights the ability to be faithful in a religious base and reasonablet do you make of that? >> one of my favorite quotes is from john adams, ideology is the science of idiots. you go back and see the diversity among the founders whether it was jefferson to the quakers to the protestants and you realize their whole conversation was how do we have a ethical moral society? you can get your ethics in morality shared from many places, but religion was a very common way of getting it. so all the diverse comments from the founders were all about religion is one very effective tool top impose hidden laws. ethical, moral structure which a society needs a little society needs. unless you go back and understand that, then you can get caught in these ideological games that we're christian or this or that. no, we need to be enforcing ethics and morality in which religion is a very important component. >> several j. deon takes sort of a page from that blaybook and says if east ser about liberation, this must include intellectual freedom. it will involves a tempered a

and then andrew sullivan writes about the forgotten jees nsus i this holy week. >> it's a very powerfulng of religion by politics and by -- both politics and commercialism. and talks about how the real jesus, as i said in the note, was this figure who absolutely divested himself of everything, and was adamantly, you know, refused to get into any kind of a political space at all. whereas in this election, you know, we're seeing more and more how it has become a daily discourse now to drag religion into it for some kind of a political gain or other. i mean, we have heard romney yesterday talking about how, you know, there are people who are talking about a bomber as, you know, people think he is a muslim. it's unsane. this is absolutely incorrect. and, you know, andrew really just says this has created a crisis for christianity. >> and andrew does go after both sides, taking selective quotes from not only republicans and democrats, but also joel olstein, who says god wants you to -- wants to increase you financially by giving you promotions, fresh ideas, creativity. >> and the point about

faith and religion contributor, phatter edward beck, and from washington this morning, columnist andrew sullivanthe daily beast and "newsweek." andrew, i want to start with you. we should mention you're a long-time catholic, by the way. you wrote a rather provocative article in "newsweek" called christianity and christ, is the subheadline news wooek put on, christian has been destroyed by politicians and get rich. we've seen crisis before. is it especially bad right now? >> it is especially bad for one reason only, when i go and see young people, their image of christianity these days is one of judgment, intolerance and to some extent bigotry and politics. they associate it with one political party in this country because of the fusion of evangelical and ultraorthodox catholics with the republican party. they don't it as the message of jesus, they don't see it as a message of love and forgiveness. they see it as a bunch of people trying to control their lives through political mechanicisms. or if evangelical church they're success spentible to the prosperity goss bell which is telling you that j

when andrew sullivan came out as having a come apart with a letter to him to say that pat's brother hadfor him in praying for him. and someone was very surprised because of the things you say about homosexuality and needs. it speaks to the fact that you can disagree on the level of policy and principles, but there's still still a human concern and endeavor. >> i'm sure you're familiar with human rights campaign. but that is one of the groups that had to be taken off of the air because buchanans thursday in keeping check among the statement to create injury to people of the world. i just don't believe. what i said on diane reid show. i said i believe the practice of homosexuality basically is unnatural and immoral and that is my view. that that is the view of the catholic church, the viewers raised with come into and a few i believe and there's no question about it. when you say that i'm sure it is her oldest son people. but what is the alternative that we should be silent. this is why these divisions that come out of the 50s -- i mean, 60s are irreconcilable and you can't -- i mean, i h

would andrew sullivan came out as having a come apart with a letter to him saying that pat's understoodd because of the things he said about homosexuality and aids. it speaks to the fact that you can disagree on the left with policy and principles, but there is still a human concern and element they. >> i'm sure is familiar with the human rights. that is one of the groups that have to be taken off the air because you can check them on the statement. the two great injury to people all over the world. but she asked me about it and i said i believe that it basically is unnatural and immoral and that is my view. that is the view of the catholic church commits u.s. raised with and what i believe the next question about it. i'm sure that it's hurtful to some people. but these divisions come out, they are irreconcilable. i'd have to either get that my folks that be are not going to do it.qwqwq%q% so what i see is this whole social cultural

this is andrew sullivan, people see religion today as a bunch of people trying to control their livesolitical mechanisms and that touched off a little bit of this controversy and a question and let us know how you feel about that this weekend on twitter. >> alisyn: meanwhile, we've got the headlines to tell you about, u.s. and afghan officials confirming they've reached a key deal regarding controversial nighttime raids and often carried out by american troops to capture taliban commanders. a major source of contention forors and right now it's not clear what the new agreement is. whatever it is, expected to be a major step in securing a long-term relationship between u.s. and afghan security forces. a developing story, while you were sleeping, this fuel tanker literally exploding on a freeway in los angeles, and the tanker carrying nearly 9,000 gallons of gasoline, you can see the giant flames shooting into the air and even spreading to a nearby car, and took 150 firefighters and two helicopters to contain the fire, incredibly, we're happy to report, no one was hurt. and french presi

sullivan reports so far nothing credible has come forth from a preliminary investigation of the el salvador allegations. >>> a big revelation from the star witness in the john edwards trial, his former aide andrew young admitting much of the million dollars edwards is accused of improperly using actually went to build young's mansion. young has a $1.5 million home in north carolina. edwards is on trial accused of funneling campaign donations to hide his mistress. >>> fox 5 investigates metro passengers riding the rails for free on the same day the agency is hiking your fares. we go undercover with officers to see how far we'll will go to get a free ride. >> if you see a story we should look into, send your tips to 202-895-3000 or fox5tips at wttg.com. [ female announcer ] with xfinity, you can always expect more. like more on demand shows and movies than ever. and more ways to discover them too. plus more speed from america's fastest internet provider. so you can run more devices at the same time. ♪ feel a firework [ female announcer ] and best of all, it keeps getting better. no wonder more people choose xfinity over any other provider. ♪ love can be so mystical ♪ >>> this is fox 5 news at 10: