and they are among the 1.2 million jehovah's witnesses in the united states.rganization of jehovah's witnesses was begun in the late 19th century by a small group of bible students in pennsylvania. >> we believe from the bible that god has a name and it is jehovah, and that his son, jesus christ is separate. his kingdom has been established in heaven and instead of everybody going to heaven when they die there will actually be a resurrection here on the earth and all of our loved ones will come back and we'll enjoy perfect life forever right here on earth. where a lot of religions may teach things such as hell fire, immortality of the soul, and trinity, jehovah's witnesses don't believe those teachings. we take the bible very literally and believe the bible for what it is. we look for the truth in the bible. >> reporter: one of the "truths" witnesses believe in has to do with blood. >> in genesis and again leviticus, there's very specific scriptures that state that the blood is sacred and that life is in the blood and that belongs to god. so we want to respect

. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> coming up, betty rollin reports on doctors performing bloodless surgery on jehovah's witnesses religion forbids blood transfusions. many say that is good medicine. >>> also judy valenti looks at the spiritual journey of christian wiman, a poet, teacher, husband, and father who has incurable cancer. >> i have cursed mightily and have been furious, have cursed god just like any old testament prophet. >>> and the jewish holiday of shavuot, celebrating the harvest and the torah, and proclaiming -- >> that you should be really, really, really happy.

intended for war zones where spare blood is typically in short supply but it's helping groups like jehovah's witnesses who 's religion bans them from receiving another person's blood, reducing recovery times and the risk of complications and death. the feeling is this machine could revolutionize the operating theatre. >> casey cason has died. his voice was heard in everything from commercials to scooby doo cartoons. he retired from most activities in 2009 and has been hospitalized for several months. he was 82 years old. good sunday to you. watching out. more severe weather as we wrap up this weekend. on father's day it will stay stormy. we are watching storms progressing against minnesota, iowa and missouri we had a lot of storms over iowa. >> has weakened. we have rain around. now we are not dealing with watches or warnings but we will watch out for the saturated grounds to get more rain on top of that. >> will lead to potential of blood, around chicago it's going to be windy. when we get stronger storms tom bubble up late this afternoon into evening. we will have to deal with the threat

it's helping groups like jehovah h's witnesses whose religion bans them from receiving another person's blood. it's less traumatic than tr traditional trans fusions, reducing recovery times and the risk of complications or death. the feeling is this machine could revolutionize the operating theatre. >> at least 100,000 cam bone yad migrants have left thailand over the past week because they are worried about a crackdown by the thai government. 45,000 people fled across the border to cambodia on saturday, alone. thailand's government says it only plans to ensure that undo you think immigrants are legalized. it's been one 00 days since the malaysia airline flight with 239 people on board disappeared. the government is promising not to abandoned the search for the plane. flight mh-370 went missing on march the 8th as it flew from kuala lumpur to beijing. a massive search in the southern indian ocean failed to find any debris. families of the victims have begun to receive initial compensation payments. >>> swimming with the world's biggest fish is a thrill for tourists, particularly in the

but it is also used for jehovah's witnesses whose religion for bids them from using other people's bloodne could revolutionize the operating theater. >> sound amazing. still to come, swimming with the biggest fish in the ocean. but at what cost? plus from humble beginsing we visit the argentinian city where world cup football star messi group up. >> we go to sports news. we have the latest from the world cup. [♪ music ] >> thank you very much. we'll start with the latest. switzer hand scored an injury time winner against ecuador. it was ecuador that drew first blood after 22 minutes. it took the swiss after the break to draw level, and then another header after 48 minutes. it was another switzerland that grabbed the winner three minutes into stoppage time. final score 2-1 too switzerland. >>> and live in rio. quite a day there. the switzerland got off to a winning start, and they brought back memories from last year's world cup. >> yes, as he appointment out switzerland is a good side. there were a lot of people who said switzerland did not deserve the seed, and they ar the style of foot

was intended for war zones, where spare blood is typically in short supply but helping groups like jehovah'switnesses whose religion bans them from receiving another person's blood. it is less traumatic than traditional trans fusions, reducing recovery times and risks of complications or death. the feeling is this machine could revolutionize the operating theatre. >> time for a look at the weather. here is richard. >> thank you, martin. what's special about it? typical journalist question. we look at the indian monsoon. nothing special about it but it's interesting to see how it develops each year. i find it quite fascinating. you see on the satellite image re, we had failure heavy rain working way in parts of goa. let's not forget the monsoon across the eastern states of india where we are seeing a lot of rain here at the moment. now, as we take a look at the progress of the monsoon, this is where it should be on the 15th of june, so pushing all the way up into central parts of india. you see it pushes up across more northeastern lines. you can see a natural fact. it's a long way south of w

what about a company run by cristian scientists or jehovah's witness who have very specific views about the kind of medical care that is appropriate? what about transfusions? what about chemotherapy? what about obviously contraception, which is at the heart of this case. this potentially opens the door to companies saying, we will pay for only the kind of medical care that our religion approves of. and that's a very complicated risk for employees who go to work for those companies. >> these are the what ifs and maybes down the road because of specifically this ruling. gloria borger, as far as the political narrative concern, obamacare, this massive big sweeping legislation, how much damage does this one ruling wreak? >> it's just one more sort of chink in the armor here, and i think what the administration is going to try and figure out and in fact, the conservative justice alito kind of suggested it. >> the government. >> saying let the government pay for this so if these women can't get this type of birth control covered by their employers, well, maybe government subsidies can do that

this week, 35,000 jehovah witnesses are meeting in new orleans at the superdome.you live in the superdome, do not answer your doorbell this week. [ laughter ] also, i'm sorry that you live in the superdome. [ laughter ] this is pretty cool. this week, the fda approved human testing of bananas that are engineered to have higher vitamin content. said monkeys, "hey, the one time we want to be tested on!" [ laughter ] "we love bananas. humans testing the bananas? you guys! this was the time to use monkeys, you guys! man! gosh. it's just i feel like we couldn't have been clearer about how we felt about bananas. you use us for all this testing we hate." [ laughter ] "i -- if you need me, i'm going to be in the tree." [ laughter ] this is a weird story. an atlanta woman is still recovering after undergoing surgery to remove a 27 pound tumor from her stomach, which she initially thought was just weight gain. said the woman, "oh, thank god. oh, it's just a tumor." [ laughter and applause ] this is interesting. chili's has installed 45,000 tablets in its restaurants to serv

all sorts of people who say, i thought i was protected by basic civil rights law, if my boss is a jehovah's witness or my boss believes in sharia law, is he or she going to be able to sort of impose those religious views in ways that don't just violate my sense of who i am in this country but violate other legal mandates and protections i thought i had? i think that's the real concern here, and i think in fairness the court was aware of that when this case was argued, that it really doesn't just unsettle the narrow question of the contraception mandate, i think it unsettles an awful lot of presumptions we have about the law. >> and the extent of -- the extent to which we can apply our own concerns and restrictions and fears to people around us without the law interfering with that. fascinating stuff. i don't know when this is going to happen, but i hope you'll come back and help us understand it when it does. thanks. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. >>> tonight we have some exclusive material coming up, u.s. military officer effectively being forces out of the service. taking what appears to

things like blood transfusions if your company is owned by jehovah's witness, anti-depressants if they scientologists, anesthesia, intravenous fluids and pills coated with gelatin which can also be derived from pigs and may be offensive to muslims, jews and hindus. various religious may object to vaccinations. will we see more lawsuits from corporations over their religious freedoms? >> there is no doubt we will see more lawsuits. that's one thing we can predict. we already have. there was a photographer who didn't want to photograph a gay wedding because of her religious beliefs. the imprecision will be great news for lawyers and not necessarily for individual liberty. the justice had responses and said vaccination is different because it is a public health concern. what was fascinating is justice ginsburg said your right to object stops my fist basically. p if it's going to harm me you can't impose this. the justice said it is a tough question whether if someone aids and abets an act someone else thinks is religiously amoral that's okay. but the court shouldn't second guess it. the p

intended for war zones, places where spare blood is typically in short supply but helping groups like jehovah's witnesses whose religion bans them from receiving another person's blood. it is less traumatic than traditional trans fusions, reducing recovery times and the risk of complications or death. the feeling is, this machine could revolutionize the operating theatre. >> phil lavelle. no three piece for lebron james this year. one of the world's greatest soccer players puts on a show at the world cup. we head to the hometown of leonel messi. plus... >> new york subway performers often a stepping stone to stardom. >> we have to move out of here right now >> i think we have a problem... >> we have to get out of here... >> they're telling that they they don't wanna show what's really going on... >> mr. drumfield, i'd like to speak to you for a minute... >> this is where columbia's war continues... >> ...still occupied... >> police have arrived... you see the blast scars from a bomb that went off... >>> welcome back. i tell you, they wasted no time packing the streets. thousands are celebrating

. >> a lot of critics say, well, what if you're working for a christian scientist or jehovah's witness, they don't believe in blood transfusions, do you think it should extend to those circumstances? >> i mean, i think if someone is providing you benefits, they have a right to determine what those are. put it this way, suppose, for example, that we're in a different culture. let's say we have a real turn in this country, and we go very pro-life. the supreme court changes, the president changes, congress changes, and it's against the law to provide an abortion, yet there's some business out there that wants to provide it. now, how comfortable are liberals going to be to say, oh, that's fine be, we won't provide abortion services or contraceptives because the government doesn't want us to. that would be a very different conversation going on on the left if that were the case. >> you know, but to kirsten's point, i'm just curious how you see this. >> yeah. >> i mean, you mentioned some examples there. i'll mention one that's even wider reaching. what if a company believes in women not bei

people raised questions about whether a jehovah's witness would be able to restrict blood transfusionseir health care coverage for their employees or if you have an employer who is a christian scientist, would they be able to say, well, we don't want to provide health care at all? those are questions if the court rules in the favor of hobby lobby and i think they will, then i think that the question is how far will those rulings reach into the corporate marketplace. >> so, russell, do you think jonathan has a point? >> no, i don't. that's the equivalent of saying because the government allows cnn to operate, that that means that we have the right to yell fire in a crowded theater. what this case is about is whether or not the government needs to demonstrate a compelling interest in forcing people to comply despite their religious objections and to provide the least restrictive means to do so. so, no, i don't think that's the case at all. there is always a compelling government interest to keep people from killing one another, for instance, or from stealing from one another. religious l

what he called jehovah's witnesses would they have the right to say our health insurance does not allow transfusions well that's what justice kagan asked and he says the that is if it acts or clips the president circle the president for speech rights for corporations was actually found in one thousand nine hundred six when louis paul wrote the majority opinion in buckley versus folio he had been pitching that since seventy one and then in seventy six in seventy seven with first satellite versus body is there any prayer in which he said you know money is speech basically is there any precedent for religion in previous supreme court will is that either of you know about twenty seconds for the court has never held that a for profit corporation can exercise religion and if the supreme court ball as its own precedents it will hold back here to our focus is on the life ending drugs and devices that are involved in h.h.s. mandate which these people are opposed to and that's what's going on not contraception opposition and these people's rights of religious expression shouldn't protect all of i

we've already mentioned in the setup here that you could have jehovah's witnesses who do not believe in blood transfusions saying we want to cover health care, but we're not going to cover blood transfusions. what about evangelicals who don't believe medical marijuana is moral? even more serious, i think, would be christian scientists who don't believe in health care at all. so do they get to just opt out of health care altogether? i think these are questions that we're going to see coming down the pipe really soon. i'm not sure exactly how the court will rule on some of those things. >> yeah, well, we keep saying this is another exemption because there have been others before this under the affordable care act like businesses with 50 employees or less, like undocumented immigrants or certain religious sects and churches. it's a little unfair to have an exemption for some and not all. do you think that this ruling would have come down difficultly had there not already been a precedent for it? >> you know, i don't know. i'm not a legal expert. i'm a religion writer. this may be a bit

or husband and quote make no mistake about it if the hobby lobby case was about the rights of a jehovah's witness owned business to deny its male workers coverage for blood transfusion it never would have gotten this far it's only because the american right and its can pick cheerleaders in the supreme court don't think women deserve the same rights as men that hobby lobby turned out the way it did. if you can give me another reason i'll consider it but as far as i'm concerned the fear about the birth control mandate in the hobby lobby case was for conservatives at least always about the fact that the issue at stake was a woman's right to control her own body obviously the court's ruling on hobby lobby's they could have been a whole lot worse the justices did after all least have the courtesy to save their decision shouldn't be seen as a go ahead for other corporations to start doing what they want just because that corporations religions. but let's not beat around the bush hobby lobby ruling was a loss for everyone things women are actual people and win for everyone who thinks that corpor

it is like making jehovah's witness -- look at the political realm they want to give to the american people. corporations can give on an unlimited basis, they can spend on an unlimited basis, and they don't have to tell anybody. the wind if anybody even cause a corporation out, saying somehow their first amendment rights are being violated. it is a pretty special first amendment. >> i am out of time. >> i will be very brief. to mr.begin by saying abrams that i hope when senator franken said a chimp could win that case that you double your feet. that's your feet. -- doubled your feet. i would never refer to as a chimp. you are far from it. you have been a formidable and forceful advocate. we thank you all for being here. i want to take a slightly different line because i think a lot of the ground has been covered. standpointtitutional , and i want to pose this question to mr. abrams first but any of you are free to comment. , the supremeons court makes certain factual conclusions. for example it says the government scenarios are implausible factually to occur. it concludes that techno

it's like making the jehovah's witness kids salute the flag and they're insisting there's a right to free speech. look at the realm they want to give to the people. corporations are give on an unlimited basis directly to candidates and spend on an unlimited basis and they don't have to tell anybody and then they whine if anybody calls a corporation out for doing it saying that somehow their first amendment rights are violated. that's a special first amendment they have got. >> i'm out of time. >> i'll be grief. i want to begin by saying to mr. abrams, i hope that when senator said a chimp could win that case that you doubled your fee to him. you and i have been on different sides of cases and i would never have referred to you as a chimp in your argument. far from it. you have been a for formittable and forceful advocate as you have been today and thank you all for being here. and i want to take a slightly different line because i think a lot of the ground has been covered. but from an institutional standpoint and i want to pose this question to mr. abrams first but any of you are fr