>> not a lot. >> is that a jehovah's witness thing?ting is younger than me and can set up my accounts. >> yahoo is for dads. like grand dads. >> i always like weird [ bleep ]. remember when bush rubbed angela merkel's shoulders? i didn't care. >> so we should not have done this segment? >> jono, biden once said hillary is just as qualified as he is to be vice president. then he added, the might have been a better pick. >> no, biden is perfect in the white house. we need this kind of soft news complete with the creepy memes. this is a man who can find the funnely without even trying. that is a real talent. we need that in the white house, because the news is depressing. >> that's a good point. we need a clown in the white house. >> a guy gets to close or a guy that can't spell potato. >> if obama -- anything happened to him, god forbid biden would be our president. what would the country be like, ben? >> i think it would be a scary country in lots of ways. whatever sort of whim takes the president at any moment's notice. this was a clas

but there was a case of a judge who himself was a jehovah's witness and he allowed the child to continue to refuse treatment, and the child died, but that is a really exceptional case. >> in most instances the courts weigh in favor of medical treatment. >> yes, and this is something that happens, recent cases in australia, new zealand, and it seemed to me that it exposes a fundamental rift in our daily politics or daily lives. it certainly comes up a great deal in the family division. >> right. >> you know, when you get profound religious sincerely-held belief running up against a rational, secular state of mind, which is who represents the state. >> right. >> it's also very important. i know here, more than any other country in the world, what are the limits once you put on the power of the state. >> well, this seems like a case for ted cruz and for a number of other american politicians who have been carrying the flag of liberty. liberty for the individuals against government, against institutions. people should be allowed to do what they want and it has the additional benefit of being

the jehovah's witnesses. you can get a court order, which is half that. about 17 years old. four years later she came back and wanted to talk to medical students. wanted to talk to an ethics class and she got up in front of them. she was now married, 21 years old, well spoken, attractive and to i'm alive because my doctor's treatment of blood transfusion but i know no eternal life will be mine so i would have much rather you not given me the blood transfusion. that is just the power of belief. >> in there we closed. thank you for coming this evening. thank you to dr. paul offit. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> here's the list of books being published this week. .. >> booktv continues now with "after words." cornel west explores martin luther king, jr.'s radical political thinking, a sight of the late civil rights leader that the author argues has been diminished and sanitize. cornel west speaks with khalil mohammed, director of the schomburg center for research in black culture. >> host: dr. west, it is a real delight to have you on this sho

it does is seeks to provide a defensive protection against more vulnerable religious groups like jehovah'sike that. >> let me get to maria. does hillary clinton want to launch a campaign with the culture war that her husband started against in '92? >> no absolutely not. she will focus on themes having to do with helping middle class families and workers in this country try to move forward with this burgeoning economy that has not touched everybody and you're not going to be able to see a more stark contrast between her focus on fighting for the middle class each and every single day and the extreme views that you just talked about, victor in terms of what republicans want to focus on which is keeping lgbt community in this country from enjoying the same rights as everybody else and covering that up with talking points about how this is about protecting religious freedom, when we all know what is at the bottom of this and clearly the folks who have -- >> president obama's economy middle class families have suffered under. >> i think they have whiplash with the kind of 180 that they have don

i talk about jehovah's witnesses that dui debate could unite life-saving blood transfusions and i get into the jewish ritual of circumcision i don't know if you are familiar with the fact that it is cleaning up the wound with sterile gauze and it is sucked up by the person doing the circumcision and that can lead to a herpes simplex virus and its cost of 14 children to die or have permanent brain damage from that. i saw a case a few months ago. so come let me read one section of the book that relates to another, the philadelphia story to give you a sense of this. in 1997, michael was playing in the backyard when his mother and screamed. she ran out of time he stepped on a piece of glass. michael's father immediately cleaned the wound and and grabbed his son's foot in the towel but the bleeding didn't stop so he redrafted with a disposable diaper and again the bandage quickly soaked with blood. that night he couldn't sleep crying and vomiting. the next night it was re- wrapped but it continued. then instead of calling a doctor they called the pastor of faith tabernacle congregation and

a jehovah's witness woman in 2012 died because kansas wouldn't let her get a medical procedure that she needed across state lines. real people suffer when the government doesn't make room for religious differences. i would disagree with the characterization that the indiana law is different from federal law. federal courts have interpreted the federal rifra the way the indiana one was written, that it can apply to suits when the government pressure comes, for example, through a lower party. lower courts had already held that people still get to practice their religion and exercise religion when they're earning a living. indiana's law is nothing different from what's existed for 20-plus years. no one can name a single place anywhere in the country where that law has ever been used to allow for discrimination. it's never, ever happened. it's a fake claim that does a lot of good for religious minorities. >> bishop, last word to you on reaction to his comments. >> well, one would have to question why the anti-gay organizations and leadership are so excited about this law and why they were c

kansas died because the government would not let her get a liver transplant because it went with her jehovah witness beliefs. so again, it is not used in the way that the critics are used to authorize the discrimination against the gay people, and the only case that came close is the photographer who said that i can't take pictures at the gay wedding wedding, but she lost the claim, and lost it under the first amendment and so it is not open season for discrimination, but it is going to continue to protect the religious minorities and i'm delighted if the critics of the law take the position that you do that it is clear that the businesses won't be discriminating against the gay people, and that is not what the laws do, because we have 20-plus history of it. >> and i am interested in getting your response bishop, but we rare not done talking about this. and will the battle of the religious laws be a battle for the white house race. and of all things, jokes, some people say that the new host of the "daily show" crossed the line with the offensive religious tweets and who gets to decide who cr

i supported the right -- i don't know if she was your client or another line -- who wanted as a jehovah's witness not to have surgery do without a blood transfusion. for some bureaucratic reason she was denied the right to do that. eventually she won her case but she was near death at the time. that is what religious restriction freedom act was designed to do. it was not designed to do with the sponsors of the original version of the indiana built said. -- indiana built said. make sure the baker, photographer cater can say no to a gay couple's wedding. that is never what this was about and that is why there are not cases until the ones that are merging up now. host: carol is in indiana on the independent line. caller: hi, how are you? host: good. caller: good. i have a question for the reverend when he said a little bit ago about these guys are born pretty much cake. that is not -- pretty much gay. that is not to. i know much of the mark, but not all of them. it is shoved down at the everyday and you can see two guys kissing. if you have kids, that is not good to see on tv. it is awfully

i do not know if it was your client or another's who as a jehovah's witness, not to have surgery doneut a large -- blood transfusion. she eventually won her case but she was near death at the time. that is what the religious freedom restoration act was designed to do. it is not designed to do with the original sponsors of the indiana bill said. make sure the acre, photographer, caterer, can say no to a gay couple's wedding. that is not what this is about. that is why there were not cases until the ones popping up now. host: careless from indiana on our independent line. hello. caller: how are you? i have a question for the reverend about these guys were born ready much gay. that is not true. i know there are some that are but most of them are not create it is shoved down our throats every day -- you can flip on the regular tv during the day and you see two guys kissing. if you have kids, that is not good to see on tv. it is awfully funny that only certain people have the right to say no to things. but because your religious and believe in what you believe in, that marriage is between

but when it was about the right of jehovah's witnesses not to stand during the pledge of allegiance ora controversial issue. it's a broad consensus. what's concerned people who are champions of religious freedom is that consensus is now tainted with the idea that no, this is about the right to discriminate. that conconsensus, we wanted to get into that tension. >> i want jonathan capehart to jump in in a second. you have a couple of pieces. are these laws necessary? part of the case made for that question by this report of rob dreher is this. traditional christians find themselves under siege. they do not have a license to -- it raises the bar for proving illegal discrimination in religion-related disputes higher. it grants believers the chance to make their case. a country in which gay rights is enjoying the landslide approval is a country that can afford to give protection a day in court to religious centers from popular sentiment. isn't that a fair argument? >> the argument made that traditional believers in the christian, muslim jewish believe that sexual expression has a moral mea