i thank god for a man that stands for truth. >> joining us now is bishop william barber, president and senior lecture for repairs of the breach. always great to see you in person, bishop barber. when i heard -- when i hear roy moore saying if you take a stand, you'll come under persian constitution and blessed are you when mel men revile and persecute and say all manner of evil against you and falsify my name. i hope he is not talk about himself and is actually talking about jesus. >> that is such a misinterpretation of the text. it is heretical. this is not christianity. an extreme form of religionism. that text actually refers to the prophets who stood up for poor, who stood up for the least of these. who stood against power, who stood against those who hurt children. and they were persecuted for that, as was jesus. if you step back and look at alabama, alabama denied medicaid expansion. alabama is the 12th lowest per pupil spending in education. it is one of the poorest states in the union. it rates 47th in income. has the sixth highest child poverty. and most of these are white. no

this is no time to retreat. >> that is bishop william barber speaking in birmingham alabama right nowh a gathering of faith leaders in opposition to roy moore. there's another candidate in the race, democrat doug jones. who in a normal moral universe would be considered an american hero. he was a child when the church in birmingham was bombed, killing four black preteen girls between 11-14, a crime that galvanized the civil rights movement. it was jones who brought charges against two of the klu klux klan members responsible for that m booing and won convictions against them in 2010 and too. jones wrote, i may have the honor of serving alabama as your senator, but the most important thing i have done is prosecutoring those clansmen. in a normal moral universe, he would be a shoo-in. but in this universe, he's in a tight race with a man who was allegedly banned from a mall for terrorizing teenage girls. it is strange that a place like alabama would not hold up doug jones is kind of a beacon. does it confound you that he is still struggling to get a lead against someone like roy moore?

joining me is bishop william barber. , this started -- great to talk to you, as always. this started with the expulsion of a clergyman, right? of a pastor from liberty university. can you quickly explain? >> actually it was a prominent christian author named jonathan martin and a critic of the trump administration on theological and the basis of the gospel who was taken off the campus. he had been invited on. and told that he would be arrested for trespassing if he returned. >> wow. and so martin, according to npr, said that he was photographed, told by liberty university police that he would be immediately arrested if he stepped foot on the property ever again. he's been a frequent critic of donald trump and falwell jr. falwell's response said that martin called the university one of the most hostile environments to the gospel in the u.s. i assume martin is a globalist. we understand that is upsetting to leftist leaning and progressive christians to see so many evangelicals supporting donald trump but many believe evange

. >> reporter: the reverend william barber: >>oore imagines the struggle for equality in america as a story of loss. >> reporter: those on stage pointed to a phrase moore used tuesday night at a revival meeting in jackson, alabama. >> they started create of to create new rights in 1965. today we've got a problem. >> reporter: the 1965 voting rights act was designed to lift barriers erected by states and localities to block minority voters. >> i present to you the hero of the day, our valiant leader, judge roy moore. >> reporter: throughout the week, a different element of the evangelical ministry has championed moore and demonized his critics. >> i say to them-- and i'll quote the 10 commandments -- thou shall not bear false witness. >> reporter: and that, as reverend hicks said today, is the problem. >> roy moore is a dedicated servant of and is seriously infected with this false religious virus, this false christian religious virus. >> reporter: moore hasn't been seen in public since he fled from reporters on thursday, but he has sent his life and legal staff out to argue his case,

activist and reverend william barber called moore an extremist who "hijacked the christian faith tradition." >> i feel deep empathy for the women who have come forward to name and confront their abuser. at the same time my soul grieves as a christian minister for people who are fed such distorted views of christianity and racism and they are willing to support moore no matter what. >> moore is facing democratic senate candidate doug jones in alabama's december 12th special election. >>> puerto rico still reeling, two months after hurricane maria, now a south bay effort to help. nearly a dozen fire station as cross the city are collecting donations this weekend, hoping to collect basic stuff like water, baby food, and flashlights. organizers say much of puerto rico is still without power and struggling. >> the need for water, for food. of course they're handling the issues around electricity. and so anything we can do in san jose and anything we can do throughout the united states and the world would be a benefit. >> you can still donate at the fire houses. the donation drive ends tomorrow

just last hour in birmingham, reverend william barber led a contingent of clergy to stand against moore. meanwhile moore's wife and a group of women held a rally yesterday to condemn his accusers. maya rodriguez is in birmingham with more on this for us. so the special election is going on as planned december 12th. but there are growing calls for moore to step down, right? >> reporter: there are, but there are equally a number of people who have been vocal about having him stay in the race. that was an echoed sentiment today at the madison county republican men's club prayer breakfast. they all came up to the podium and said they planned to look at moore in fact because they were looking at the bigger picture. they say things like the debt and the deficit and border control were important issues to them. they did not mention the allegations against moore specifically, but said that they were looking at these issues and that that is why they intended to vote for him on december 12th. on the other hand here in birmingham this morning, there was a gathering of a number of faith leaders. th

. >> you know, sophia, a bit later on this morning the reverend william barber will be speaking at anference and he's been calling roy moore's christian rhetoric hypocritica hypocritical. does he have a point? >> i think we've seen a lot of this. it started with donald trump in 2016. look, i consider myself an evangelical christian. but at the end of the day i've been deeply disappointed in the racial divide. that's a whole other show for another day. we need to do about white evangelicals versus black evangelicals are approaching this issue of roy moore, i.e. reverend barber and what he's going to say which i'm sure is going to be very in your face to roy moore. so i think this is a hypocrisy here that's stunning. like jonathan said, with children, underage sexual contact, assault, and we keep -- you saw the guy that said it was joseph and mary-like. anybody to say that, like jonathan said, we're in a very different place in this country on a number of fronts. >> the term hypocrisy is aimed at democrats during the way in which bill clinton was handled during his time in office. can y

reverend william barber a rally against the former judge in birmingham, alabama. nine women came forward accusing moore of sexual miss conducts. now back to date layne. "dateline." >> reporter: there are pleasant places to idle away your golden years, but north carolina's nash correctional institution isn't one of them. but that's where michael peterson, father, novelist and wife-killer, according to a jury of his peers, was incarcerated. just another number in a cell block with other felons. >> no parole, life without parole. and they meant it, too. they did. and they did everything they could to make that happen. >> reporter: after he'd exhausted his appeals, it looked as though prison was where he would stay. but out in nevada, michael has a look-a-like younger brother, bill peterson, who's also an attorney. >> did the lawyer in you say, "that's it. my" -- >> no. >> -- "brother's done?" >> that's when the really hard work started. we were out of money, out of lawyers. and, so, that's when the burden fell on me and whoever would help me. bill peterson spent hour

this is no time to -- >> that is bishop william barber who is speaking in birmingham, alabama with ahering of faith leaders in opposition to roy moore. there's another candidate in the race. democrat doug jones. who in a normal universe would be considered an american hero. grew up in fairfield, alabama. a child when the church was bombed in 1963 killing four teenage girls between the ages 11 and 14 a crime that galvanized the civil rights movement. and decades later jones brought charges against two of the ku klux klan members responsible for the bombing and won convictions in 2001 and 2002. he recently wrote "i may have the honor serving alabama at your senator the most important thing i've done prosecuting those klansmen who killed four little girls eight the baptist church." and reeling that story would make him a shoo-in for public office. in this universe, in a tight race with a man allegedly banned from the mall for preying on teenage girls. back with me and jimmy, hate to make you the stand-in for all southern politics but have to unfortunately make you do it. it's strange a

just a short time ago in birmingham, reverend william barber led a contention of clergy standing against moore. but moore supporters also gathered, much like they have the last two days defending their candidate. moore is accused of sexual misconduct and assault several decades ago. let's go to maya rodriguez joining us from birmingham. we've got this special election just three weeks away. moore still has support. there are those who say there's too much at stake to give up on him. >> reporter: and that's something that we've been hearing today from both sides, alex. sort of that discussion of not just about these sexual misconduct allegations, but also about some of the issues that are involved in this race. now, it all started earlier this morning. the republicans men's club down in madison county, alabama, in huntsville had a prayer breakfast basically coming out in support of moore, saying that they thought it was important to vote for moore because of his stance on issues like the budget, the debt, deficit, border security, things that they described as sort of the bigger picture a

they were led by the reverend william j. barberho addressed last year's democratic national convention right here in philadelphia. at least nine women have made accusations against moore claiming he made inappropriate and unwanted sexual advances towards them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. moore denied all of the accusations. barber attacked moore over the als as well as his policies. >> there is nothing christian as moore supported. >> and sources tell nbc news moore's democratic opponent doug jones has raised about $250,000 a day since the allegations became public. the party faithful were encouraged to vote for moore. >> there are much bigger issues facing our country. supreme court justices, roy moore will vote right. doug jones will vote wrong. >> well, defining moments, the politics of sexual conduct on "meet the press." the show airing, of course, right here on nbc 10. >> rock fans are mourning one of the founders of ac/dc. malcolm young died over the weekend. the band announced his passing on their facebook

like juan williams was saying, i was surprised he did not come out and say i was right. i supported the challenger to roy moore and like ellison barber said, there is no filter on him. so he has the ability to go out there and say that. it is surprising that he didn't say i was right. >> i think then he opened the door to the media criticism of his past and going back. the argument would be that voters are different than a private employer. you mentioned some cases at the top of the show charlie rose, and others. these are people who are in the public eye but really work a private enterprise, a media organization. >> there is no verdict by the voters. >> correct.but here with the president there was a verdict by the voters. some people say well does that mean that they were judge and jury with regard to the sexual harassment claims? what do they prefer him as president? i do not know if they are truly judge and jury but i think positive people in the presidents camp say the issue is dead. >> i think people misinterpreted what i said last week. that noting there was an election. ivanka trump said she believes the women involved. and c