Final Look Back

Coming up, after 20 years on the air, our last episode of Religion and Ethics News Weekly.

We look back at some of the most memorable stories we've covered, people we've met,

and changes we've seen. This week, Kim Lawton, Lucky Severson, and I offer our reflections.

Major funding for Religion and Ethics News Weekly is provided by the Lilly Endowment,

an Indianapolis-based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in religion,

community development, and education. Additional funding also provided by Mutual of America,

designing customized individual and group retirement products. That's why we're

your retirement company.

Welcome, I'm Bob Abernethy. It's good to have you with us for this final edition of Religion and Ethics News Weekly.

Last week, we looked back at some of the most memorable stories our correspondents have covered over two decades.

Today, another look, beginning with our managing editor, Kim Lawton, on the many changes in religious life she's covered

during this program's 20 years on the air.

That's 1,017 shows.

Over the last two decades, we've covered several major shifts across America's religious landscape.

When we first went on the air, the big religion demographic story had been the so-called mainline decline.

The significant loss of members and denominations that had long been considered the religious establishment.

Interfaith dialogue usually consisted of Christians and Jews getting together.

Let us walk with you.

One of the biggest changes since then has been a rising recognition of America's complex

religious diversity.

In 2012, the Pew Research Center announced that while the U.S. remains a majority Christian

nation, for the first time ever, the share of Protestant Christians dropped below 50

percent.

About 70 percent of Americans overall are Christians, but the number of Americans who

are part of non-Christian faiths, especially Muslims and Hindus, continues to rise.

There are now many new projects for people of faith to get to know each other across

religious lines.

Previously, such organized efforts often happened among theologians and religious leaders only.

More and more, it's taking place at the grassroots.

At one time, many participants would have named evangelism as the sole motivation for

interfaith interactions.

Now we've increasingly heard that mutual understanding is a goal.

Even among those who may still ultimately hope to convert others to their faith.

We've seen many broad-based religious coalitions develop to advocate on a host of issues, including

poverty, the environment, racial injustice, human rights, anti-religious bigotry, and

a big one recently, supporting immigration and the resettlement of refugees.

We talk about how we are all brothers and sisters.

That we form one human family.

And all of this grows out of all the religious traditions you see around us.

Another key demographic change has been the dramatic rise of the religiously unaffiliated,

the so-called nuns.

That's N-O-N-E-S.

Today, more than 20% of all Americans say they do not identify with any particular religion.

And the drop in affiliation is especially evident among young adults.

About one-third of all American adults under the age of 30 describe themselves as non-religious.

And that's a big change.

That's a big change.

The general awareness that people are not going to identify themselves as either atheists

or agnostics or say they just don't have any particular religion, and that large number

is a big part of what's driving the overall growth in this population.

Experts cite many reasons for the rise of the nuns, among them the growing secularization

of American culture, and the widening social acceptability for people to admit they're

not all that into religion.

The clergy's sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, the strong political focus of many

groups and other institutional problems may have also played a role.

They look at these institutions and they see people who are more concerned about politics,

more concerned about money, more concerned about their own power, and that's just not

what people expect out of a faith institution.

They expect some level of authenticity, especially in the leadership.

The unaffiliated trend has forced religious institutions across the board to take a new

look at themselves, what they prioritize, how they come across in public, how they retain

people who are part of their traditions, how they reach out to young people, and how they

need to broaden their appeal.

But we also discovered that being unaffiliated doesn't necessarily mean absolute atheism.

In a joint survey that our program conducted with the Pew Research Center, we found that

many of the unaffiliated are not necessarily atheists.

We found that many of the unaffiliated are not necessarily atheists.

We found that many of the unaffiliated are religious or spiritual in some way.

Two-thirds of them said they believe in God, more than a third classified themselves as

spiritual but not religious, and one in five said they do pray every day.

One institution in particular, the Roman Catholic Church, has experienced several significant

transitions over the last 20 years.

Our top story this week is the death of Mother Teresa.

While the world was still mourning the death of Princess Diana,

came the sad news that the beloved Roman Catholic nun had died Friday of a massive

heart attack.

On our very first episode of Religion and Ethics, we reported the death of Mother Teresa,

now Saint Teresa of Calcutta.

Pope John Paul II, now Saint John Paul II, was still a popular leader, and though getting

older, still traveling the globe.

I covered several of his trips, including his historic visit to the Holy Land in 2000.

His death in 2000 was the first time he visited the Holy Land in 2000.

In 2005, in the election of Benedict XVI, ushered in a new era for the Church.

In 2013, Benedict stunned the world by becoming the first Pope in 600 years to resign.

He cited his age and health.

Benedict's successor, Pope Francis, has been shaking up the Church and beyond with his

pastoral approach and his emphasis on simplicity and poverty.

Francis's embrace of a new set of issues, from climate change to immigration, has generated

praise and condemnation.

In the summer of 2001, I was working on a story about how American Muslims were trying

to organize politically and have a stronger public voice.

Then came the attacks of September 11th, and things changed profoundly for that community.

After the attacks, President Bush said repeatedly that America was not at war with Islam.

The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam.

That's not what Islam is all about.

Islam is peace.

But many U.S. Muslims reported a backlash of discrimination and harassment.

Sikhs who were mistaken for Muslims also reported hate crimes against them.

Many Muslims were forced out of their minority enclaves to condemn terrorism and try to explain

their beliefs.

Ironically, the questions and concerns inspired new interfaith solidarity with Muslims as

well.

Amid heightened suspicions and government surveillance, some Muslim groups launched

their own projects to combat violent extremism.

It's about preserving human rights, dignity, justice.

And so what we've seen is that Muslims now are taking back that narrative.

The debates ramped up during the 2016 presidential campaign season with calls for Muslim registries

and bans.

Muslims have been very outspoken against President Trump's temporary ban on travel from seven

predominantly Muslim countries.

People of many religious traditions are supporting them.

With growing diversity and the lessening influence of institutional religion, many

faith groups have found themselves in the midst of serious new culture clashes.

The widening social acceptability of LGBT issues and the eventual legalization of same-sex

marriage have had major implications for many religious denominations.

We covered divisions in the Episcopal Church after the 2003 consecration of Jean Robinson

as the nation's first openly gay bishop.

Disagreements about the authority and interpretation of Scripture brought the Episcopal Church and

the entire worldwide Anglican Communion to the brink of schism.

Other denominations have faced fierce theological debates over the issues as well, many still

not resolved.

The Church shouldn't just go along with what the wider society demands of it.

Our call to be inclusive of all people comes from Scripture, it comes from faithfulness

to God.

Evangelical and Catholic churches, which have not changed their positions on homosexuality,

have also come under increasing pressure to re-examine their practices and be more inclusive

of LGBT people.

Meanwhile, new conflicts have arisen over the boundaries of religious freedom in the

public sphere.

What happens when civil rights seem to bump up against religious rights?

To what extent can faith-based nonprofits and business owners deny services because

of their beliefs?

Sexuality issues and the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act spawned a host

of court cases that are still trying to survive.

For more UN videos visit www.un.org.

THORNLEY NEW CHURCH STATE QUESTIONS.

Those are just a few of the many changes I've covered for this program.

But something that hasn't changed in 20 years is that people are still living out

their faith, day by day, in so many different ways.

One is by helping others, especially in crisis situations.

I've been privileged to see this firsthand, time and time again.

From the teams of volunteers who poured into New Orleans to help after Hurricane Katrina.

Religious groups working in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake and faith-based

humanitarian workers delivering desperately needed aid to refugee camps and war zones.

Across the U.S. and around the world, I've witnessed the many ways people worship, express

their spirituality, seek the sacred and build community.

The perseverance of faith and hope, even in the most difficult circumstances, continues

to inspire me.

I'm Kim Lawton.

Now Lucky Severson on some of the people he's been lucky enough to meet over the years,

many of whom were striving to make the world a better place.

I've been in the news business a long time, first in local, then national, then international.

For almost 20 years I've been doing stories for this program.

And I've had far more fun than I deserve and met some amazing people along the way

who have made the world a better place.

People like Scott Neeson, the former president of 20th Century Fox International.

Scott Neeson found most of his kids at this mountain of garbage outside Cambodia's capital

city of Phnom Penh.

Pictures alone don't do it justice.

Don't reveal a stench, the filth, maggots, the chemical waste, and sharp jagged objects.

When I first came here, I had nightmares.

Terrible dreams for a week or two afterwards.

And I think some of the things I've seen out here are just horrendous.

He had come here backpacking, one of Hollywood's major movers and shakers.

You were a man of means.

I was a man of means and luxuries and I sort of enjoyed it, but I wasn't particularly happy.

So he started a live-in school where kids attend classes by day and learn about their

culture by night.

He started with 40 kids, then more each year.

There's no games.

I mean, what would happen here with 117, 118 children who are going through the process

of changing their lives, trying their best?

I mean, how do you just walk away from that?

Do you put them back on the streets?

Do you just try and forget about it?

Today he's schooling 2,500 kids, operates the only free clinic in Cambodia, supports

200 students and university, and is building an academy atop the dump where he saved so

many lives.

In the beginning, we asked if he was the real deal.

Seems that he is.

But there are some seemingly good people who are actually too good to be true.

There are big churches, and then there's the Yoida Full Gospel Church here in Seoul,

South Korea.

It's the mother of megachurches with the largest congregation in the world.

It's a prosperity gospel church headed by one of the most revered religious leaders

in Korea, the Reverend David Yong Ik Cho.

People do not come to our church because I'm a holy person.

I'm a Christian.

I'm a secular Christian.

I'm a spectacular Christian.

No.

They come because I supply, they are need.

I meet their need through the word of God.

Sadly, not too long after I interviewed Pastor Cho, he was sentenced to three years in prison

for embezzling 12 million dollars.

That money could have gone a long way with Father Michael Doyle of the Sacred Heart Church

in one of America's poorest cities, Camden, New Jersey.

Dante.

Perkins.

25 shot to death it's a mass for the 55 young men and women murdered in camden in the past year

father michael doyle officiating in 2012 there were 266 shootings 67 homicides which makes

camden per capita according to the fbi the most dangerous city in the u.s but father doyle sees

something else i see it all the time a beauty that's deep and and wonderful and sometimes

tragic but beauty absolutely i do their faces are there with their burdens and their wrinkles and

their difficulties and so forth but beauty that's just jumping at you he's not a fire and brimstone

preacher but he gets things done quietly he's raised money to start an inner city primary school

his church also funds a food kitchen

and has refurbished over 250 decaying homes and resold them at affordable prices i guess if camden

can turn it around any place can turn it around that's that's uh that's very very true if we had

frank sonata to come here and sing for us if you can do it there you can do it anywhere that's right

you can do it anywhere finally a young street preacher in oakland california who was in his

fourth year of his doctorate at uc berkeley

when he stumbled onto luke chapter 6 which says give to all that asks so he did and they called

him crazy heavenly father we pray for the holy spirit to enter our hearts they know he understands

their situation because the preacher man vincent penizzo is one of them in the name of the lord

jesus christ we pray amen amen i despair every single day every day yeah i mean how would you

like to be homeless living on the street you'll say well you chose homelessness i don't choose

anything god chooses everything for us first he invited the homeless into his apartment until

his wife left him then he lived with the homeless he got day jobs as a carpenter and whatever he

earned he gave to the homeless he keeps nothing for himself at all he buys food for people and

he keeps nothing for himself it's painful i don't like people to think that i'm nuts

uh i like to be treated with respect and dignity i mean for crying out loud you know i once

desired a career in academia you know i mean it and now here i'm a homeless guy

having nothing you know being a servant to everybody on the street

and people thinking that i'm nuts or on drugs i did that story about 10 years ago and i have

been trying ever since to find vincent here was a man who did what the bible tells us to do and

called him nuts if you know of vincent's whereabouts please let me know you can email

lucky with information about vincent penizzo at religionethicslucky gmail.com

a longer version of lucky's look back is on our website

some of the most popular features we've produced have been

our belief and practice segments our longtime advisor university of virginia religious studies

professor vanessa oaks helps us recall some of the ways we examine the power of rituals

any ritual should have the capacity to deepen your mindfulness

to be present to the world around you to be grateful for all the people who are around you

we're able in a ritual to affirm belief in a way that isn't just cerebral

our whole body is engaged in the act of making a connection and in the whirling it becomes a

meditation it's an ecstatic state but over the years it's become an art form they do not call it

a performance. I would not call it a performance. It is a spiritual offering.

This is a rite of passage in the young man's life, usually between 8 and 16

years of life. The rite of passage into adulthood is a fraught time, probably

more so for the parents than for the kid. And so we have these practices in many

traditions where a child has to undergo a great deal of learning, a great deal of

preparation, where the child is told beforehand, this is what's expected of

you. Pilgrimage is one of the most complex rituals in any tradition. It

takes an enormous amount of preparation. It takes a lot of physical strength. It

takes a lot of endurance. It takes a willingness to potentially encounter

danger.

It's difficult to make one of these journeys. You're traveling to another

country multiple time zones away. You're staying in unfamiliar places. You're

eating unfamiliar foods. And you are putting yourself out of your comfort

zone, and that's part of it.

They allow us to play a role in a story in which we are one of the

main characters, and we are connecting to the sacred narratives of our

tradition.

It's in the wilderness where God speaks to Moses. It's in the wilderness where the

people get the teachings of the Torah. On Passover, we're taught to embody the

story to act out the story. And so when we walk through the desert, we really get

that idea of freedom.

faktor On Epiphany, Orthodox Churches around the world hold a special

worship service.

It's a time when the people come together to celebrate the birth of the world.

It's meant to Jan�y refuse, Daniel Winters says. That's not an excuse. Whoohoo for a

blessing. That's to help you get the message seen. It's a good way to do it. It's a good

the liturgy. It's also a time when the people come together to celebrate the great blessing

of water. And so many of our washing rituals prepare an individual for an encounter with God.

There's a common expression that says cleanliness is next to godliness. The idea of lifting up our

hands to do God's work or spiritual work rather than, you know, our hands are doing mundane things.

A ritual helps us deal with the chaos of life.

When we're sick, we just feel so alone. We feel that God has abandoned us.

Many healing rituals involve water, like going to Lourdes. They involve community,

people being with you. They involve

chanting that take you away from your pain. Ritual is particularly powerful at the time of death.

Even though we expect death, it astonishes us. It leaves us without words. And even people who

aren't religious will turn to the death rituals – the burial rituals and practices of death.

their traditions, because these traditions tell them this is what to do.

The shofar on Rosh Hashanah is supposed to signify our crying out to God.

When a new year comes, we're hoping that we're going to be there for that whole year.

Most new year practices use food or music or sound to hope for an auspicious new year.

Our hope for peace is often expressed through our prayers, the prayers of our voices, the prayers of creating lanterns.

We realize that our wishes for peace and our paths are always connected with so many others.

We believe that God wants us to perform these rituals.

I am an usher because God has given me that talent.

He also has given me a blessing to be a blessing to others.

That ends this week's program and our entire series after 20 years on the air, 1,017 shows.

You'll still be able to watch previous segments and programs on our website at pbs.org slash religionethics.

We thank all of you who have watched Religion and Ethics News Weekly and found it worthwhile.

It's been a great joy for us to produce.

We went on the air in 1997 with the backing of the Lilly Endowment, for which we are deeply grateful.

Our mission was to cover each week's top religion news and to examine the place of religion and moral issues,

both in individual lives and in American public life.

Many viewers then thought the commercial networks were not covering religion very well,

and we were pleased to be here.

We covered the hard news and at the same time found moving features of men and women all over the world

who spoke eloquently about their beliefs and practices and of the vital role of religion and ethics in politics and everyday life.

We took religion seriously, never to proselytize, but to acknowledge the power and the guidance of religious life

and, sadly, the harm religion can cause.

religion can sometimes cause alongside its inspiration.

We hope our coverage was both interesting and helpful, and that our approach to covering

religion news will be carried on.

Many thanks to our funders and to our audiences.

Many of you have thanked us.

We send those thanks right back to you.

It's been a wonderful 20 years.

As we leave you, more behind-the-scenes photos of our Religion and Ethics team.

Let's take a look at the New York Times' catalog of media reports, and share our stories with

us.

Thank you.

We'll be back in just a few minutes.

Oh, there it is.

Many thanks to our audience and partners.

We hope you have a great day.

Thank you all for being here.

I hope you have a great day.

Have a wonderful New Year.

Have a really great day.

.

Thank you.

.

© transcript Emily Beynon

Major funding for Religion and Ethics Newsweekly is provided by the Lilly Endowment, an Indianapolis-based

private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community

development, and education.

Additional funding also provided by Mutual of America, designing customized individual

and group retirement products.

That's why we're here.

For your retirement company.

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