Wedding. The issue has split those who cite biblical passages against homosexuality, and others, who see jesus inclusive vision as welcoming all. More church trials may be ahead, as betty rollin reports. Reporter the Metropolitan United Methodist Church in washington, d. C. , recently had an unusual celebration. The event, called church quake, honored married couples of the same sex and the clergy who married them. Retired Bishop Melvin talbert was the first methodist bishop to publicly endorse samesex marriage, which is prohibited in the churchs book of discipline. I felt the time had come for clergy to give leadership to their congregations and its time for clergy to refuse to convict their colleagues for doing the right thing. Reporter one of those colleagues, who is facing a potential church trial for performing a samesex marriage, is 79yearold reverend tom ogletree, the retired dean of yale divinity school. The marriage that reverend ogletree performed was that of his own son, thomas. I was thrilled that he asked me to play a role because ive known he was gay for a long time and weve been watching him, you know, adjust and adapt to the demands of the culture in creative ways. Reporter since 1972, the Methodist Churchs book of discipline has stated that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with christian teaching and the book prohibits methodist ministers from performing samesex marriages. Reverend ogletree knowingly violated the law and says he is proud of doing so. I was inspired by dr. King during my participation in the Civil Rights Movement when he said that an unjust law is no law. These are unjust laws, and therefore they do not really have the authority of law, even though technically they are established in the discipline. We cant all be a community and just decide that some laws are ones that appeal to us, others we think are unreasonable and we can go do whatever we want to without there being some kind of repercussions. Reporter reverend rob renfroe of the woodland United Methodist church near houston is one of many members of the methodist clergy with a different view, a view that condemns the practice of homosexuality in general. There is not any passage in scripture that is condoning or accepting of that practice. Thats why those of us who see the bible as gods word say we have to be true to what the bible teaches when its clear, when its unmitigated, then its really a matter of whether or not we will be faithful to what god has revealed. Reverend ogletree, who is a scholar of christian ethics, feels that the bible is often misinterpreted. If you look carefully at the scripture youll find it has no concept of homosexuality or Sexual Orientation at all. And if you learn to read it in context and see the evolving traditions as we try to interpret it, then you realize that thats an oversimplified reading. After all, the scripture seems to accommodate slavery. So should we then have slaves . They say women should be subordinate to their husband. Then lets tell women to shut up and stop talking to us, especially in public. The point is when you only select certain texts that support your prejudices, then youre not reading the scripture seriously. Will the congregation please rise . I invite us now to be in a spirit of prayer. Reporter reverend Scott Summerville is the pastor of the asbury crestwood Methodist Church in tuckahoe, new york. He, too, is critical of the law and feels that the Methodist Churchs stance on gay marriage is hypocritical. You can worship here, love to have you, but frankly you can never be fully 100 one of us. There must always be a distinction tween us, you see our rule book demands that we make this distinction whether we wish to or not, but we love you. Reporter Dorothee Benz and carol scott married in reverend summervilles church. Dorothee is the director of methodists in new directions mind which has mobilized methodist clergy who support and have agreed to conduct samesex marriages. We have basically found a way around the paralysis thats caused by the churchs requirement to discriminate, which is were just not discriminating anymore. What the church does through its discrimination and prejudice has a wider effect. It gives moral cover to people who vote against us in legislatures. It gives moral cover to queer bashers who bash us in back alleys, so the effect is huge. Reporter at one point dorothee wanted to become one of the clergy herself but could not because of her homosexuality. You sit in the pew. Youre not allowed to get married there, youre not maybe not even be a member there. What are you learning about yourself that god supposedly thinks about ynd certainly that your fellow churchgoers and leaders think about you . Thats a terrible message. Because that message is not only going to the queer folks who are sitting in the pews feeling excluded and discriminated against and hated. That message is going to the straight people who are sitting there, to the kids down in sunday school who are growing up learning all of these people are less than, dont deserve as much as, or not equal, or whatever. But one day were going to look back on our lives and were going to wonder what did i do with it . Reporter but reverend renfroe feels that those who accept homosexuality in the church are just giving in to the politically correct view. Im afraid that the church will give into the culture, im afraid that the church will sell its birthright for a mess of porridge, that we will try to please a culture that is not really interested in the gospel of jesus christ, thinking that if we make little changes so that we appear to be warm and accepting, that theyll come our way. Reporter the Methodist Church is losing membership in the United States and gaining conservative members internationally, especially in africa where homosexuality is frequently reviled. The church where its most liberal is declining most rapidly, so the number going to represent a progressive point of view will be even fewer in 2016 than it was in 2012. Where the church is most conservative is where the church is either the most stable or its the most growing, so the numbers simply are not in favor of changing our position in the discipline. Reporter meanwhile, reverend ogletrees trial is pending and could be dismissed. I believe that the Methodist Church is open to change here. And that its important then to join the people within the denomination who want that change. Reporter and those on his side of the issue have some hope about amending the book of discipline. The book of discipline starts with a preamble that acknowledges the churchs past failings and we are hopeful that maybe someday theres a new passage in there, so i mean, its possible. Reporter but the next opportunity to change the book of discipline wont be until 2016, when the Worldwide Church gathers at the methodist general conference. For religion and ethics newsweekly, im betty rollin in washington, d. C. We have a glimpse today of one of the oldest surviving manuscripts of the four christian gospels and the first to be translated into old english. Its called the lindisfarne gospels, and its a 1,300 year old milestone in christianitys spread to the englishspeaking world. Fred de sam lazaro reports from the north of england. Reporter the large cathedral towers over the small city of durham, but durham cathedrals historical imprint is far wider. The foundation of christianity on the British Isles was profoundly shaped by events, people, and relics connected to this 1100yearold structure, including one relic thats come home to visit from safekeeping in the British Library in london a book that is 1,300 years old. This is a book that has been dragged around the north of england on a cart, fleeing from the vikings, and the fact that it is still in near perfect condition shows how highly valued it was over the centuries, that people did look after it as well as they could. Reporter and to keep protecting it, professor Richard Gameson says visitors to the exhibit get to see just one open page of the lindisfarne gospels, the illumination of st. John that precedes his gospel. The space is kept cool and gently lit. The lindisfarne gospels is a remarkable book. Reporter scholars like gameson work off facsimiles. This one is a 16,000 exact replica of what he calls a technological and artistic masterpiece and a religious landmark, the first translation of the four gospels into english, an old english that it takes a scholar to interpret. Here begins, on gynneth, on gynneth. It sounds a bit like begin. Evangelium godspell, close to our gospel. Reporter the book was first handwritten in latin around the year 700 from texts brought over from rome. Three centuries later it was translated wordbyword in english between the lines of the original text by a monk named aldred. He took special care to clarify critical passages, like the one describing the relationship of mary and joseph. He added the old english word bewedded, wedded, weve still got the same modern word. However, wedded had sexual implications, and of course that would conflict with the doctrine of the virgin birth, and so he then adds various alternatives. He was still not satisfied, and so he added in a note saying that mary was entrusted to joseph, and he adds in no wise to have as a wife, but for him to look after her. Reporter almost as important to gameson is a sidenote written by translator aldred. It tells of the books creation on the Remote Island of lindisfarne, just off englands east coast. There is a poem hidden within this that goes back to nearer the time the book was made and provides us with the key facts that eadfrith the bishop made the book, and now were told the book is for god, for saint cuthbert, and all the saints on holy island. Reporter on holy island or lindisfarne the spirits of cuthbert and those longago saints can still loom large. Mark douglas is with english heritage, a Public Agency that maintains Historic Sites and ruins, including those at lindisfarne island. The island itself has a certain draw. Theres Something Special about this island. You find a lot of people actually coming for the spiritual benefits. You get this sort of a tingling of the spirituality of the place. Reporter it was here in the year 635 that irish monks set up the priory, establishing christianity in a largely pagan land and the cult of cuthbert, a revered early prior. The quiet monastic life ended when holy island was discovered by the vikings, notorious invaders from scandinavia. By the late ninth century, the monks decided they had had enough of the everpresent threat of viking raids. They decided to abandon this windswept island of lindisfarne. They took off for the mainland and took with them two of their most prized possessions, the body of saint cuthbert and the gospels. After a yearslong trek across the north of england, cuthbert was reburied in durham cathedral, where the monastery was reestablished. His tomb still attracts thousands of visitors. As for the gospels, the book wound up in private hands after king henry viii dissolved the monasteries in the 16th century, and it was later donated to the British Library. Today, gameson says it offers a chance to rethink a period often dismissed as the dark ages. This elegant calligraphy under daunting conditions, parchment from the skins of 149 calves, colored inks made from diverse animal and vegetable sources. Also, amid the vivid display of his talent, the scribe Bishop Eadfrith was human and made mistakes. Beautifully set out liber generationis, but we can see, as he gets to the last line, slight desperation. He has to fit letters in between other words, and here he even has to bend the frame in order to fit all the words in. Its really nice for the gospel to come back here where they belong, and we think they should stay here. Its in durham through september. After that it who l. Take a trip to londons British Library to catch a glimpse. For religion and ethics newsweekly, this is fred de sam lazaro in durham, england. On our calendar, the sevenday jewish festival of sukkot ends wednesday. After sukkot, jews celebrate simchat torah, which marks the end of the annual torah reading cycle. The joyous celebrations often include dancing in the streets with torah scrolls. The prominent 20th century artist marc chagall is well known for his whimsical paintings of jewish village life in russia. Less well known is that throughout his career chagall made over 100 paintings of a crucified jewish jesus to personify jewish suffering and persecution, especially during the holocaust. At the Jewish Museum in new york there is a special exhibit of these paintings. We spoke there with senior curator susan tumarkin goodman. Chagall grew up in a shtetl in tebsk, in belarus, and his family was hassidic. Many of the images that we see throughout chagalls life derive from those early years. Theres the fish that keeps recurring that, perhaps, references the fact that his father was a laborer in a herring factory, the violin, which must relate back to the klezmerplayers that he heard when he was a child, and, as hes used it in many of the works, it seems to be a consoling instrument for these jews that are in such dire straits. He personally experienced and knew about jewish persecution and the pogroms that prevailed. Solitude is an important work because it was created in direct response to hitlers election as chancellor in germany. That was pretty early for him to do a painting with such despair, where we see the angel flying away as if abandoning the jews to their fate. In 1938, chagall starts to use the image of the jewish jesus. He could think of no more powerful way to convey his anguish at the annihilation of european jewry. He equated the jewish jesus on a cross with the martyred jewish people, and he really did believe that if he could show the Christian Community that the persecution of the jews was essentially persecuting a jew just like jesus, who was one of us and one of them. There was an equivalence there. That work that shows an explicit image of a nazi comes from revelations in 1945 about the death camps. And chagall was sitting in this country totally frustrated there was nothing he could do, and he felt the need to express it. Its a very idiosyncratic work. And, in fact, the jesus figure is nude, which is unusual for chagall, and hes wrapped in a tallit that covers his whole body. He didnt ever give up his connection to judaism, he wasnt an observant jew, but as opposed to many of his coreligionists who actually did convert, chagall never did. And, in fact he included and absorbed jewish culture within his paintings, even the ones where he uses the jewish jesus. In exodus, its a complex theological painting, because theres a jesus figure, its definitely not jewish, the figure is jesus triumphant and it seems to me that the artist, chagall, is identifying more with the jesus figure than with moses, whos relegated to the righthand corner. The war was over. And the population needed a kind of spiritual uplift and hope, and to understand that the jewish culture had survived. And he was able to provide this in a way that no other artist at the time could do. If we can contextualize the art that he created during these years and think about what he was going through, his experiences at the time, i think we will come up with a better understanding, a new understanding of chagall. Finally, some sad news this week in our religion and ethics newsweekly family. Phil oconnor, our supervising producer and dear friend, died of cancer. He was a superb news producer, a genial colleague and an extraordinarily good man. He loved great stories, french wine, staying fit, the chicago cubs, jesuit retreats and his wife and family, to whom we send our deepest sympathy. Thats our program for now. Im bob abernethy. You can follow us on twitter and facebook and watch us anytime on the pbs app for iphones and ipads. And visit our website, where there is always much more, including audio and video podcasts of this program. Join us at pbs. Org. Lets talk about sex, baby lets talk about you and me lets talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be lets talk about sex lets talk about sex rachel that was 90s Old School Hiphop mc duo salt n pepa with their anthem lets talk about sex. And were going to do just that on todays show, whats good dc . And im rachel. Sierra im sierra. This time were going to update the convo and ask you is there a link between texting, social networking sites like facebook, and sexually transmitted diseases among teens . You may be surprised by some peoples answers. Tyler whats good, rachel and sierra . And im tyler. Coming up later on our show, we will hear from Dwayne Lawson brown of metro teen aids on their textbased campaign to educate and get sexually active teens tested. Well also hear from local rapper dev duff. But first, lets shout out our dj over here. Dj illa jams wassup, illa jams . [music playing] rachel thats my song, illa jams but before we get to the fun, lets get serious. A program conducted in 2008 at eight high schools found that 13 of about 3,000 students tested positive for an std according to the Dc Department of health. Sierra when i hear statistics like that, i wonder whats the problem with my peers . And where can we begin to try and find a solution . Tyler hey, good point, sierra. I mean, i feel the same way. Arguably the first step is educating students. Lets watch a video about what some dc students are doing to create solutions to this problem. Teen male she said shes close to the edge. Lifes pushed her too hard, and if gods really there, this would be time for one of those miracles. She just found out shes hiv positive. Mom kept it a secret, afraid that if the truth got out, job will be lost and electricity will black out. Went to the funeral for her little brother two days ago. Met heavens gate at eleven years old. Pneumonia took his body but couldnt keep his soul. I saw sister at the funeral, and this is what she told. We go to funeral this morning, our mortality, facing the fact that one day we will dance the dance of the eternal still, eye rain trailing mascara, diving from faces, staining white lining of coffin. We all will float that river leaving this form, sailing to whatever we believe is beyond here. Locks will unravel, perms will kink, blocks will mourn, families will weep, and it all will be left behind. You cant take it with you, so love while you can. I echo damien when i speak. Devins breath is with me when i exhale. My greatgrandmothers pen meets my pad and forces me to write while im still alive, before the cancer or hiv, before the outofcontrol school bus, before the stray bullet meets me at my final destination, i must write. Write to right my wrongs, apologize to every exgirlfriend, im sorry for cheating. Write to find peace in whatever cave it must be hiding in from all the war in this world. Write now. For the kids who never had a chance to, or the daughters who come home for dinner and meet daddys rage at the door. All the mothers who live with their mothers being called sluts and whores. For the boy who committed suicide, but everybody said it was gangrelated. For the young person that everybody looks down on