announcer: major funding for religion and ethics news weekly is provided by the lily endowment, a private family foundation dedicated to founder s interest in religion, community development and education. additional funding provided by mutual of america. designing customized individual and group retirement products. that s why we are your retirement company. the estate of william j. carter, the jane henson foundation, and the corporation for public broadcasting. welcome. i m bob aber nether. good to have you with us. new figures from the census show a record number of americans are now counted as the poorest of the poor. in 15 americans now lives at 50% or less of the national poverty level. that s more than 20 million people or almost 7% of the population. that s the highest it s been in the 35 years since the census bureau began keeping track. the global economic crisis topped the agenda as president obama joined other world leaders at the g20 summit in southern france
. estate of welcome j.carter, jane hen son foundation and corporation for public broadcasting. welcome. i m bob abernethy. it s good to have you with us. president obama met with top leaders of the national association of evangelicals this week at the white house. it was the first time the president met with the group. among the topics discussed, religious freedom abroad, jobs here at home and cuts to the federal budget. the nae has urged lawmakers not to reduce foreign aid or domestic programs that serve the poor. meanwhile, outside a d.c. courthouse, other religious leaders held a prayer vigil opposing budget cuts to anti-poverty programs. 11 members of the religious group were facing misdemeanor charges for intention to disrupt congress during a prayer vigil at the capitol last july. those charges were dropped after the leaders agreed not to enter the capitol for 6 months and to submit to drug testing. as the occupy wall street protests continue, there is now a
. estate of welcome j.carter, jane hen son foundation and corporation for public broadcasting. welcome. i m bob abernethy. it s good to have you with us. president obama met with top leaders of the national association of evangelicals this week at the white house. it was the first time the president met with the group. among the topics discussed, religious freedom abroad, jobs here at home and cuts to the federal budget. the nae has urged lawmakers not to reduce foreign aid or domestic programs that serve the poor. meanwhile, outside a d.c. courthouse, other religious leaders held a prayer vigil opposing budget cuts to anti-poverty programs. 11 members of the religious group were facing misdemeanor charges for intention to disrupt congress during a prayer vigil at the capitol last july. those charges were dropped after the leaders agreed not to enter the capitol for 6 months and to submit to drug testing. as the occupy wall street protests continue, there is now a
provided by the lily endowment, a private family foundation dedicated to the founder s interest in religion, community development and education. additional funding provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and group retirement products. that s why we are your retirement company. the estate of william j. carter, the jane henson foundation and corporation for public broadcasting. welcome. i m bob abernethy. it s good to have you with us. thousands of religious conservatives are gathering in washington this weekend for the annual values voter summit, sponsored by the family research council and others. in addition to the many activists, several lawmakers are also speaking, as are almost all of the leading republican presidential hopefuls. three women share this year s nobel peace prize for their work advancing democracy and women s rights. they are ellen johnson sirleaf, the president of liberia and africa s first democratically elected female president.
broadcasting. welcome. i m sitting in for bob agger nethy. thank you for joining us. a federal judge upheld most of alabama s controversial immigration law. they ruled police officers can be required to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. public schools must check the status of students. the part of the law opposed most vigorously by many religion groups was struck down. christian clergy outlawed transporting or harboring illegal immigrants and prevented them from minstering to certain people. the judge s decision is expected to be appealed by both sides. an american-born radical preacher was killed in yemen by an air strike this week. officials considered him a major terror threat to the united states. his anti-american sermons inspired several plots against the u.s. ethicists and religion voices raised questions about whether the killing violated law or denied his right to due process. on our website we have a segment on the