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TRANSCRIPT:
Episode no. 633
April 18, 2003
BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Coming up, are Israel, the Palestinians and the U.S. ready for a next step toward peace?
BOBBY BROWN (West Bank Settler): No agreement is going to work unless there's a certain amount of respect on two sides.
ABERNETHY: And questions about the estate tax, among them: Should inherited wealth be taxed?
STEPHEN MOORE (Conservative Club for Growth): I think to confiscate wealth from people who have created businesses and jobs in this country is wrong, especially when they've paid their fair share of taxes.
ABERNETHY: Plus, the eternal promise of Easter in a troubled world.
FREDERICK BEUCHNER (Author and Presbyterian Minister): All shall be well, and all manner of things will be well. That somehow remains true no matter what. That's, I think, the message of Easter.
ABERNETHY: Welcome. I'm Bob Abernethy. It's good to have you with us.
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BOB ABERNETHY: This is a time of sacred observances in many religions. Jews around the world are marking the eight days of Passover. And for most Christians, this past week has been Holy Week, leading up to Easter Sunday. At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II is presiding over traditional services. The 92-year-old Pope has a rigorous Holy Week schedule. And this year, he's being aided by a new, specially designed chair that enables him to celebrate Mass sitting down. Here in the U.S., Christians are also marking Holy Week in a variety of ways. In the wake of the war with Iraq, many services this year include special prayers for peace.
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BOB ABERNETHY: In several places around the world, Holy Week and Passover observances are being modified because of concerns about the continuing spread of the SARS virus. In Toronto, Canada, which has seen an outbreak of SARS, Christians are replacing the traditional peace handshake or embrace with a bow or a smile. And there is no sharing of the communion cup or kissing of the crucifix. Church officials are urging worshippers, who feel sick, to stay home from services altogether. All 500 members of a Roman Catholic community in Toronto have been quarantined in their homes. More than 30 of them are already infected.
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BOB ABERNETHY: At the Pentagon, there was controversy over a Good Friday prayer service led by evangelist Franklin Graham. An Army spokesman said Christians at the Pentagon had requested that Graham be this year's guest speaker at the annual service. But several Muslim workers said the invitation was inappropriate because Graham has called Islam a, quote, "evil and wicked religion."
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BOB ABERNETHY: As military operations wind down in Iraq, one major task for the U.S. and its allies is forming an interim government to replace Saddam Hussein's regime. On Tuesday, near the biblical city of Ur, about 80 representatives of Iraq's many political, religious and ethnic groups met with coalition officials to discuss a postwar government. They approved a 13-point statement that calls for democracy, respect for the rights of women and minorities and religious freedom. Meanwhile, a large group of Iraqi Shiites gathered to protest against both Saddam Hussein and the American presence. Sixty percent of Iraq's people follow the Shia branch of Islam.
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BOB ABERNETHY: In Baghdad, hundreds of Shiites took to the streets to celebrate Ashura, a festival marking events in the lives of the patriarchs Noah and Moses, venerated by Christians, Jews and Muslims. It was the first time in 30 years that the festival had been held in the capital.
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BOB ABERNETHY: As the U.S. declared Saddam Hussein's regime ended, one huge diplomatic question outstanding was whether victory in Iraq would lead to new steps toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians. After two years of the latest violence, are the two sides ready to negotiate? How much pressure will the U.S. apply? This is the week of Passover and Easter, Paul Miller reports from Jerusalem.
PAUL MILLER: Israelis prepared for Passover this week with rituals to cleanse dishes and burn food that isn't Kosher for Passover – they also stripped the duct tape off their doors and windows and turned in their gas masks.
They are relieved that Saddam Hussein is gone, and that war in Iraq did not spill over into Israel. But they still must deal with conflict close to home.
URI DROMI (Former Government Spokesman): I think Israelis are ready to take on the issue with the Palestinians. I hope the Palestinians are ready because I think they should be doing some soul searching themselves, saying what has this Intifadah brought them.
MILLER: Palestinians say it's Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who is preventing a peace settlement.
IBRAHIM MATTAR, (Palestinian Political Analyst): Everything depends on the Israelis – what Sharon and his right-wing government – what are their intentions? Are they really intending to make a final peace with the Palestinian people? A final negotiated settlement to all the questions involved?
MILLER: Palestinian Christians prayed for peace. Among those walking in the Palm Sunday procession from Bethany to Jerusalem's Old City was Samia Maroum. Her family has lived here for generations. Many of her friends have been part of the steady flight of Christians from Jerusalem and Bethlehem – too discouraged to stay.
SAMIA MAROUM: The Christians in Jerusalem especially are suffering a lot. We are really very, very sad. We are asking all the Christians in the world to pray for this land so that one day we all live together humbly, with love.
MILLER: In his Easter message, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Patriarch Michel Sabbah, called on the leaders of the Palestinians and Israel to change policies and work for peace. He said both sides should embrace the "Roadmap" – an internationally endorsed formula to move the peace process forward that is expected to be made public soon.
Rev. MICHEL SABBAH (Latin Patriarch): You have to go with this proposition. It is a positive proposition to put an end to the conflict, to bring peace to your own people and security to the Israeli people.
MILLER: Israel has tried to enforce security itself, sealing off the Palestinian territories just before Passover, and generally restricting the movement of Palestinians between towns and at night. It says the Palestinians have not renounced the use of terror as a strategy.
Wednesday's Seder on the first night of Passover marked the anniversary of a horrific suicide bombing a year ago that led to Israeli incursions into Palestinian towns and the targeting of suspected terrorists.
BOBBY BROWN (West Bank Settler): No agreement is going to work unless there's a certain amount of respect on two sides and first and foremost is a respect for human life which we haven't seen on the Palestinian side.
MILLER: Bobby Brown lives in Tekoa – a settlement in the southern West Bank ringed by Palestinian villages. Palestinians say the settlements must go. The Roadmap calls for a freeze on settlement activity at the same time as an end to Palestinian terrorism – it is intended to break the deadlock caused by each side demanding that the other make the first concession.
Prime Minister Sharon has said he is ready to take painful steps. Some settlers and their American supporters are worried that settlements will be dismantled and vow to fight it. But there is a variety of views among the settlers and Bobby Brown says where Jews live is not the real issue
Mr. BROWN: We know we are not the only people who live here. We know that there has to be some kind of sharing. And indeed if there is peace there's no reason why Muslims should not live and practice their religion and beliefs in a Jewish state and why possibly Jews should not live in a Muslim state.
In the newspapers and in the cafes of Jerusalem the Roadmap has dominated discussion this week. Moderates on both sides believe war in Iraq has created a new opportunity for peace, but they say it depends on what the United States does next.
The Bush administration has called for a peace agreement and Palestinian state. But many people here wonder if it is prepared to pressure the Sharon government – and the Palestinians – to take the necessary steps. And some think the United States is more interested in changing the map of other parts of the Middle East than in a roadmap to peace here. For RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, I'm Paul Miller in Jerusalem.
ABERNETHY: The U.S. has said details of the roadmap will be made public when the new Palestinian Prime Minister's government has been approved.
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BOB ABERNETHY: On Holy Thursday, commemorating Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples, the Pope issued a formal encyclical reiterating strict Catholic policy on who can receive communion. Divorced Catholics who remarry, says the encyclical, may not receive the Eucharist in Catholic Mass. Neither may any non-Catholics. And Catholics may not receive it in a non-Catholic service. Many Protestants see joint-worship services as a step towards Christian unity. But John Paul insists that joint celebration of communion is for now unacceptable.
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BOB ABERNETHY: In the U.S., scientists announced the completion of the more than decade-long mapping of the humane genome. Researchers hope the Human Genome Project will revolutionize the prevention and treatment of disease.
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BOB ABERNETHY: Now, this week of income tax filing, ongoing controversy about another tax – on the money rich people would like to leave their children. The Administration wants to abolish the so-called estate tax altogether, agreeing with the well-off who say one of their incentives to get rich is to be able to pass on money to their children. But opponents argue, among other points, that it's not fair for some young people to have a big financial head start just because their parents were rich.
Interestingly, as the issue is debated, the question is not how the government can best raise money but what social values the tax code should promote. Betty Rollin examines the arguments.
BETTY ROLLIN: The restaurant is J.R.'s Stockyards Inn in Tyson's Corner, Virginia. Jim Wordsworth has lunch here frequently and that's because he owns the place – and that's not all he owns. There are two corporate catering businesses, a 110 acres picnic facility, a marina and more. The 60-year-old Wordsworth says it all began with a $28,000 investment.
JIM WORDSWORTH (Virginia Business Owner): That was my life savings, that was my MasterCharge, that was my duping a couple of people into extending me a line of credit to get started.
ROLLIN: And you put all that money into the restaurant.
Mr. WORDSWORTH: Put every dime. Couldn't park at a meter. That $28,000 investment has grown and I guess, my total assets would be in the neighborhood of 20 to 30 perhaps.
ROLLIN: Million?
Mr. WORDSWORTH: Yes.
ROLLIN: When he dies, Jim says he will happily leave his money – and his businesses – to his only child Kimberly and to the many charities he now supports. But he will not happily pay an estate tax.
Mr. WORDSWORTH: I've paid every single tax I owe, I believe. And then on your death, when it's all over for you and your goal has been to create things for your family and those after you, to have the government come in and apply an additional tax – I'm adamantly opposed to it. And I just think it's very, very unfair. I don't think anything should be taken away from my family because I died.
ROLLIN: The estate tax, called the death tax by those like Jim Wordsworth who wish to repeal it, applies to those with assets of at least a million dollars when they die. A spouse may receive the entire estate untaxed, but other heirs must pay 49 percent of everything over the million dollar exemption.
A law was passed in 2001 which will raise the exemption leading to a one year repeal in 2010. But the Bush administration is seeking permanent repeal.
Stephen Moore of the Conservative Club for Growth acknowledges that many wealthy people find legal loopholes to avoid paying the full tax but argues for those who do pay.
STEPHEN MOORE (Conservative Club for Growth): I think to confiscate wealth from people who have created businesses and jobs in this country is wrong, especially when they've paid their fair share of taxes.
ROLLIN: Although there are provisions for heirs of farmers and small business owners like Jim Wordsworth to pay the tax over time, many of those heirs claim that they would still have to sell off assets to pay the tax.
KIMBERLY WORDSWORTH: I'm sure the numbers would work to say "Okay, if I sold this, then I could pay this." But I just don't think that's fair.
ROLLIN: Sixty-nine-year-old, Syracuse entrepreneur Martin Rothenberg and his family have a different view.
MARTIN ROTHENBERG (Entrepreneur): My financial success was a direct result of society's investment in me and its perfectly all right for society to take some of that back at my death and use it to invest in other young people in the next generation.
ROLLIN: Rothenberg went to college on the G.I. Bill and received subsequent government fellowships for his graduate education. He created a successful company that makes language learning software. Like Jim Wordsworth, he risked all he had to set up his business.
Mr. ROTHENBERG: I had my life savings invested, mortgage on my house – so it was touch and go for quite a while.
ROLLIN: But a few years ago, Rothenberg sold his business for 30 million dollars, netting a third of it. After giving some money to each of his three children, he put most of it into a charitable family foundation, which the children run. The children fully accept that they will receive only a small percentage of their father's wealth. After all, they say, they didn't earn the money.
SANDY ROTHENBERG: I don't deserve it. Its something I'm getting because he's kind enough to leave me something.
ROLLIN: Rothenberg acknowledges that his charitable impulses have been influenced by the looming estate tax.
Mr. ROTHENBERG: It provided an incentive to set up a charitable foundation at that time because if the government was going to take it later, setting up a foundation enabled me to control the money was spent.
CHUCK COLLINS ("Responsible Wealth" Organization): The estate tax is a tremendous incentive for people to give to charity.
ROLLIN: Chuck Collins runs the Boston-based organization, "Responsible Wealth." He and his partner Bill Gates, Sr., father of the Microsoft billionaire, say they are fighting repeal of the estate tax to level the playing field for future generations and prevent the further concentration of wealth in this country.
Mr. COLLINS: What we'll see is the great inequalities of wealth and power that already exist will only become worse. We'll essentially have an American aristocracy that will generation after generation accumulate more wealth and power.
ROLLIN: But Stephen Moore and his side are far more concerned about government power.
Mr. MOORE: The question is who deserves the money? Does the government deserve it or does the person who made get to decide how that money is spent? And I believe that in a pro-capitalist system we ought to let the person who made the money decide how the money is going to be spent.
Mr. COLLINS: The problem here is power. It's not really a question of how many speedboats or mansions someone has. It's not whether they're buying another house. It's whether they're buying another senator – that's the problem.
ROLLIN: So how is justice better served? By compelling heirs to pay a share of their inheritance to society or by allowing them, in the name of family sanctity, to keep it all?
For RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, this is Betty Rollin in Tyson's Corner, Virginia.
ABERNETHY: The House of Representatives is poised to pass legislation later this year which will abolish the estate tax permanently – but it remains stalled in the Senate where Republican leaders continue to be several votes short.
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BOB ABERNETHY: Now a look at the meaning of Holy week and Easter through the eyes of best-selling author Frederick Buechner. Buechner is one of the most highly-acclaimed modern Christian writers. He's also an ordained minister whose works on life and faith are widely quoted in Easter sermons. Kim Lawton caught up with Buechner in the churchyard of the historic Pisgah Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, where they talked about Easter themes in the context of current events.
KIM LAWTON: During Holy Week, Christians remember the last events in the life of Jesus –the stories and teachings that form the foundation of their faith. The observances of Holy Week are ancient and familiar. Christians say the 2000-year-old Easter themes of suffering, redemption and hope have enduring meaning.
Author and ordained Presbyterian minister Frederick Buechner says he finds great reassurance in those beliefs, especially during a time of war and uncertainty.
FREDERICK BUECHNER (Author and Presbyterian Minister): Martin Luther said once, "If I were God, I'd kick the world to pieces." But Martin Luther wasn't God, God is God, and God has never kicked the world to pieces. He keeps re-entering the world, he keeps offering himself to the world. By grace, keeps somehow blessing the world, making possible a kind of life, which we all in our deepest being, hunger for.
LAWTON: On the Church calendar, Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, when Christians wave palm branches as did the citizens who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem. Buechner says this year, he was struck anew by the biblical account in Luke, which also describes Jesus as weeping because the city didn't recognize how true peace could be attained.
Mr. BUECHNER: And I thought he could be saying that just as easily today – would that the world, the United States, knew the things that make for peace. So I thought a lot about Jesus' tears for Jerusalem, how he would be weeping still, again, today.
LAWTON: On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, Christians remember the betrayal, crucifixion and death of Jesus. The services are somber and mournful. They focus on Jesus' suffering – something Buechner says everyone can relate to.
Mr. BUECHNER: Which of us has not suffered one way or another? I mean, we've all had our crucifixions, where God seems to be absent and light seems to disappear and the world is dark and terrifying.
LAWTON: According to the Bible story, on the cross, just before his death, Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Mr. BUECHNER: We've all known our dark times. We've all felt abandoned by God or felt there was no such thing as God to abandon us, just the emptiness, the craziness of the world.
LAWTON: Yet, the story doesn't end there. According to Christian teaching, three days after the crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead, forever conquering sin and death. The horror of the cross opened the way to salvation and new life for everyone.
Mr. BUECHNER: The best has come out of it, which is this nourishing current of hope and new life that still flows in spite of everything. There must be a God, how else could it happen?
LAWTON: Many Christians observe this great contrast with special services on Holy Saturday, with a late night vigil, or in the pre-dawn of Easter morning. They gather in darkness and await the light of Easter.
Mr. BUECHNER: Darkness symbolizes that out of which faith can arise, that which faith must somehow confront. The great opponents if you want, of darkness and light, are brought together within a space of less than a week, I mean the darkness of the crucifixion and the blaze of the resurrection, out of it comes this triumphant hope.
LAWTON: Buechner says he believes deeply in the resurrection and its continuing power –even though he can't explain exactly what happened that Easter morning.
Mr. BUECHNER: What really matters is not so much what happened there. It's what happens now. What happens in your life and my life. Is God making himself known in some powerful and saving way among people, even, who don't give a hoot about God? Is this still a reality which is part of the madness and self-destructiveness and darkness of the world? That's what really matters.
LAWTON: Which of the Easter themes have particular relevance this year, in light of current events?
Mr. BUECHNER: I'm a terrible pessimist in many ways as far as the state of the world is today. But I feel ultimately, that beneath the level of all the madness and horror is this saving, life-giving, nourishing, healing, beautiful mystery is the best word for it – that somehow an elusive, holy plan is being worked out in the affairs of the Earth.
LAWTON: On Easter Sunday, in church after church, year after year, sorrow gives way to rejoicing as Christians celebrate the idea that death doesn't have the final word. Pageantry, singing, flowers, even new clothes, all symbolize the Christian belief that Jesus overcame death – and so will all who believe. It's a victory, Christians say, that transcends time and circumstance.
Archbishop THEODORE MCCARRICK (at service): We are called to rise up above all the bad news of our time and rejoice in the good news of Easter: Jesus Christ is risen.
Mr. BUECHNER: All shall be well, and all manner of things will be well. That somehow remains true no matter what. That's, I think, the message of Easter.
LAWTON: And amid war, sickness, fear and death, it's a message being celebrated again this year. I'm Kim Lawton reporting.
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BOB ABERNETHY: For Eastern Orthodox Christians, who follow a different calendar, Holy Week begins this Sunday and culminates with Easter, Pascha, on April 27.
That's our program for now, I'm Bob Abernethy. Happy Easter. There's much more on our Web site, including more of Kim Lawton's conversation with Frederick Buechner. For audio and video clips from this program and special interviews, essays, commentaries and links to other resources, join us at PBS.org or America Online, keyword: PBS. As we leave you, strains of Bach's "St. Matthew Passion," performed at the Duke University Chapel in North Carolina.
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© 2003 EDUCATIONAL BROADCASTING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Prepared by Burrelle's Information Services, which takes sole responsibility for accuracy of transcription. No license is granted to the user of this material other than for research. User may not reproduce any copy of the material except for user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be reproduced, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any manner that may infringe upon EDUCATIONAL BROADCASTING CORPORATION's copyright or proprietary interests in the material.
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