John Collier is a Texas artist who is making sculptures for St. Peter's Catholic Church in New York. His life work is religious art, but these sculptures are a tribute to the events of September 11th.

In the latter half of the twentieth century, institutions run by Roman Catholic nuns could amount to virtual prisons for young women. Some spent their entire adult lives in these places. They were called the Magdalene Laundries, and they were in Ireland. THE MAGDALENE SISTERS chronicles the lives ...

With 2003 as its eleventh year, the program called Seeds of Peace brings together the children of people who are often enemies, so that they might learn what they have in common. So that they might one day fight for peace rather than against each other.

Aki Ra is a truly remarkable and extraordinarily brave man. He is a Cambodian, and was orphaned as a child. Then, before he was a teenager, he became a soldier. Now, he is devoting his life -- and risking it, almost daily -- compensating for, atoning for, the harm he once did. Ra defuses and clears ...

Many churches encourage their young people to memorize Scripture. In the Free Methodist Church, they do it through a friendly competition called “Bible Quizzing.” 2003 marks the 50th anniversary of Bible Quizzing in the evangelical denomination. 123 teams from across the nation competed ...

Buddhists pay special tribute to the dead during the Bon or Obon Festival — the Feast of Lanterns.

The new governing council in Iraq met this week, a first step toward creating a constitution and holding elections. The council includes representatives of all the country’s major religious and regional groups. But on the ground, U.S. forces continue to take casualties almost every day.

MRI technology is currently used to gain insight into how behaviors and thoughts function biologically, and might one day lead to the ability to predict future behavior. However, the potential for such technology leads to troubling ethical questions.

The federal government recently reversed a longstanding policy, saying that churches which are historic landmarks can receive government money for historic preservation. The move provoked sharp church-state debate.

An exhibit at Washington National Cathedral celebrates what can happen when people of different religions live together in peace. It displays treasures from the Middle Ages in Spain, when Spanish Jews, called Sephardim, lived peacefully alongside Christians and Muslims.

"I feel that some crimes warrant the death penalty... Jonathan didn't deserve life, he deserved what he got. The fact that I had forgiven him didn't change what he had done," says Paula Kurland, who forgave the man who murdered her daughter.

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: As the U.S. continues to debate the rightness or wrongness of capital punishment, we look at two aspects of the issue. Next week, Huntsville, Texas — where the state prison system carries out more executions than any … More →

"We can provide opportunities that no isolated house could ever provide. They have art, they have music, they have swimming, they have a health club. They have all kinds of activities. And that really enhances their lives," says Sister Rosemary Connelly, general manager of Misericordia.

Southern California's Soka University resembles a charming Mediterranean village. Opened in 2001 by a powerful Japanese religious sect called Soka Gakkai International, it is the first college campus in the United States whose academic values and teaching principles are inspired by Buddhism. Inside, ...

Yom Hashoah is Holocaust Remembrance Day; a solemn tribute to the six million Jews put to death by the Nazis before and during World War II. There was a range of reactions to Nazi persecution -- some people looked away, while others risked their own lives to help. Flora Singer survived the Holocaust ...

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?

Christians say the 2,000-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.

To celebrate Passover, Jews gather for a Seder, a special dinner where they retell the story of their ancestors' exodus from Egypt. The Seder ritual is guided by a special book called the Haggadah. In recent years, some Jewish groups have developed Seders with a special focus. Ma'yan, the Women's Project at the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan, celebrated the anniversary of its feminist Seder.

Carol Zaleski is a professor of religion at Smith College and her husband, Philip Zaleski, is a religion writer and editor. Together they are writing a book about prayer in all cultures, and both have much to say on the role of prayer during wartime.

As U.S. officials debate who should run Iraq after the war, one reality is the division between the two main branches of Islam, Shi'ite and Sunni. Dr. Phebe Marr, a historian and expert on Iraq, joined us to discuss the future of the conflict.