Faith-based groups aid Syrian refugees; a growing number of parents refuse to vaccinate their children against contagious diseases.

"Behind each of these wonderful people is a life that is completely disrupted. We see God in all of these people. We see that these are brothers and sisters like us," says Catholic Relief Services president Carolyn Woo.

Correspondent Kim Lawton and producer Patti Jette talk about their experience reporting on the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan.

In most states, parents can choose not to vaccinate their children based on a personal or religious objection. It's a choice that has begun raising concerns about the ethics of refusal and the rising risk of outbreaks.

Father Michael Doyle and his ministry to the poor in Camden, New Jersey; and economist Antonio Meloto's campaign to fight poverty in his country.

According to Father Michael Doyle, crime and poverty in Camden, New Jersey are worse today than when he first arrived there 39 years ago. But through his church's ministry of feeding, housing, and educating the poor, Father Doyle sees hope for what the FBI considers the most dangerous city in ...

To lift the Philippines out of poverty, economist Antonio Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga, believes the next generation of Filipinos needs to create jobs at home rather than seeking jobs abroad.

Prayer and recovery in the Philippines after Typhoon Hayaan; a Jewish celebration of trees; and the importance of humor in Jewish culture through centuries of persecution.

"The comment I have heard is God can send the cyclone here because the Filipino people are so strong we can overcome even a storm this strong," says Catholic Relief Services emergency coordinator Elizabeth Tromans.

This New Year celebration of trees, observed on the 15th day of the Hebrew month Shevat, has grown in popularity because of its connection to the environment. We spoke last year with Eldridge Street Synagogue educator Mattie Ettenheim at a Tu B’Shevat observance.

"Some people call it laughter through tears. I would suggest you could call it laughter through fears," says Harvard University Yiddish literature professor Ruth Wisse.

International humanitarian crises, religion's role in immigration reform, social justice issues, and government treatment of religion are among the religion and ethics issues that loom in 2014.

We take our annual look back at the top religion and ethics news of the year—Pope Francis and his priorities, such as helping the poor, and also churches divided over homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

What “peace on earth” means; the representation of indigent defendants 50 years after Gideon; and the centennial of St. Olaf College’s musical Christmas festival.

"Peace requires that we nurture each other…you have to live with this community ethic where you recognize…that we are deeply interconnected," says Rev. Otis Moss III, senior pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

“At Christmas I often tell grieving people that this may be the year you break with what everyone else expects of you to do what you and your family need to do that will bring you comfort.”

"The fundamental problem is that governments that are trying to convict and fine and imprison and execute people have no incentive in giving those people lawyers that will defeat those goals," says Southern Center for Human Rights president and senior counsel Stephen Bright. 

The elite St. Olaf Choir is considered a pioneer in America’s a capella choral tradition, and for more than 100 years St. Olaf College, a small Lutheran college in Northfield, Minnesota, has held a Christmas musical festival that is known and loved around the world.

The conductor of the St. Olaf Choir suggests that music “will somehow seep into the bodies of those performing and certainly those who are hearing, and if it makes them reflect and they think differently about themselves and the people with whom they live day in and day out and how they lead their ...

More than 80,000 Mormon missionaries are now serving around the world; all abortions are against the law in this Central American country; and this dancing by Sufi Muslims is also a spiritual offering.