Follow our coverage of religion and politics at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida and see videos, photos, and other updates from managing editor Kim Lawton.

We talk with Rev. Frank Wade, interim dean of the Washington National Cathedral, about the value of cathedrals in a twenty-first century world and the role a cathedral can play in helping the nation understand the relationship between faith and politics.

The former British prime minister converted to Catholicism and established a foundation to address issues of faith and globalization. “The big issue of our time,” according to Blair, “is trying to deal with extremism based on a perversion of religion, and how you get peaceful coexistence ...

Watch more of our interview with Tony Blair, who says faith can provide strength and spiritual consolation, but “it can’t tell you the right answer. You’ve got to work that out, in a sense, on your own. It can’t determine your policy, because life’s not like that, I’m afraid.”

"I do not believe that the preferential option for the poor means a preferential option for big government," says Republican vice presidential candidate and Roman Catholic Paul Ryan.

"The contracts are usually written to protect the wealthy people who are commissioning the baby," says University of Pennsylvania ethicist Dr. Arthur Caplan.

Young Mormons are pursuing their educations and careers “not with the purpose of delaying marriage, but with the idea that we want to have a full life that includes all of those things,” says Beverli Jo DeWalt.

“The spirit of resilience is deep in the heart of the Sikh faith,” says Valarie Kaur, a Sikh woman from Auburn Seminary in New York. “Sikhs have died for their turbans, died for their faith, but drawn from their faith to rise up again and not be afraid.”

Jesus, says New Testament scholar Amy Jill Levine, “teaches like a Jew. He talks in parables…and Jesus is just a fabulous Jewish storyteller.”

We all choose how to read religious texts, says this Vanderbilt Divinity School New Testament and Jewish studies professor who proposes that “what we can do is read graciously in the presence of our neighbor.”

"The religion of Jesus was Judaism, not Christianity...Jesus was not coming to innovate and start a new religion. He was coming to reinforce the Torah."

"It's crucial for pastors, Christian educators, professors, seminary leaders to study the Jewish roots of Christian faith."

“Our church operates like orchestra. Every day we make perfect harmony and fantastic symphony,” says Yoido Full Gospel Church’s senior pastor, Rev. Young Hoon Lee.

"It targets one community, one faith," says Naeem Baig of proposed legislation to ban US state courts from considering shariah. "It is to create this fear of Islam and Muslims in the larger society."

“The theology of Rome, the authority of Rome—that was appealing to us,” says Father Mark Lewis of St. Luke’s Parish, the first US Episcopal church to join the Catholic Church under new Vatican rules.

"It is the responsibility of the international community, of the global civil society, to come and take care and assist the transformation of Syria, in collaboration with the Syrian civil society," says the exiled leader of the Deir Mar Musa monastery near Damascus.

National religion reporter David Gibson says a faith-versus-works debate is underway over the Colorado shooting. Does evil just happen, or can we repair the world?

The many works on view at the Met in New York demonstrate how artistic motifs were shared and used by people of different faiths in different regions over the centuries.

Watch excerpts from our interview with Right Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon who presided over a ceremony at the National Cathedral blessing a panel from an AIDS memorial quilt.

"I find that starting the day with a little bit of quiet time changes the whole complexion of the rest of the day. It’s almost like warming up before you go into an athletic event. But the key is that you can do it anywhere," says Congressman Tim Ryan, author of A Mindful Nation.