"South Carolina is really shaping up as a make or break last stand for social conservatives," says David Gibson of Religion News Service.

"When somebody dies in Christ, or dies a Christian, it’s a good thing because he’s going to God. He has died on a good path," says Nii Adei Klu.

"What’s wrong with this picture: 50 miles north of here is possibly the worst human rights situation, including Christian persecution in the entire world, and here we are in South Korea living a lifestyle that’s probably on par with the United States and Europe," says pastor Tim Peters, a ...

The congregation of St. Paul's Episcopal in New Orleans, hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, is now helping handicapped children in Haiti, survivors of the earthquake there. "It was clear right away the connection between New Orleans and Haiti," says Rev. Scott Albergate.

We discuss the major religion and ethics stories anticipated in 2012, including religion in the upcoming elections, faith-based activity in the budget debates and immigration policy, key religion cases before the Supreme Court and mainline denominations and issues of homosexuality.

We discuss the major religion and ethics stories of the past year in the U.S. and abroad with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Religion News Service editor Kevin Eckstrom and Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly managing editor Kim Lawton.

Watch a slideshow showing some of the prominent people in the world of religion who passed away in 2011.

"It is our love that brings us into communion with God, not our knowledge about God," he says. "It’s the difference between looking at a photograph of somebody you love and looking into the eyes of someone you love."

"Just like oil gives light into a dark room, just like it brings warmth; for a Jew, it also brings warmth and light into his own personal life and into the world as a whole," says Rabbi Mendy Bukiet.

From generation to generation, adults and children have reenacted the story of the humble origins of Jesus and conveyed the Christmas message.

A Christmas pageant, says Calvin College professor of music and worship John Witvliet, is one of the best places in modern culture to witness "a genuine sense of mystery and even solemnity."

"Computers will match us in emotional intelligence, which includes our whole moral system," says inventor and computer scientist Ray Kurzweil.

Biological and technological evolution "is a spiritual process," says this leading futurist. "Entities become more godlike, never reaching that ideal but moving in that direction exponentially."

Purposefulness and self-sacrifice in human life "can never be reduced to a machine," according to this bioethicist.

Father Larry Janowski says the new, more literal translation of the words of the Mass from the original Latin are “like sawdust in the mouth. They’re difficult to say.”

“There is no such thing as a perfect translation. Every translation is in some ways an experiment, and there are many parts of the new translation that are much better.”

“It seems to me like the church would be the place that would lead the way in having dangerous conversations,” says megachurch pastor Rob Bell, author of the controversial “Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.”

"Is there a point at which a change of heart no longer means anything to God?" Watch more of our interview with pastor and author Rob Bell.

"Nothing Rob Bell has said is new," says author and columnist Lisa Miller. "There has been this long conversation for twenty-five hundred years about what heaven is and who gets to go."

"I thought he raised some really interesting questions," says Prof. Mary Vanden Berg when asked about Rob Bell's book on heaven and God's judgement. "But I think Christian tradition has answered them." Watch more of our discussion with her.