Sunitha Mani is an Indian Hindu, born in America. Her mother calls her a modern girl. Even so, as she prepares for her marriage, she is going the traditional route, and then some.

"We need health care reform and we need it today," says Rev. Jennifer Thomas of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kansas City.

"More is not better," says South Florida health care system CEO Brian Keeley. "We know that more health care services can result in lower levels of care." Health care costs are double the national average in Miami, where Keeley says specialists use more medical resources and technology.

After ministering in inner-city Los Angeles for almost four decades, Father Peter Banks, an Irish Catholic priest, says "hope is to be able to sing in the middle of the darkness, and I can still sing in the middle of the darkness."

BOB ABERNETHY, Anchor: After decades of debate and division, the US Episcopal Church this week said overwhelmingly that gays and lesbians are eligible to become bishops or serve in any other ordained ministry of the church. At their General Convention, … More →

“Being religious or spiritual has a very profound effect on our biology and our brain,” says neuroscientist Andrew Newberg. “It can change our brain and change ourselves over time.”

Watch additional excerpts from our interview about same-sex marriage with Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, an advocacy group that supports conservative positions within mainline denominations.

Watch more of our interview about same-sex marriage and mainline Protestant denominations with Rev. Jennifer Wegter-McNelly, interim minister of the Church of the Covenant.

Watch additional excerpts from our interview with Reverend Mary Holder Naegeli, who is among those urging the Presbyterian Church (USA) to resist changing its policies on same-sex marriage. "Homosexual practice is not God’s design for humanity," she says.

Barry Shelly, Lucy Williams, and Sharon Wright, members of the Church of the Covenant in Boston, talk about same-sex marriage and mainline Protestant denominations.

Watch additional excerpts from our interview about same-sex marriage with Reverend Pam Werntz of Boston’s Emmanuel Episcopal Church.

Episcopalians will debate a proposal that would allow churches to conduct same-sex weddings in the six states that have legalized gay marriage. Most mainline denominations don't officially allow same-sex weddings. But the changing legal situation is adding new pressure.

Jazz musician Dave Brubeck says "when I write a piece, a sacred piece, I’m looking hard and trying to discover what I’m about, and what my parents were about and the world is about."

"He deserves to pray. He has a right to faith, too," says Safiyyah Muhammad of her autistic son, Sufyaan. Their mosque in Irvington, New Jersey and other houses of worship are working to accept and include people with disabilities and special needs.

Patients at this hospital in Madurai, India are among the world's poorest people. It was founded by a pioneering eye surgeon who was a disciple of the spiritual teacher Sri Aurobindo, and its business success and social mission have long made it a model in public health textbooks.

Read more of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly’s July 1, 2009 interview in New York City with Riverside Church senior minister, the Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton, who resigned two months after his installation.

The head of the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba says Cuban churches are playing a greater role in their society and need stronger ties with US Christians. Watch excerpts from a recent interview with Rev. Francisco Marrero Gutierrez.

On May 21, 2009 the Moroccan American Cultural Center and the American Jewish Committee sponsored an interfaith panel discussion in New York City on "Women’s Spiritual Voices: Crossing Continents, Finding Common Ground." Panelists explored the roles of women religious leaders in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: As President Obama pushed health care reform a coalition of religious leaders joined the effort with a rally and interfaith prayer service in Washington. The event brought together Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and others who called for universal … More →

Rami Elhanan and Mazen Faraj are members of the Parents Circle-Families Forum, a grassroots group that unites bereaved Israelis and Palestinians who have lost immediate family members to the Middle East conflict. Together they promote a message of dialogue, reconciliation, and peace.