Right now, 36 states permit capital punishment for murder. Should that penalty be extended to those who rape children?

Scott Neeson gave up a rich life as a Hollywood movie executive to go live in Cambodia. There he helps poor children escape their lives as trash pickers and get an education.

Now, back to the global food crisis. Joining me today is Tony Hall, the former Ohio congressman who was also the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations humanitarian agencies in Rome.

Former congressman and ambassador Tony Hall suggests that nations haven't developed the political and spiritual will to confront the alarming global food crisis because "poor people don't vote."

In Texas, the Court of Appeals this week (May 22) said state officials were wrong and not have enough evidence to justify removing more than 400 children from the compound of a polygamous sect.

Earlier this month, in preparation for the riding season, several thousand bikers descended on Paterson, New Jersey to have their bikes blessed by a Catholic priest who is also a biker and who ministers to all those who ride.

Tom Monaghan developed a new town, complete with its own massive house of worship and university, out of farmland in southwest Florida. He's hoping that the town, and the university, will produce more than diplomas.

We have a story today about transformation in the Islamic Middle East -- moderate Muslims challenging the fundamentalists. The contest is being played out on satellite TV channels where young Muslim televangelists are preaching a combination of piety and modern life.

The practice of "familial searching" is causing a conflict between solving crimes and protecting privacy. Police can now take DNA from a crime scene and compare it to millions of DNA samples in a government database. If there is even a partial match, that could lead to the criminal by way of his or ...

We have a story today about other people wrestling with the notion of brotherly dwelling. They're Americans and Mexicans whose community is about to be bisected by the fence the government is building along the Rio Grande.

Between tragedies such as the one in Myanmar and the disastrous worldwide rise in food prices, a question long debated by relief experts has become urgent: What's the best way for the U.S. to help the hungry?

We remember the Holocaust today with a profile of the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, a Jewish troubadour in the 1960s and '70s who preached love and peace and whose music has become a staple of religious observances in Jewish synagogues and homes.

Next month marks five years since the Episcopal diocese of New Hampshire elected that denomination's first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, a move that has brought the U.S. Episcopal Church and the entire worldwide Anglican Communion to the brink of schism.

The global food crisis is escalating, as high food prices are forcing humanitarian organizations to scale back operations. At the United Nations, leaders are appealing for more than $750 million in new aid.

Senator Barack Obama this week denounced several recent controversial statements by his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly managing editor Kim Lawton looks at the impact Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the U.S. may have on the 2008 elections.

David Gibson, author of THE RULE OF BENEDICT, discusses the differences between Pope Benedict XVI and John Paul II.

We have a story today about two young men who grew up together best friends -- one white, one black -- and then took different religious paths. One became an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, the other a Muslim. Today they argue, of course, but as Betty Rollin reports, they've found their theological ...

n a live special report on the pope's address to the United Nations Friday (April 18), RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY managing editor Kim Lawton and executive editor Bob Abernethy analyze the speech and how it amplifies key themes of Pope Benedict's papacy.

Each year at Passover, a couple in Roseland, New Jersey invent new ways to dramatize and sing about the traditional story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. They've become so good at it and have so much fun there's now a waiting list of their friends who want to come.