With Congress unable to agree on immigration law reform, many local governments are trying to act on their own to discourage illegal immigrants from settling in their towns. Some say that's just protecting their communities, but others call it racism.

This coming week, Muslims around the world will begin celebrating the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims are expected to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours. It's also a time of increased giving to the poor. But many American Muslims say the U.S. government's war against terror is hurting their efforts at charity. Kim Lawton has our report.

As Congress and the Administration begin an all-out debate on whether and when to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, we want to discuss here what America's moral obligations are now to the Iraqi people. What does America owe Iraq?

Around the world, there are hundreds of classes to which children come to learn how shofars are made. We joined a group in Brooklyn, New York at a class called the Shofar Factory.

Pastor David Brown is a circuit preacher. Once called called circuit riders, these preachers went from town to town in 19th-century America to spread the Gospel. They've gone from horseback to car, but they're still around. No one knows just how many there are, but they serve the same purpose they ...

Artists have started to practice their spirituality outside the studio, outside the gallery. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, individuals attend a retreat that is intended to bring back what one organizer calls "the intimate relationship between art and faith."

An interpretation of Jesus' teachings that emphasizes wealth and prosperity seems to be spreading fast, especially in many African-American churches. But critics are calling the "prosperity gospel" a distortion of authentic Christian faith.

Parents want to give their children every advantage in life and they also want do whatever possible to make their children healthy. But what about going beyond opportunities and health to genetic enhancement? Science is opening that door in a big way, and many ethicists debate where the line between ...

In reaction to the kidnapping of South Korean church members, Christian groups there are scaling back operations in dangerous parts of the world. It's a significant decision considering South Korean churches send out about 17,000 members on missions each year. As a result, there has been a phenomenal growth and political activism of Christianity in South Korea.

"The Simpsons is not a show about religion, but it’s about a family in which religion plays a part, and in that sense it’s really reflective of what most Americans do and feel about religion," says Mark Pinsky, author of "The Gospel According to The Simpsons."

There are more than two million people serving hard time in America's state and federal prisons. However, this number includes those who are wrongfully convicted and sent to prison for crimes they did not commit. When, and if, they are found to be innocent, they often don't receive adequate ...

For many physicians, there's uncertainty about when or whether they should pray with their patients, but Mark Jacobson says it would be malpractice not to. Dr. Jacobson is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and he's been treating Africans in Tanzania for 22 years.

There's a hopeful new development on the nursing home scene. Investors, among them faith-based groups, are building and staffing small cottages in which those needing long-term care can get personal attention and find a degree of independence that's not possible in most larger institutions. Bob Faw of NBC News has our report.

In Buddhism we believe that all beings are bound to samsara. Samsara is what non-Buddhists understand as reincarnation. So long as one doesn't achieve spiritual enlightenment, one's continually reborn in samsara, over and over again, and for Buddhist practitioners, the goal is to escape from this ...

Few issues touch a raw nerve in American politics like gun control. But often the issue is not far below the surface in worship communities, particularly those frequently hit by gun violence.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO, guest anchor: Now, a special report about a woman named Eva Kor. She’s a real estate broker in Terre Haute, Indiana, but her story is one of unthinkable loss and suffering as a child at the … More →

Catholics of a certain age grew up hearing the Mass only in Latin. But since the 1960s, priests have been allowed to say the Mass in Latin only with the permission of their bishop. The Vatican is now loosening those restrictions, so the Latin Mass may soon become more widely available.

The messages of the advertising business help sell billions of dollars worth of products. But do they also coarsen American culture? And if so, who's to blame -- the ad agencies or us consumers?

For more than 200 years there has been a chaplain in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.The current Senate chaplain is the Reverend Barry Black, the first African American and the first Seventh-day Adventist in the position. Kim Lawton reports.

The UN estimates there are 100 million children who live and work on the streets, with seven million of them in Brazil. On her recent trip to Brazil, Kim Lawton met and followed a British Christian, Cally Magalhaes, who is spending her life trying to rescue some of those children.