The seriousness of Ash Wednesday and Lent was preceded this week by frivolity and the traditional pancake race at Washington's National Cathedral.

Imam Rauf says his concern about Rep. Peter King's hearings on American Muslims is "the impression it is giving that Muslims are de facto liabilities to homeland security" and "the perception it will raise among Muslims overseas."

Watch scenes outside the White House on Ash Wednesday as the Catholic peace movement Pax Christi USA met for prayers of repentance for war.

In an Ash Wednesday interview at the National Press Club, at an event on faith and fighting poverty sponsored by Yale Divinity School and International Relief and Development, the dean of Yale Divinity School talked about the moral obligations of people of faith.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent for many Christans. Watch excerpts of interviews with Rev. Steve Buechler, a Lutheran pastor in Maryland; John Danforth, an Episcopal priest and former Republican senator from Missouri; and Rev. Jerry Kramer, an Episcopal priest.

As Congress prepares for March 10 hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims called by Rep. Peter King of New York, watch highlights from a recent Capitol Hill briefing on Islamophobia in the United States hosted by the Arab American Institute and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Religious conservatives say the debt is a moral issue, and an interfaith coalition has launched a campaign to reduce military spending and prevent cuts for the poor.

Watch an interview with evangelical author and activist Jim Wallis on budget cuts, debt, deficits, and economic priorities.

Imam Feisal Rauf of New York City was in Washington this week and spoke with us about religion's positive potential in a post-Mubarak Egypt.

Pastor Matthew Cork of Yorba Linda Friends Church in California says its ministry includes producing a feature film "that has a cause and a mission behind it."

Three expert movie-watchers discuss the moral, ethical, religious, and spiritual themes they saw in some of this year's Oscar nominees.

James Rudin has spent most of his life working for better relations between Christians and Jews. And while attitudes towards Jews have improved, Rudin believes that more needs to be done.

As states wrestle over workers' rights, union organizing, and difficult budget and deficit debates, what do religious leaders and organizations have to say?

A journalist who has written extensively on the biblical and spiritual preoccupations of directors Joel and Ethan Coen says in "True Grit" they treat the Presbyterian moral code of fourteen-year-old narrator-heroine Mattie Ross with tenderness and empathy.

As Mideast turmoil spreads, a professor of international affairs says we are witnessing changing interpretations of religion and "a struggle over which interpretations have authority over whom."

"Faith-based organizations, as a matter of public policy, have been designated first-responder by default. But they're being asked to do it with no resources," according to Rev. Eugene Williams.

"That old singing, that old praying which I love so much --- that is the great strength of my being, of my writing," says the author of "A Lesson before Dying" and many other critically acclaimed books.

"Just sit down and feel your breath," suggests teacher and author Sharon Salzberg. "We tune in, we connect, we come back."

"If there is a new state, presumably there will more religious tolerance," says Middle East author and analyst Geneive Abdo. "We can only hope so."

A Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is being given to legendary gospel singer George Beverly Shea, who says he hopes there will be an organ for him to play in heaven.