Watch more of our interview with Glenn Eskew, professor of history at Georgia State University in Atlanta and author of the book "But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle."

There was strong and widespread religious opposition this week to the Obama administration’s proposed military strike against the Assad regime in Syria. We discuss the possibility of a missile strike, and alternatives to it, with Father Drew Christiansen, former editor of the Jesuit magazine "America."

For decades, the Indian government has encouraged pilgrims to come to one of India’s holiest locations, the ancient city of Bodh Gaya. Now there is an effort to revive the ancient Buddhist university that once flourished there well before universities like Cambridge and Oxford were founded in the West.

A growing movement is renewing calls for the facility at Guantanamo Bay to be closed, citing concerns about the treatment of prisoners. Especially troubling for human rights activists is the practice of force-feeding detainees.

Watch additional excerpts from our interview with author and Benedictine nun Joan Chittister. “Our purpose is to present the most humane, spiritual, moral, communal model of life for a world in chaos around us—to be an island of care and cohesion in the midst of all the movement,” she says.

Many younger Jains are finding that living in the modern world requires more flexibility than the anti-materialistic rules of their religion allow. "My grandparents said they don’t eat food at night. But going out with friends at night, having a social circle and having to maintain those social circles, we can’t be as strict as our grandparents," says twenty-year-old Geetika Jain.

"To be reactionary at a time like this is to stand in front of a tsunami and say you can swim. We’re changing. Our goal is to change for the better," says this controversial Benedictine nun about the Catholic church's need to reform on issues such as gay marriage and female ordination.

Does the US have a "responsibility to protect" now that the use of chemical weapons by Syria has been confirmed? Watch our discussion with University of Notre Dame peace studies professor George Lopez.

Watch more of our interview with Sister Anne Wambach, prioress of the Mount St. Benedict monastery, about the Benedictine way of life.

Religious leaders in North Carolina are being arrested in growing numbers to protest new laws they say adversely affect the poor, the aging, and children. “There is great biblical precedent for people being arrested,” says Rev. Richard Edens. “It’s a great heritage to be a part of.”

The shooting of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent trial of George Zimmerman have highlighted racial divides that still exist in the U.S. 50 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In the wake of the shooting, local black and white pastors in Sanford, Florida are taking a hard look at what more they can do to promote dialogue, understanding, and racial reconciliation.

Watch more of our interview with Vincent Harding, historian, social activist, and emeritus professor of religion who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr.

"There is a lot of irony in the fact that the monk Wirathu and his followers are using fear in order to incite acts of violence that are precisely against the spirit of so much Buddhist teaching," says Eyal Aviv, a professor of religious studies and international affairs at George Washington University. Watch our interview about the violence between Buddhists and the Muslim minority in Burma.

Watch more of our interview about aging with Buddhist teacher and author Lewis Richmond. “Kindness is one of the gifts older people can bring to a society, because they have seen what happens when kindness disappears from the world. It’s not pretty," he says.

“I am convinced that the kids from the most challenging circumstances are also the grittiest, the most determined. and have the biggest capacity for compassion," says buildOn's founder Jim Ziolkowski, who started the volunteer service organization to fulfill the social justice aspect of his Catholic faith.

In India one of the consequences of the widespread introduction of sonograms and the age-old preference for male children has been the frequent aborting of female fetuses. In some regions there are as few as 650 female births for every 1000 males. As Fred de Sam Lazaro reports this has resulted in a growing shortage of women and the trafficking of women to fill the need for Indian brides.

Watch Buddhist teacher and author Lewis Richmond explain a Buddhist approach to old age and read an excerpt from his book "Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser."

Critics have long charged that the US government has not done a good job in understanding the relationship between religion and foreign policy. This week, Secretary of State John Kerry launched the new Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives in hopes of better engaging religion in US diplomacy. Christian ethicist and Wesley Theological Seminary Professor Shaun Casey is directing the office.

The tragedy at Oak Creek brought Sikhs and people of other faiths together to work for lasting social change. When Sikhs began to restore their gurdwara in Oak Creek, “I saw the spirit of chardi kala, everlasting hope and optimism, in the community,” recalls activist Valarie Kaur.

"You can not have a peace without justice. So we learned to defend not only ourselves, we were taught to defend the defenseless," says U.S. Army officer Major Kamal Kalsi. He spoke with us about the challenges of serving in the U.S. military as a Sikh.