"It is not that you ever forget what happened to you in war, it is part of your life story. There are no other institutions in our society that I know of except religious institutions that support people over their entire life course."

Pope Francis visited sacred sites recognized by Muslims, Christians, and Jews, including the Western Wall. He met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and a range of other religious leaders, made unexpected stops at a terror memorial and at the separation wall that surrounds the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and he inserted himself into the peace process with a surprise invitation to pray.

The Holy Land meeting of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew should “reaffirm our commitment to the dialogue of love, to the dialogue of truth, and to a sense of unity moving toward a sense of communion.”

“It’s not that religious leaders are in a position to take political initiatives. But they represent the identities of the people, and to ignore the possibilities of interreligious support is rather short-sighted.”

"Pope John Paul II played a very important role in ending the Soviet era in Poland. I would like to see this pope saying the Holy Land did not experience peace for the last 3,000 years. Isn't it overdue?"

"Focus on the idea that everybody's narrative and every human being is worth so much in the eyes of God. Regardless of your state, or regardless of your faith, you have essence of dignity as a human being."

Baptist pastor and Mississippi state senator Phillip Gandy sponsored a law he says will restore and protect people's freedom to practice religion. Others interpret it as a means to legalize discrimination.

The pope's pilgrimage is intended on one level to commemorate the 1964 meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras that ended a thousand years of estrangement between Eastern and Western Christianity. But there are other agendas as well: interfaith dialogue, the Middle East peace process, and the diminishing Christian presence in the Holy Land.

"Yoga’s techniques and goals move in and through and outside of religion in very interesting and complex ways" says Debra Diamond, associate curator of south and southeastern Asian art for the Smithsonian Institution's Freer and Sackler galleries.

The rate of HIV infections in America is rising for young gay men. Groups like the Chicago-based Night Ministry are meeting them where they are, offering free testing right out of a van on the street.

"When I first saw him, I was so traumatized I had to be taken to the hospital for 10 days," says Alice Mukarurinda, recalling her first encounter with Emmanuel Ndayisaba, who nearly killed her during the genocide. "I managed to forgive him. I believe it was God's power."

President Jimmy Carter says "the worst human rights abuse on earth right now is by far the abuse of women and girls.”

“I have great respect for the Catholic Church, but I have always been a bit uneasy about the Catholic Church ordaining that a woman can't be a priest or a deacon. … I just believe that whenever women are treated as inferior in the eyes of God this is a misinterpretation of what Jesus Christ taught."

"The country’s long been divided over whether to have it. But that only led to even more difficult questions. How do you do it? How do you implement it? And can you do it fairly and rationally?"

The Jordan River is the central location for many sacred stories of Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Modern Christians in particular are known to journey to the site some consider to be the religion’s actual starting point.

Watch Web-only excerpts from our recent conversation with the United Methodist pastor of the grandfather and grandson who were shot to death outside a Jewish community center in Kansas.

More and more seminary graduates are struggling to find sustainable jobs as pastors. Many are turning to other ways to serve or simply make ends meet while they look for work.

Sara Davidson and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi share about how they cope with dying in the book The December Project.

A new IMAX 3D film by National Geographic Entertainment explores the beauty and sacredness of the ancient city and its holiest sites. Correspondent Kim Lawton reports on the film and interviews three young women—a Christian, a Jew, and a Muslim—featured in the movie about what the city of Jerusalem means to them.

This is a big weekend at the Vatican as Pope Francis elevates two of his predecessors to sainthood: John XXIII and John Paul II. Host Bob Abernethy, managing editor Kim Lawton, and Kevin Eckstrom, editor-in-chief of Religion News Service, discuss the legacies of these two new saints and what their canonizations mean to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.