"I would say that Mormon culture, Mormon doctrine, Mormon belief have been well outside the mainstream of both American culture and Christian culture for many years," says Warren Cole Smith, associate publisher of Christian news magazine World.

"Will evangelicals turn out in large numbers and be energized as volunteers and financial supporters of Mitt Romney? It doesn't take a majority of evangelicals to stay home. It just takes a few million evangelicals to choose to not get as actively involved in this race to cost Mitt Romney the presidency," according to evangelical journalist Warren Cole Smith.

Joanna Brooks, a religion scholar who covers Mormonism, faith, and politics for ReligionDispatches.org, discusses the Mormon Church, the Romney campaign, and the intersection of religion and politics in this extended interview.

Egypt's recent parliamentary elections have raised concerns about the imposition of an Islamist agenda by Islamist groups and parties, but Middle East expert Kate Seelye says "the hope is that once in office they will move more to the center and that won't be the case."

Every Sunday, more than 20,000 worshipers attend each of seven services at the Yoido Full Gospel Church, a Pentecostal church in Seoul, South Korea, with hundreds of thousands of others watching on TV or from satellite branches. It is the world's largest church congregation with over 800,000 members.

"The questions in the eyes of many other Muslims," says Georgetown University Islamic studies professor John Esposito, is "are these people really Muslims or not?"

After ten years of war, says Georgetown University ethics professor Nancy Sherman, US troops are coming home from Iraq, "and now they see that whole project of stability and democratization unraveling. They come home carrying heavy invisible wounds, of a sense of betrayal and PTSD. Was it worth it?"

Using ancient principles, says Raymond Lo, a feng shui grant master in Hong Kong, "we can establish where is the good energy and where is the bad energy."

As the South Carolina Republican primary approaches on January 21 and candidate Rick Santorum claims a belated victory in the Iowa caucuses, watch excerpts from a 2010 speech that Santorum, a Catholic, delivered on the role of religious faith in public life.

We take a look now at the week's top religion news, and religion's role in the general news, with Kim Lawton, managing editor of this program, and David Gibson, national reporter for Religion News Service, who joins us from New York.

For Christians in Ghana, the passing of a loved one is often celebrated with joyful funerals and so-called "fantasy coffins" representing the lifetime achievements of the deceased.

"We could have responded to poverty and joblessness and drug addiction with care, compassion, and concern. But instead we declared a literal war." Watch more of our conversation with Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow," about crime, the war on drugs, and the disproportionately high number of African-Americans in prison.

More than forty years after the end of legal segregation, African-American men are six times more likely than whites to be imprisoned. And ex-prisoners can be legally discriminated against for the rest of their lives in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits due to their criminal record.

Legendary singer/songwriter Paul Simon says even he was surprised by the overt religious imagery in his newest CD, "So Beautiful or So What." In a rare interview about spirituality, Simon talks with Kim Lawton about his profound interest in God and spiritual issues, and how all of that gets expressed in his work.

It's a story of two congregations and two disasters. St. Vincent's Episcopal Church in Haiti was almost destroyed by the earthquake two years ago. The members of St. Paul's Episcopal in New Orleans, which was almost destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, felt an immediate kinship with the Haitians. They speak of paying forward, giving back, and of an organization called Red Thread Promise.

For three generations, North Koreans suffering under brutally repressive regimes have been unable to leave the country. Lucky Severson reports from the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea about two Christian pastors who, at risk to their lives, have helped North Korean refugees escape through China to South Korea.

Watch a slideshow showing some of the prominent people in the world of religion who passed away in 2011. Music by Debbie Friedman.

Martin Laird, an Augustinian priest at Villanova University, teaches the ancient Christian practice of contemplation in order to "quiet the mind" and have a deep awareness of union with God.

The elite St. Olaf choir is considered a pioneer in America's a capella choral tradition. And for one hundred years, this small Lutheran college in Minnesota has done a Christmas concert that has become known--and loved--around the world.

Rabbi Mendy Bukiet and his wife Chanie of Bradenton, Florida talked with Jewish children about the significance of oil and the menorah lights in the miracle of Hanukkah.