Correspondent Kim Lawton and producer Patti Jette talk about their experience reporting on the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan.

In most states, parents can choose not to vaccinate their children based on a personal or religious objection. It's a choice that has begun raising concerns about the ethics of refusal and the rising risk of outbreaks.

According to Father Michael Doyle, crime and poverty in Camden, New Jersey are worse today than when he first arrived there 39 years ago. But through his church's ministry of feeding, housing, and educating the poor, Father Doyle sees hope for what the FBI considers the most dangerous city in America. "We’re working against the odds, but I think God is on our side," he says.

To lift the Philippines out of poverty, economist Antonio Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga, believes the next generation of Filipinos needs to create jobs at home rather than seeking jobs abroad.

This New Year celebration of trees, observed on the 15th day of the Hebrew month Shevat, has grown in popularity because of its connection to the environment. We spoke last year with Eldridge Street Synagogue educator Mattie Ettenheim at a Tu B’Shevat observance.

Months after Typhoon Hayaan destroyed large parts of the Philippines, many survivors say prayer got them through the storm and the difficult times afterwards.

"Some people call it laughter through tears. I would suggest you could call it laughter through fears," says Harvard University Yiddish literature professor Ruth Wisse.

From watching what Pope Francis will do as he finishes his first year to major court cases on religious liberty to immigration reform, it’s our annual look ahead to the top religion and ethics stories we expect to be covering in 2014.

We take our annual look back at the top religion and ethics news of the year—Pope Francis and his priorities, such as helping the poor, and also churches divided over homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

“At Christmas I often tell grieving people that this may be the year you break with what everyone else expects of you to do what you and your family need to do that will bring you comfort.” Watch more of our interview with Nancy Guthrie, an author and speaker who has edited a book on Christmas grief.

The Supreme Court’s unanimous 1963 decision in Gideon v. Wainwright required that everyone accused of a serious crime, rich or poor, is entitled to a defense lawyer. But 50 years later, are indigent defendants getting the representation they deserve?

We talked with the Blind Boys of Alabama about gospel music and the spiritual dimensions of their new album, “I’ll Find a Way,” produced by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, when their current tour brought them recently to Washington, DC. The group collaborates here with many young musicians, including Shara Worden on the title song.

In 1967, in a Christmas Eve sermon, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said that “we neither have peace within nor peace without.” What does it mean today when Christians speak of Christmas as a season of peace?

The number of people in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is going up steadily as a result of the new, lower age limits for both men and women who want to serve as missionaries.

Strongly influenced by Catholic teachings, the country of El Salvador now forbids all abortions. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from San Salvador on the consequences for many women when abortion is considered murder, regardless of the circumstances.

At a December 2, 2013 program at Georgetown University, two prominent Washington columnists, E.J. Dionne and Michael Gerson, assess Pope Francis’s call for the Catholic Church not only to make caring for the poor a higher priority but to work for a more just economic system.

Nelson Mandela died this week at the age of 95. We look back at the life and legacy of this beloved South African leader who led the movement to end apartheid peacefully in 1994, and later became the first democratically elected president in the nation's history.

As cities grapple with the problem of homelessness, some believe the solution is to move them to "retreats" outside the city. But critics say such proposals are cases of "out of sight, out of mind" that will actually result in more homelessness.

Watch more of our interview about the rare convergence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah with Rabbi David Paskin at Kehillah Schechter Academy in Norwood, Massachusetts.

For the first time since the 1800s, the first full day of Hanukkah coincides with Thanksgiving Day this year, and according to many in the Jewish community, the two holidays have much more in common than just a calendar date. They both celebrate gratitude, community, and religious tolerance.