Watch more of our interviews with 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen and actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays Solomon Northrup.

A movie based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free man who was kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery, portrays the complex relationships between slaves, slaveowners, abolitionists, and religion.

Watch excerpts from our interview with Yolanda Pierce, associate professor of African-American religion and literature at Princeton Theological Seminary, as she talks about the new movie "12 Years a Slave" and about Christianity and slavery in America.

Writer James Lee Burke’s best-selling crime novels are full of biblical imagery, messianic language, the influences of his Roman Catholic boyhood, and a journey toward redemption.

"We are locking people up in solitary confinement to prevent this violent behavior, and in fact it may actually instigate—because of the impact on their mental health—even more violent behavior," says Heather Rice-Minus, a senior policy advisor for Justice Fellowship.

As the U.S. Supreme Court starts its new term, one of the cases it will hear concerns the constitutionality of prayers opening public government meetings. How the Court rules could determine the boundaries of separation between church and state.

Georgetown University hosted a panel examining the influence of Pope Francis' leadership on American public life six months after his election. The discussion was moderated by John Carr, director of the new Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.

The polio virus has been eradicated in most of the world, but Pakistan is one of the few countries where it is still a problem. Programs to vaccinate children there have been hampered by suspicions about the purpose of the vaccinations, religious concerns about the vaccines, violence from extremists, and critics who say Pakistan has more pressing problems to deal with.

"As a person of faith, if I am to turn my back on people who have needs, medical needs, physical needs, I have turned my back on my faith," says Rev. Art Cribbs, executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. But Biola University religion and ethics professor Scott Rae believes Obamacare takes too much authority out of the hands of individuals.

In this predominantly Muslim nation, religious extremism and resentment of the West both contribute to violence against Pakistani Christians. "We feel most of the time we are not equal. Not only not equal, but the growing feeling is that we are not even wanted," says the Catholic archbishop of Karachi.

On September 22nd, thousands of New Yorkers gathered for the first Shinnyo Lantern Floating for Peace in Central Park. Orchestrated by Shinnyo-en, an international Buddhist community, more than 2,200 candle-lit paper lanterns with messages of peace were set afloat onto a large reflecting pool in the center of Trump Rink, in honor of people who have dedicated their lives to the cause of peace.

Watch our interview with Saudi Arabia’s first female director, Haifaa al-Mansour, who wrote and directed "Wadjda," an Oscar-nominated film about a young girl who enters a Quran recitation contest to raise money for a green bicycle.

The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline states that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,” and it prohibits Methodist ministers from performing same-sex marriages. But “these are unjust laws,” says Rev. Thomas Ogletree, “and therefore they do not really have the authority of law.”

This modern artist’s body of work was based on the Hebrew Bible and the Jewish Jesus, often depicted with tallit and phylacteries.

The oldest surviving English version of the New Testament Gospels withstood Viking raids and the Dark Ages to be exhibited this summer at Durham Cathedral.

We caught up last month at the 9:30 Club in Washington with Robert Randolph and the Family Band and their “House of God sound.” Lap steel and pedal steel guitars were embraced in worship in place of an organ. Today Robert Randolph is one of the most talented sacred steel musicians around.

“On Yom Kippur you resolve to do better in the coming year, not to be perfect, just to be better.” Watch more of our interview with Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles about Kever Avot, a Jewish memorial service for the dead during the High Holidays.

William Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, talks with host Bob Abernethy and managing editor Kim Lawton about the moral choices now as the U.S. decides how to proceed in Syria.

"This is the rare time when you actually have dedicated moments to think, to reflect, to meditate. It doesn’t happen very often in our lives, and so this really is our chance to change who we are and therefore to change what becomes of us," says Rabbi David Wolpe, who spoke at a recent Kever Avot service.

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."