Religion’s role in US foreign policy, gays in the military, and Mennonites and the national anthem were all in the news this past week.

An increasing number of Americans say they are searching for spirituality. And many inside and outside of church are finding it with the help of a spiritual director, someone to listen and offer guidance in the quest for the experience of God’s presence.

Copts and Muslims have lived side by side for centuries, with occasional spasms of sectarian violence. The key question is: are things different this time? Will the current tension escalate into an enduring religious conflict?

Jack Hinton of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Washington, DC explains the tradition of fasting during Great Lent for Eastern Orthodox Christians.

In overcoming hunger and disease and disasters, US economic aid has saved millions of lives. But in the longer term effort to help poor countries develop and remain better off, many experts say US government aid has played only a minor role.

During the day, Pastor Neumark runs a school for young children at her New York City church, which is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. At night she operates a shelter for LGBT kids, because she says since churches have been a big part of the problem, they should be part of the solution.

Watch early-morning scenes of singing and praying at the memorial service in Port-au-Prince to mark the one-month anniversary of Haiti's devastating earthquake.

Burning palms and imposing ashes at the beginning of Lent reminds us of our human frailty, says Pastor Steve Buechler of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Ten Southern Baptists from the US who tried to take 33 children out of Haiti have been charged with child abduction and will face legal proceedings.

Local church leaders in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are waging a joint campaign to make sure aid gets to where it needs to go.

Go on the ground and behind the scenes with our crew in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and watch them at work on our story about local faith-based relief workers.

Mitch Albom was an acclaimed author and columnist who says he had lost his interest in religion. But the faith and goodness of two different clergymen helped rekindle his own faith.

From Haiti to the Holocaust to 9/11, and at all times of extreme human suffering, cataclysm, and catastrophe, people have asked questions about the role of God and his purposes.

Earthquakes and other calamities always provoke anguished questions about God's role in disaster. How do religious leaders respond? Watch our conversation with Rabbi Jack Moline who serves Congregation Agudas Achim in Alexandria, Virginia.

A story about a former state legislator who believed the answer to crime was more and more prisons -- until he got locked up himself. Now he's leading a faith-based program for prisoner rehabilitation, and he says it works.

Watch more of Bob Abernethy's conversation with Rabbi Jack Moline about the theological questions raised by natural disasters such as the Haiti earthquake.

A faith-based program called Circles of Support and Accountability or COSA wants to create a new model for how society deals with sex offenders by offering the offenders help and friendship. Rev. Clare Ann Ruth-Heffelbower, founder of COSA, says "even the worst of the worst of the worst are human beings, and they can change."

American faith-based groups continue to play an active role in getting emergency help into Haiti, as well as helping Haitians who have arrived in the US after surviving the earthquake.

"Everything is gone," says Rev. Caleb Deliard, a Haitian-American pastor. "It's all gone. It hurts us deep down. We are, as a people now, wounded souls."

Bhavana Gupta says her generation will go to a Hindu temple in New Dehli and say, "Let's give the priest 500 rupees to have him do a good prayer service for us." But the younger generation questions this traditional Hindu practice and asks why.