"We empower national Masai to do the ministry. I didn’t start any of these churches. I’m not the leader of any of these churches. But we’ve trained these people so that they could move out and do it," says Gary Woods, a missionary who has been preaching in Africa for 25 years.

Voodoo recognizes an invisible world of great spiritual power, according to Sallie Ann Glassman, a Voodoo priestess, community organizer, and founder of the New Orleans Healing Center.

When disaster strikes, the character of a culture is revealed, and in Japan, perceptions of disaster are deeply rooted in traditional religious culture.

Watch religion scholar Stephen Prothero, author of the new book "God Is Not One," discuss why all religions are not different paths to the same God and why distinctions among religions matter.

Read more of Bob Abernethy’s interview in Cambridge, Massachusetts with theologian and Harvard professor Harvey Cox.

Sunitha Mani is an Indian Hindu, born in America. Her mother calls her a modern girl. Even so, as she prepares for her marriage, she is going the traditional route, and then some.

The lectern in Lagos holds both Quran and Bible, and the worshippers say they are both Christian and Muslim.

It is the belief of many Chinese that there is an ongoing spiritual connection between them and their forebears. They venerate them, pray to them, and take gifts to their graves.

Religion and Ethics Newsweekly this week highlights the growing ties between church communities in western Kenya and Indiana.

Read more of Lucky Severson's interview with the Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson, chaplain of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.