“When we say grace we are grateful for the food on our plates. But where did that food travel? Who picked it? How did it get to us? As people of faith we are called to think about that.”

We discuss the major religion and ethics stories anticipated in 2012, including religion in the upcoming elections, faith-based activity in the budget debates and immigration policy, key religion cases before the Supreme Court and mainline denominations and issues of homosexuality.

We discuss the major religion and ethics stories of the past year in the U.S. and abroad with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Religion News Service editor Kevin Eckstrom and Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly managing editor Kim Lawton.

"When we’ve had that political will to reduce poverty, we’ve been able to do it in our country, and that’s what we need to mobilize now," says Reverend David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

"Something like happiness, it sound frivolous, but it’s not frivolous. The purpose of society is to create a better quality of life for all the people. It’s not to create the highest amount of aggregate wealth," says international business consultant and author David Rothkopf.

"We are here to provide a religious presence. We are here to listen to people, to hear what’s on their hearts. And we’re here to pray with people...because people are in crisis and that’s why we are all here." says protest chaplain Erica Richmond.

Watch excerpts of interviews with people of faith who are supporting the Occupy Wall Street protests.

“It’s impossible not to ration, it’s irrational not to ration, and it’s unethical not to ration” medical care at the end of life, says this Harvard Medical School ethics professor.

Religious leaders of this largely Christian country will have a key role to play in successfully managing its wealth and in fostering its adherence to democratic values.

"It’s a matter of sharing the burdens of a free society and a good society. That’s, morally speaking, what taxes are about," according to political philosopher and Harvard government professor Michael Sandel.