“We asked religious scholars and they said that if we’re out on a mission like this, there is no problem with not fasting on the condition that when you return, you fast the days you lost, because fasting like prayer is obligatory," says Abu Rmeileh, the first Palestinian to qualify for the Olympics.

“There’s a yearning in them, and that all wants to be expressed in terms of the sacred and the holy and within the context of God’s presence,” says Rev. Ann Abernethy, a United Church of Christ pastor.

Watch more of our interview about religious services of commitment with UCC minister and retirement community chaplain Ann Abernethy, who says, “One of the great gifts of being a clergy person is that we are really invited into people’s lives at a time of blessing.”

"There seems to be a theme in the album, not intentional, and it’s funny because for somebody who is not a religious person, God comes up a lot in my songs," says legendary singer/songwriter Paul Simon.

"To know that someone is there, that someone that comes from home to take care of you makes a tremendous difference for our warriors," says Judith Markelz, director of the Warrior and Family Support Center in San Antonio.

"To have a situation in which we recognize the full equality of women changes everything,” says Union Theological Seminary president Serene Jones.

“There is a whole historical world of women who have risen as leaders in religious communities because they were called to do it, not because someone said they could,” according to the first woman president of Union Theological Seminary.

“The idea of the Talmud is that you are allowed to ask questions about everything,” says Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. He calls the Talmud “the central pillar of Jewish culture” and “a vast book encouraging you to ask questions.”

"New Haggadahs will be written until there are no more Jews to write them. Or until our destiny has been fulfilled, and there is no more need to say, 'Next year in Jerusalem.'"

Jesus, says New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine, “teaches like a Jew. He talks in parables…and Jesus is just a fabulous Jewish storyteller.”