"Priests generally do not talk about it. And most dioceses in the United States have no services, or very limited services, for victims of domestic violence," says Father Charles Dahm, who is leading a campaign in Chicago to change that.

In a country where the preference for boy children dates back centuries, driven by religious custom, will a growing and stable middle class begin to give girls new opportunities and view boys and girls as being of equal value?

Watch highlights of five religious leaders speaking about same sex marriage from a range of religious and ethical viewpoints at demonstrations in Washington, DC during Supreme Court arguments about marriage.

“A state may enforce and dissolve a couple’s marriage, but it cannot sanctify or bless it,” according to a New York judge in one of the same-sex marriage cases the High Court will review this month.

Is the same-sex-marriage debate in black churches really about religion, the Bible, or equal rights? The issue has divided many pastors and their congregations.

Young Mormons are pursuing their educations and careers “not with the purpose of delaying marriage, but with the idea that we want to have a full life that includes all of those things,” says Beverli Jo DeWalt, a single Mormon woman.

“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.”

Watch more of our interview about same-sex marriage and mainline Protestant denominations with Rev. Jennifer Wegter-McNelly, interim minister of the Church of the Covenant.

"For me personally, it's so encouraging to be surrounded by people who believe in marriage, who are working at it, who love each other," says Kathy Berkemeyer, who together with her husband Jack celebrated Valentine's Day by renewing their vows at the annual Mass for Lovers ceremony held in Old St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Chicago.