“Just plant the seeds in hope and faith, and you see early fruits that are terribly encouraging," says the head of the Lilly Endowment's religion division. Its efforts, according to one observer, "have paid off in deeper church life and more faithful ministry."

"I am a human being, I'm a Buddhist monk, I am a Westerner," says Nicholas Vreeland, who is also a successful and sophisticated photographer. Recently, the Dalai Lama asked him to lead one of Tibetan Buddhism's most important monasteries.

"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.

“Deeply listening to what it is they’re saying." That, says young hospice chaplain Kerry Egan, is the most important gift she offers to the dying patients she ministers to in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

“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.”

"As a parish nurse one of the greatest things we do is be present and just listen," says Diane Tieman of Queen of the Rosary Roman Catholic Church in suburban Chicago.

"In times when we are not particularly suffering, we do not have enough time for God. We are too busy with other things. And then the intense suffering comes, and we can not be busy with other things. And then God comes into the equation."

“There’s a flaw in human nature, and it’s in all great writing, the tragic flaw... and yet there is the expectation that ultimately it’s going to be okay,” said this beloved author and lay Episcopalian, who described herself as “a writer who is struggling to be a Christian.”

"It is our love that brings us into communion with God, not our knowledge about God," he says. "It’s the difference between looking at a photograph of somebody you love and looking into the eyes of someone you love."

"The houses are not just 'given' to the families," says Dr. Brenda Williams, "They have to work for it. They have to earn it." She and her husband have been using their own money to provide homes to disadvantaged families.