Catholic groups, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan's archdiocese of New York, filed lawsuits in federal courts on May 21 to stop the Obama administration from implementing a mandate that would require them to cover contraceptives in their health plans.

"America has an agenda for homosexuals in Uganda," according to Pastor Joseph Serwadda, and accepting gay rights as human rights and human rights as gay rights "is going to be very tough on Africa."

“If we can bring in some light, the darkness will not overcome the light, and that’s where faith is. We believe that,” says Lyn Lusi, who has spent her professional life in medical care for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Watch Kevin Eckstrom, editor of Religion News Service, and Kim Lawton, managing editor of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, compare what happened at Penn State and the long-running sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church.

Since Congress repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell last December, more than one million US troops have taken instruction in the new policy. But some military chaplains are raising concerns.

A new study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice rules out celibacy and homosexuality as causes of the Catholic sexual abuse crisis.

There is debate and discussion going on within religious communities about rhetoric, teachings, tolerance and anti-gay sentiments in society.

"I'm doing the best I can to live out my faith as I understand it," says Episcopal priest and Vanderbilt University chaplain Becca Stevens. "Love is the most powerful force for social change."

“Most of our faith traditions believe God gave us the gift of sexuality, so it has deep theological meaning for us," says Kate Ott of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing.

Trinity Place is a shelter program for LGBT street youth operated by Pastor Heidi Neumark and Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan.