Watch a slideshow showing some of the prominent people in the world of religion who passed away in 2011.

The elite St. Olaf choir is considered a pioneer in America’s a capella choral tradition. And for one hundred years, this small Lutheran college in Minnesota has done a Christmas concert that has become known—and loved—around the world.

"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."

"Just like oil gives light into a dark room, just like it brings warmth; for a Jew, it also brings warmth and light into his own personal life and into the world as a whole," says Rabbi Mendy Bukiet.

From generation to generation, adults and children have reenacted the story of the birth of Jesus to convey the message of Christmas.

A Christmas pageant, says Calvin College professor of music and worship John Witvliet, is one of the best places in modern culture to witness "a genuine sense of mystery and even solemnity."

"Computers will match us in emotional intelligence, which includes our whole moral system," says inventor and computer scientist Ray Kurzweil.

Biological and technological evolution "is a spiritual process," says this famous futurist. "Entities become more godlike, never reaching that ideal but moving in that direction exponentially."

Purposefulness and self-sacrifice in human life "can never be reduced to a machine," according to this bioethicist.

Father Larry Janowski says the new, more literal translation of the words of the Mass from the original Latin are “like sawdust in the mouth. They’re difficult to say.”