“The people who are paying the costs, military families, veterans, civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan—those people deserve to have their story told,” says Professor Catherine Lutz of Brown University.

With debt, deficits, and budgets dominating our politics, more questions are being raised about underlying moral choices and issues. “This should be an argument about outcomes,” says former Bush White House speech writer Michael Gerson, “what is best for the justice and decency of a society.”

Watch more of our conversation with Cherie Harder about religion and politics in 2012.

The dean of Yale Divinity School reflects on Lent, poverty, public policy debates, and the moral obligations of people of faith.

As Congress debates the budget, religious conservatives say the debt is a moral issue, and an interfaith coalition has launched a campaign to reduce military spending and prevent cuts for the poor.

A progressive evangelical says how you cut the federal deficit is a moral question.

Some churches are struggling in these difficult economic times as they face layoffs, foreclosure, distress sales, and other signs of serious financial trouble. (Originally aired June 19, 2009)

"Foreclosure is a possibility and something we are concerned about," says Rev. Jane Galloway of Long Beach, California. "If we are unable to make our mortgage payment on time, the default process can be filed and a foreclosure proceeding could begin."