After ministering in inner-city Los Angeles for almost four decades, Father Peter Banks, an Irish Catholic priest, says "hope is to be able to sing in the middle of the darkness, and I can still sing in the middle of the darkness."

A religion reporter and a political analyst discuss the president's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court's decision to uphold Proposition 8 banning gay marriage.

Religion continues to be a key factor in American politics, especially during election season. Today, there is vigorous political organizing inside Latino churches. Many Hispanics favor more liberal immigration policies than most Republicans have supported. But as Kim Lawton reports, it's not yet clear how that will affect Hispanic voting.

"Guadalupe adds solace and comfort, just like she did in the beginning to the Indian Juan Diego. She protected him. She was going to comfort him. She does the same to immigrants," says Luis Leon of Arizona State University.