Watch excerpts from President Obama’s May 12 speech at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast, along with comments on immigration reform by Rev. Luis Cortes Jr. and Bishop Orlando Findlayter.

A new state law could shut down the city of Tucson’s high school ethnic studies program. The state superintendent says ethnic studies divides students by race. Supporters say it teaches mutual respect and fosters a commitment to democracy.

On Dec. 14 religious leaders held a prayer summit and Jericho March on Capitol Hill to urge senators to vote for a bill that would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country by their parents and who go on to attend college or serve in the military.

"We do this not to create Catholics, but because we are Catholic. It’s the social justice teachings of the church that drive us," says WJA director of counseling services Ann Clark. The tuition-free middle school explicitly addresses the spiritual and moral development of its students.

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."

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.