October 21, 2011: Advance Directives
In La Crosse, Wisconsin, 96 percent of all adults die with a completed advance directive. The directives are often based on end-of-life conversations that reflect a patient’s spiritual and ethical values.

In La Crosse, Wisconsin, 96 percent of all adults die with a completed advance directive. The directives are often based on end-of-life conversations that reflect a patient’s spiritual and ethical values.
When you talk about end-of-life issues, according to Gundersen Lutheran Health System’s director of clinical ethics, “you’re really talking about the meaning of life, about your religious beliefs and faith, and ultimately about who you are.”
Advance directives respect familial relationships, spiritual values, and individual choices, says the president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
No one should think intervention in Libya will be easy or simple, writes religious studies professor Charles Mathewes. "Obama’s message to the nation was a reminder that he surely doesn't."
"It's our job as civilians to tend to the returning warriors by bringing them into the center of the community," says this psychotherapist and author of "War and the Soul."
"If there is a new state, presumably there will be more religious tolerance," says Middle East author and analyst Geneive Abdo. "We can only hope so."
"Many people are hoping there will be a more pluralistic government that will embrace the Christian Copts," says Qamar-ul Huda, a senior program officer at the US Institute of Peace.
As protests and rebellion break out across the Arab world, R & E looks back at insights from interviews with scholars and experts on the compatibility of democratic values and Islam.
What did people of faith think about President Obama’s State of the Union address? Watch our panel of religion analysts assess the speech.
Look back at excerpts from our conversations with reporters over the past 10 years on religion and its changing role in the world.

Produced by THIRTEEN ©2012 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.