Revisit our November 2007 Web-only essay on the spiritual and moral pain of war. "My sense is that this is a fundamentally religious issue," says clinical psychiatrist Jonathan Shay, a combat trauma expert.

Read excerpts from THOMAS MERTON: A LIFE IN LETTERS: The Essential Collection edited by Willam H. Shannon and Christian M. Bochen

At the memorial for the American dead of Vietnam, writes Lorrie Goldensohn, we meet as a community and are made to see that "we are always at one with the living and the dead."

Matthew McGarry, Catholic Relief Services representative in Afghanistan, says "people's faith is central to every aspect of their daily life in Afghanistan, and not taking that into account can undermine every other positive thing that the Administration might want to do."

Michael Walzer, an authority on just and unjust wars, says that in Afghanistan "Obama has inherited a frightening situation which he may or may not be able to turn around."

Benedicta Cipolla writes about the emotional, psychological, and spiritual battles soldiers in war must fight in addition to the physical dangers of combat.

As Congress and the Administration begin an all-out debate on whether and when to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, we want to discuss here what America's moral obligations are now to the Iraqi people. What does America owe Iraq?

"We know that we are rooted in Africa, but our sensibilities, our cultural and moral sensibilities, tend not to drive us to appeal for their liberation the same way that we have been driven to appeal for our own," says Rev. Sean McMillan.

As Iraqis get ready to elect a new parliament and write a new constitution, we discuss the role of religion in Iraq with Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international affairs and Middle Eastern studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York.

Read an interview with writer Studs Terkel, author of HOPE DIES LAST: KEEPING THE FAITH IN TROUBLED TIMES, an oral history of social action.