"Carols and hymns are amazingly succinct theological statements,” says Eileen Guenther, professor of church history at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. “There is more theology in a few words of poetry than you can possibly imagine. You can have a whole sermon in four lines.”

“We’ve got to protect our congregation and ourselves,” says David Lee, a Presbyterian church deacon. But “how do you really do that if someone enters our facility with intent to do harm? It’s not clear how do we go about doing things.”

“These are shaky times,” says Christian gospel, R&B, rap, pop, and hip-hop artist Kirk Franklin. “I’m praying and hoping maybe one thing that I’ve said, from somebody who came from nothing, could maybe still give just a little bit of hope that it can get better.”

“Donald Trump captured 81 percent of the white evangelical vote. That was key, because if you take away the evangelical share of the vote, which is about a quarter, Hillary Clinton would have won by a landslide. Now, 81 percent is slightly more than Mitt Romney got, but keep in mind that this time ...

“My hope is that every breath I take, every step is prayer,” says Nancy Bell, a Quaker who came to Three Rivers and began receiving spiritual direction from the Benedictine monks at St. Gregory’s Abbey. “Work can be a meditation, and so I try to do what seems to be the thing to do in the ...

“When you walk into the voting booth, I’ve compared it to the holy of holies in the ancient temple. A curtain is closed behind you. You are alone with your God and your vote. People will cast their votes listening to their hearts,” says Rabbi Jack Moline, president of the Interfaith Alliance.

“Right now, given the current climate and the political rhetoric, we are a target,” says Olivia Cantu, South Florida director of Emerge USA, a national organization that works to increase Muslim-American engagement in politics. “We are being attacked.”

"Spirituals are, of course, the songs that the enslaved crafted to tell the story of their experience. But more than that, to tell the story of their faith and the understanding of who they were in relationship to God, and who God was in relationship to them, and it became a story of freedom,” ...

United Methodism, Roman Catholicism, evangelical Christianity, and “the power of positive thinking” have all shaped the politics and personal stories of this year’s candidates for national office.

Peace, says history professor and scholar of the Muslim world Juan Cole, “is very central to the cultures of the Middle East. You greet someone by saying ‘Peace be upon you.’ It has the form of a prayer.”

“Catholics are the perennial swing voters in American politics. Whichever way Catholics go, usually that’s the way the presidency goes. I expect that to be true this election, too,” says Professor Stephen Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at the ...

“A lot of evangelicals are doubling down, especially that old-guard religious right, on their support of Trump. Never Trump evangelicals are saying look, this is the last straw. There’s no way any good evangelical can support this guy. The key is you’re seeing some of this showing up in the ...

“We know what a childhood is supposed to be, what innocence is, and if there really are millions of children that don’t have that and that are being abused in the worst way—how can you face your maker and say I did nothing?” That is the question of Tim Ballard, founder of Operation ...

“Now that I know how many kids feel like their life is meaningless and they don’t expect to live to see their 18th birthday, I can’t walk away and not do something about it,” says Teresa Goines, founder of Old Skool Café, a supper club run by at-risk youth in San Francisco.

“Facts are facts,” says Holocaust studies professor Deborah Lipstadt, author of “Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory.” “There are not two sides to every story, and there are certain things that can’t be contested.”

“One of the things we discovered very early on in our existence is there was pent up demand both in the United States, but also globally, for various religious actors and communities to come and engage with the State Department, to learn about our foreign policy,” says Shaun Casey, US Special ...

“We are igniting our lives as humans,” says Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, “using the Jewish toolbox to make what we inherited work for today.” Rabbi Lau-Lavie leads New York City’s Lab/Shul in preparations for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

“There’s something about the shofar that is like the chatter of children. It’s the crying of babies. It’s the mother giving birth. It’s the grief wailing. It is a human, primitive voice.” Watch excerpts from our interview with Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie about the sound of the shofar and the ...

“There is no way you can talk about, discuss or even acknowledge the contribution of African-American history without acknowledging the very real presence and power of faith as a part of that history,” says Rex Ellis, associate director of curatorial affairs at the Smithsonian’s National ...

"What we're saying is yes, God, I'm in my personal relationship with you, but I'm also in a relationship with all these people around me."