Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

"We have to go back to the 17th century and ask what healed all that harm? And of course the simple answer is that what wins wars is weapons but what wins peace is ideas."

The Virgin Mary has been a companion throughout important events in Mexico’s national history, says Monsignor Jorge Antonio Palencia. “Our Lady has accompanied the nation across the foundation, through the independence movement, then through the revolution movement."

"Jerusalem is a place historically if there is something different about us, let’s fight about it. That’s basically the vibe. And so we and the chorus are trying to create an alternate reality," says conductor Micah Hendler. He founded the YMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus, an ensemble of Israeli and Palestinian high school singers.

"Islam believes fundamentally that the spiritual and material worlds are inextricably connected. Faith is a force that should deepen our concern for our worldly habitat, for embracing its challenges, and for improving the quality of human life."

"We used to have situations, particularly in isolated parts of the world, high mountain areas, where different communities were practicing a different form of Islam from one village to the other. What we want to do is to have those villages work together. Accept that there are different interpretations."

With the approval of plans to build the first new Catholic church in over 50 years and Pope Francis' upcoming visit to the country in September, there are signs of increasing openness to religious life in Cuba after 50 years of repressive Communist rule.

“There’s really no widespread religious objection to the [measles] vaccine…It’s that I have a belief that these vaccines are harmful, or that they don’t work, or I don’t believe that somebody else should be telling me how to raise my kids,” says Religion News Service editor-in-chief Kevin Eckstrom.

In most states, parents can choose not to vaccinate their children based on a personal or religious objection. It's a choice that has begun raising concerns about the ethics of refusal and the rising risk of outbreaks.

"We are still not getting it as a country, and we’re making a poor effort as a society to take care of all our veterans…We can liberate other countries and clear up their natural disasters. Women veterans are now America’s natural disaster," says Final Salute founder Jaspen Boothe.

People from many faiths gathered in Washington for the 63rd annual National Prayer Breakfast, including the Dalai Lama. One major theme this year was fighting religious extremism, which President Obama said "is not unique to one group or one religion."

"If our earth is not the only inhabitable world, what does that imply?" asks Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “That’s an exciting question and the kind of thing I hope will be discussed with joy in these institutions.”

Jockin Arputham started his campaign to build a network among the urban poor by organizing a critical mass of India's slum-dwelling population, especially women’s collectives. Today they pressure local governments to be more responsive to their needs, especially toilet and sanitation facilities.

Social justice and civil rights activists had a lot to like in President Obama's address, but religious conservatives were concerned by the “reframing” of issues such as gay marriage as matters of freedom and justice.

"We are confident that someday this school will reopen, and we have to prepare ourselves for that day," says Metropolitan Elpidophoros, the abbot of Halki. He has reestablished a monastery at the site of the distinguished Eastern Orthodox seminary closed by the Turkish government for 43 years.

Two of Istanbul’s top tourist destinations are also two of the city’s most important religious monuments: Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Watch scenes of both as author and Ottoman scholar Scott Rank discusses their historic spiritual and political significance for Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople.