Muslims, Jews gather at Denver mosque to help feed the hungry*

Electa Draper

(Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Local Muslim and Jewish groups worked together Sunday, November 18th, 2012, to make roughly 1,000 peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches to hand out to Denver's homeless and hungry at the Northeast Denver Islamic Center.

Study Shows How Prayer, Meditation Affect Brain Activity

Jahnabi Barooah

How do prayer and meditation affect brain activity? Dr. Andrew Newberg, MD, is the Director of Research at the Myrna Brind Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomson Jefferson University Hospital and Medical College, and he has studied the neuroscientific effect of religious and spiritual experiences for decades.

Commemorating International Religious Freedom Day

Katrina Lantos Swett *

Across the globe, religion and belief continue to matter deeply in the lives of people and their cultures. From worship to prayer, births to funerals, weddings to holy days, almsgiving to thanksgiving, religion is a central source of identity, meaning, and purpose for billions of human beings.

iReporters: 5 life lessons from the Hajj

Sarah Brown

(CNN) – Millions of Muslims began the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, which represents one of the largest annual human gatherings on the planet.

The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, a journey every Muslim is expected to take in his or her lifetime if the person is physically and financially able.

Our iReport team asked pilgrims who have performed the Hajj about how the experience changed them - and for their advice to those undertaking the pilgrimage for the first time.

Southern California priests participate in landmark trip to Turkey

Paula Doyle

Twelve archdiocesan priests are exploring ancient Christian sites and visiting Catholic faith communities in Turkey this week, as part of a trip organized exclusively for Catholic clergy by an organization of Turkish-American Muslims that promotes intercultural and interreligious awareness.

Father Alexei Smith, archdiocesan director of ecumenical/interreligious affairs, and Msgr. Thomas Welbers, pastor of Good Shepherd Church in Beverly Hills, are co-leading the trip, which is being sponsored and organized by the Pacifica Institute.

Hope at Lambeth Palace

Akbar Ahmed *

The proximity to a great spiritual master is always inspiring. And perhaps there are few masters as eminent as the archbishop of Canterbury.

Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, addresses the theology think tank Theos in London on Oct. 1, 2012.  (REUTERS)

On Oct. 8, 2012, my daughter Amineh Hoti and I had been invited to participate in what was probably the last major public event of the Most Rev. Rowan Williams during his ten-year engagement with Muslims as the archbishop of Canterbury. The event was held at Lambeth Palace, the archbishop’s London residence. The who’s who of Britain was there including the archbishops of Wales and Ireland, several bishops and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first-ever female chairman of the Tory Party. Also present was my dear friend James Shera, MBE, a Pakistani Christian, the first Pakistani mayor of Rugby and the only Pakistani in the United Kingdom with a road named after him.

Whatever Your Religion, We Are All One Family

Rev. Ed Bacon

A couple of years ago, my church invited a local physician to come talk to our congregation. Aisha is a practicing Muslim.

During her talk, in a soft and patient voice, Aisha explained the pillars of Islam and why Muslims pray five times a day. She said, "Because we kneel and touch our heads all the way to the floor when we pray, for us practicing Muslims that is symbolic of the kind of God-consciousness we are trying to form within us -- that of being a servant to God."