This Feb. 27, 2014, NBC News story explores how the battleground is growing over religious liberty and gay rights.

According to a survey released in June 2013 by the Pew Research Center, 51 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, and nearly three out of four people think legal recognition of it is inevitable.

Read a March 5, 2014, story in Our Sunday Visitor about resources the Catholic Church offers to help parents and parishes prepare special-needs children for the sacraments.

This Nov. 1, 2013, fact sheet by the Public Religion Research Institute provides data from its research on Americans’ views on gay and lesbian issues, including whether such matters should be decided at the state or federal level.

Joseph La Rue serves as legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which describes itself as “an alliance-building legal ministry that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.” He is based in the organization’s Scottsdale, Ariz., headquarters. The alliance supported the measure approved in February 2014 by the Arizona Legislature to […]

Read a Feb. 21, 2014, New York Times story about Arizona legislation that would let business owners use religious objections as justification for refusing service to gay couples.

Read a Jan. 16, 2014, statement on human trafficking that’s signed by the Catholic bishops of New Jersey and posted by the Catholic Star Herald.

View an Aug. 16, 2013, segment from Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly about how a trend of aborting female fetuses has led to a shortage of young women in India. Some observers say the situation has resulted in human trafficking to meet men’s desire for brides.

Lisa Williams overcame years of childhood sexual abuse and other trauma and is now executive director of Living Water for Girls, a residential haven she founded in 2007 that provides education and therapeutic assistance to girls escaping prostitution and the street life. She lives in Georgia.