At the May 2009 Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life, Francis S. Collins, the former director of the Human Genome Project, discussed why he believes religion and science are compatible. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, the religion correspondent for National Public Radio, discussed how the brain reacts to spiritual experiences.

Two of the largest Baptist denominations in the U.S. - the Southern Baptist Convention and the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. - will hold national meetings in late June. A graphic based on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey illustrates the size of the Baptist population compared with other major religious faiths in the U.S.

Early summer is a traditional season for wedding ceremonies in the U.S. A graphic based on data from the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey looks at the phenomenon of religiously mixed marriages.

Could religious individuals and institutions that oppose gay marriage be required to recognize or even solemnize these unions? Robert W. Tuttle and Ira "Chip" Lupu discuss how some states are trying to reconcile conflicts between the legalization of gay marriage and the free exercise of religion.

Some of the nation's leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in May 2009 for the Pew Forum's biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Wilfred McClay, a historian specializing in American intellectual history, offered an introduction to the work of Reinhold Niebuhr, the 20th-century Protestant theologian whose unique form of progressive Christianity continues to influence American politics and international affairs. E.J. Dionne, columnist for The Washington Post, remarked on the recent revival of interest in Niebuhr's work.

The Roundtable on Religion & Social Welfare Policy has released a report exploring the character, depth and scale of the Bush administration's Faith-Based and Community Initiative. The report also looks ahead to President Barack Obama's approach to continuing service partnerships between the government and religious groups. Read the report at religionandsocialpolicy.org »

On June 17-19, hundreds of Hispanic evangelical church leaders will participate in the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. A graphic based on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey finds that Hispanic evangelicals, like other evangelicals, are more likely to pray every day than the population overall.

A new report explores the debate over whether and how the government should fund faith-based institutions such as religious schools and charities. The analysis is the latest in an ongoing series called "The Pillars of Church-State Law."