HIAS, whose initial commitment to rescuing and resettling Jews worldwide now extends to other refugees and immigrants, has helped 4.5 million people since 1881.

When Brin's family left the Soviet Union 30 years ago, HIAS provided them with tickets, living expenses and visas that made possible their resettlement in Maryland. This weekend, accepting the gift from Google's co-founder, HIAS's director noted that Brin's story reminds Americans of the valuable contributions made by immigrants and refugees. And, one might add, the religious groups that serve them.

Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo makes that point in God's Heart Has No Borders: How Religious Activists are Working for Immigrant Rights.  Her study shows religious workers in human rights struggles that cross-cut religious, ethnic and racial ties. Peggy Levitt makes a different point in God Needs No Passport. Examining how immigrants use new media technologies to maintain strong ties to religious communities in their homelands, Levitt describes the impact of these new global allegiances on American notions of diversity. Looking at religion more up close and personal, Jacqueline Maria Hagan explores its role in the journeys of undocumented migrants. Her Migration Miracle: Faith, Hope and Meaning on the Undocumented Journey illustrates how religion is a key resource during life-threatening odysseys.

I mention these books since each comes at the religion and immigration story from a different angle that could be mined for shorter articles. Likewise, American journalists could take a look at how religion and immigration plays out in Europe for ideas about what's happening, or not, here. Denmark's Muslims hope to build their first mosque, France is considering a ban on burkas and Germany will soon be home to a sharia bank. Have religious immigrants brought similar architectural, cultural and social changes to the U.S.? These stories are evergreen, evolving and always waiting to be told.

Diane Winston