Read a March 23, 2011, Religion News Service article describing the steady incline of donations as the economic recession diminishes.

Read a March 22, 2012, Religion News Service article about how churches were affected by the recession.

Cliff Zukin is a political science professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. His research interests include public opinion, mass media & American politics, survey research and research methods.

Scott Keeter is the director of survey research at the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press in Washington, D.C. He co-wrote the book The Diminishing Divide: Religion’s Changing Role in American Politics.

Read an October 28, 2009, story on CNN.com about President Obama signing a bill that makes it a crime to assault someone based on their sexuality or gender.

Constance Flanagan is a professor of interdisciplinary at the University of Wisconsin. Her research concerns youth civic development, the transition to adulthood and opportunities for civic participation. She can discuss the role family and personal values play in the development of young people’s political views.

Shane Claiborne is a Philadelphia-based Christian activist and author. He is a co-founder of Red Letter Christians, a Christian group that focuses on people at the economic and social margins.

Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer is senior pastor-teacher of Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood., Calif. Most of the more than 13,000 members of his congregation are single. The church has a You Are Not Alone single parent ministry. In 2011, he was named as a member of the commission for Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).

Denise Eger is the rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, Calif. She is a well-known activist, most specifically with organizations devoted to fighting AIDS as well as on LGBT issues. The synagogue’s religious school has LGBT students and children of LGBT parents, and the rabbi runs a teen support group at the synagogue twice a […]