Read an outline of African-American Muslim history from On Common Ground: World Religions in America (Columbia University Press, 2002). It’s reprinted on the Pluralism Project’s website.

Steven M. Sheeley is a former professor of religion at Shorter College in Rome, Ga., and currently vice president with the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. He co-authored two books on English Bible translation.

Read an excerpt of Taylor Branch’s book Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65 (Simon and Schuster, 1998) about the break between W. Deen Mohammed and his father, Elijah Muhammad, one of the founders of the Nation of Islam. It’s posted on Beliefnet.com.

Dr. David Stevens is chief executive officer of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the nation’s largest faith-based organization for doctors. It is based in Bristol, Tenn.

Read a Beliefnet.com article about W. Deen Mohammed’s decision to step down as head of the American Society of Muslims.

Allen P. Ross is Beeson Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Beeson Divinity School at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. He was a member of the team that reviewed the ESV Bible translation.

Ray Van Neste is assistant professor of Christian studies and director of the R.C. Ryan Center for Biblical Studies at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.

Laurie Maffly-Kipp is an associate professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She edited the Penguin Classics edition American Scriptures and can talk about the role of the King James Bible in American religious history.

Executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, a lobbying group dedicated to promoting Bible-based values in the nation’s laws.