Charles M. North, associate professor of economics at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, has written about the links between religion and economic growth. He co-wrote the 2008 book Good Intentions: Nine Hot Button Issues Viewed Through the Eyes of Faith.

Barry Kosmin directs the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He has conducted polls on religion and society in the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Linda Kintz is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Oregon in Eugene. She co-edited the book Media, Culture and the Religious Right (University of Minnesota Press, 1998).

Stewart M. Hoover is a professor of journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is an expert on religion and popular culture, focusing on how many people use popular culture to make sense of life in a way religion once was used.

Michael L. Budde is chairman of the political science department at DePaul University in Chicago and a frequent lecturer on religious studies. Budde can discuss the growth of churches that believe in miracles.

William D. Romanowski is a professor of communication arts and sciences at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He wrote Pop Culture Wars: Religion and the Role of Entertainment in American Life and Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture.

John P. Ferré is associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. His focus is on media, religion and culture. He is the editor of Channels of Belief: Religion and American Commercial Television (Iowa State University Press, 1990).

Andrew M. Manis is associate professor of American religious history at Macon State College in Georgia. He has written on Christian evangelicals and the culture wars, including the section “Protestants: From Denominational Controversialists to Culture Warriors” for the book Religion and Public Life in the Southern Crossroads Region: The Showdown States (AltaMira Press, 2004).