Orit Bashkin is an assistant professor of modern Middle Eastern Studies at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. She is an expert on the political and religious history of Iraq.

Read poll data on religion and politics from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Khaled Helmy is a visiting professor in the political science department at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he teaches a course in the comparative politics of the Middle East.

PollingReport.com offers a collection of polls on Americans’ opinions on politics and religion.

Najib Ghadbian is an assistant professor of political science and Middle East studies at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Ghadbian’s research interests include political currents and media in the Arab world, Islamic movements, Syrian politics, and domestic and international politics in the Arabian/Persian Gulf.

Leonardo A. Villalón is an associate professor of political science at the University of Florida in Gainesville and director of its Center for African Studies. He is at work on a project for the Carnegie Corporation of New York titled “Negotiating Democracy in Muslim Contexts: Political Liberalization and Religious Mobilization in the West African Sahel.” He […]

Read a Sept 24, 2008 LifeWay research report on how the U.S. public feels about political endorsements by religious leaders. When U.S. citizens were posed the statement “I believe it is appropriate for churches to publicly endorse candidates for public office,” 59 percent of participants strongly disagreed.

Michael Peletz is an anthropology professor at Emory University in Atlanta. He is an expert on Islam and politics in Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia.

David Gilmartin is a history professor at North Carolina State University and director of its Center for South Asia Studies. He can discuss the politics in Pakistan. He is in Raleigh, N.C.