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.

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 […]

Valerie Jenness is a professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine. She is the co-author of two books on hate crimes, including Making Hate a Crime: From Social Movement to Law Enforcement.

Carmen Sirianni is the Morris Hillquit Professor of Labor and Social Thought at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. He is an expert on the role social networks play in youth civic engagement.

Christopher Marsh is director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The institute works to advance religious liberty in the United States and around the world. Marsh’s research interests include religion and violence.