Read a May 1, 2009, column in The New York Times, “Does God Want You to Be Bankrupt?,” about the approaches of different faith traditions to debt.

Read an August 28, 2012, article at ChristianityToday.com analyzing the results of a poll analyzing the effects the recession had on churches’ budgets.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bishop Carlton Pearson is senior pastor of New Dimensions Worship Center in Chicago, a Pentecostal Christian church.