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.

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

Senior writer and editor for the Family Research Council.  Her previous jobs have included serving as communications director for the Best Friends Foundation, an inner-city abstinence program.

Roberta Combs is president of the Christian Coalition, a political action organization that describes itself as “pro-family.” According to news releases on its website, the coalition has several times agreed with statements made by Mitt Romney.

Sarah Barringer Gordon is a professor of constitutional law and history at the University of Pennsylvania. She specializes in church-state conflicts and American religious history. She is the author of The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America and The Spirit of the Law: Religious Voices and the Constitution in Modern America. 

A program of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force that works to encourage inclusiveness by faith communities. It lists “welcoming churches” and “welcoming seminaries.” The Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, a United Church of Christ minister, is program director for the institute, which is based in Minneapolis.

Gayle Ruzicka is president of Utah Eagle Forum, which supports state legislation to necessitate parental permission for student participation in school clubs.

Toby Jenkins is the executive director of Oklahomans for Equality, based in Tulsa, Okla. The organization seeks equal rights for the LGBT community.

Phil Burress is president of Citizens for Community Values, which has offices in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. Read the CCV report “The Legal Liability Associated with Homosexuality Education in Public Schools.”