Ray Takeyh is Hasib J. Sabbagh senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). His areas of specialization are Iran, U.S. foreign policy and the modern Middle East. Prior to joining CFR, he served as senior advisor on Iran at the State Department and was a fellow at Yale University, […]

In this guide, we offer background, resources, relevant stories and expert sources to help you better cover the religion angle on the current conflict and what it might mean in the wake of the latest war in the Middle East.

This guide offers reporters the tools to navigate the topic of religious persecution at home and abroad, offering background, resources, tips, suggestions and expert sources for your next story.

Erika Gault is Director of the Center for the Study of African American Religious Life and the Lilly Endowment Curator of African American Religious History at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and  Culture. Her work focuses on the intersection of religious history, technology and urban black life in post-industrial America.

The Center for the Study of African American Religious Life (CSAARL) is part of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Media inquiries, interview requests, and press passes for the center should be directed through the NMAAHC Office of Public Affairs.

Lutherans for Racial Justice (LRJ) is a grassroots coalition committed to fostering multiethnic church and school cultures, as well as racial equity, justice and healing within The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). The founders are Matthew Ryan González and Joshua Salzberg.

Donna Auston is an anthropologist, writer, and public intellectual whose body of work focuses on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, protest and social movements, media representation and Islam in America. She is the Senior Program Officer at the Wenner-Gren Foundation in New York.

Michael Muhammad Knight is a scholar, author and gonzo journalist whose work covers Islamic studies, American Islam, hadith literature, gender studies, race and theories of the body.

Adelle M. Banks is the projects editor and a national reporter for RNS, covering topics including religion and race, the faith of African Americans and partnerships between government and religious groups. An award-winning journalist, Banks joined RNS in 1995. She previously was the religion reporter at the Orlando Sentinel and a reporter at The Providence […]