The Cultural Cup Food Bank in Phoenix serves needy people who have religious or health dietary restrictions. It was founded by Zarinah Awad, a Muslim, but serves the wider community. Contact through the website.

Muslim Community Services of San Diego provides social and educational services in the area.

Islamic Relief USA is a California-based international Islamic nonprofit agency founded in 1984. It operates projects in education and training, water and sanitation, income generation, orphan support, health and nutrition, and emergency relief in foreign countries and in the U.S. It has a four-star rating from Charity Navigator.

Helping Hand USA is an Islamic global humanitarian relief and development organization that focuses on Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Kenya and Iraq. Its American office is in Detroit.

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.

Alicia McNary Forsey is a research professor at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Calif. She authored an essay, “Attitudes About Money in Theological Schools.”

Gregory Schopen is a professor of South Asian Buddhism in the department of Asian languages and cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has written on the role of money in Buddhism, especially in India.

Michael David Bonner is a professor of Near Eastern studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He has written on money and Islam, including the entry “Wealth” in the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an.

Roger J. Nemeth is a sociology professor at Hope College in Holland, Mich. He has written about finances and congregations, including an essay, “The Religious Basis of Charitable Giving in America: A Social Capital Perspective” for the volume Religion, Social Capital and Democratic Life.