Christine Sierra is an emeritus professor of political science at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she also is the director of the Southwest Hispanic Research Institute.

Michael J. Naughton teaches courses on faith and work in the Catholic studies department at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He also directs the university’s Center for Catholic Studies. Naughton has written numerous books and articles on business culture, vocation and Christian social principles.

Read an essay by Melissa Harris Lacewell ( Harris-Perry)posted on the Martin Marty Center website about African-American religion and its relationship to politics and voting.

The Christian Legal Society is a nonprofit Christian organization headquartered in Virginia that consists of lawyers, judges, law professors and law students. Its members are bound to follow the “commandment of Jesus” and to “seek justice with the love of God.”

John G. West Jr. is a senior fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute. He co-edited the book The Theology of Welfare (University Press of America, 2000).

Pamela K. Brubaker is professor emeritus of religion at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. She wrote the article “Making Women and Children Matter: Feminist Ethics Confronts Welfare Policy” for the Journal of Poverty (1999) and the book Women Don’t Count: The Challenge of Women’s Poverty to Christian Ethics (Scholars Press, 1994). [email protected]

David Sikkink is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He wrote the article “Who Gives to the Poor? The Role of Religious Tradition and Political Location on the Personal Generosity of Americans Toward the Poor” for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (1998).

Warren R. Copeland is professor of religion at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. He wrote the book And the Poor Get Welfare: The Ethics of Poverty in the United States (Abingdon Press, 1994).

Mark A. Chaves is professor of sociology at Duke University in Durham, N.C. He is an expert on religious organizations in the United States and leads the National Congregations Study.