Read the federal government’s report on preliminary births data for 2006. It says that the birth rate for teens rose in 2006 – the first increase since 1991. This is the full report by the National Center for Health Statistics is also available. The 2006 increase came on the heels of a record low set […]

Cheryl Kirk-Duggan is a professor of theology and women’s studies at the Shaw University Divinity School in Raleigh, N.C. She can discuss the current celebration of Kwanzaa in black communities and congregations in the South.

Written by Randall Balmer (Basic Books, 2006). Balmer, an evangelical Christian, writes about what he believes has been the hijacking of the Christian faith on behalf of the Republican Party.

A report from the national Center for Health Statistics that includes figures on sexual behavior among U.S. teens. It says, among other things, that 25 percent of 15-year-old boys have had vaginal intercourse, and the figure jumps to 62 percent for 18-year-old males. The corresponding figures for girls were 26 percent and 70 percent, respectively.

Written by David Kuo (Free Press, 2006). Kuo, who served as George W. Bush’s deputy director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, discusses his path of disillusionment as he tried to blend faith and politics in the Bush White House.

Akinyele Umoja is a professor of African-American studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He attributes the popularity of Kwanzaa to its nonreligious nature.

Jan. 20, 2012, Seattle Post Intelligencer article about myriad accusations of hypocrisy leveled against then-candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination Newt Gingrich over his touting of family values while failing to live by similar standards in his personal life.

Ama Mazama is a professor in the African-American studies department at Temple University in Philadelphia. She wrote a book about Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa ou la Célébration du Génie Africain, that was published in France in 2006.

Maulana Karenga is the founder of the holiday Kwanzaa. Karenga is a professor of black studies at California State University in Long Beach.