Read an April 16, 2010, column on the controversy in The New York Times by Samuel G. Freedman, titled “Call and Response on the State of the Black Church.”

Terence J. Fay is a lecturer on the History of Religion at the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. He is an expert on the history of Catholicism.

Douglas Pratt is a Professor of Religious Studies in the department of Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Ethics at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. His areas of expertise include Christianity, Islam, Christian-Muslim relations, interreligious dialogue, and religious issues such as pluralism, fundamentalism and extremism.

Eileen Barker is a professor emeritus in the sociology department at the University of London. She studies minority religions, including cults, sects and New Religious Movements, and relevant social conditions.

Read a Nov. 30, 2011, article from Christianity Today wondering if he should tone down his public expressions of faith to avoid alienating people.

Read an article posted at Crosswalk.com comparing Tim Tebow to the great Depression-era racehorse Seabiscuit.

At CNN, Tom Krattenmaker, author of the book Onward Christian Athletes, wrote that Jim Tressel’s fall “should make us rethink sports evangelization.”

Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel resigned in May 2011 after a series of sordid revelations about the program that he led, often citing his Christian faith as inspiration. Read about Tressel’s resignation in a May 30, 2011, article from Espn.

Read a Jan. 31, 2012, essay on sports and religion by David Briggs, posted on the Ahead of the Trend blog on the Association of Religion Data Archives website.