Written by John Danforth (Viking Adult, 2006). Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri and an ordained Episcopalian minister, speaks out against the conflation of political agendas with religious views and the religious right’s focus on wedge issues.

Written by Gregory A. Boyd (Zondervan, 2006). Boyd, a theologian and pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., discusses his worry over the growing alignment of Christianity and the right-wing ideology of the Republican Party.

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.

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.