California-based parachurch organization that finds, trains, deploys and supports church planters. Began as the Northern California Evangelistic Association. It aims at a “church multiplication movement” through regional networks of church planters. It is affiliated with the nondenominational Christian Churches and Churches of Christ movements. Stadia’s goal is to build 5,500 new churches by 2025.

The Pacific Justice Institute is a nonprofit legal defense organization that specializes in religious and civil liberties cases. Its president is Brad Dacus. The institute is based in Sacramento, Calif.

The North American Religious Liberty Association advocates a “broad interpretation” of the Free Exercise Clause and supports religious freedom. It is based in Simi Valley, Calif. Alvin Kibble is its president.

The Alliance for the Separation of School and State is a nonprofit working to remove government involvement in public school education. It is based in Clovis, Calif. Alan Schaeffer is its president.

Stephen Bainbridge is a professor of law at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has written about the Roman Catholic bishop in Colorado Springs who sent out a church letter saying Catholics should not receive communion if they voted for politicians who supported abortion rights.

Bill Aiken is director of public affairs for Soka Gakkai International-USA, an American Buddhist association based in Santa Monica, California, that opposed the “Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005.”

Star Parker, founder of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education in Los Angeles, has expressed concerns about faith-based initiatives headed up by the government. Read a 2005 Agape Press interview posted by Crosswalk.com.

Rebecca Sager is an assistant professor of sociology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She wrote Faith, Politics, and Power: The Politics of Faith-Based Initiatives (Oxford, 2010).

Phillip Johnson is a retired professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley. After converting to Christianity, Johnson wrote two books on evolution and naturalistic philosophy for the general reader, one of which is Darwin on Trial, which is largely credited as founding the idea of intelligent design.