Rodney Stark is the author of The Rise of Mormonism, a collection of essays. He is Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Stark has frequently delved into the historical aspects of Christian origins, in books such as The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History and Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity […]

Noah Feldman is a professor at Harvard Law School whose specialties include the relationship between law and religion. He gave the keynote address, “Persecution and the Art of Secrecy: An Interpretation of the Mormon Encounter with American Politics,” at a 2007 conference on Mormonism and American politics. He also wrote a July 22, 2007, essay in The New […]

Damon M. Cann, an assistant professor of political science at Utah State University in Logan, conducted a 2008 study titled “Religious Identification and Legislative Voting: The Mormon Case,” in which he concludes that Mormon representatives are no more unified in their voting behavior than any randomly selected set of legislators.

David A. Bositis is a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C., that focuses on public policy issues of concern to African-Americans. He runs the center’s National Opinion Poll, which samples African-Americans as well as the general population. He is a source for statistics […]

A story on President Bush’s proposal of $1.9 billion in aid to students affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The Rev. Harry Knox is president and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a national community of religious and spiritual people, denominations and organizations from all faith traditions dedicated to achieving reproductive justice. The coalition includes initiatives directed at African-American and Hispanic congregations. Knox was previously a member of the religion council of […]

Read the government’s past updates on its “Hurricane Help for Schools” program (the site is no longer updated past August 2006). Private schools and religious schools are eligible for aid.

Ilyse Hogue is president of the Proactive Policy Institute of NARAL Pro-Choice America, formerly the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

Carol Tobias is political director of the National Right to Life Committee in Washington, D.C.