Todd Stiefel is a secular humanist, atheist and full-time freethought activist whose mission is “to gain respect for freethinkers and ensure the complete separation of church and state.” He is founder and president of the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, based in Raleigh, N.C., and a trustee of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Stiefel also serves on […]

Edwin Kagin is national legal director for American Atheists and co-founder of Camp Quest, the first residential summer camp for children of secular parents. He and his wife, Helen Kagin (the other co-founder), served as the original camp’s directors from 1996 until 2005. Helen Kagin died in February 2010. Edwin Kagin is the author of Baubles of Blasphemy (2nd […]

The African American Ministers in Action is a leadership program under People for the American Way. This program works to create justice and peace for struggling communities in the U.S. to create freedom and opportunity for all.

What may houses of worship do to advance political causes or candidates? By Ira Rifkin Freelance Writer The Church at Pierce Creek was a non-denominational, conservative Protestant congregation outside Binghamton, N.Y., until the Internal Revenue Service revoked its tax-exempt status for sponsoring a 1992 newspaper ad attacking then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s stands on abortion and […]

A 2009 Pew Forum report on restrictions on religion around the world found that Egypt is among the countries with the highest government restrictions on religion.

Read a Feb. 1, 2013, column at the Patheos website about the tension between Christian dominance and religious freedom in America.

What are the laws regarding how churches and religious institutions comply with government guidelines? By Charles Austin The Record* Because the phrase, “freedom of religion,” is a beloved mantra of American democracy, the relationship between religion and civil authority is one of the most complicated and misunderstood aspects of modern life. In fact, religion in […]

Betty A. DeBerg is a religion professor and head of the department of philosophy and religion at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. She is a co-author of Religion on Campus (University of North Carolina Press, 2003) and is co-director of the National Campus Ministry Project.

Steve Hays is an associate professor in the department of classics and world religions at Ohio University in Athens. With funding from the Ford Foundation, he is helping to develop a Difficult Dialogues Concerning Race and Religion program.