As the 2008 election
campaigns accelerate, ReligionLink offers an extensive guide to experts on religion
and politics, from issues, including abortion and church politicking, to faith
and ethnic groups.
Click
the map for interview sources
in your state and region
National
Sources
• Randall
Balmer is Ann Whitney Olin Professor of American Religion at Barnard College,
Columbia University in New York. His numerous books include, as author, Thy
Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America
— An Evangelical's Lament. Contact 212-854-3292, rb281@columbia.edu.
• Michele
Dillon is a sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
She has written on the issue of abortion and Catholics, and on the connection
between Catholic identity and behavior. She also explores attitudes among rural
Americans, particularly regional differences, regarding gays, abortion and other
issues. She wrote Catholic Identity: Balancing Reason, Faith and Power
and, with Paul Wink, co-authored the 2007 book In the Course of a Lifetime:
Tracing Religious Belief, Practiceand Change. Read an overview
of the latest book. Contact 603-862-2925, michele.dillon@unh.edu.
• John
Green is director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute
of Applied Politics and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at
the University of Akron in Ohio. He is also a senior fellow in religion and
American politics at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Green is one
of the foremost experts on religion and politics. Contact 330-972-5182 or 202-419-4588,
green@uakron.edu.
• Ted
G. Jelen is a political science professor at the University of Nevada Las
Vegas. He follows religion and politics, including the participation of the
Catholic Church and the role abortion politics plays. His many books include,
as co-editor, The One, the Few and the Many: Religion and Politics in Comparative
Perspective. Contact 702-895-3355, jelent@unlv.nevada.edu.
• M.A.
Muqtedar Khan is an assistant professor of political science and international
relations at the University of Delaware, and his interests include Islamic political
thought. His books include American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom
and, due in July 2007, Beyond Jihad and Crusade: A New Framework for U.S.
Policy in the Muslim World. Contact 302-831-1939, mkhan@udel.edu.
• Barbara
A. McGraw, professor of business administration at St. Mary’s College of
California in Moraga, chairs the religion,
politics and state unit of the American Academy of Religion. She wrote Rediscovering
America's Sacred Ground: Public Religion and Pursuit of the Good in a Pluralistic
America and co-edited Taking Religious Pluralism Seriously: Spiritual
Politics on America's Sacred Ground. Contact 925-631-4061, bmcgraw@stmarys-ca.edu.
• Laura
Olson is a political science professor at Clemson University in Clemson,
S.C. Olson has studied the role of clergy in politics, and her books include,
as co-author, Women With a Mission: Gender, Religion and the Politics of
Women Clergy, and, as author, Filled With Spirit and Power: Protestant
Clergy in Politics. She says women clergy are overwhelmingly politically
liberal, and they vote for Democratic candidates and hold liberal positions
on most issues. She says some politically conservative women clergy can be found
in rural areas and in evangelical Protestant traditions. Contact 864-656-1457,
laurao@clemson.edu.
• Political
scientist Michael
Leo Owens studies the intersection of politics, religion and social welfare,
especially black church involvement in government programs. He is an assistant
professor in the political science department and a faculty associate of the
Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University in Atlanta. He
is author of the 2007 book God and Government in the Ghetto: The Politics
of Church-State Collaboration in Black America and numerous articles and
essays on faith-based community development and political mobilization by congregations
in the United States. Contact 404-727-9322 (office), 404-727-6572 (department),
michael.leo.owens@emory.edu.
• The
Rev. Thomas J. Reese is a Jesuit priest and former editor in chief of America
magazine. He writes and comments widely on Catholics and politics. He is a senior
research fellow at the Woodstock Theological
Center at Georgetown University. Read a news
release. He wrote Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of
the Catholic Church. Contact 202-687-3532, TR89@georgetown.edu.
• Mark J. Rozell
is a professor of public policy at George Mason University in Arlington, Va.,
and his research includes conservative Christian politics. His books include,
as co-editor, The Values Vote? The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections,
and the 2007 releases Religion and the American Presidency and Religion
and the Bush Presidency. Contact 703-993-8171, mrozell@gmu.edu.
• Corwin
Smidt is directing a study surveying clergy about political participation.
He is a political science professor at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.,
and executive director of the Henry Institute for the Study
of Christianity and Politics. He is studying religion’s role in promoting
civic responsibility, evangelicals within American electoral politics, clergy
and politics, and Pentecostals and charismatics. His books include,
as editor, Pulpit and Politics: Clergy in American Politics at the Advent
of the Millennium and The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Protestant Clergy.
Contact 616-526-6233, smid@calvin.edu.
• Clyde
Wilcox is a government professor at Georgetown University in Washington,
D.C. He specializes in electoral behavior and public opinion and can comment
on the Catholic vote, abortion, gay rights, church-state issues and other issues
involving religion and politics. His books include, as co-author, The Values
Campaign? The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections. Contact 202-687-5273,
wilcoxc@georgetown.edu.
• John
Witte Jr. is professor of law and ethics and directs the Center for the
Study of Law and Religion at Emory University, Atlanta. His books include, as
editor, the two-volume The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics
& Human Nature. Contact 404-727-6980, jwitte@law.emory.edu.
• David
A. Bositis is 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 on African-Americans, churches and politics. Contact
through the center’s media office, 202-789-6366, media@jointcenter.org.
• Allison Calhoun-Brown
is an associate professor of political science and director of graduate studies
at Georgia State University. She has written numerous scholarly articles on
topics concerning African-Americans and Christianity, evangelicalism, churches
and politics. Contact 404-651-4842 (office), 404-651-3152 (department), polacb@panther.gsu.edu.
• Michael
I.N. Dash is professor of ministry and context at the Interdenominational Theological
Center, Atlanta. He co-directed the ITC/Faith Factor Project 2000 study, which
focused on African-American congregations and is part of Hartford Seminary’s
Faith Communities Today project. Read a 2001
Religion News Service story posted by Beliefnet. Contact 404-527-7700, mdash@itc.edu.
• Michael
O. Emerson is director of the Center on Race,
Religion and Urban Life and is a sociology professor at Rice University
in Houston. He has written several books on race and religion, including
People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States and
Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America.
Contact 713-348-4448, moe@rice.edu.
• Fredrick
C. Harris is a political science professor at the University of Rochester,
where he directs the Center for
the Study of African-American Politics and the Frederick Douglass
Institute for African and African-American Studies. Among books he has
written are Something Within: Religion in African-American Political Activism
and (with R. Drew Smith) Black Churches and Local Politics: Clergy Influence,
Organizational Partnerships, and Civic Empowerment. Contact 585-275-4735
or 585-273-5346, fredrick.harris@rochester.edu.
• Melissa Harris Lacewell
is associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton
University and author of Barbershops, Bibles and BET: Everyday Talk and
Black Political Thought. Contact 609-258-9171, lacewell@princeton.edu.
• Lawrence
H. Mamiya co-wrote The Black Church in the African American Experience,
a 1990 book about their 10-year survey of some 1,900 ministers and 2,100 churches.
Mamiya is professor of religion at Vassar College outside of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
He’s a widely recognized expert on African-American religion in general and
on the Nation of Islam. Contact 845-437-5522, mamiya@vassar.edu.
• R.
Drew Smith directs the Public
Influences of African-American Churches project, which surveyed some 1,900
ministers nationally. He is scholar-in-residence at the Leadership Center at
Morehouse College in Atlanta. He is a Baptist minister and political scientist.
He has studied and written about black megachurches and has edited four volumes
on American religion and public life, including New Day Begun: African American
Churches and Civic Culture in Post-Civil Rights America. Contact 404-614-8565,
rsmith@morehouse.edu.
• Ronald
Walters directs the African
American Leadership Institute and is Distinguished Leadership Scholar at
the James
MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership and professor of government and politics
at the University of Maryland. He worked on the Public Influences of African
American Churches project and has observed that the level of political engagement
in African-American churches is extremely high. His books include Freedom
Is Not Enough: Black Voters, Black Candidates and American Presidential Politics.
Contact 301-405-1787, rwalters@academy.umd.edu.
Asian-Americans
• Carolyn
Chen is assistant professor of sociology and Asian-American studies at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Ill. Contact cechen@northwestern.edu.
• Jane
Iwamura is an assistant professor of religion and of American studies and
ethnicity at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. She specializes
in Asian-American religions, race and popular culture. She co-edited Revealing
the Sacred in Asian & Pacific America. Contact 213-821-2851, iwamura@usc.edu.
• Russell
Jeung is an assistant professor of Asian-American studies at San Francisco State
University in San Francisco. He wrote the 2007 book Faithful Generations:
Race and New Asian American Churches. Contact 415-338-7586, rjeung@sfsu.edu.
• David
Kyuman Kim is assistant professor of religious studies at Connecticut College
in New London, where he directs the Center
for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity. He has researched the Asian-American
religious experience. Contact 860-439-5075, dkkim@conncoll.edu.
• Pyong
Gap Min is professor of sociology at Queens College in Flushing, N.Y. His
research interests include race and ethnic relations, ethnic identity, immigrant
religions and Asian-Americans. During the 2006-07 academic year, he is a visiting
scholar at Russell Sage Foundation. His books include, as editor, Asian Americans:
Contemporary Trends and Issues.
• Fumitaka
Matsuoka is Robert Gordon Sproul Professor of Theology of Pacific School
of Religion, Berkeley, Calif., where he is executive director of the Institute for Leadership
Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion. He is
an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren. He co-edited Realizing
the America of Our Hearts: Theological Voices of Asian Americans and wrote
Out of Silence: Emerging Themes in Asian American Churches. Contact 510-849-8209,
fmatsuoka@psr.edu.
• Fenggang
Yang is associate professor of sociology at Purdue University in Lafayette,
Ind. He co-edited Asian American Religions: The Making and Remaking of Borders
and Boundaries. Contact 765-494-2641, fyang@purdue.edu.
• David
K. Yoo is an associate professor of history at Claremont McKenna College in
Claremont, Calif. He edited New Spiritual Homes: Religion and Asian Americans.
Contact 909-607-2828, david.yoo@claremontmckenna.edu.
• Sister Mary
E. Bendyna is executive director and senior research associate for the Center
for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington,
D.C. She is an expert on the Catholic Church and religion and politics. Contact
202-687-0839, bendynam@georgetown.edu.
• William
V. D’Antonio is an adjunct professor of sociology at Catholic University of
America in Washington. He is a leading analyst of the changing roles of Catholic
laity in society and politics. His books include, as co-author, Laity: American
and Catholic, Transforming the Church. Contact 202-319-5911, dantonio@cua.edu.
• Thomas
J. Carty is assistant professor of history and political science at Springfield
College in Springfield, Mass., and author of A Catholic in the White House?
Religion, Politics and John F. Kennedy's Presidential Campaign. Contact
413-748-3646.
• John
J. DiIulio Jr. is a professor in the political science department at the
University of Pennsylvania. He is a Catholic and longtime Democrat who directed
the Bush administration’s faith-based program in 2001. He writes and comments
extensively on Catholics in political life. Contact powerjr@sas.upenn.edu.
• David
Leege is an emeritus professor of political science at Notre Dame University
and spends much of the year in Arizona. Leege is a leading expert on Catholic
voting patterns. Contact 520-399-9874, David.C.Leege.1@nd.edu.
• Timothy
P. Muldoon is director of The
Church in the 21st Century Center at Boston College, which has hosted a
number of seminars on Catholics in public life. Contact 617-552-8258, muldoont@bc.edu.
• David
J. O’Brien is a professor of Catholic studies at the College of the Holy Cross
in Worcester, Mass. He has written and commented widely about Catholics and
politics. Contact 508-793-2775, dobrien@holycross.edu.
• Stephen
F. Schneck is chairman of the department of politics and director of the Life
Cycle Institute at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., which
studies current public policies regarding Catholic social attitudes. Contact
202-319-5999 or 240-481-9534 (cell), schneck@cua.edu.
• U.S. Rep.
Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C., sponsored
the “Houses of Worship Free
Speech Restoration Act,” which would have amended the IRS code to state
that churches and other houses of worship will not lose their tax-exempt status
because of the "content, preparation or presentation of any homily, sermon,
teaching, dialectic or other presentation made during religious services or
gatherings." The bill stayed in committee in 2006 and was not voted on
by the House. Contact his media office, 202-225-3415.
• Bill
Aiken is director of public affairs for Soka Gakkai International-USA,
an American Buddhist association based in Santa Monica, Calif., that opposes
the “Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act.” Contact 301-346-0167, waiken@sgi-usa.org.
• The
American Center for Law and Justice
supports the “Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act.” Contact 757-226-2489.
• Leith
Anderson is head of the 30 million-member National
Association of Evangelicals. It supports the “Houses of Worship Free Speech
Restoration Act.” Contact 719-268-8214, president@nae.net.
• James
C. Dobson is founder, former president and chairman of the board for the conservative
group Focus on the Family. His group
supports the “Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act.” Contact Nima Reza,
719-548-4570, culturalissues@family.org.
• Robert
W. Edgar is general secretary of the National Council of Churches.
The group opposes the “Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act,” saying
it “endangers both the integrity of the electoral process and the historic American
concept of a prophetic religious community that explores issues from a moral
and spiritual perspective but carefully refrains from playing partisan politics.”
Contact director of media relations Daniel Webster, 212-870-2252, dwebster@nccusa.org.
• The
Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith
Alliance, favors federal hate crimes legislation and ending racial and religious
profiling, and opposes President Bush’s faith-based initiative. Contact
through William Blake, 202-639-6370, wblake@interfaithalliance.org.
• Richard
Land is president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics
& Religious Liberty Commission. He supports the “Houses of Worship Free
Speech Restoration Act.” Contact Jill Martin, 615-782-8401, jmartin@erlc.com.
• Rabbi
Daniel Lapin is president
of Toward Tradition – the American Alliance of Jews and Christians. The
organization builds bridges through shared biblical heritage and offers Torah-based
solutions to modern problems. The organization supports the “Houses of Worship
Free Speech Restoration Act.” Contact 206-236-3046 or 800-591-7579, mail@towardtradition.org.
• The
Rev. Barry Lynn is executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church
and State, which opposes church political activity – and the “Houses of
Worship Free Speech Restoration Act.” Contact Joe Conn, 202-466-3234, conn@au.org.
• Sue Crawford
is an associate professor of political science at Creighton University in Omaha,
Neb. She co-edited Christian Clergy in American Politics and co-authored
Women With a Mission: Gender, Religion and the Politics of Women Clergy.
She says studies in which she has participated found that only around 5 percent
of women clergy reported ever running for office. Women are more typically involved
in advocacy, campaigning, political education/awareness and civic and service
work than men. She says that most women clergy sampled were moderate to liberal
and that female mainline clergy tend to be more liberal than male mainline clergy.
Contact 402-280-2569, Crawford@creighton.edu.
• Melissa
Deckman is an associate professor of political science at Washington College
in Chestertown, Md. Her specialties include religion and politics and women
and politics. Her books include, as author, School Board Battles: The Christian
Right in Local Politics and, as co-author, Women With a Mission: Gender,
Religion and the Politics of Women Clergy. Contact 800-422-1782 ext. 7494,
mdeckman2@washcoll.edu.
• Adair T. Lummis
is a sociologist of religion and a faculty associate in research for the Hartford Institute for Religion
Research in Connecticut. Her specialties include women in church leadership.
Her books include, as co-author, Clergy Women: An Uphill Calling. She
says some data from a 2002 Episcopal study on which she worked indicate that
Episcopal clergywomen are significantly more active in a range of political/social
advocacy than Episcopal clergymen. Contact 860-509-9547, alummis@hartsem.edu.
• Religion
scholar
Barbara Brown Zikmund, who was Hartford Seminary president from 1990
to 2000, is a visiting professor at the Life
Cycle Institute at the Catholic University of America. Ordained in the United
Church of Christ, her books and research focus upon the role of women in
American religious life. She co-authored Clergy Women: An Uphill Calling.
Contact 202-537-0242, beebeezee@verizon.net
and zikmund@cua.edu.
• Madeleine
Albright, former U.S. secretary of state, is the author of The Mighty and
the Almighty: Reflections on America, God and World Affairs. She
founded the Albright Group LLC,
chairs the National Democratic
Institute for International Affairs, and teaches at the Georgetown School
of Foreign Service. Contact through Jamie Smith, Albright Group, 202-842-7222,
press@TheAlbrightGroupLLC.com.
• Michael
Cromartie is vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center
in Washington, D.C. His books include, as editor, Religion and Politics in
America: A Conversation and A Public Faith: Evangelicals and Civic Engagement.
Contact 202-715-3488, crom@eppc.org.
• E.J. Dionne
Jr. is a Washington Post columnist and a senior fellow for governance
studies at the Brookings Institution. His
books include, as co-editor, What’s God Got to Do With the American Experiment?
Read his July
21, 2006, column about the defeat of Ralph Reed. Contact kdavis@brookings.edu.
• Former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s most recent book
is Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our
Nation’s History and Future. Gingrich has a doctorate in history. Contact
Rick Tyler, 540-338-1250, ricktyler@newt.org.
• Richard
Land is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
of the Southern Baptist Convention. Barrett Duke is vice president for research
and public policy and director of the SBC’s Research Institute
of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Contact via Jill Martin, 615-782-8401,
jmartin@erlc.com.
• Former
Connecticut Gov. John G.
Rowland, who served 10 months in federal prison on a corruption charge,
is a motivational speaker. Read an Associated
Press report, posted July 2, 2006, by The Boston Globe. Contact
203-758-1117, jgr@jgrowland.com.
• Joseph Telushkin is
a rabbi and author of Jewish Literacy, and A Code of Jewish Ethics, The
Book of Jewish Values: A Day-by-Day Guideto Ethical Living and The
Ten Commandments of Character: Essential Advice for Living an Honorable, Ethical,
Honest Life. He is also a columnist on ethics for Beliefnet.com. Contact
joseph.telushkin@josephtelushkin.com.
• James
E. Winkler is general secretary for the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society.
Part of the GBCS’ mission is to promote “personal, social and civic righteousness.”
Contact 202-488-5629, jwinkler@umc-gbcs.org.
• The
Rev. J. Philip Wogaman, who recently concluded a stint as interim president
and visiting professor of Christian ethics at Iliff School of Theology, is a
United Methodist minister who was pastor in Washington, D.C., to President and
Mrs. Clinton. His books include Christian Perspectives on Politics: Revised
and Expanded and From the Eye of the Storm: A Pastor to the President
Speaks Out. Contact 202-363-3093, jpwogaman@aol.com.
• Richard
Cizik is vice president for government affairs at the National
Association of Evangelicals. Contact 202-789-1011, rcizik@nae.net.
• Kimberly
Conger is an assistant professor of political science at Iowa State University
in Ames. She has studied the influence of religious conservatives in state Republican
parties, and she presented a paper titled “Evangelicals:
Outside the Beltway” at a 2003 seminar at the Center for the Study of Religion
in Public Life at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. She contributed to chapters
in The Values Campaign? The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections. Contact
515-294-3403, conger@iastate.edu.
• James
L. Guth is a political science professor at Furman University in Greenville,
S.C. He has written widely on the emergence of Christian conservatives and can
discuss the relationship between Catholics and evangelicals in key Southern
states. Contact 864-294-2210, jim.guth@furman.edu.
• Barry
G. Hankins is a history professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He
is an expert on Christian conservatives and their interaction with American
culture. Contact 254-710-4667, Barry_Hankins@baylor.edu.
• Peter
Kuzmic is the Eva B. and Paul E. Toms Distinguished Professor of World Missions
and European Studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton,
Mass. He can comment on a range of issues related to evangelicalism. He is one
of 40 evangelical leaders who signed a 2002 letter urging President Bush to
balance his Middle East policy in favor of Palestinians as well as Israelis.
Contact him through Anne Doll, 978-468-7111 ext. 4141, adoll@gcts.edu.
• Mark
Noll is Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre
Dame, and specializes in the intersection of religion and politics. He is co-founder
of the Institute for the Study of
American Evangelicals at Wheaton College and author of American Evangelical
Christianity: An Introduction. Contact 574-631-7574, Mark.Noll.8@nd.edu.
• Ron
Sider is president of Evangelicals
for Social Action, based in Wynnewood, Pa., which promotes Christian engagement,
analysis and understanding of major social, cultural and public policy issues.
Contact 610-645-9354, ronsider@esa-online.org.
• The Hindu American
Foundation is a nondenominational human rights organization that works with
governments, media, think tanks, academia and the public on issues of concern
to Hindus around the world. It is based in Tampa, Fla., and the president is
Dr. Mihir Meghani. Contact 301-770-7835 or 877-281-2838.
• Vasudha
Narayanan is a professor of religion at the University of Florida in Gainesville,
where she directs the nation’s first Center
for the Study of Hindu Traditions. Contact 352-392-1625, vasu@ufl.edu.
• John
A. García teaches political science at the University of Arizona. He wrote
Latino Politics in America: Community, Culture and Interests. Contact
520-621-7095, jag@email.arizona.edu.
• Gastón
Espinosais assistant professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. He is an expert on religion and politics. He has written on the history of religion and the presidency, race, religion, pluralism and the American presidency, religion and the presidency of Bill Clinton, and on Latinos and the American presidential races in 2000, 2004, and 2008. He is the co-editor of the Columbia University Press Series on Religion and Politics. His books include the forthcoming Religion and the American Presidency: George Washington to George W. Bush with Primary Sources and Religion, Race, Pluralism and the American Presidency. He co-authored Mexican American Religions: Spirituality, Activism, and Culture and Latino Religions and Civic Activism in the United States. Contact gaston.espinosa@cmc.edu.
• Lara
Medina is associate professor of Chicano and Chicana studies at California State
University, Northridge. She wrote Las Hermanas: Chicana/Latina Religious-Political
Activism in the U.S. Catholic Church. Contact 818-677-6142, lara.medina@csun.edu.
• Jorge
Ramos, anchorman for Noticiero Univision and author of several books,
wrote The Latino Wave: How Hispanics Are Transforming Politics in America.
Contact Michelle Dominguez, 212-207-7321, michelle.dominguez@harpercollins.com.
• James
Childress is Edwin B. Kyle Professor of Religious Studies and director of
the Institute for Practical Ethics & Public Life at the University of Virginia.
He is an expert on just-war theory. Contact 804-924-6724, jfc7c
@Virginia.edu.
• Jean
Bethke Elshtain is Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political
Ethics in the divinity school at the University of Chicago and author of Just
War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World. Contact
773-702-7252, jbelshta@midway.uchicago.edu.
• Vincent
Ferraro is the Ruth C. Lawson Professor of International Politics at Mount
Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. He posts a page
on just-war theory. Contact 413-538-2669, vferraro@mtholyoke.edu.
• James
Turner Johnson, a professor of religion at Rutgers University in New Jersey,
is considered one of the deans of contemporary just-war theory. He has written
many articles and books on the topic. Contact 732-932-9637, jtj@rci.rutgers.edu.
• John
Kelsay, co-editor of the Journal of Religious Ethics, is Distinguished
Research Professor and Richard L. Rubenstein Professor of Religion at Florida
State University. Kelsay has written about Islam, human rights and just war.
He is on leave for the 2006-07 academic year. Contact 850-644-0209, jkelsay@garnet.acns.fsu.edu.
• David Kinsella
isassociate professor of political science at Portland State University
in Oregon. He is co-editor of the 2007 book The Morality of War: A Reader.
Contact 503-725-3035, kinsella@pdx.edu.
• Robin
Lovin, Cary Maguire University Professor of Ethics at Southern Methodist
University in Dallas, specializes in religion and politics. He can discuss just-war
theory and Iraq. Read a column
he wrote for Faithful
Democrats, an online Christian group. Contact 214-768-4134, rlovin@mail.smu.edu.
• Gerard
F. Powers is director of policy studies at the Joan
B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre
Dame. He coordinates the Catholic
Peacebuilding Network and from 1998 to 2004 directed the Office of International
Justice and Peace of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Powers co-edited
Peacemaking: Moral and Policy Challenges for a New World. He has criticized
current military action in Iraq using just-war reasoning. Contact 574-631-3765,
gpowers1@nd.edu.
• Glen
H. Stassen is Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological
Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., and specializes in war, peace and ethics. He wrote
Just Peacemaking: Ten Practices for Abolishing War. Contact 626-304-3733,
gstassen@fuller.edu.
• Michael Walzer
is a prominent expert on just-war theory. He is a professor of social science
at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., and the author of Just
and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations. Contact
609-734-8253, walzer@ias.edu.
Judaism
For more sources
see ReligionLink’s recent issues about Judaism: Israel
and Spirituality
• Michael
Alexander is Murray Friedman Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History and
directs the Feinstein
Center for American Jewish History at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Contact 212-204-9552, michael.alexander@temple.edu.
• The American
Jewish Committee is a communal organization that promotes human rights and
understanding. It has regional offices in many states. E. Robert Goodkind is
president, and David Harris is executive director. Contact via the public relations
department, 212-751-4000, pr@ajc.org.
• The American Jewish Congress
is a civic organization that fights for human rights. It maintains seven regional
offices in the United States. Richard S. Gordon is president and Jack Rosen
is chairman. Contact Rochelle Mancini, chief information officer, 212-360-1547,
communications@ajcongress.org.
• Phyllis
Chesler is co-founder of the International Committee for Women of the Wall,
an advocacy group for Jewish women’s religious and human rights. She lives in
New York City. Contact pchesler@phyllis-chesler.com.
• Abraham
Foxman is national director of the Anti-Defamation League, which combats
anti-Semitism. Contact adlmedia@adl.org.
• Steven
T. Rosenthal is author of Irreconcilable Differences? The Waning of the American
Jewish Love Affair With Israel and an associate professor of history at
the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Conn. He has written that the erosion
of a consensus on Israel has driven a wedge in American Jewry. Contact 860-768-4645,
srosenprof@aol.com.
• Jonathan
D. Sarna is Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History
at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., and author of American Judaism:
A History. Contact 781-736-2977, sarna@brandeis.edu.
• Francis J. Beckwith
teaches courses on politics and religion and on philosophy at Baylor University
in Waco, Texas, where he is also associate director of the J.M. Dawson
Institute of Church-State Studies and associate editor of the Journal
of Church and State. He co-edited The New Mormon Challenge: Responding
to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement, a book of essays by evangelical
scholars about Mormon growth. Contact 254-710-1510, francis_beckwith@baylor.edu.
• Kathleen
Flake is an associate professor lawyer of American religious history at
Vanderbilt Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. She
is the author of The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating
of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle. Contact 615-343-3978, kathleen.flake@vanderbilt.edu.
• Terryl
L. Givens is a professor of literature and religion at the University of
Richmond in Richmond, Va. He is the author of several books on Latter-day Saints,
including The Latter-day Saint Experience in America. Contact 804-289-8303
or 804-647-2930 (cell), tgivens@richmond.edu.
• Michael
Otterson is a director of public affairs for the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. He can discuss
the church and its stand on politics and government matters, including backgrounders.
Contact 801-240-7439 (office), 801-240-1000 (after hours or to reach cell phone),
OttersonMR@ldschurch.org.
• The American Muslim Alliance, based
in Newark, Calif., works to get qualified Muslims elected to public office on
local, state and national levels, among other goals. Agha Saeed is national
chairman. Contact 510-252-9858, civilrightsforall@sbcglobal.net.
• The American Muslim Taskforce
on Civil Rights and Elections is composed of the 12 largest Muslim groups
in the U.S. They work together on voter registration and education and encouraging
Muslim candidates. Contact 510-252-9858.
• Imam
Johari Abdul-Malik is outreach director for Dar
Al-Hijrah in Falls Church, Va., one of the largest Islamic centers in the
country. He is a former chaplain at Howard University and is also president
of the coordinating council of Muslim organizations representing 46 Islamic
centers, schools and organizations from Baltimore to Richmond, Va. His interest
in Islam and politics is informed by his professional background in genetics
and bioethics. He is active with the Muslim American Society, based in Washington,
D.C. Contact 202-345-5233, imamjohari@yahoo.com.
• Boston area author Tahir Ali wrote about American Muslim voters in The
Muslim Vote: Counts and Recount. He is active with the American Muslim Taskforce’s
political organizing efforts. Contact 774-696-0537, ama_tahir@yahoo.com.
• Ihsan
Bagby, associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky
in Lexington, is expert in Islam and its history and practice in North America.
He has been watching the growth of Muslim political participation in the United
States. Contact 859-257-9638, iabagb2@uky.edu.
• Zahid
Bukhari directs the American Muslim Studies Program at the Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and is the former
director of the Project MAPS: Muslims in the American Public Square project.
Contact 202-687-2947, zhb@georgetown.edu.
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations
says it is the largest advocacy group for Muslims in the United States. It speaks
out on issues related to civil liberties and justice. Contact communications
director Ibrahim Hooper in Washington, D.C., 202-488-8787, ihooper@cair.com.
• The Islamic Society of North America
promotes unity and leadership among Muslims. It’s based in Plainfield, Ind.
Contact president Ingrid
Mattson, who is a professor at Hartford Seminary, 317-204-0935, isnapresident@isna.net.
• Sarah Eltantawi is a consultant to organizations that promote understanding
among diverse communities and is a frequent commentator on American Muslim affairs,
including politics. Contact 202-491-3793, saraheltantawi@yahoo.com.
• Karen
Leonard is an anthropology professor at the University of California, Irvine.
She wrote Muslims in the United States: The State of Research. Leonard
says that since 9/11, American Muslims have been diverging and decentralizing
politically as well as socially, with many reaching out and becoming directly
engaged in politics. Contact 939-824-5136, kbleonar@uci.edu.
• The Muslim American Society is involved
in voter education, registration, teaching and empowering Muslims in politics.
Contact Imam Mahdi Bray, 202-496-1288 or 202-421-3623 (cell), mas4freedom@aol.com.
• The Muslim Public Affairs Council
describes itself as a progressive voice for American Muslims and published a
guide to the 2004 elections. Contact executive director Salam Al-Marayati
in Los Angeles, 213-383-3443, salam@mpac.org.
• The Progressive Muslim Union
is a grassroots organization committed to representing the diversity of Islamic
viewpoints and a progressive agenda. Ahmed Nassef, who is editor in chief of
the online Islamic magazine Muslim
Wakeup!, is chairman. Contact info@pmuna.org.
• Agha Saeed is a political scientist, chairman of the American Muslim
Alliance and founder of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections.
He informally tracks American Muslim voting patterns and says that during the
2004 election, Muslim support previously enjoyed by Bush significantly eroded.
Contact 510-299-9313, aghaksaeed@yahoo.com.
• Omid Safi is an associate professor of Islamic studies at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is one of the leading public intellectuals
for modern Islam and is chairman for the Study of Islam Section at the American
Academy of Religion. He is the editor of Progressive Muslims: On Justice,
Gender and Pluralism. Contact 919-962-4890, omid@email.unc.edu.
• James
Zogby is a senior analyst with the polling firm Zogby International and
co-founder and president of the Arab
American Institute in Washington, D.C. Contact communications director Rebecca
Abou-Chedid, 202-429-9210, aai@aaiusa.org.
Native
Americans
For more sources,
see ReligionLink’s issues on Native Americans from 2006
and 2004.
• Robert W.
Edgar is general secretary of the National Council of Churches.
Contact director of media relations Daniel Webster, 212-870-2252, dwebster@nccusa.org.
• Russell
Arben Fox is an assistant professor of political science at Friends University,
Wichita, Kan. On his In Medias Res blog, he
has written that the Democratic Party has abandoned religious progressives like
him. Contact 316-295-5827, foxr@friends.edu.
• Al
From is the founder and chief executive officer of the Democratic
Leadership Council. Of the 2004 election, he said that voters who never
went to church voted overwhelmingly Democratic. Contact the press office, 202-546-0007,
press@dlc.org.
• The
Rev. C. Welton Gaddy is president of the Interfaith
Alliance. Contact through William Blake, 202-639-6370, wblake@interfaithalliance.org.
• Alexia Kelley is executive director of the Catholic
Alliance for the Common Good, founded in 2005. Based in Washington, D.C.,
it is "dedicated to defending and promoting the fullness of the Catholic
social tradition in the American public square" and networks Catholic organizations,
community leaders, scholars and individual throughout the county. Contact 202-822-5105.
• Geoffrey
Layman is an associate professor of government and politics at the University
of Maryland in College Park. He wrote The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural
Conflict in American Party Politics. He says there may be nothing the Democrats
can do to win the evangelical and conservative Christian vote, but they can
focus more strongly on the mainline Protestant, Catholic and black Protestant
voters. Contact 301-405-9709, glayman@gvpt.umd.edu.
• Michael Lerner is a rabbi, author and longtime political activist who
publishes Tikkun magazine. He is co-chair of the Network
of Spiritual Progressives and author of The Left Hand of God: Taking
Back Our Country from the Religious Right. Contact 510-528-6250, rabbilerner@tikkun.org.
• David
Saperstein is a Reform rabbi and director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
He addressed the issue of how Democrats can better reach people of faith at
a 2005 retreat of the Democratic Caucus. He says that whatever Democrats do,
it must be “genuine,” and they must be careful not to “religiousize” their politics,
but rather moralize the current political discourse. Contact Alexis Rice, director
of communications, 202-387-2800, arice@rac.org.
• James
Skillen is president of the Center for Public Justice,
a Christian-based policy research center. He says the Democrats do not need
to inject more religion into their platform, but do need to show they take religious
people seriously. Contact 410-571-6300 ext. 11, jim@cpjustice.org.
• Amy
Sullivan is a contributing editor for Washington Monthly, where she has
written of the Democrats’ need to reclaim religion from the Republican Party.
Her book The God Gap: Do the Democrats Have a Prayer of Winning the White
House? is due out in 2008. Contact 202-393-5155, amysullivandc@gmail.com.
• Jim
Wallis is founder of the poverty-fighting coalition Call
to Renewal and editor in chief of Sojourners.
His books include God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left
Doesn't Get It. Contact press secretary Jack Pannell, 202-745-4614, jpannell@sojo.net.
Polls
And Research
Polls are the raw
fuel of political campaigns, and they are invaluable baselines for stories about
religion and politics. Caveat emptor, however: Polls are frequently wrong or
misinterpreted. Public Agenda posts “20
Questions Journalists Should Ask About Poll Results.” Here are some of the
major providers of polls, surveys and data; many sites are searchable by topic:
