The Embattled American Cleric

Mark Chaves is Anne Firor Scott Distinguished Professor of Sociology, and Professor of Religious Studies and Divinity, at Duke University. He directs the National Congregations Study, a wide-ranging survey of a nationally representative sample of religious congregations, and the National Survey of Religious Leaders, a similarly wide-ranging and nationally representative survey of clergy. Professor Chaves is the author of American Religion: Contemporary Trends, Congregations in America, Ordaining Women: Culture and Conflict in Religious Organizations, and many articles, mainly on the social organization of religion in the United States.

Yonat Shimron is a national reporter and senior editor at Religion News Service. She covers religion in the South and American Judaism.  An award-winning journalist, she was the religion reporter for The News & Observer in Raleigh, NC from 1996 to 2011. She is a past president of the Religion Newswriters Association. Yonat is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.