Amanda Montell is a a writer, linguist, and podcast host living in Los Angeles. She is the author of the book Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism and co-host of the Spotify Top 20 podcast, “Sounds like a cult.”

Carole M. Cusack is professor of religious studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. Trained as a medievalist, Cusack has taught about contemporary religious trends, publishing on pilgrimage and tourism, modern pagan religions, new religious movements, the interface between religion and politics, and religion and popular culture since the 1990s.

Stephen Gregg is is senior lecturer in religious studies at the University of Wolverhampton and the honorable secretary of the British Association for the Study of Religions. His background is in 19th-century Hindu philosophy, but in recent years he has specialized in minority religious movements. Contact via the University of Wolverhampton’s experts portal.

David G. Bromley is a professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He specializes in sociology of religion, with a particular emphasis on the study of New Religious Movements and the anti-cult movement. He is co-editor of Cults, Religion, and Violence.    

Sabreena Ghaffar-Siddiqui is a media pundit, researcher and human rights advocate. Her sociological research focuses on the areas of migration, race/ethnicity, politics and ethno-religious diasporic identity.

Lydia Bean is a social scientist and nonprofit leader based in Texas. She is a fellow in the political reform program at New America. Bean was a 2020 Democratic candidate for the Texas House of Representatives and is the author of The Politics of Evangelical Identity. Contact via her website.

Angela Denker, a veteran journalist and Lutheran pastor, is author of Red State Christians: A Journey Into White Christian Nationalism and the Wreckage It Leaves Behind. 

Lauren Turek is associate professor of history at Trinity University in San Antonio. Turek is a specialist in U.S. diplomatic history and American religious history and is the author of To Bring the Good News to All Nations: Evangelical Influence on Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Relations, which examines the growth and influence of Christian foreign policy […]