Kathryn Denning is an associate professor of anthropology at York University  in Toronto, Canada, where she teaches a course called “Anticipating the Alien.” Her focus is on what it means to be human in the universe and she works with SETI on studying the way scientists search for aliens.

Salman Hameed is an astronomer and associate professor of integrated science and humanities at Hampshire College. He is director of the Center for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies.  He operates the science and religion blog called Irtiqa, which emphasizes debates about science in the Islamic world.

Benjamin Blech is a rabbi and a professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University in New York City. He has written about what the discovery of intelligent alien life would mean to Judaism.

Lesley Sachs is the director of Women of the Wall, an international consortium of Jewish women who want women to be able to pray at Jerusalem’s Western Wall. She lives in Jaffa, Israel.

Faiyez Jaffer is an affiliate chaplain at the Center of Global Spiritual Life at New York University in New York City. He is an American-born Muslim and wrote about the travel ban’s consequences for Shiite Muslims.

Ani Zonneveld is the founder and president of Muslims for Progressive Values and is a board member for the Alliance of Inclusive Muslims, which works to counter gender, racial and sexual bias in the Muslim community worldwide. She is based in Los Angeles.

Elizabeth Oldmixon is a professor of sociology at the University of North Texas in Denton and editor-in-chief of the journal Politics and Religion. She co-authored a chapter on priest burnout and political engagement in The Catholic Church in Ireland Today.

John Waldmeir is a professor of religious studies at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, where there is an Irish studies program within the Catholic studies program. He is the author of a forthcoming book on the Catholic church in Ireland.