Rabbi Yossi Feintuch is the rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom in Columbia, Mo. He is a vegetarian and often discusses a plant-based diet as a Jewish ideal.

Mike Jaynes is a lecturer in the humanities and English at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has written for About.com about animal rights, including a rebuttal of Christianity’s idea of dominion over the animals.

The Religious Order of the New Compassionests is an interfaith animal ministry in Perryville, Ark., that accepts members and monks.

Chaplain of Pets is an interfaith ministry to pets and their people. It’s based in Stone Mountain, Ga.

Christine Gutleben is director of the animals and religion program for the Humane Society of the United States. She has an undergraduate degree in religious studies and a master’s degree from a theology school, where she studied theology and ethical food choices.

Saurabh Dalal is president of the Vegetarian Union of North America. He spoke at a panel on religious outreach at the 2009 Animal Rights Conference in Washington, D.C. He lives in Lanham, Md.

Michael Croland is the writer behind heeb’n’vegan, a blog about Jewish veganism.

Stephen Matthew Feldman is a professor at the college of law at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. He edited the book Law and Religion: A Critical Anthology (New York University Press, 2000).

James T. Richardson is Emeritus Foundation Professor of Sociology and Judicial Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. He wrote the essay “Public Policy Toward Minority Religions in the United States: A Model for Europe?” for the book Religion and Public Policy.