The Rev. Lizette Larson-Miller, a professor at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif., wrote an article in the May 23, 2005, edition of America magazine (subscriber-only) titled “Holy Ground: Roadside Shrines and Sacred Space.” She identified five general characteristics of roadside shrines, and she ponders what liturgical churches might learn from this widespread trend.

Chuck Currie is a United Church of Christ seminarian and advocate for the homeless in Portland, Ore. He is also an active blogger and frequently writes on religion and politics.

David Dalin is a Conservative rabbi and a professor of history and political science at Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla. He has written about Jews and American political history and about the influence of Jews on the presidency.

Laura Olson is a professor of political science at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., and is also an expert on women and gender in religion. Her books include, as author, Filled With Spirit and Power: Protestant Clergy in Politics and, as co-author, Women With a Mission: Religion, Gender and the Politics of Women Clergy. She is also co-author […]

Imam Johari Abul-Malik is outreach director for Dar Al-Hijrah in Falls Church, Va., one of the largest Islamic centers in the country. He is also treasurer of the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations. He is active with the Muslim American Society, based in Washington, D.C.

The Rev. James Forbes Jr. is senior minister emeritus at Riverside Church in New York City.

Gerald Zelizer is a Conservative rabbi and pastor of Neve Shalom in Metuchen, N.J.

Dale Kuehne is a professor in the department of politics at St. Anselm College, a Benedictine school in Manchester, N.H., and focuses on the intersection of religion, politics and sexuality.  He also is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church of America and is the founding director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

Erin Splaine is pastor of the First Unitarian Society of West Newton, Mass., which describes itself as a church of “liberal faith.”