Warren R. Copeland is professor of religion at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. He wrote the book And the Poor Get Welfare: The Ethics of Poverty in the United States (Abingdon Press, 1994).

Theodore Walker Jr. is associate professor of ethics and society at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He wrote the book Empower the People: Social Ethics for the African-American Church, about African-American resources for a more inclusive liberation theology.  

James Matthew Wilson is assistant professor of political science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He wrote the article “Blessed are the Poor: American Protestantism and Attitudes Toward Poverty and Welfare” for the Southeastern Political Review (1999) and the paper “Moral Visions and the New American Politics” for the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public […]

The Rev. Traci West is professor of ethics and African-American studies at Drew University in Madison, N.J. Among her specialties are welfare policy and justice issues in church and society. She wrote the entry “Agenda for the Churches: Uprooting a National Policy of Morally Stigmatizing Poor Single Black Moms” for the book Welfare Policy: (Feminist Critiques).

Mary Hobgood is an associate professor of religious studies at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass. She wrote the books Catholic Social Teaching and Economic Theory: Paradigms in Conflict (Temple University Press, l991) and Dismantling Privilege: An Ethics of Accountability (Pilgrim Press, 2000).

Watch a commentary from Word on Fire comparing Ryan’s budget with Catholic social teaching.

Andrew Flescher, religion professor at California State University, Chico, has taught a course on religion and film that looks at religion and self in contemporary American society; religion, redemption and recovery; and religion and ethnicity. He also directs the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics, where he focuses on religion, ethics and society. He is the author […]

Reel Spirituality seeks to simultaneously raise visual and spiritual literacy. Image-driven, educationally-focused, and spiritually-centered, Reel Spirituality brings together filmmakers and film-viewers, Christian leaders and laity, scholars and students for dialogue between our culture’s primary stories, whether in film or television, and the Christian faith.

Rabbi Marvin Hier is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, one of the foremost advocates for Jewish causes and opponents of anti-Semitism.