Steve Almond is the author of Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto, in which he describes how he decided to give up watching NFL games because of growing concern about brain injury among players. He lives in Boston.

Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty advocates for elimination of the death penalty because it conflicts with Catholic teachings about the sanctity of life. The organization has offices in Washington, D.C., and at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md. Karen Clifton is executive director.

Read a July 23, 2014, Los Angeles Times story about Arizona’s execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood III. Wood’s lawyers thought he was gasping for breath for more than 90 minutes, while others said he was snoring.

Zainal Abidin Bagir directs the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies at Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia. He researches religious life in Indonesia, the philosophy of religion and religion and science. He has written on Islam and the environment.

Andrew Abela is dean of the School of Business and Economics and associate professor of marketing at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. Abela focuses his research on the integrity of the marketing process, including marketing ethics, Catholic social doctrine and internal communication. He is co-editor of A Catechism for Business: Tough Ethical Questions […]

Joyce S. Dubensky is CEO of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, a New York City-based secular nonprofit that promotes interfaith work and religious respect.

Survey results released Aug. 6, 2013, by the Pew Research Center indicate that most Americans would not choose to dramatically increase their life spans even if scientific breakthroughs made that possible. A slim majority, in fact, said radical life extension would be bad for society. Pew also released two companion reports, “To Count Our Days: […]

Joseph Runzo is a professor of philosophy and religious studies at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. He is co-editor of Ethics in the World Religions (OneWorld Publications, 2001).