Phillis Sheppard is an associate professor of religion, psychology and culture at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn. She is an expert on the role religion plays in self-understanding, womanist theology and psycholanalysis.

George Michael is a professor on the criminal justice faculty at Westfield State University in Massachusetts. He is the author of Theology of Hate: A History of the World Church of the Creator.

Joseph Reiff is a professor of religion at Emory & Henry College in Emory, Va., and the author of Born of Conviction: White Methodists and Mississippi’s Closed Society, which examines how 28 white Methodist ministers in Mississippi battled school segregation and racial intolerance at the height of the white South’s resistance to the civil rights […]

Mark A. Granquist is an associate professor of church history at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. He was an editor of Dictionary of Luther and the Lutheran Traditions and is the author of Lutherans in America: A New History. He is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

Jo Anne Lyon is ambassador and former general superintendent of The Wesleyan Church in Indianapolis. She was a member of the commission for Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which recommended against changing tax laws for houses of worship in a 2013 report on government regulation of political speech.

The Rev. Luis Cortes Jr. is the founder of Philadelphia-based Esperanza, one of the largest Hispanic evangelical networks in the nation. Cortes was a member of the commission for Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which in 2013 produced a report on government regulation of political speech in houses of worship.

Paula White is senior pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando, Florida. She is considered by many to be a “prosperity gospel” minister and was among those televangelists investigated by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley in 2007. White also serves as an adviser to the White House and the administration’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative. Contact […]

Anuttama Dasa is the international media coordinator for ISKCON and a member of its Governing Body Commission. He joined ISKCON in 1975 and lives in Rockville, Md.

United Methodist Women is a national, New York City-based faith-organization with approximately 800,000 members. Its objectives include promoting the empowerment of women, children, and youth; promoting anti-racism, multiculturalism, and inclusion; promoting fair labor practices; and promoting economic and environmental stewardship and sustainability. Media contact is Yvette Moore.