This edition of ReligionLink is dedicated to stories that could possibly top the lists in 2025, providing background, resources and expert sources for you to turn to in the year ahead.

Kaitlyn Ugoretz is an anthropologist of religion and the associate editor of publications at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, including the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. Ugoretz specializes in contemporary Japanese religion, globalization, technology and media. Her digital ethnographic research focuses on the globalization of Shinto and the development of transnational online Shinto communities.

Paul Christopher Johnson is professor of history at the University of Michigan. He has written extensively on religious practices, diaspora religions and the practice of secrecy in the Americas, especially in Brazil and the Caribbean.

Zackery Mirza Heern is a history professor at Idaho State University with a focus on the Middle East and Islamic studies. His research and teaching interests include the Bahá’í, Shi‘ism, Iraq, Iran, Islamic movements and global history.

Jacqueline Fewkes is an anthropology professor at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University.  She is a cultural anthropologist who has conducted research in many parts of the world, including India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Recently, she led the American Mosques Project, a study of mosques in the […]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has spokespersons in Washington, D.C. and throughout the country to respond to media inquiries. The e-mail below is for headquarters, but a full list of Public Affairs Officers is available here.

Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) promotes the dignity and protects the rights of immigrants in partnership with a dedicated network of Catholic and community legal immigration programs. Executive Director is Anna Galagher. Press contact is Jeremy Dickey.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, voluntary bar association that provides continuing legal education, professional services, information and expertise to more than 16,000 attorneys who practice and teach immigration law. They provide a network of national and local spokespeople.

Agustín Quiles is a noted advocate for social justice among Latino Christians in Florida. He has organized churches to demonstrate for the restoration of voting rights to those with felony convictions and mobilized hundreds of pastors to protest racial injustice and stringent immigration policies.