Avrel Seale is an editor and writer in Austin, Texas. A Bahá’í, he journeyed to Haifa to visit Bahá’í holy sites, and his essay about the trip was published by the Austin American-Statesman.

Michael McMullen is a sociology professor at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. He wrote The Bahá’í: The Religious Construction of a Global Identity.

Brian D. Lepard is a law professor at the University of Nebraska; one of his specialties is international human rights law. He wrote In the Glory of the Father: The Bahá’í Faith and Christianity. He also served at the United Nations Office of the Bahá’í International Community.

Elizabeth Gatorano is a lifelong advocate for children and troubled youth. Her husband is Rwandan. After the war in Rwanda she became actively involved in promoting racial unity. She wrote Waiting for the Sunrise: One Family’s Struggle Against Genocide and Racism. She is a Bahá’í who lives with her family in northwest suburban Chicago.

The International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture is an organization of experts from around the world on religion, cultures, geographies and their environmental concerns. It is based at the University of Florida. Sarah Pike is the president. Communications director is Ipsita Chatterjea.

Winfried Corduan has written about the Bahá’í Faith in several world religions texts he has authored. He taught religion and philosophy for many years in the department of biblical studies, Christian education and philosophy at Taylor University in Upland, Ind.

Gary L. Matthews is a Bahá’í author, publisher and lecturer. His publications include numerous short works on the Bahá’í Faith, Christianity and Islam, and the book He Cometh With Clouds: A Bahá’í View of Christ’s Return. He manages Stonehaven Press, which publishes Bahá’í literature, in Knoxville, Tenn.

Susan Maneck is an associate professor of history at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss. She’s written extensively about various aspects of the Bahá’í Faith, including women in the faith.

The Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology is a Christian teaching and research institute associated with the University of Toronto in Canada. Dennis Patrick O’Hara is director.