Why do all the world’s religions emphasize giving thanks? What are the spiritual benefits of giving thanks? The physical benefits?

Alka Arora is an assistant professor in women’s spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. She is an expert on women and spiritual-based activism and Buddhism.

In 2010, a Florida pastor with just a few dozen followers attracted international media coverage when he announced plans to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of 9/11. By taking the bait, media outlets became complicit in advancing his hate-filled agenda, making Terry Jones a household name in the U.S. and far beyond. […]

David Scott Mathieson is the senior researcher on Myanmar/Burma in the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.

Karma Lekshe Tsomo is a lecturer in the department of religion and ancient civilizations at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her research interests include women in Buddhism, death and identity, Buddhist feminist ethics, Buddhism and bioethics, Buddhist social ethics and Buddhist transnationalism.

Les Green is professor of the philosophy of law at Balliol College, Oxford. He is working on a book about “right speech” and argues that Buddhist ideas about avoiding divisive, abusive and false speech can help us live together well in free societies.

Human Rights Watch published a 99-page report in 2009 titled “The Resistance of the Monks: Buddhism and Protest in Burma.” The report, also available in Burmese, describes the repression Myanmar’s monks experienced after they led demonstrations against the government in September 2007. It tells the stories of individual monks who were arrested, beaten and detained.