Gregory A. Smith is the associate director of research at the Pew Research Center. He’s an expert on religion in America. Arrange interviews through Anna Schiller.

Darrell J. Fasching is a professor of religious studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He is co-author of Comparative Religious Ethics: A Narrative Approach and can discuss the different attitudes toward lying and honesty among the world religions.

National Geographic Kids information page on Diwali.

BBC information page on the Hindu festival of Diwali.

Read a July 17, 2008 Pew Forum research report on the different religious views on stem cell research.

Read a roundup of the positions of various religious groups and denominations on capital punishment, posted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Lance Nelson is professor of theological and religious studies at the University of San Diego. He is an expert on religion and ecology in Hindu India, including the religion’s attitudes toward animals.

Vijaya Nagarajan is an associate professor in the college of arts and sciences at the University of San Francisco, where she teaches on religion and the environment. She is an expert in the religious traditions and ecology of South India.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda is president of the International Vedic Hindu University in Orlando, Fla. (formerly Hindu University of America). The university provides education on yoga and Hinduism. He founded the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam international movement for meditation.