The Rev. Mark Knutson is senior pastor of Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland, Ore. His church is one of two in the city involved in the New Sanctuary Movement. He has said his congregation would house an immigrant if the person needed sanctuary.

The Rev. Alexia Salvatierra is a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice-California. She has been active in the New Sanctuary Movement and can discuss its organization on the national and local level.

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

Stayer is a professor emeritus in the history department at Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada. He studies Lutheran theology in the context of early modern European history. Evangelicalism is also a specialty of his.

Ross is an associate professor in the department of religion and culture at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada. A focus of his is Lutheran theology and Evangelicals. He also studies religion and social change and new religious movements.

Bethesda Lutheran Communities, affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and based in Watertown, Wis., serves people with developmental disabilities. Its support services include religious education. The media contact is Julie Timm.