The Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance, based in Mill Valley, Calif., promotes the healing power of forgiveness worldwide. It established International Forgiveness Day, which is celebrated the first Sunday of August. The executive director is Jacinta Martin.

The Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif., studies and promotes altruistic and heroic behavior. Samuel P. Oliner, a Holocaust survivor, and his wife, Pearl, are co-founders.

Frederic Luskin is a senior consultant in health promotion at Stanford University, where he teaches classes on spirituality and health and positive psychology. He serves as director of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects and was co-director of the Stanford-Northern Ireland HOPE Projects, which explored the effectiveness of his forgiveness methods on victims of political violence. He gives […]

Bernard Schlager is executive director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, described as “the only Center for LBGTQ issues and religion established by a seminary or school of religion in the world.” Affiliated with the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., it has held conferences for LGBT religious leaders.

Kevin Alan Lewis is an associate professor of theology and law at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif.

Alan Gomes is professor of historical theology at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif.

California Interfaith Power & Light, the originator of the Interfaith Power & Light movement that began in 2000, works to mobilize faith communities in response to global warming. The organization has affiliates in more than 40 states and is based in San Francisco. Susan Stephenson is executive director.

David Neumark is an economics professor at the University of California, Irvine. Neumark co-authored a July 2005 analysis called “A Decade of Living Wages: What Have We Learned?” That report concludes that living-wage laws have increased salaries of the lowest-wage earners, but there have been some adverse effects too, and more policy changes are needed to […]

Rabbi Jonathan Klein is executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, an interfaith group from the Los Angeles area that advocates on behalf of the working poor.