Gene Thursby is an associate professor of religion at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He co-edited The Hindu World.

Tom Gillan is with the Office of Criminal Justice for Catholic Charities of Central Florida. He is part of a three-person team that conducts workshops on recognizing and combating human trafficking for NGOs and nonprofits in Central Florida. The local diocese operates a juvenile justice program through the office.

Read a May 17, 2013, article by the Orlando Sentinel about one women’s religious mission trips with youth groups.

Rabbi Joel Dinnerstein of Deerfield Beach, Fla., has directed a Jewish 12-step counseling program, Ohr Ki Tov, since 1985. Inspired by Hasidic Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, this organization integrates prayer, song and storytelling with the 12 steps and Jewish learning, values and practice for recovery. Dinnerstein was the first rabbi to become a certified addiction counselor; he […]

Christians in Recovery in Tequesta, Fla., provides information, referral and resources for anyone who is in recovery or who desires to recover from abuse, family dysfunction, depression, anxiety, grief, stress, obsessive/compulsive behaviors or addictions to alcohol, drugs, food, sex, gambling or pornography. It is an online community that offers formal and informal support group meetings on […]

Alcoholics Victorious was founded in 1948 as a support group to offer a safe environment where recovering people who recognize Jesus Christ as their “higher power” gather and share their experience, strength and hope. AV meetings use both the 12 steps and the Alcoholics Victorious Creed.

Eugene F. Provenzo Jr. is a professor of education at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. He wrote Religious Fundamentalism and American Education: The Battle for the Public Schools (State University of New York Press, 1990).

John Sullivan is executive director and treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention in Jacksonville. He has written about prosperity gospel as deviant from true biblical teaching.

Clint Brown is the pastor of Faith World in Orlando, Fla. He has urged members to give sacrificially so that their “blessings increase” and bring them more material wealth.