James A. Mathisen is a sociology professor emeritus at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. where he taught a course in sport and sociology. He is the author of an essay, “American Sport as Folk Religion: Examining a Test of Its Strength” in From Season to Season: Sports as American Religion (2004). He also co-wrote the book Muscular Christianity: […]

Orayb Najjar is a professor of journalism at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill. She argues that the three Middle East news stations – Al Jazeera, Al Arabiyya, Al Manar – organize coverage around the question, “How should the Middle East be organized?” and that, as a result, they disseminate political news differently than other news […]

Carrie Gordon Earll is bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family, which opposes all forms of cloning and embryonic stem cell research on the grounds that any embryo is a human life.

The Campaign to End the Death Penalty is a Chicago-based group that describes itself as “the only national membership-driven, chapter-based grassroots organization dedicated to the abolition of capital punishment in the United States.”

Christian Peacemaker Teams send groups of people trained in nonviolence to the world’s trouble spots. Members of a CPT team were kidnapped in Iraq in late 2005, and one of them was subsequently murdered. The group has offices in Chicago and Canada.

Dr. William Meadow is professor of pediatrics, assistant director of the McLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago and co-author of Neonatal Bioethics: The Moral Challenges of Medical Innovation.

Brent Waters is a professor of Christian social ethics for Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill. He co-edited God and the Embryo: Religious Voices on Stem Cells and Cloning. He studies Christian ethics and can discuss their relationship to Christian political thought.

Dr. John Lantos is professor of pediatrics and associate director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago. He is co-author of Neonatal Bioethics: The Moral Challenges of Medical Innovation and author of The Lazarus Case: Life-and-Death Issues in Neonatal Intensive Care.

Frank Gonzalez-Crussi was formerly head of laboratories at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital and professor of pathology at Northwestern Medical School. His books include On Being Born and Other Difficulties.