Luis Rivera-Rodriguez, associate professor of theology and director of the Center for the Study of Latino/a Theology and Ministry at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, wrote the article on “Liberation Theology” in the Encyclopedia of Religion and War (Routledge, 2004).

Valarie Blake is a senior research associate at the American Medical Association’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs in Chicago. She assists the council by researching ethics topics of medical interest and developing policy and responds to inquiries concerning AMA ethics policy.

Dwight N. Hopkins, University of Chicago theology professor, has written about black theology of liberation and also about gun control. Black liberation theology, he says, is aligning more closely with black churches and developing partnerships with liberation theologians in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific Islands.

Troy Taylor specializes in Midwestern ghosts and paranormal phenomena. He is also the founder and president of the American Ghost Society. He is based in the Chicago area.

Alan Jacobs is an English professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. An evangelical Christian, he wrote about how Harry Potter’s magic fits with faith in an essay in First Things. He is the author The Narnian: the Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis (HarperCollins, 2005).

Masih Siddiqi is a member of the Islamic Center of Naperville, Ill., where he is part of a group that coordinates Muslim burial services. The center has contracted with two local funeral homes to use their facilities to wash (khusl) and dress (kafan) the bodies.

Edward Searl is author of In Memoriam: A Guide to Modern Funeral and Memorial Services (Skinner House Books, 2000). He is a Unitarian Universalist minister in Hinsdale, Ill.  

Carol Moseley Braun, a Democrat, is a former U.S. senator from Illinois who ran for president in 2004. She gave a speech at Claremont McKenna College on religion in the 2004 election. Contact through Renee Ferguson.

Read an essay by Melissa Harris Lacewell ( Harris-Perry)posted on the Martin Marty Center website about African-American religion and its relationship to politics and voting.