R. Scott Appleby is professor of religious history at the University of Notre Dame and John M. Regan Jr. director of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He teaches courses in American religious history and comparative religious movements and is the co-editor of Being Right: Conservative Catholics in America (Indiana University Press, 1995).

Robert Melson is political professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and current president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, which he co-founded in 1995. His primary area of research is ethnic conflict and genocide, and he has written widely on the topic.

The Islamic Society of North America promotes unity and leadership among Muslims. The organization, based in Plainfield, Ind., has a large immigrant presence. Contact executive director Ahmed Elhattab.

Erika Doss is a professor in the department of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. She has written about popular culture religious expressions involving Elvis Presley.

Benedict Giamo is an associate professor of American studies at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. He has written about the spiritual in the works of Jack Kerouac and teaches a course about Kerouac and other Beat writers. He is the author of several books: On the Bowery: Confronting Homelessness in American Society; Beyond […]

Charles E. Rice is professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame law school in Indiana. He wrote the article “Abortion, Euthanasia and the Need to Build a New Culture of Life” for the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy (1999).

Fedwa Malti-Douglas is a professor of gender studies at Indiana University in Bloomington. She specializes in the study of Arab and Islamic culture and co-authored the book Arab Comic Strips: Politics of an Emerging Mass Culture.

Ben Avery is a comic book author in Mishawaka, Ind., and former editor of Community Comics, a four-person Christian studio in operation until 2009 dedicated to creating “quality Christian comics.” Avery can comment on the interplay between the secular and sacred in comics and the media.

David Haberman is a professor of religious studies at Indiana University in Bloomington. He teaches on the subject of religion and ecology, particularly in regards to South Asian religions. His books include River of Love in an Age of Pollution: The Yamuna River of Northern India and Understanding Climate Change Through Religious Lifeworlds.