Margaret Ensminger is a professor and associate chairwoman of the department of health, behavior and society at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. She has studied inner-city youths and families and has done research on the effect of family religiosity on young adults’ alcohol use.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine in Chevy Chase, Md., is an organization of physicians trained in addiction medicine. The organization is focused on increasing access to addiction treatment and improving it. It runs a yearly scientific meeting and certifies physicians in addiction medicine.

A comprehensive primer on addiction and treatment approaches is available from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

Linda Hartke is the president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, an organization that serves both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It helps resettle refugees, protect unaccompanied refugee children, advocate for the just treatment of asylum seekers and seek alternatives to detention for those incarcerated during immigration proceedings.

Brian D. McLaren, founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in Burtonsville, Md., is a central figure in the movement. He is a lightning rod among emerging thinkers because of his interest in the intersection of faith and progressive politics. His many books on the subject include the popular A New Kind of Christian: A Tale […]

Melissa Deckman is professor of political science and public affairs at Washington College in Chestertown, Md. Her specialties include religion and politics and women and politics. She wrote School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics (Georgetown University Press, 2004) and “Christian Right School Board Candidates” for the Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics (Facts on File, 2003) and […]

The National Center to Encourage Judaism encourages retention in Judaism and conversion.  

Valerie Stanley is an adjunct professor teaching animal law at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore, Md. She previously served as the senior staff attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing at Johns Hopkins University promotes humane science by supporting the creation, development, validation, and use of alternatives to animals in research, product safety testing, and education. There is also a CAAT-Europe based at the University of Konstanz in Konstanz, Germany. Contact communication associate-Mike Hughes.