Thomas A. Forsthoefel is an associate professor of religious studies at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa. He is the co-editor of Gurus in America.

Mark Rodgers is dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Marywood University, a Catholic university in Scranton, Pa. His research interests include the prevention of human trafficking, and he has helped train officials in Latvia, Bangladesh, Ecuador and South Africa on how to recognize and combat the problem.

Robin Rinehart is an associate professor in religious studies at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. She is an expert in Hinduism and Hindu saints.

Robert A.J. Gagnon is an associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. His expertise is in sexual teachings in the Bible, with a focus on homosexuality.

Peter A. Lillback is president of Westminster Seminary in Glenside, Pa., and author of George Washington’s Sacred Fire (Providence Forum Press, July 2006). He says Washington was a Christian, not a deist, helping set a precedent for Christian involvement in public life today.  

A Stateline.org story. The U.S. government continues to increase funding for abstinence-only education and requires states to teach abstinence only in order to receive funds. In November 2005, Maine joined California and Pennsylvania in rejecting thousands of federal dollars in favor of teaching comprehensive sex education.

Women for Sobriety in Quakertown, Pa., describes itself as the first national self-help program for women alcoholics. It was founded by the late Jean Kirkpatrick in 1975 with the belief that women with addictions had different psychological needs in recovery than men. This notion stemmed from the fact that at that time, men had better recovery […]

Greesh C. Sharma of Morrisville, Pa., has been a practicing psychologist for 30 years. He works at the Institute of Behavior Modification. Sharma, who was born in India, has written for Hinduism Today magazine on psychotherapy, addictions and Hinduism.

Rabbi Abraham Twerski is a psychiatrist, Orthodox rabbi and pioneer in the treatment of addiction in the Jewish community. Dr. Twerski is the founder and medical director emeritus of Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The author of more than 60 books, […]