SecularHelp, also known as Secular Helping People Alliance, was founded with the mission of empowering people to find purpose and meaning free from the influence of religious, supernatural or pseudo-scientific beliefs. It offers secular meditation, legacy counseling and, through its Helping the Homeless program, direct, practical support to individuals experiencing homelessness. The president and executive […]

Lama Rod Owens is a self-described “Black Buddhist Southern Queen.” Owens holds a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist studies from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on the intersection of social change, identity and spiritual practice. Owens is also author of The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors and Love and Rage: […]

Ruth King is an insight meditation teacher and emotional wisdom author and life coach. Mentored by Jack Kornfield in the Theravada tradition and influenced by the Tibetan traditions of Buddhism, King teaches at insight meditation communities nationwide. She is a guiding teacher at Insight Meditation Community of Washington and Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the […]

Tammy Adams is a self-described “life purpose shaman” who received mentoring from Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama. Contact is through Laura Mack.

Phyllis Zagano is senior research associate-in-residence and professor of religion at Hofstra University. Her books include Just Church: Catholic Social Teaching, Synodality, and Women.

Discerning Deacons is an organization advocating for the diaconal ministry of women, which members view as historically, theologically and anthropologically possible and as a means of church renewal. Contacts include co-directors Casey Stanton ([email protected], English), based in North Carolina, and Ellie Hidalgo ([email protected], English and Spanish), based in Miami.

Sarah Shortall is a historian who teaches courses on modern French history and the history of Catholicism. In addition to these themes, her research also explores the history of science, secularization theory, human rights, decolonization and the global circulation of religious ideas. She is the author of Soldiers of God in a Secular World: Catholic Theology and […]

Tia M. Kolbaba is a religion professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She can speak to Orthodox and Catholic Christian relations.

Darren W. Davis is professor of political science at University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Davis is co-author of Perseverance in the Parish?: Religious Attitudes From a Black Catholic Perspective. Based on the first national survey of African American Catholics, this book explores the perceptions of racism and racial experiences in the Catholic Church.