Dr. M. William Howard Jr. is the senior pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., a partner in the New Jersey Character Education Partnership, which tries to instill values, including honesty, in local children.

Steve Ellenwood is the acting director of the Center for Character and Social Responsibility at Boston University in Massachusetts.

Michelle Whittaker is communications director for the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society. Part of the GBCS’s mission is to promote “personal, social and civic righteousness.” Contact through the website.

The Josephson Institute of Ethics conducted a survey of youth ethics in 2012. A similar survey is conducted annually. The 2012 survey showed a drop in lying, cheating, and stealing among American youth for the first time in a decade.

Danielle Tumminio is a graduate of Yale Divinity school and an Episcopal priest. While at Yale, she taught a course called “Christian Theology and Harry Potter.” The class inspired a book, God and Harry Potter at Yale (Unlocking Press, 2010). She lives in Boston.

Kelly Collinsworth is an assistant professor of legal studies at Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky. She has taught a course called “Harry Potter in the Law,” which uses the series as a context in which to discuss the role of government and legal institutions.

Melissa D. Aaron is an English professor at California Polytechnic State University in Pomona. She teaches a literary and cultural studies course on the Harry Potter series.

George R. Plitnik is an engineering professor at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Md. He has taught a seminar called “The Science of Harry Potter,” which explores the scientific questions raised by concepts in the series.

Author and speaker Berit Kjos, who leads Kjos Ministries in California, opposes the Harry Potter series.