Dave LaRock is a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates. In 2018, he sponsored HB1180, which would have repealed a prohibition on carrying dangerous weapons, such as guns and knives, into houses of worship.

The Rev. James E. Atwood is a retired Presbyterian pastor who serves on the board of The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. He is the author of America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose and Gundamentalism and Where It Is Taking America.

Willis Jenkins is a professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia. He works at the intersection of environmental and religious ethics.

The Rev. Pat Watkins is the executive director of Caretakers of God’s Creation, a grassroots ministry that encourages environmental activism among Methodists. He previously served as a missionary tasked with creation care for the United Methodist Council of Bishops.

Charlie Black was an instrumental part of John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, serving as senior political adviser and meeting with evangelical Christian leaders on McCain’s behalf. He is now chairman of Prime Policy Group, a public affairs firm.

Erik Nielson is an associate professor of liberal arts at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Va. He is co-editor of The Hip Hop and Obama Reader , and beginning in spring 2018 he and hip-hop artist Mad Skillz will co-teach a class on hip-hop and politics. Nielson blogs about hip-hop and the broader culture here.

Alyssa Mumtaz is a mixed-media artist based in Charlottesville, Va. She describes her work as exploring “the intersections of abstraction, contemplativity and artisanship.” She is a 2017-2018 artist-in-residence at the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion in Washington, D.C.  

Deborah Johnson is a professor emeritus of applied ethics in science, technology and society at the University of Virginia. Best known for her work on computer ethics and engineering ethics, Johnson’s research examines the ethical, social, and policy implications of technology, especially information technology. She was part of a panel on AI and religion at the […]

Joseph Reiff is a professor of religion at Emory & Henry College in Emory, Va., and the author of Born of Conviction: White Methodists and Mississippi’s Closed Society, which examines how 28 white Methodist ministers in Mississippi battled school segregation and racial intolerance at the height of the white South’s resistance to the civil rights […]