Elaine Pagels is the author of the best-selling Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (Random House, 2003) and a professor of religion at Princeton University. She has written a number of well-received books on gnosticism, an early Christian movement considered heretical, and early Christianity. Additionally, she is the author of  The Origin of Satan (1996).

Karen L. King is the author of The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle (Polebridge Press, 2003). A scholar of gnosticism, the body of nonorthodox early Christian teachings, and a professor of ecclesiastical history, she appeared on a Nov. 3, 2003, ABC television special exploring the claims of the novel about Jesus […]

Esdras Betancourt is director of the Hispanic Ministries department of the Church of God, in Cleveland, Tenn.

Gerald R. Barnes is executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs, whose mission is to assist the Catholic Church in its efforts to serve the large Hispanic population in the United States.

Jeremy Gunn is director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s new Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. The ACLU filed an amicus brief in support of UDV.

Lee Boothby is a civil rights and employment lawyer in Washington, D.C. He was vice president of the International Academy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, which filed an amicus brief in support of UDV.

Anthony Picarello Jr. is associate general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He filed an amicus brief supporting UDV on behalf of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

Nancy Hollander of Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward P.A. in Albuquerque, N.M., was the attorney representing the UDV.

The Rev. John Chryssavgis is author of Light Through Darkness: The Orthodox Tradition. He taught theology at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology and serves as theological adviser to the Ecumenical Patriarch on environmental issues. Chryssavgis lives in Maine.