Lisa J. Schwebel is an assistant professor in the department of classical and Oriental studies at Hunter College in New York City and author of Apparitions, Healings and Weeping Madonnas: Christianity and the Paranormal.

Richard Kieckhefer is chairman of the religion department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and can discuss the history of miracles, magic and sainthood.

Danny E. Burton is an associate professor of history at the University of North Alabama in Florence, Ala. He co-authored the book Magic, Mystery and Science: The Occult in Western Civilization.

Kristin Beise Kiblinger is an associate professor of religious studies at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and the author of Buddhist Inclusivism: Attitudes Towards Religious Others.

The Skeptics Society is a scientific and educational organization that investigates fringe science and paranormal claims and strives to promote critical thinking. Michael Shermer is executive director, and he also serves as publisher of the group’s magazine, Skeptic.

The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry is a nonprofit science and educational organization and an affiliate of the Center for Inquiry. It evaluates claims of paranormal phenomena and fringe science. Barry Karr is executive director.

The Center for Inquiry works to foster a secular society devoted to humanist values and freedom of inquiry. Its public education programs focus on paranormal and fringe science claims; religion, ethics and society; and medicine and health. The center is based in Amherst, N.Y., and has branches throughout the U.S. and the world. Ronald A. Lindsay is president and […]

What are some helpful hints on covering highly charged religious services, especially ones that seem to defy rational explanation? By Sandi Dolbee The San Diego Union-Tribune* You walk into the room and the first things you hear are the sounds. People mumbling and wailing, speaking in languages you simply don’t recognize. Others are falling down, […]

Read an Aug. 30, 2010, NPR story about the connection between human evolution and belief in the super-natural.