Ed Gaffney is professor of law at Valparaiso University, concentrating on religious freedom and a course on war and peace. He also taught at Notre Dame, Loyola (LA), Pepperdine, and Pennsylvania. He received the S.T.L. from the Gregorian University. With Judge John T. Noonan, Jr., author of Religious Freedom: History, Cases, and Other Materials (New York: Foundation Press, 3rd ed. 2010). He has filed numerous amicus briefs in cases relating to protection of religious freedom in many appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He was a founder and long-time editor of the Journal of Law & Religion. He has written for America, Commonweal, Cross Currents, and U.S. Catholic, and has… produced, directed, and written two documentaries, Empty Boxcars (2012) and Holy Land: Common Ground (2010).U.S. Ambassador (ret.) Douglas W. Kmiec is Caruso Family Chair and Professor of Constitutional Law & Human Rights, Pepperdine University. Author and syndicated columnist, he has been privileged to serve Democratic and Republican presidents alike. Until recently, upon nomination by President Obama and confirmation by the Senate, he was U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malta, where he completed the construction of a $125.5 million embassy compound and upgraded the security and economic ties between the Mediterranean and the U.S. When Qaddafi met the call for political reform with violence threatening civilian populations, the Ambassador successfully organized a rescue of the staff of Embassy-Tripoli and hundreds of other foreign nationals from Libya with a catamaran. Amb. Kmiec had assisted the envoy mission of his colleague, the late Amb. Chris Stevens. Amb. Kmiec previously served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel for President Ronald Reagan.Patrick Whelan MD PhD is on the pediatrics faculty at Harvard Medical School and is a pediatric rheumatology specialist at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston. He is also Clinical Assistant Professor at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He has written & lectured widely on medical ethics. Whelan is a former co-director of Pax Christi Massachusetts and a founding member of the Dominican Lay Scholars in Boston. He spoke at the prayer service that opened the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Board member, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC. Dr. Whelan is a graduate of Harvard, with graduate degrees from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
John Eastman is the author of Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (978-0-8117-1367-2), as well as numerous other books and articles about the natural world.