Rachel G. Hackenberg

Pastor and author

Modern American life has conflated the end of time with everyday time. We are living each day in a panic as though it is the last day. We experience each moment as though it is a deadline, an end, a final chance for productivity. We are not waiting for The End Of Time to live at the end of time.

Rick Hendrix

Philanthropist; Actor; Musician; Political Strategist

I learned many hard lessons before I made it in the music industry, and people like George Jones paved the way for me. George told me, "You will never do wrong for doing right -- even if they are bad people." It's a lesson I have learned to live by in my life, family and work.

Stephen Mansfield

New York Times best-selling author

As Jesus hung upon a Roman cross, he forgave one of those with him and promised him a place in paradise. This challenges our tendency to think of terrorists as pure evil, unrepentant and undeserving of good will.

Danielle Tumminio

Author, 'God and Harry Potter at Yale'

I met two Mormon missionaries on a chilly spring evening when my husband and I attended the musical "The Book of Mormon." They were handing out copies of the LDS Scriptures -- aka the original Book of Mormon -- near the theatre entrance, and I couldn't resist talking with them.

Robert C. Crosby, D.Min.

Author, 'The Teaming Church: Ministry in the Age of Collaboration'

Many choose to view God as distant. Observable. Manageable. Close enough to consider. Distant enough to never impose nor interfere. From a distance, no wonder is ever too wonderful, no power too powerful, no master ever too masterful.

Ron Nikkel

President & CEO, Prison Fellowship International

It was said of Jesus of Nazareth that he was the ultimate Word of God -- the flesh and blood embodiment of God's love and justice, "full of grace and truth" (St. John 1:14) -- and what he said, is what he meant, and what he lived.

Ali A. Rizvi

Pakistani-Canadian writer, physician and musician

Just like Judaism is a religion that can exist independently from Jewish ethnicity or Jewish culture, Islam is a religion, and even though Muslims are ethnically and racially varied, there really is such a thing as a Muslim culture that can exist separately from Islam.

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush

Senior Religion Editor, The Huffington Post

Every religious person should object to having the Ten Commandments in schools because you are allowing other people -- people over whom you have no control -- the responsibility of interpreting said commandments.

Peter A. Georgescu

Chairman Emeritus, Young & Rubicam; Author, 'The Constant Choice'

A remarkable book about Russian monks, published last year, reads like something from the middle of the 19th century. You feel transported back in time to the era of Russian faith that gave birth to Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Yet, the non-fiction tales collected in "Everyday Saints" are entirely contemporary.

Rev. Michelle L. Torigian

Pastor, St. Paul United Church of Christ, Old Blue Rock Rd., Cincinnati

We remember the women with many children, young children, a child who has recently died, those who have experienced miscarriage, infertility or painful births, those who have broken relationships with children and women who have not experienced motherhood at all.

Diana Butler Bass

Author, "Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening"

Although I've never seen it on a pastel flowered greeting card, Mother's Day honors a progressive feminist, inclusive, non-violent vision for world community

Ryan Thomas Neace

Counselor, professor, husband, daddy

"Imagine 10,000 men, fathers, sons, brothers and Christ-followers, coming together to worship God and learn more about the life of true adventure He intends for us as men." That's an actual description of one such event. If you're like me, you're very, very nervous to read any further.

Stefanie Williams

Writer and blogger

Stop with the whole, "Why is it OK to make fun of Tim Tebow for being a good Christian but we commend Jason Collins for being gay?" thing. When Tim Tebow can legally get fired in 29 states simply for being a Christian, then we'll talk.

Karyn L. Wiseman, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Homiletics, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

We all have secret pain. We all have brokenness. We all have wounds that do not fully heal despite all the salve we put on them. The truth is that no matter our circumstances in life, there is still heartache and pain.

Andrew J. Lederer

Comedian

It seems increasingly clear that at the core of our modern politics, which is to say, of an American politics mired in and thwarted by twisted fantasies and lies, is the religiousness of many of its practitioners. Problem is, religious people will believe anything.

William B. Bradshaw

Author, 'The Big Ten of Grammar: Identifying and Fixing the Ten Most Frequent Grammatical Errors'; 'Sinister Among Us' (a novel about demons); and 'Fundraising: the System that Works." See www.williambbradshaw.com

In the United States there are five primary titles people use in referring to the clergy or minister or leader of their particular church or synagogue, depending upon the denomination or the geographic location of the congregation. Each is a legitimate title.