Clement Awanfe Ngueto

Clement Awanfe Ngueto is the founder-president of Global Compassion, a non-profit based organization in Douala, Cameroon and affiliated with United Religions Initiative. It has worked with an international and local team of volunteers/interns to create and develop projects that help the Santchou community become self-sufficient (e.g., potable water project; computer lab center; empowering rural women; and peace education for youth). Clement’s passion is serving community initiatives and growing small businesses managed by women and youth in rural areas.

Additionally, Clement has experience in peacebuilding (conflict management and negotiation) through distance learning with USIP (www.usip.org), the University of Amsterdam, and the North South Centre for The Council of Europe. He is also among the 100 youth fellows selected for an interfaith co-existence, intercultural, and peacebuilding program called “A Common Word Among the Youth,” that includes several trainings and conferences in Africa, Europe and America.

Carrie Newcomer

Carrie Newcomer is a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter. Her albums include Kindred Spirits, A Permeable Life, The Beautiful Not Yet, and The Point of Arrival, and two books of poetry and essays.

Carrie is the 2019 recipient of The Shalem Institute’s “Contemplative Voices Award.” Recent media appearances include PBS’s Religion and Ethics and Krista Tippett’s On Being. Newcomer was a cultural ambassador to India and has traveled to Kenya and the Middle East, performing in concert halls, hospitals, schools, and spiritual communities. She has lent her support to organizations focused on social justice, health and hunger services, progressive spirituality, and environmental preservation. She lives in the woods with her husband and two shaggy dogs. For information about Carrie’s touring schedule, CDs, and books, visit her site.

Yonatan Neril

Rabbi Yonatan Neril founded and directs the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, based in Jerusalem, which works to catalyze a transition to a sustainable, thriving, and spiritually-aware society through leadership of faith communities. Yonatan speaks internationally on faith and ecology, and co-organized five interfaith environmental conferences, in Jerusalem, New York City, and Washington D.C. He is the lead author and general editor of two books on Jewish environmental ethics including Uplifting People and Planet: 18 Essential Jewish Teachings on the Environment. A native of California, Yonatan completed an M.A. and B.A. from Stanford University with a focus on global environmental issues, and received rabbinical ordination in Israel. He lives with his wife and two children in Jerusalem.

Melissa K. Nelson

Melissa K. Nelson, (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), is a writer, researcher, educator, media-maker, and cultural and environmental activist. Melissa has served as The Cultural Conservancy’s president and executive director since 1993. In 2000 she completed her Ph.D. in Cultural Ecology with an Emphasis in Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. Since 2002 she has also served as a professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University. Her published works have appeared in academic and national journals. Her edited anthology is Original Instructions – Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (Bear & Company 2008). Nelson is a Switzer Environmental Fellow and Leadership Award recipient and has served on the boards of numerous environmental organizations including Earth Island Institute, United Religions Initiative, and currently, the Center for Whole Communities and Bioneers.

Ameena Naqvi

Ameena Naqvi is 13 and in eighth grade at Arbour Lake School in Calgary, Canada. Her hobbies include drawing, playing the flute, and reading. She has a passion for music and writing.

Despina Namwembe

Despina Namwembe is a social scientist with a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies. She coordinates the work of over 30 grassroots interfaith organizations doing different social action in the Great Lakes countries of Africa. Despina is a community organizer, and trainer who also mentors many in organizational development. Growing up in a continent that sometimes fuses strong customs with religion to deter full women participation, Despina has passion for addressing issues that support women and girls achieve their full life potential. She is widely traveled something that has helped her conceive many life changing situations outside the box. She is also a contributor to different literature in the areas of interfaith, gender, environment and peace building.

Anum Mulla

Anum Mulla is a writer, editor, and an empathy & compassion cultivation facilitator. With roots in India, Pakistan, the Middle East, and Canada, she is passionate about the fluid interrelation of cultures and perspectives and is a strong advocate of social justice and reform. Her work is rooted in the belief of a metaphysical alignment of the core human values of empathy and compassion.

Anum serves on the Board of Trustees for the Charter for Compassion through which she focuses on engaging more youth in compassionate actions. She is a Level II Facilitator of the CIT Program (Center for Compassion Integrity & Secular Ethics), a Social Emotional & Ethical Learning Facilitator (Emory University), and a Crossing Borders Education Facilitator. Along with her team, Anum spearheaded the CIT for Educators in South Asia, CIT for Educators in Africa, and CIT for Young Changemakers programs, she continues to facilitate compassion based education trainings across the globe.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anum-mulla-9650211b2

Michael Nagler

Michael Nagler is Professor emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC, Berkeley, where he co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program in which he taught the immensely popular nonviolence course that was webcast in its entirety as well as PACS 90, "Meditation" and a sophomore seminar called "Why Are We Here? Great Writing on the Meaning of Life" for fifteen years.

Among other awards, he received the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for “Promoting Gandhian Values Outside India” in 2007, joining other distinguished contributors to nonviolence as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and peace scholar and activist Johan Galtung in receiving this honor.

He is the author of The Search for a Nonviolent Future, which received a 2002 American Book Award and has been translated into Korean, Arabic, Italian and other languages; Our Spiritual Crisis: Recovering Human Wisdom in a Time of Violence (2005); The Upanishads (with Sri Eknath Easwaran, 1987), and other books as well as many articles on peace and spirituality.

He has spoken for campus, religious, and other groups on peace and nonviolence for many years, especially since September 11, 2001. He has consulted for the U.S. Institute of Peace and many other organizations and is the founder President of the board of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education. Michael has worked on nonviolent intervention since the 1970’s and served on the Interim Steering Committee of the Nonviolent Peaceforce.

Michael is a student of Sri Eknath Easwaran, Founder of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, and has lived at the Center's ashram in Marin County since 1970. He gives workshops on Easwaran's system of passage meditation around the world.

John W. Morehead

John W. Morehead has been involved for many years in interreligious relationships and conversations in the contexts of Islam, Mormonism, and Paganism. He is the director of the Evangelical Chapter of the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, and the editor of Beyond the Burning Times: A Pagan and Christian in Dialogue by Philip Johnson and Gus diZerega (2009).

Bee Moorhead

Bee Moorhead has been Executive Director of Texas Impact since 2000, managing every aspect of the organization’s work and answering to a 45-member board of directors. The Texas Impact Board is made up of representatives from the state’s many faith communities. Under Bee’s leadership, Texas Impact has moved from fewer than 1,000 members to more than 20,000 and earned recognition as a national leader in interfaith education and community leadership development.

Bee spent eight years as a senior fiscal policy analyst for former Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, John Sharp. Bee was responsible for the Comptroller’s attention to public policy issues related to health and human services, and she was the chief architect of Family Pathfinders, a unique program linking Texas congregations and civic organizations with families on public assistance.

Bee holds a B.A. in Drama from the University of Texas in Austin, and a M.A. in Public Affairs from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.

Deborah Moldow

Rev. Deborah Moldow is an ordained interfaith minister committed to assisting in the transformation of human consciousness to a culture of peace through her ministry, international peace work, interfaith efforts, speaking, writing and singing, all part of the movement of awakening humanity.

Deborah is the founder of the Garden of Light, an online platform for the emerging global spirituality. The Garden of Light provides a virtual home for a new community rooted in shared spirituality that transcends differences of culture so that it can become visible as a powerful force in uplifting the human spirit.

She is Co-Director with Diane Williams of the Evolutionary Leaders circle, a project of the Source of Synergy Foundation that brings together visionaries committed to the acceleration of the conscious evolution of humanity in these critical times. She is also a Core Collaborator at Unity.Earth.

Deborah served for more than 20 years as the Representative to the United Nations of the World Peace Prayer Society, which promotes the universal prayer “May Peace Prevail on Earth,” and has traveled the globe to conduct Peace Pole dedications and World Peace Flag Ceremonies sending peace to every nation. At the United Nations, she co-chaired the International Day of Peace NGO Committee and the Values Caucus, and founded the United Religions Initiative multi-faith cooperation circle.

Rev. Deborah leads monthly Interfaith Sundays at the Chapel at Croton Falls, has a practice in spiritual counseling and facilitates a local Spirit Salon.

Ammara Mohsin

Ammara Mohsin is from Pakistan. She currently is pursuing a bachelors in Social Sciences at SZABIST (Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Techology), looking to major in Economics. Writing has always held an appeal for her because it makes her feel that an ordinary person like herself can make an impact on the world and its people. She’s recently taken up debate, and her favorite authors currently are Arundhati Roy and Leo Tolstoy.

Keishi Miyamoto

Keishi Miyamoto is a Japanese Buddhist leader, president of Arigatou International, convenor of the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children and the Global Network of Religions for Children. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Role of Faith. 

Donald W. Mitchell

Donald W. Mitchell is professor emeritus of comparative philosophy at Purdue University; visiting professor of interreligious dialogue at Sophia University Institute, Florence, Italy; and editor of Claritas: Journal of Dialogue and Culture. He is a founder of the Society for Buddhist Christian Studies, Associate Editor of its journal, and was director of the International Buddhist-Christian Theological Encounter. His work in interreligious dialogue includes dialogues for the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (MID), and the Catholic Association of Diocesan Ecumenical and Interreligious Officers (CADEIO). Most recently he organized Pope Francis’s new “dialogue of fraternity,” a Buddhist-Catholic dialogue for fellowship and joint social action in Rome with the PCID and the USCCB. Besides his lifelong work in the Buddhist-Christian dialogue, he spent ten years after 9/11 working on public diplomacy projects with the U. S. Department of State in predominately Muslim countries. Among his many publications are: Spirituality and Emptiness: The Dynamics of Spiritual Life in Buddhism and Christianity (1991); The Gethsemani Encounter (1997); Masao Abe: A Zen Life of Dialogue (1998); and Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience (2002).

Timothy Miner

Timothy Miner is the executive director of the Council of Interfaith Communities and one of three founders of the Order of Universal Interfaith. He was called to chaplaincy after the events of 9/11 and now serves as a chaplain and chaplain-trainer for U.S. Federal and local law enforcement and disaster response programs.  Rev. Miner is a minister for an interfaith-interspiritual fellowship, and he is the content-producer of spiritual information for a world-wide Spiritual But Not Religious community.  A background in aviation and meteorology also keep him active in eco-ministry.  He has academic degrees in physical and human geography, computer sciences, atmospheric science, and a M.Div. from a Baptist seminary; he is also a graduate of an interfaith seminary program. In January 2013 he will lead the first discussions of one of the world’s largest science societies as it attempts to breach the divide between science and spirituality through integral thinking.

Susan Katz Miller

Susan Katz Miller, an award-winning journalist, is both an interfaith child and an interfaith parent. Her father is Jewish, her mother is Protestant: she grew up in Reform Judaism. After marrying a Protestant, Miller and her husband decided to raise their children in both religions, in a community of interfaith families. Miller eventually became the Board Co-Chair of the Interfaith Families Project of Greater Washington DC.

Miller graduated from Brown University, and began her journalism career at Newsweek in New York. After working in the Los Angeles and Washington bureaus, she moved to Dakar, Senegal for three years. While there, she wrote travel pieces for the New York Times, was tear-gassed in the streets while covering an election, interviewed the President of Senegal for Newsweek International, and wrote Christian Science Monitor pieces from Benin, Togo, the Gambia, and Sierra Leone. On returning to the States, she became a U.S. Correspondent for the British weekly magazine New Scientist. She then spent three years freelancing from northeastern Brazil. After her two children were born, she and her husband settled in the Washington, DC, area, and she founded the first blog devoted to interfaith family communities and interfaith identity, onbeingboth.com, and began blogging at Huffington Post Religion.

Miller’s writing has also appeared in Discover, Science, National Wildlife, Health, Moment, Jewcy.com, interfaithfamily.com, and many other publications. Her photographs have been published in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and International Wildlife. Her interfaith family has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, and on the PBS program Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, and she is often quoted as an expert on interfaith families in newspapers and magazines.

Susan Katz Miller can be contacted at her website.

Rev. Jenifer Miller

Rev. Jen Miller is an Interfaith minister, a chaplain, a healer, a writer, an illustrator, and the creative force behind www.AltarNativeArts.com. Rev. Miller has designed and created America’s original line of Pop-Up Care Cards, including AltarNative Angels, a growing selection of faith-specific prayer cards, and secular cards for wellbeing. Rev. Miller was ordained in 2016, completed four units of CPE in December, 2017, and currently works as Lead Chaplain (On-Call) for George Mark Children’s House in San Leandro, CA (The first stand-alone hospice for children in the US).

Donald E. Miller

Donald E. Miller is the Leonard K. Firestone Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California and co-founder and director of strategic initiatives of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC. Professor Miller is a sociologist of religion with an interest in global religious trends, new patterns of religious practice, and innovative organizational responses to cultural change.

He is the author, co-author, or editor of ten books, including Spirit and Power: The Growth and Global Impact of Pentecostalism, ed. with Richard Flory & Kimon Sargeant (Oxford University Press, 2013); Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generation, with Richard Flory (Rutgers University Press, 2008);  GenX Religion, ed. with Richard Flory, (Routledge, 2000); and Reinventing American Protestantism (University of California Press, 1997). He is currently completing a book on the Rwanda Tutsi genocide based on 260 interviews with survivors.

Jay Michaelson

Dr. Jay Michaelson is vice president of the Arcus Foundation and the author of five books and two hundred articles on religion, sexuality, ethics, and contemplative practice. His book, God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality (2011), was an Amazon.com bestseller and Lambda Literary Award finalist and his most recent book, Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment was published in 2013 by North Atlantic Books. His other books include Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism (2009) and Another Word for Sky: Poems (2007). Jay is a contributing editor to the Forward newspaper and associate editor of Religion Dispatches magazine, and his articles appear in The Daily Beast, Salon, The Huffington Post, and other publications.

The Arcus Foundation is a leading global foundation advancing LGBT equality. Prior to Arcus, Jay was the founder of Nehirim, a national LGBT Jewish community; the Religious Liberty Fellow at Political Research Associates, a progressive think tank; and co-founder of Eshel, an Orthodox Jewish LGBT organization. Jay’s work in this area has been featured on CNN, NPR, and in the New York Times.

In 2009, Jay was included on the Forward 50 list of the fifty most influential American Jews, and in 2010 he won the New York Society of Professional Journalists’ award for opinion writing. His degrees come form Yale, Hebrew University,  Columbia, and Sarah Lawrence. He has held teaching positions at Boston University Law School, City College of New York, and Yale University.

Paul Louis Metzger

Paul Louis Metzger has been involved in interreligious dialogue with various religious traditions, including Islam, Buddhism, and Paganism. Dr. Metzger is professor of Christian Theology and Theology of Culture, and director of The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins, at Multnomah Biblical Seminary/Multnomah University. He is also a Charter Member of the Evangelical Chapter of the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy. The Institute recently completed a year-long series of exchanges between Evangelical Christians and Zen Buddhists through a grant received from the Association of Theological Schools. Dr. Metzger’s most recent book is Connecting Christ: How to Discuss Jesus in a World of Diverse Paths (2012).