Phil Snider is an award-winning author, activist, public theologian, pastor, and teacher. His work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Religion Dispatches, Slate, USA Today, and numerous other local and national media outlets, including NPR affiliates and nationally-syndicated radio and television programming. He is perhaps best known for his speech on equal rights for LGBTQ+ persons, which has been viewed on YouTube over five million times. Phil’s books (as author or editor) include Preaching as Resistance, Justice Calls, Preaching After God, The Hyphenateds, and, with Emily Bowen-Marler, Toward a Hopeful Future (winner of the 2011 Mayflower Award for best book in church and society). Additional forthcoming titles include two volumes (edited with Katharine Sarah Moody) for the series Intersections: Theology and the Church in a World Come of Age. Phil is a pastor at Brentwood Christian Church in Springfield, MO, and he teaches religion at Missouri State University and Drury University.

Haleh Karimi was born in Tehran and left Iran at the age of 14 to attend school in the United States and later in Switzerland. Having lived in lands of change (Iran & United States), and one of peace (Switzerland), her passion in life has become to raise awareness of global issues about peace and justice through education and dialogue. She has been an IT Executive, working in Fortune 500 companies for over 18 years. She is currently the Executive Director of Interfaith Paths to Peace after being on the board for a decade, and the past Chair of WAC to pursue her passion for peacemaking.

As for her educational passion, Haleh is a teacher and a student at the same time. Pursuing her doctorate studies at Sullivan University as well as being the Chair of the Dynamic Web Development department at Sullivan College of Technology and Design. A design school that promotes art and technology for more enriched graduates. She is also the co-chair of Science and Engineering Advisory Board as well as the past Chair of the Network of Entrepreneurial Women.

She has been living in the United States for 37 years and 26 in Louisville.

You can email Haleh at haleh@paths2peace.org.

Ben Carter is a lawyer here in Louisville who practices consumer law. He’s also an op-ed columnist at the Louisville Courier Journal, and his columns have appeared in USA Today. Between 2008–2010, Ben worked at the Legal Aid Society and helped Jefferson County build an innovative, county-wide response to its foreclosure crisis. As a litigator, he has defended homeowners from foreclosure with novel, emerging, and bold advocacy.  Ben has just taken a position with the Kentucky Equal Justice Center as Senior Litigator.

Full disclosure, Ben is a member of the congregation I serve. So, I’ve known Ben for about 10 years or so. I’m really excited to talk to him about how to write an op-ed. He is one of the sharpest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.

Here are a couple of examples of Ben’s Op-eds (including the now infamous “jackassery” piece): here and here.

You can find Ben at his web site http://bencarterlaw.com, on Twitter at @notbencarter, and by email ben@kyequaljustice.org.

An interview with Nicole Hardin, who is both a minister and a social justice ninja. She has had a key organizing role in Black Lives Matter Louisville. She’s played a big part in the long march toward racial justice here in Louisville.

Sandhya Jha serves as founder and director of the Oakland Peace Center, a collective of 40 organizations creating access, equity and dignity for all in Oakland and the Bay Area.

Sandhya is also an author. In her two most recent books, Pre-Post-Racial America: Spiritual Stories from the Front Lines she takes on the subject of race and spirituality in America. Pre-Post-Racial America was listed as one of the top five books on race and religion in 2015 by Publishers Weekly. Sandhya’s newest book, Transforming Communities: How People Like You are Healing Their Neighborhoods, focuses on concrete ways that regular people are creating change community-by-community in an era where positive change can feel impossible. 

You can find Sandhya at her web site http://sandhyajha.com, on Twitter at @pastorsandhya, and by email at sandhya@oaklandpeacecenter.org.