Reverend Lyman Abbott

(December 18, 1835, Roxbury, Massachusetts-October 22, 1922, Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York). Congregationalist Minister. Attorney. Ordained Minister, Congregational Church, 1860. Secretary, American Union (Freedmen's) Commission, 1865-1868. Editor, Christian Union, 1876. Pastor, Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn, New York, 1888-1899. Editor, Outlook, 1893. Noted as a champion of the modern rational outlook in American Christianity. Influential Christian author. Succeeded Henry Ward Beecher as Pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church.

Reverend Ralph David Abernathy

(March 11, 1926, Linden, Alabama-April 17, 1990, Atlanta, Georgia). Baptist Minister and Civil Rights Leader. Ordained Minister, Baptist Church, 1951. Pastor, First Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, 1951-1961. Co-Founder, Montgomery Improvement Association, 1956. Co-Founder, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1956 (President, 1968-1976). Key strategist and confidant of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. in the civil rights struggles of the 1960's. Succeeded Dr. King as President of SCLC upon King's assassination. Later accused King of plagiarism and sexual indiscretions in Abernathy's autobiography, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down.

Swami Abhishiktananda, O.S.B.

(August 30, 1910, Saint Briac, Brittany, France-December 7, 1973, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India). Roman Catholic Priest and Sannyasin. Born Henri Le Saux. Pioneer in the spiritual dialog between Hinduism and Catholicism. Professed monk, Order of Saint Benedict, Roman Catholic Church, 1929. Ordained Priest, Order of Saint Benedict, Roman Catholic Church. Librarian and Master of Ceremonies, St. Anne de Kergonan Benedictine Monastery, 1929-1948. Began an association with Father Jules Monchanin, a missionary in India, 1934. Founded an ashram with Father Monchanin, Tannirpalli, India, 1948. Founder, Saccidananda Ashram, Shantivanam, India, 1950. Adopted the dress of a Hindu sannyasi and changed his name to Swami Abhishiktananda, 1950. Spent considerable time in caves of the Holy Mountain Arunachla, 1950-1955. Left Saccindananda and became a hermit, 1968.

Most Reverend Bishop Keith Lynn Ackerman

(August 3, 1946, McKeesport, Pennsylvania-Alive). 8th Episcopal Bishop of Quincy, Illinois. Ordained Priest, Episcopal Church, 1974. Rector, St. Mary's Church, Charleroi, Pennsylvania, 1976-1989. Rector, St. Mark's Church, Arlington, Texas, 1989-1994. Eighth Bishop of Quincy, Illinois, January 8, 1994-Current. Noted as a theological conservative. Member of the Ekklesia Society. One of 10 Bishops to file charges of heresy against Bishop Walter Righter, 1995, for his ordination of a gay person as a Deacon of the Church.

George Adamski

(April 17, 1891, Poland-April 23, 1965, Maryland). UFO Contactee. Reputedly the first, and certainly the best known, American to claim to have photographed flying saucers, been in contact with extraterrestrial aliens, and have flown in UFOs to other planets. Founder and Professor of Universal Progressive Christianity, Monastery of the Royal Order of Tibet, Laguna Beach, California, 1934. Claimed to have seen UFOs in the Mojave Desert and have commuicated with the occupants of the craft, November 20, 1952. While his assertions about other planets and the moon have been discredited by later space exploration, he continues to have a devoted following. Lecturer. Author of Pioneers of Space: A Trip to the Moon, mars and Venus (1949); Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953); Inside the Space Ships (1955), and Flying Saucer Farewell (1961).

Sailor Bob Adamson

New Age Teacher. Disciple of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, 1976. Articulates the concept of "pure intelligence energy" and the Oneness of the universe. Conducts classes on non-duality in Melbourne, Australia.

Most Reverend Auxiliary Bishop Sebastian Adayanthrath

(April 5, 1957, Vaikom, India-Alive). Syro-Malabar Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, India, 2002-Current. Ordained Priest, Syro-Malabar Rite, Roman Catholic Chuch, December 18, 1983. Syro-Malabar Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, India and Titular Bishop of Macriana Maior, February 4, 2002-Current.

His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari

(c. 1955-Alive). Hare Krishna Teacher of Ultimate Self-Realization Course, 2003-Current. Initiated as a disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, 1971. Ordered by Srila Prabhupada to deliver the suffering humanity from illusion, 1977. Founder, Ultimate Self-Realization Course, 2003-Current. Lives in Bhaktivedanta Ashram, Austin, Texas.

Chief Rabbi Dr. Hermann Marcus Adler

(1839, Hanover, Germany-Alive). Jewish Chief Rabbi of the United Congregations of the British Empire, 1891-1911. Son of Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler. Ordained Rabbi, Orthodox Judaism. Rabbi of the United Synagogue, 1879. Chief Rabbi, United Congregations of the British Empire, 1891-1911. A noted anti-Zionist. Author of The Jews in England. Described as a "patrician English gentleman." Under his leadership, the United Synagogue developed a distinctively English style of Orthodoxy.

Margot Adler

(Little Rock, Arkansas-Alive). Wiccan Priestess and Correspondent, National Public Radio. Born into an atheistic, Jewish, Marxist household. Granddaughter of Alfred Adler. Initiated into Gardnerian Wicca, 1973. Former Gardnerian cover, 1976. General Assignment Reporter, National Public Radio, 1979. Host, "Justice Talking," National Public Radio. Author of Drawing Down the Moon and Heretic's Heart: A Journey Through Spirit and Revolution. Lecturer on Paganism.

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(c. 1460, Corneto, Tuscany, Italy-1521). Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bath and Wells. Also known as Adriano of Corneto. Apostolic Nuncio to Scotland, 1488. Gained favor of Henry VII and appointed King's agent in Rome. Returned to England, 1489, as collector of Peter's Pence. English Ambassador to the Holy See. Bishop of Hereford, England, 1502. Elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals, May 31, 1503. Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1504. Removed as Cardinal, July 5, 1518. Implicated in two plots to poison Popes. Held aspirations for the Papacy himself.

(December 13, 1936, Geneva, Switzerland-Alive). 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. Son of Prince Aly Khan and Princess Tajuddawiah Aly Khan and grandson of Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III. Forty-Ninth Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, July 11, 1957. Philanthropist.

(September 18, 1895, Akhaltzikhe, Armenia-May 16, 1971, Rome, Italy). Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia, 1937-1962, and Vatican Official. Born Krikor Bedros Aghajanian. Also Known as Gregory Peter XV Cardinal Agagianian and Gregoire-Pierre XV Cardinal Aghagianian. Ordained Priest, Armenian Rite, Roman Catholic Church, December 23, 1917. Faculty Member, Pontifical Armenian College, 1921-1932, Rector, 1932-1937. Titular Bishop of Comana di Armenia, July 11, 1935. Elected Patriarch of Cilicia by Armenian Synod, November 30, 1937, with papal confirmation, December 13, 1937. Elevated to the College of Cardinals, February 18, 1946. President, Pontifical Commission for the Revision of teh Code of Oriental Canon Law, July 2, 1955. Pro-Prefect, Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, June 18, 1958, Prefect, July 18, 1950-October 19, 1970. Participated in the Conclaves of 1958 and 1963. Resigned as Patriarch, August 25, 1962. Attended Vatican II Council.

His Eminence Geraldo Cardinal Agnelo Majella

(October 19, 1933, Juiz de Fora, Brazil-Alive). Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sao Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, 1999-Current. Ordained Priest, Roman Catholic Church, June 29, 1957. Bishop of Toledo, Brazil, May 5, 1978. Archbishop of Londrina, Brazil, October 4, 1982. Secretary of Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, September 16, 1991. Archbishop of Sao Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, January 13, 1999-Current. Elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals, February 21, 2001.