Michael S. Franch is an affiliate minister at the First Unitarian Church, Baltimore, and has served as leader of the Baltimore Ethical Society. He is interested in how pluralistic societies work. A historian by training (Ph.D., University of Maryland), he has taught history at a number of colleges and, until his 2007 retirement, worked in health policy at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr. Franch is a storyteller, English country dance caller, and urban bicyclist.