The Reverend Vern Barnet, DMn
CRES minister emeritus    vern@cres.org

BIO SKETCHES      Long       Shorter --Table of Faiths Bio      Community Leadership Assn      MLKingJr address      Magazine Feature      Publications, Awards, Etc CBS VIDEO TIPS FOR INTRODUCTIONS About "Reverend" FEES   COLOR and B/W PHOTOS   SPIRITUAL VIEWPOINT   CONTACT       email:...vern@cres.org      blog: www.cres.org/blog      Quickest Address:              Box 45414,              Kansas City, MO 64171      Kansas address:            Box 4165,             Overland Park, KS 66204      24-hour voicemail             913.649.5114   A QUESTION OF STYLE:  " R E V E R E N D "    Since style and usage vary, this information is provided for those who wish to use standard form.       In programs and press releases, any of the following styles (and abbreviation) may be acceptable:        the Reverend Vern Barnet, DMn       the Rev Vern Barnet       the Rev Mr Barnet       the Rev Dr Barnet       Vern Barnet       Barnet       Vern       Mr Barnet       Dr Barnet       the minister Since the word “Reverend” is an adjective, not a position (like rabbi or pastor), its formal usage parallels the word "Honorable" and does NOT include these forms either in addressing the person or in speaking about the person:       Reverend       the Reverend       Reverend Barnet       the Reverend Barnet You do not refer to a judge (or justice) as "Honorable Roberts" but rather as "the Honorable John Roberts." You may address a judge by his position, just as you may refer to a minister as "minister," though this is more common in British usage.  Note that "Reverend" is always used with the word "the" and the full name in polite style except in many African-American clergy contexts where shortened usage is expected.  Citations: American Heritage Dictionary and Vogue's Book of Etiquette and other standard authorities.                                           to page index                                             to page index

SUMMARY.—  In 2004, the Reverend Vern Barnet, DMn, was named minister emeritus of CRES, a Kansas City community resource for exploring spirituality in all faiths. He founded CRES in 1982, and became its minister-in-residence in 1985 with “community networking” responsibilities. He now focuses on writing, teaching, and consulting.       He is known to many Kansas Citians since 1994 through the religion column published Wednesdays in The Kansas City Star  in the “FYI” section. Founder of The Kansas City Interfaith Council and its convener through 2003, he is now its convener emeritus. (CRES continued to support the Council through 2004.) He has been active in many professional and civic organizations. His articles, poems, and reviews appear in many journals.       Barnet has taught religion courses as an adjunct at the Ottawa University Kansas City campus, Park University, and Baker University, and ministerial students at the Unity School of Christianity, the Central Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Saint Paul School of Theology (Methodist). In 2007 he served on the international faculty of the pilot “Interfaith Academies” partnered by Harvard University’s Pluralism Project, Religions for Peace-USA at the United Nations Plaza, the Saint Paul School of Theology, and the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council. For six years he served on  the editorial board of Unity Magazine as its only non-Unity ministerial member. HONORS AND INVOLVEMENT.—In 1979, Dr Barnet received the Kansas City Jewish Community Relations Bureau’s only “Distinguished Community Service Award” in its history — and in 1998 the American Muslim Council, Midwest Region, gave him its first “Distinguished Community Service Award.” In 1987 the Overland Park Rotary Club honored him as a Paul Harris Fellow with its “Distinguished Community Service Award,” and in 2002 he received the “Community Service Award” from the Crescent Peace Society. In 1989 he was selected for Kansas City Tomorrow, a year-long leadership development program sponsored by the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City; and in 1996, after serving six terms on its alumni board, he was honored as “the Star of the Kansas City Tomorrow Alumni Association,” and he was voted its “Distinguished Alumnus of the Year” in 2006. In 1990 he was honored by the Ethnic Studies Center at William Jewell College for his community work fostering understanding among faiths. In 1991 he received the Warren Dentler Religious Service Award from the Waldo-Country Club Ministerial Association. In 2005,  from Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes, Vern received the first “Table of Faiths” award of the reorganized Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council at a luncheon in his honor. In 2006, the Midwest Sikh association presented him with its “Vaisakhi Community Service Award.” The Community Leadership Association presented him with a “Distinguished Leadership Award” at its 2006 conference in Hartford, CT. In 2007 the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of Kansas City honored him with an award and shawl. In 2008, he received The Abrahamic Legacy Award from Al Inshirah Islamic Center.      In 1993 Vern was named Director Emeritus of the Center for All Men. In 1996 his Rotary Club Foundation recognized his work helping to found a yearly week-long Youth Leadership Institute for high school students. He supervised the development of the curriculum and later chaired the Institute. In 2000, he received the Pikes Peak [Colorado] “Interfaith Cooperation and Achievement Award.” In 2001, he received the “Bodhisattva Award” from the Rime Buddhist Center Monastery and Tibetan Institute of Studies.      He organized the Kansas City Interfaith Council in 1989 and hosted it through 2004; for its first four years, he coordinated the Christian-Jewish-Muslim Dialogue Group. A “Coming of Age” program he initiated locally won national recognition. He has been president of several clergy groups and held office in various professional organizations, and served on numerous community and national boards. In 1996 he drafted the recommendation of the Religion/Spirituality Cluster of the Mayor’s Task Force on Race Relations.      He chaired the Jackson County Diversity Task Force following 9/11, which submitted its 77-page report on 2002 September 10, and led the team which organized the central 9/11 first anniversary observances for the metro area. (These and other Kansas City area interfaith projects were featured on the network CBS-TV half-hour religion special, “Open Hearts Open Minds,” broadcast in October, 2002.)      His current and past service includes work on boards for organizations such as the Friends of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas, the American Friends Service Committee, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), the Overland Park Rotary Club, the Kansas City Tomorrow Alumni Association, the Shawnee Mission Medical Center’s Institute for Spirituality and Health Advisory Board, the MAINstream Coalition Board and, earlier, its Advisory Board, and the NCCJ (National Conference for Community and Justice — formerly National Conference of Christians and Jews).      In 2001, he led the planning for the Kansas City area’s first interfaith conference, for which he was president. This historic event resulted in a Declaration to the community and plans for the future.      In 1984, he was part of the first group of Westerners in history to follow the sacred “Gyo” path on Mt Hiei, Japan. In 1986 his interest in Pandurang Athavale led to speaking to an assembly of 500,000 on the banks of the Ganges River. He has attended, spoken at, and helped organize numerous international conferences on religion around the world.   EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—Dr Barnet has lectured at universities and churches around the country. In Kansas City, he has taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels at the Saint Paul School of Theology, Central Baptist Theological Seminary, Baker University, Ottawa University - Kansas City, Park College, and Avila College, for ministerial and lay training at of the Unity School of Christianity, and community courses for Johnson County Community College. He has spoken for Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, and other religious organizations, and for retreats, schools, and business and civic groups. He served on the steering committee founding the Shawnee Mission School District’s Center for International Studies. Dr Barnet’s writings have appeared in professional journals, popular periodicals, and denominational curricula. He has appeared on and consulted for TV and radio around the country. Locally he has appeared on programs like KCPT’s “Kansas City Week in Review” and KCUR’s “Under the Clock” with former mayor Emanuel Cleaver, the Sunday morning show with Patrick Neas, “The Walt Bodine Show,” and Steve Kraske’s “Up to Date.” He has presented workshops at regional, continental, and international meetings.      His first major article, “God is Doing His Thing: The Hippie Heresy and Liberalism,”  was published in The Journal of the Liberal Ministry, Winter, 1969, before he completed his doctoral degree and was a 45-page excerpt from his dissertation. He edited and contributed to a book on worship, An Abraxas Reader (1980). He is cited or quoted in a number of works, including Robert B Tapp’s Religion Among the Unitarian Universalists (1973), Mohammad T Mehdi’s Islam and Tolerance (1990), and  Neal Vahle’s The Unity Movement (2002). He drafted the text of Governor Graves’ Ramadan proclamation, quoted in Harvard Professor Diana Eck’s A New Religious America (2001).      Barnet’s collection of sonnets, Love Without Desire, was published in 1992. He is now writing another book on worship and a book on world religions. His second collection of sonnets, Thanks for Noticing: Sonnets of Desire, is nearing completion.   ACADEMIC PREPARATION and PREVIOUS POSTS.—  Barnet completed doctoral work at the University of Chicago and the affiliated seminary, the Meadville Theological School (DMn, 1970), where he studied with Mircea Eliade, generally recognized as the world’s foremost scholar of the history of religions. He describes his doctoral dissertation using the Buddhist doctrine of the Void as “five hundred pages about Nothing.” His training also included study at the Center for Advanced Study of Religion in an Age of Science with Ralph Burhoe, the first American to win the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.      After school, he continued study in the field of world religions with scholars such as Joseph Campbell and with travel in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America. Before his full-time volunteer work with CRES, Dr Barnet served parishes in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Kansas.   DUTIES.— As minister-in-residence for CRES, Dr Barnet was responsible for institutional operation to fulfill the mission of CRES: promoting interfaith understanding through networking, consultation, special events, and educational programs and services in Kansas City.       Now, as minister emeritus, his networking responsibilities are diminished and his contributions are largely through writing, teaching, and consulting. In cooperation with the Interfaith Council, he will continue to lead the annual Thanksgiving Sunday Interfaith Ritual Meal which has become a key multi-faith witness in Kansas City. His public schedule is listed in Many Paths, the monthly CRES publication, and on this website, the Calendar. He provides wedding and other rites-of-passage services for those desiring an interfaith context.   PERSONAL INTERESTS.—His electronic music has been performed at concert and dance events. His photography has appeared in educational and commercial publications. His interest in religious disciplines included a 1983 fast from solid food, with medical supervision, for 72 days. His early work in computer programming led to an adjunct faculty appointment at The Computer Academy in Kansas City. He also enjoys swimming, singing, and photography. His son, Benjamin, was born in 1980. Quickest Address: Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171 Kansas address: Box 4165, Overland Park, KS 66204 24-hour voicemail (913) 649 5114 email:vern@cres.org.

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Tips for Introductions If you plan to introduce Vern before he gives a speech, please select three, or at most four, items; brief introductions are best for the audience, for Vern, and for you. Long introductions try the audience, rouse unrealistic expectations, and deprive the speaker of the time allotted for his remarks.     For example, here is a normal introduction: I am pleased to present Dr Vern Barnet, "Faiths and Beliefs" columnist for The Kansas City Star. In 1989 he founded the Kansas CIty Interfaith Council, and his interfaith work has been recognized by awards from many faith groups.     Here is an extended introduction: The Reverend Vern Barnet did his doctoral work at the University of Chicago where he studied with Mircea Eliade. His work in Kansas City began in 1975 and he has  taught world religions as an adjunct professor at several schools here. His primary interest, however, is in helping the community appreciate the many faiths represented here as resources for one's own spiritual growth. His topic today is "The World's Religions: Pieces or Pattern?" There may occasions where longer introductions might be appropriate, but unless you are giving him an award or have a particular need to place his work in some larger context, you will probably get few complaints if the introduction is short. Fees Honoraria or other financial recognition of services provided by CRES are normally expected. The usual fee suggestions are listed at on the page at www.cres/org/services.htm.       Financial recognition is usually expected as part of the organization's efforts to finance interfaith work. While Vern volunteers all his services and received no compensation for them (income from the KC Star column is assigned to CRES, for example), CRES does have expenses which include office overhead (space, phone, web site, postage, etc) and a part-time office assistant. BIO FROM THE 2005 "TABLE OF FAITHS" AWARD LUNCHEON The Reverend Vern Barnet, DMn, completed his doctoral work at the University of Chicago and the affiliated Unitarian Universalist seminary in 1970. He served parishes in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Kansas. Since 1985 he has been a full time volunteer acquainting the Kansas City area with the wonderful diversity of faiths here. Vern organized the Kansas City Interfaith Council in 1989 as a program of the World Faiths Center for Religious Experience and Study ("CRES"), where he is now minister emeritus. He headed its unprecedented 2001 "Gifts of Pluralism" conference which fostered many interfaith initiatives, including the play, "The Hindu and the Cowboy and Other Kansas City Stories." Among his many civic activities, he chaired the Jackson County Diversity Task Force which studied the effects of 9/11 on people of faith in the 5-county area, and co-founded the Overland Park Rotary Club's Youth Leadership Institute. As an active and visible participant in the media, Vern is frequently invited to share his views on local radio and television. Since 1994, he has written a column each Wednesday for The Kansas City Star. His articles and poems have appeared in many regional and national publications. His own monthly journal, Many Paths, was begun in 1984. Honored by Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and other groups, Vern has also served as president of several professional organizations.  He teaches world religions at area universities and seminaries and is a popular speaker for churches and civic groups. His largest live audience was 500,000 on the banks of the Ganges River. While he continues to travel throughout the Americas, in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, he calls Kansas City home.  "I feel very blessed to be a part of a community growing aware of itself through the arts, through civic and business life, through the other institutions of civilization, and especially through the rich personal relationships that grow when the spirit moves along varied paths that meet joyously here in the Heartland," he says.  BIO BY THE NATIONAL  COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP ASSOCIATION As minister in residence of CRES, which he founded in 1985, and as a cull time community volunteer, Vern Barnet is an exemplary leader and servant of others. His personal mission has been to promote understanding among peoples of all faiths in Kansas City. Vern initiated the Kansas City Interfaith Council in 1989 by recruiting representatives from a full range of organized religions. He has led the IFC as its convener, moderator, energizer and mediator for fifteen years, shepherding the Council to its current, independent, viable, important status in the community. Barnet organized and led the unprecedented "Gifts of Pluralism" 3-day conference, held in Kansas City in 2001, which brought together practitioners of diverse religions to learn about each others' faiths, and fostered numerous inter-cultural activities.   2007 SHORT BIO The Reverend Vern Barnet, DMn, founded the Kansas City Interfaith Council in 1989 and his organization, CRES, hosted it through 2005. He has been honored by Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and other groups in Kansas City and elsewhere. Among his many civic activities, he chaired the Jackson County Diversity Task Force which studied the effects of 9/11 on people of faith in the 5-county area. Since 1994, his Wednesday "Faiths and Beliefs" column has appeared in The Kansas City Star. In 2007 he was a member of the international faculty of the pilot "Interfaith Academies" which included partnerships with Harvard University's Pluralism Project and Religions for Peace - USA at the United Nations Plaza. 2007 BIO FOR ML KING ADDRESS The Reverend Vern Barnet, DMn, founder of the Kansas City Interfaith Council, is known to many through his "Faiths and Beliefs" column Wednesdays in The Kansas City Star. He has been honored by Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and other groups in Kansas City and elsewhere. He has spoken widely, including to a crowd of 500,000 on the banks of the Ganges River. Among his many civic activities, he chaired the Jackson County Diversity Task Force which studied the effects of 9/11 on people of faith in the 5-county area. In 2007 he was a member of the international faculty of the pilot "Interfaith Academies" which included partnerships with Harvard University's Pluralism Project and Religions for Peace - USA at the United Nations Plaza. Area seminaries have engaged him to teach "World Religions" and other courses. As a student, he met Martin Luther King Jr, preached his first Easter sermon right after King was assassinated, and has felt King's influence shaping much of his career and hope for the future. FOR A COPY OF THE CBS RELIGIOUS SPECIAL "OPEN HEARTS OPEN MINDS" call 1-800-494.6007;  $19.98 plus $4.95 S&H. view excerpts on line on our video page or obtain a professional local copy by sending $10 to CRES Box 45414 Kansas City, MO 64171 No extra charge for shipping.

The following sections are under construction:     DEGREES, CERTIFICATE, ORDINATION 1965 BA, University of Nebraska (philosophy) 1970 Certificate, Clinical Pastoral Education, University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics 1970 DMn, Meadville Theological School, affiliated with the University of Chicago; dissertation: Voidism: A Personal Theology for the Practice of the Liberal Ministry. 1970 Ordained to the Unitarian Universalist Ministry by the Lincoln, NE Unitarian Church 1970 Fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association Numerous awards from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, interfaith, professional, civic, and secular groups PARTIAL LIST OF PUBLICATIONS: Barnet, Vern. Vern. Over 700 “Faiths and Beliefs” columns in The Kansas City Star, 1994-present. ——. Over forty “Sacred Paths” columns in Camp, 2004-present. ——. Over 80 essays in comparative religion in Many Paths, 1996-present. ——. “Hair and Fish,” Chicago Literary Review, Summer 1968. ——. “God is Doing His Thing: The Hippie Heresy and Liberalism,” The Journal of the Liberal Ministry, Winter, 1969, pp 2-46. ——, et al. Unitarian Universalist Views of the Sacrament, Unitarian Universalist Association, 1971. ——. “Peace Now More Than Ever,” The Meadville Tribune,  January 4, 1973. ——. “Streaking in the Void.” Unitarian Universalist World, May 15, 1974. ——, et al. Our Experiencing, Believing and Celebrating: A Multimedia Curriculum Unit for Adolescents and Adults. Unitarian Universalist Association, 1979. ——. “Why Title a Caress?” Unitarian Universalist World, September 15, 1974. ——. “Presidents’ Religious Beliefs Examined.” The Kansas City Star, January 15, 1977. ——. “Something to be Concerned About.” Unitarian Universalist World, September 15, 1978. ——, ed. Worship Reader: An Anthology of Liberal Religious Worship Theory from Von Ogden Vogt (1921) to the Commission on Common Worship (1980) and Supplement, Congregation of Abraxas, 1980. ——. “Four Topics: The Situation, the Sacred, the Community, the Pilgrimage,” in Worship Reader, above, pp 88-125. ——. “Kansas City is best spot for interfaith center,” Johnson County Star, Apr 17, 1987. ——. “The World’s Religions: Pieces or Pattern?” Assembly of the World’s Religions, August 15-21, 1990. ——. Love without Desire: Sonnets about Loving Men. Moose Magic Press, 1992. ——. “Book looks at God through the eyes of the monotheistic faiths” [book review of A History of God by Karen Armstrong]. The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, Dec 24, 1993. ——. “God: A Biography by Jack Miles” [book review], World, Sep/Oct 1995. ——. “Holy city, unholy history” [book review of Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths by Karen Armstrong]. National Catholic Reporter, Sep 6, 1996. —— [chairman], et al. “Jackson County Diversity Task Force Report to the Honorable Katheryn Shields, Jackson County Executive, and to the Residents of the Greater Kansas City Area: September 10, 2002,” 77 pages, Jackson County, MO, 2002. —— “Remember the God of All Nations.” Unity Magazine, Jan/Feb 2003. ____. “Prologue for the Ceremony of Installation for David J. Waxse as Magistrate Judge of the US District Court for the District of Kansas,” The Barletter, 2000 January, p.9. ——. Liturgical works, poems, and other materials in Creative Writing (Omaha Public High Schools, 1960); Grain of Sand (December 1960, May 1961, December 1961, May 1962, December 1962) University of Omaha; Scrip (Spring 1964) University of Nebraska; Encompass: A Journal of Synthesis (July 1966, November 1966); 73 Voices: Personal Wistful Hopeful (Unitarian Universalist Assn, 1971); Lyric Collection (Religious Arts Guild, Boston, 1979); God Box (Meadville Theological School Student Assn, Spring 1967, Summer 1967, Winter 1968, Winter 1971); Prism (January 1991); A Christmas Journal for the Unwashed Masses (December 1991); The 5th Street Irregulars Review (April 1992, October 1993); Tiwa (September, 1992, Spring 1993). [partial compilation.]   CITED, QUOTED, OR APPEARS IN: Arnason, Wayne, and Kathleen Rolenz. Worship that Works: Theory and Practice for Unitarian Universalists. Skinner House Books, 2008. Curtis, James H. Midnight Notebooks, Curtis Memorial Fund, 1974. Diuguid, Lewis W. Discovering the Real America: Toward a More Perfect Union. BrownWalker Press, 2007. Foerster, L Annie. For Praying Out Loud: Interfaith Prayers for Public Occasions. Skinner House Books, 2003. Heckman, Bud, ed. Interactive Faith: The Essential Interreligious Community-Building Handbook. Skylight Paths Publishing, 2008. James, Sandy. Connect with Kansas City: Ways to Engage in the Community. Sandy Coldsnow. 2001. Mehdi, Mohammad T. Islam and Tolerance. New World Press, 1990. Shabbir. Mahnaz. “The Hope of Interfaith Missions” in Kansas City Voices, 2006. Skinner, Donald E. “Kansas City UU minister builds interfaith bridges,” UU World March/April 2003. Smale, David. “Common Ground in Lieu of Consensus: The Exploration of Stem Cell Research,” Ingram’s, May 2005. Tapp, Robert B. Religion Among the Unitarian Universalists. Seminar Press, 1973. Vahle, Neal. The Unity Movement. Templeton Foundation Press, 2002. ---, The Spiritual Journey of Charles Fillmore: Discovering the Power Within. Templeton Foundation Press, 2008. == Numerous radio, TV, and print news reports. SAMPLE SPECIAL LECTURES, WORKSHOPS, PAPERS  “Vision, Vocation, and Valor,” commencement address, Ottawa University - Kansas City, 2002. “Water,” keynote address, Phi Theta Kappa Induction Ceremony, Johnson County Community College, 2000. “The Heart of World Religions and the Heart of the Patient,” keynote address, Health and Spirituality Conference, 2005, Community of Christ. “Journey Towards Understanding,” led one-day interfaith conference for students from five high schools, Kauffman Foundation “Gifts of Pluralism,” 3-day interfaith conference, president and keynote speaker, 2001. “Saving and Savoring the World,” 5-part Lenten series, Church of the Good Shepherd, 2005. “The Path of Peace in World Religions,” Kansas City Annual World Peace Meditation, 2003. “The Idea of Work in Many Religions,” dinner remarks for The Cathedral Center for Faith and Work dinner, 2003. “The World's Religions: Pieces or Pattern?” paper at the Assembly of the World's Religions, 1990. “Issues in Inter-Faith Worship,” workshop, International Association for Religious Freedom 21st Congress, 1987. “The Convergence of Religion,” remarks at the Seoul Conference of the International Religious Foundation, 1987. “The Common Heritage of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism,” moderated panel at “Islam and the Muslim World Conference,” International Relations Council, 1986. Turthraj Milan address, “The Situation in America and India,” Pryag, India, 1986. Remarks, An American Assisi, conference of the North American Interfaith Network, 1988. “Remembering and Renewing after 9/11,” city-wide interfaith observance hosted at the Carlsen Center, 2001 Sep 16. Panel on “Pluralism” with Diana Eck, Saint Paul School of Theology, 1998. “Three Families of Faith,” keynote address, Interfaith Community Ministries Regional Conference, 2000. “Creation in the Present,” workshop, Marin, CA, 2000 “A Neighborhood of Faiths,” Community Leadership Institute NeighborWorks Conference, 2004. ==   Countless other sermons, lectures, addresses, classes, workshops, tours, etc at Rotary clubs, churches, schools. VIDEO Open Hearts, Open Minds, CBS-TV, half-hour special, 2002. Faith Perspectives and Responses to Pain and Suffering, Psychiatry Grand Rounds, University of Kansas Medical Center, 2005  The Religions of Kansas City, Metropolitan Community Colleges - Blue River, 2006  TalkBackLive with Steve Rose, KCPT 30-minute interview and call-in show, 2006. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT (examples)     * Developed curriculum for the annual week-long Overland Park Rotary Club Foundation's Youth Leadership Institute for high school students, 1994, and directed the program 1996 and 1997.     * UNDER CONSTRUCTION - - - - - -    AWARDS (PARTIAL LIST)   RELIGION AWARDS by date JEWISH — Jewish Community Relations Bureau of Greater KC “Distinguished Community Service Award,” 1979 May 30. CHRISTIAN-INTERFAITH — Waldo Country Club Ministerial Association: “Warren Dentler Religious Service Award,” 1991 May 15. MUSLIM — The American Muslim Council, Midwest Region      “Distinguished Community Service Award,” 20 Muharram 1418 [1998 May 16]. INTERFAITH — Pike’s Peak Interfaith Council, Colorado Springs, CO, Award for Interfaith Achievement, 2000 June 15. BUDDHIST — Rime Buddhist Center and Monastery Tibetan Institute of Studies “Bodhisattva Award,” 2001 December 31. MUSLIM — Crescent Peace Society “Community Service Award,” 2002 December 14.  INTERFAITH — Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council, “Table Of Faiths Award,” 2005 November 10. SIKH — Midwest Sikh Association “Vaisakhi Community Service Award,” 2006 April 15. HINDU — Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of Kansas City, 2007 June 17. MUSLIM — Al Inshirah Islamic Center, “The Abraham Legacy Award,” 2008 May 31. LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE AWARDS by date Rotary Foundation of Rotary International “Paul Harris Fellow” Award, 1985. Overland Park Rotary Club “Distinguished Service Award,” 1987. Hate Busters, Inc., “Don Quixote Award,” 1979 May 30. Youth Leadership Institute “Service Recognition,” 1995. Overland Park Rotary Foundation, “Service Above Self,” 1995-1996. Kansas House of Representatives, Topeka, KS, “Commendation,”  1998 May 2. Kansas City Tomorrow Alumni Association "Star of the Alumni Association" Award, 1990 April 26. Kansas City Tomorrow Alumni Association “Distinguished Alum” Award, 2006 February 16. [National] Community Leadership Association, Distinguished Leadership Award,” 2006, Hartford, CT.

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http://www.uua.org/world/2003/02/living.html  UU World March/April 2003      living the faith  Kansas City UU minister builds interfaith bridges by Donald E. Skinner It is 6 a.m. on the last day of the year, and 250 people of different faiths have gathered at a Buddhist center in Kansas City, Missouri, for the seventeenth annual World Peace Meditation. They have come to witness and participate in Native American prayers, Tibetan Buddhist chants and meditations, Sufi dancing, and a Muslim call to prayer. And, of course, to hear the Rev. Vern Barnet speak about "The Path of Peace in World Religions." Rev. Barnet has been a Unitarian Universalist minister since 1970. In 1984 he left his last parish, in a Kansas City suburb, to take up what had become his passion — the study of world religions and the promotion of interfaith understanding. He founded the Center for Religious Experience and Study in 1982 (www.cres.org) and since then has gone on to help create or to inspire a broad array of multi-faith programs, resources, and organizations that have helped make Kansas City a national model. When CBS went looking last summer for a city actively involved in multi-faith work, it selected Kansas City in large part because of Barnet's work — and because after 9/11 Kansas City experienced little of the aggression against Muslims that other cities reported. A film crew spent a week in Kansas City filming what would become a half-hour documentary, "Open Hearts, Open Minds," which was shown in October 2002. The intro to the film went as follows: "A growing number of people in this heartland city are trying to send a message to the rest of America — Let's celebrate our diversity, let's get to know people of different religions and different backgrounds, respect them, maybe even love them. It's a simple message, and an old one, but since 9/11, the idea of brotherhood has gained new urgency." CBS was initially attracted by a program that one of Barnet's groups launched last year. It printed thousands of thirty-two page passport-size booklets and distributed them to congregations to hand out. Holders of these "interfaith passports" are encouraged to visit other religious groups and in the process collect a stamp, sticker, or signature just as they would in crossing international borders. The program, and other initiatives that Barnet helped create, are helping Kansas City-area residents appreciate each other's religious diversity in several ways:

* Since 1994 Barnet has written a weekly "Faiths and Beliefs" column in the Kansas City Star about the value of diversity. The column appears to have changed people's attitudes. "In the beginning," he says, "I'd get calls and letters about how I was sending people to hell and why was I diverting people from the one true religion? But the responses I get now are more focused on trying to understand something I've written. That's one way I know we're making a difference here."     * MOSAIC, a newly formed group that Barnet helped organize, is, in addition to developing the passport project, collecting "life stories" of religious involvement and plans to dramatize them this year as a way of expanding appreciation of various faiths. It also sponsors a book club. One of the first titles discussed was Why Religion Matters, by Huston Smith. The Rev. Kathy Riegelman, a Unitarian Universalist community minister, is helping with that work. * Hospitals and schools increasingly call Barnet for interfaith resources. Prayers at his Rotary club no longer end "in Jesus' name."     Barnet's days are a round of speaking engagements, organizational meetings, teaching, and writing. His appointments for a recent two-week period included speaking to students at Unity School of Religious Studies on "The Various Forms of Prayer," at a Roman Catholic church on "How Other Faiths Respond to the Scripture for the Day," and on "Religious Stereotypes" at a PeaceJam youth workshop at a Roman Catholic university. He also gave "A Brief History of the Christian Denominations" to an interdenominational marriage group at a Roman Catholic church, spoke on "The Heart of Every Faith" to a Baptist men's group, and discussed interfaith topics on a local National Public Radio station talk show. Barnet had always intended to be a parish minister. And he was for fourteen years. But he noticed that whenever he talked about world religions "there was great resonance in my congregations. I got a very noticeable response." That encouraged him to learn more about world religions and to explore his own community. As he became aware of the broad array of religious groups in Kansas City he decided to take up interfaith work. "I saw this as a mission field," he says. "And it's every bit as demanding as parish work."

He lives simply, or as he says, "low to the ground." He receives no salary for his interfaith work. Last year he earned about $5,000 from teaching at local colleges. He supplements that income with early withdrawals from his pension. Friends help with living expenses, including donating clothing and an occasional automobile. "It's a quasi-monastic model," he says. "I have learned what it is like to live under the poverty level. I am very aware of economic injustice." Barnet is often called on to give inclusive prayers at public events and he has developed a guide for that purpose. He has also developed Earth Day resources that explain the ways in which various faiths regard the Earth. Both are available on the CRES Web site. One of the first things Barnet did when he began his interfaith work was to help organize a comprehensive metro interfaith council, giving not only Christians, Jews, and Muslims a way to talk together, but also Baha'is, Sufis, Wiccans, Zoroastrians, Native Americans, and others. A multifaith speaker's bureau has also been created, and it has been much in demand since 9/11. An annual interfaith dinner is held on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, placing Thanksgiving in a worldwide religious context and celebrating the many ways that various religions express gratitude. More than 150 were in attendance at last November's dinner. The interfaith council was instrumental in organizing multi-faith memorial services after September 11, 2001, and its one-year anniversary, and also organized Kansas City's first interfaith conference, "The Gifts of Pluralism," in October 2001. More than 250 people from fifteen faith groups attended. One of Barnet's close associates in interfaith work is Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem Alvin Brooks. "Vern has taken interfaith work to a new level," says Brooks. "He reaches out not only to the major faiths, but to others. He helps keep them all connected, and he provides a great service for the metro area." Barnet is heartened by the growing interest that he sees in learning about other religions. "People are hungry for knowledge about other peoples' faiths," he says. "And they end up deepening their own faith when they have encounters with other faiths. This is what has to happen if the human race is going to survive."

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SPIRITUAL VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

Many people have asked about my own spiritual perspective. 
In 1998, I wrote a column explaining why I did not want to respond, 
and a second column placing my hesitation aside and setting forth my view. Both columns follow:

1998 July 22 This column has now appeared more than 200 times. You, dear readers, have shaped it in ways I did not anticipate.    Judging by your calls and the comments I hear as I work around the community, the vast majority of you are Christians interested in understanding your faith and the faiths of others more deeply.    Since 1994 many of you have asked, "What do you, Vern Barnet, believe?" I have hesitated to respond for four reasons:    1. The purpose of this column is not to further my own views but to explore spiritual issues as they appear on the many paths of faith.    2. A good teacher respects the independence of students' views and does not want his or her own opinions to short-circuit the maturation process. Similarly, I'd prefer to model such respect rather than suggest that I have answers that will work for others. As exposure to many ideas in the classroom helps us develop our own, so encounter with the diversity of traditions can stimulate the deepening of our own faith.    3. I seldom agree with myself two days in a row. Well, perhaps that's a bit exaggerated, but the Truth is so large I see only tiny parts, and every day brings a fresh evaluation.    4. Words may be fine, but the real test is how they are lived. Since we learn more by example than by catechism, my own failures become painful evident when I compare what I say with what I do. It is embarrassing.    Nevertheless, next Wednesday I will honor the requests. You, dear readers, have a right to such disclosure.    I know I'm bound to disappoint. But I hope my failure will move you to compose a statement of your own faith and share it with others.

1998 July 29 Since this column began in 1994, I've often been asked to disclose my own beliefs. Today I respond. While I personally use terms like "sin" and "salvation," here I search for fresh ways to express such concerns.    I believe that when we encounter the Holy, we naturally feel awe; that awe matures into gratitude; and that gratitude is complete only in service to others.    I believe that we are born to love unconditionally, but rewards and punishments place conditions on the Holy and distort us, dividing us within ourselves, from each other and from the world of nature.    I believe such conditioning puts us in a secular trance, deepened by perverted desires for pleasure, status, power and wealth; and that as this fragmented trance obscures the Holy, we are numbed to the suffering of others, to our own inborn natures and to the environment.    I believe that religions, through story, ritual and compassion, can restore us to the embrace of the Infinite, but that often religions have justified the trance with fear, greed and violence.    I believe we may be emerging from this trance as the process of spiritual evolution unfolds in atom, cell, person and society; and that the universe, making many mistakes, may yet come to behold itself though us.    I believe this process includes today's concourse of the world's religions and offers their mutual purification; that this free nation, where most of us are children of immigrants, is the best place for authenticity; and that honoring differences can extinguish the selfish, addictive trance, awaken us to the Holy and call us to service together.    I believe there's a lot of work and play and loving to do.

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