A fearless social justice advocate and outspoken theologian, passionate about peace and a candidate who has gone toe-to-toe with Stephen Harper on the hustings.

The compassionate, controversial and engaging Rev. Bill Phipps will be the keynote speaker at the Canadian Unitarian Council's Annual Conference and Meeting 2007 in Vancouver this spring. Phipps is International President of the World Conference on Religion and Peace and a former Moderator of the United Church of Canada.

"I expect Rev. Phipps to challenge us as Unitarians about the work of truly living diversity within our religious communities," said Canadian Unitarian Council Executive Director Mary Bennett.

"He has walked the walk of speaking his truth and engaging with a diversity of responses."

Phipps experienced quite a diverse response when he spoke his truth shortly after becoming United church Moderator in 1997. He said he didn't believe Jesus was God, nor did he consider the resurrection a scientific fact. He was also agnostic on the question of an afterlife. This sparked a debate which continued to the end of his term in 2000.

In 2002, Phipps was the New Democratic Party candidate in the Calgary Southwest by-election contested by newly-elected Canadian Alliance leader (currently Prime Minister) Stephen Harper.

Phipps has also worked as a poverty lawyer, pastor, community organizer, hospital chaplain and an adult educator. He was trained as a lawyer at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto before entering theological college. He was ordained in 1969. Between 1974 and 1983, he was minister of Trinity-St. Paul's United Church in Toronto. He's been a minister at Scarboro United Church in Calgary since 1993. He's currently active with the Interfaith community's Faith and the Common Good project in Canada.

Bennett says Phipps will bring his wealth of experience in balancing conflicting and competing views to a diverse CUC crowd in Vancouver this May.

"In our very diverse congregations, where we welcome those who identify as Humanist, Christian, Pagan, Buddhist and more, we need to continually revisit our Living Tradition," Bennett says. "We need to meet the challenges that come with both speaking our own truth and truly celebrating the diversity of our fellow members and friends."