The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing

Founder and President Emeritus of URI; Former Episcopal Bishop of California

William E. Swing is the Founder and President Emeritus of the United Religions Initiative. Bishop Swing had the original vision of URI in 1993 in response to an invitation from the United Nations, which asked him to host an interfaith service honoring the 50th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter. Bishop Swing, along with 50 others, shaped the URI purpose (to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice, and healing for the Earth and all living beings). URI is currently the largest interfaith grassroot organization.

Bishop Swing Bishop Swing served as the 7th Episcopal Bishop of California from 1980 until his retirement in 2006. In that capacity, he was a national and international leader in response to the AIDS crisis, co-founded Episcopal Community Services to address San Francisco’s homeless problem, and co-founded Community Bank of the Bay to support local businesses and the economy.

He is married to Mary Taylor Swing and has two children and three grandchildren.

Books by Bishop Swing: A Bishop's Quest: Founding a United Religions and The Sacred and the Silly: A Bishop's Playful and Eventful Life. Both books are available on Amazon.com; the proceeds of book sales will benefit URI.

URI Stories of Impact

Bishop Swing Addresses Outgoing Trustees

The Right Rev. William E. Swing offered a few comments to the outgoing Trustees of the Global Council during Wednesday's worldwide staff call.

My One Hour with Pope Shenouda III

Sixteen years ago today, March 20, I met the Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda, III, in Cairo. March 20, 1996 as an eventful day for me starting with the news of the death of the Sheikh of al-Azhar. Then I arrived early for another meeting, this one with the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Dr. Muhammed Tantawi. When we were talking, the telephone rang and it was President Hosni Mubarrak who summoned him for an immediate meeting. (Tantawi was soon after selected as the Sheikh of al-Azhar.) As we finished our chat, Tantawi said, "when the light of one religion burns, it is a great blessing. When the lights of many religions burn together, it will be radiant and bring abundant blessings." He counseled that the vision of a United Religions would be for the good of the world if it were "gently presented."

...for the benefit of the Earth community

Recently I wrote a Commentary on URI's Preamble, Purpose and Principles, and one sentence jumped out at me: "....we unite for the benefit of the Earth community." When you boil URI down to its..

Gay sex and AIDS; religion and terrorism

I have been told repeatedly by large foundations that even though they fund peacebuilding and security initiatives, they will not fund anything to do with religion. For these folks, religion is a taboo subject, no matter what its relationship to peace and security. Each time I hear this, a faint echo from my past arises.

9/11 at 10; URI at 11

As the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks nears, and I have been thinking a lot about the parallel history of the 11-year-old United Religions Initiative. URI and 9/11, then and now. There were many...

Stopping the Islamization of Europe?

In the 17^th century, the logical conclusion to interreligious conflict was holy war. A handful of extremists would argue for that conclusion today. But for most of us, violence in the name of God, any God, is not an answer, it is a blasphemy. But if the point is not to take up arms in the cause of exclusive righteousness, then what can people do to cope with the very real changes happening in their communities?

A Faith in Pakistan

In a land where, because of what you believe about God you might be blown to bits by a bomb or beaten to death by a mob, "peace, tolerance, harmony" are muscular, risky and dangerous words. This is the kind of life that URI's Father James Channan lives, and this is at the core of URI's agenda in Pakistan.

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