William E. Lesher
William E. Lesher has a long and distinguished career in promoting global interreligious dialogue and is currently the Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. Having earlier served in Geneva with the World Council of Churches and as president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, he became president of Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago where he served for 20 years and established the Chicago Center for Religion and Science. A dynamic leader, Lesher is the initiator and advisor to The Common Ground for the Common Good, sponsored by the National Council of Churches, the U.S. Catholic Conference, and the Synagogue Council of America, and he is chairman of the Task Force on Globalization of Theological Education for the Association of Theological Schools. In addition, he is a member of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia and a member of the editorial board of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. Lesher joined the International Board of Consultants of the Forum in 2003 and helped insure that the Forum’s symposium on Human Rights at the Parliament of the World’s Religions was featured prominently in the Parliament’s program. He is one of the interviewees for the Forum’s documentary on “Global Voices for Human Rights.”