Vern Barnet (born May 25, 1942 in Omaha, Nebraska) is a Unitarian Universalist pastor and was the weekly newspaper columnist on religious topics in The Kansas City Star 1994-2012.

[1] As part of his doctoral preparation at the University of Chicago, Barnet studied with Mircea Eliade, Eugene Gendlin, and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.

He has also taught comparative religions and related courses in American Baptist, United Methodist, and Unity seminaries and universities as an adjunct professor.

He was one of four editors of the 740-page reference book, The Essential Guide to Religious Traditions and Spirituality for Health Care Providers (Radcliffe Publishing, 2013).

A second collection of sonnets in 2015, Thanks for Noticing: The Interpretation of Desire (La Vita Nuova Books), draws on themes from world religions and is heavily annotated.