LEAD:  The Very Reverend Dr. Bill Phipps was Moderator of the United Church of Canada from 1997 to 2000. No stranger to controversy his first book Cause for Hope: Humanity at the Crossroads challenges the dominant story of Western Civilization, a story which has given us wars and famine, environmental disaster and rabid consumerism. But it also asserts that spirituality has a place in the discussion about how to heal humanity and the planet.

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END CUE: "...published by Wood Lake Books.."