Bill Breeden is Minister Emeritus from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, Indiana. He identifies as an agnostic and has been a longtime activist for peace and justice, to include his work as a death penalty abolitionist. He is a past recipient of the Bloomington, Indiana Human Rights Award. Mr. Breeden has served for many years as the Minister of Record for Chad Fulks, who is on Federal Death Row. He most recently served as a minister to federal death row prisoner Corey Johnson and witnessed Corey's execution in Terre Haute, Indiana on January 14, 2021. Bill had developed a close friendship with Corey, describing him as one of the most amazing human beings he has ever known. Bill currently lives with his wonderful wife of over 50 years, Glenda, in their charming home that they built together in Spencer, Indiana.
Go to the link below to listen to Bill Breeden discuss his friendship with Corey Johnson, the 29 years of solitary confinement that Corey endured, and the horrific execution of Corey in the podcast of BRING IT ON!, which aired on November 21, 2022:
The link found above leads to a videotaped sermon that Bill Breeden gave for the Terre Haute Unitarian Universalist Congregation on July 19, 2020. With this sermon, titled "The Killing Fields," Reverend Bill Breeden spoke out against the death penalty. The sermon begins following Bill and his wife singing the song titled "The Long Night of Sorrow." The US Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, has the main federal death chamber in the nation. Most people recognize the Terre Haute site as the location of the execution of Timothy McVeigh, bomber of the Murat Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. McVeigh was executed in 2001. During the last 6 months of his presidency, Donald Trump ordered the execution of 13 people (including one woman, the first female to be executed by the federal government in 70 years). Reverend Breeden's sermon in the above video was given just as these 13 executions had begun to be carried out.