Parliament of World Religions A Short Introduction and Leadership Participation of Few Muslim Scholars

Parliament of World Religions has played a leading role in the Inter-Faith movement and has also proved instrumental in strengthening inter-civilizational dialogues world over. Recently, 2015 Parliament of World Religions was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States from October 15-19. The Parliament was attended by around 10,000 people representing about 50 faith traditions from 80 countries. So far, Parliament of World Religions held six Parliaments – first in Chicago, in 1893; second in Chicago in 1993; third in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1999; fourth in Barcelona, Spain in 2004; fifth in Melbourne, Sydney in 2009 and sixth in Salt-Lake city, Utah, United States in 2015.
The ‘Mission’ of the Parliament of World Religions is to cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world. The vision of the Parliament of the World’s Religions is of a just, peaceful and sustainable world in which religious and spiritual communities live in harmony and contribute to a better world from their riches of wisdom and compassion and religious and cultural fears and hatreds are replaced with understanding and respect.
The Parliament of the World’s Religions seeks to promote interreligious harmony and mutual understanding among different Faiths. The problem with seeking unity among religions is the risk of loss of the unique and precious character of each individual religious and spiritual tradition; this understanding is central in its framework. (Programme Book, Parliament of World Religions, Salt Lake, Utah, 15-19 Oct.)
The history of the Parliament may be traced back to the first Parliament of Religions, in 1893 in Chicago, which took place under the vast umbrella of the World’s Columbian Exposition which is also referred to as the World’s Fair: Columbian Exposition or The Chicago World’s Fair and Chicago Columbian Exposition. The World’s Columbian Exposition was one of the unique and the largest Fairs organised in Chicago for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World in 1492, i.e., his discovery of Americas. The World’s Columbian Exposition represented the long voyage Columbus took to the New World.
The Columbian Exposition was a social and cultural event and achieved exceptional success. The Exposition covered more than 600 acres (2.4 km), featuring nearly 200 new but purposely built temporary buildings. It ran for six months and was attended by more than 27 million people from more than 46 countries. Several conferences, Congresses and Parliaments were held during the Exposition, dealing with anthropology, commerce, finance, literature, history, art, philosophy, and science.
One of the biggest conferences was none other than the World’s Parliament of Religions. It was Charles Carroll Bonney (1831-1903) who took this big initiative of organising the Parliament. Charles C. Bonney was a Chicago lawyer, judge, teacher, author, and orator, and he was the President of the World’s Congresses at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. John Henry Barrows, a clergyman, was the first chairman of the General Committee of the 1893 Parliament. The Parliament was convened from 11 to 27 September, 1893 and it may be described as the mother of all inter-religious and inter-civilizational dialogues and movements all over the world.
Although this 1893 Parliament was dominated by English-speaking Christian representatives, there were scholars and leaders from other religious traditions including Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Parsi religion, Shintoism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Jainism. Cardinal Gibbons led the audience with his prayer. It was also observed by many reporters on the Parliament that Swami Vivekananda’s three speeches and the way he addressed the audience as “sisters and brothers of America,”  ‘went into rapture with “a peal of applause that lasted for several minutes”. Islam was represented by Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb, an Anglo-American revert to Islam and the former US ambassador to Philippine.
In 1993, exactly after hundred years, the Second Parliament of World Religions was organised in Chicago as the 100 years Anniversary of the first 1893 Parliament. Earlier to this 1993 Parliament, a non-profit organisation, Council for the Parliament of World Religions (CPWR) was formed in 1983 to take care of all the important work connected with the Parliament. This second Parliament was attended by eight thousand people. In this Parliament, a document, “Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration” was introduced and discussed at great length. This document was mainly drafted by Hans Küng, a world-famous Catholic theologian of the University of Tubingen in Germany. Besides, a Sourcebook for the Community of Religion produced by the late Joel D. Beversluis was also presented and discussed. Joel D. Beversluis was regarded as the backbone of the Inter-Faith Movement.
In 1999, the third Parliament was held in Cape Town, South Africa in which more than 7,000 people from over 80 countries attended. Hundreds of panel discussions, symposia and workshops, offerings of prayer and meditation, plenary sessions and performances took place in this Parliament, focussing the need for peaceful approaches to interreligious dialogues. The Parliament presented a document, A Call to Our Guiding Institutions, and emphasised that religions, governments, businesses, education, and media should play a dynamic role to build stable and healthy societies at the threshold of the next century.
In 2004, the fourth Parliament of World Religions took place in Barcelona, Spain, from July 7-13 at Barcelona’s Universal Forum of Cultures. It was attended by 9,000 participants from 74 countries. This Parliament was organised in partnership with the Universal Forum of Cultures – Barcelona 2004 and in association with the UNESCO Centre of Catalonia. This Parliament, like the previous Parliaments, highlighted the need for dialogue for mutual understanding, reflections on the critical issues facing the world and commitment to discovering new pathways to peace. It discussed strategies to help the communities of faith as to how they should live in harmony in the midst of diversity with simple words and profound actions.
The 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions was held in Melbourne, Australia from 3-9 December. More than 6,000 people attended the Parliament. The Parliament addressed several issues, including aboriginal reconciliation, sustainability, global environmental issues and the spirituality of youth, etc. The Parliament also discussed religious conflicts and religious violence and emphasised the need for cross-cultural networks for global peace and justice. The Parliament condemned religious extremism and home-grown terrorism and violence. It was remarked by the organisers of the Parliament that the Melbourne Parliament showed visible signs of maturing of the global interreligious movement.
The 2015 Parliament of World Religions, held at Salt Lake City invited people of all faiths, traditions and cultures to its motto: “Reclaim the Heart of Our Humanity” and work together with compassion for peace, justice and sustainability. The Parliament took place at Salt Palace Convention Centre in Salt Lake City, Utah, and 9,806 attendees, performers, and volunteers from 73 countries, 30 Major Religions and 548 Sub-Traditions participated in the Parliament. Three critical issues – Climate Change & Care for Creation, Income Inequity & Wasteful Consumption, and War, Violence & Hate Speech were addressed under hundreds of main and sub-topics by distinguished speakers. Nobel Peace laureates, religious leaders, global thinkers, interfaith activists, news media icons, and religious and spiritual luminaries from all around the world presented  their global  wisdom and invited the enlightened audience to stay closer, live together and work better for all –  human beings, animals, plants, rivers, mountains and everything on earth and space for peace, justice and sustainability.
Another unique feature of the 2015 Parliament was its great representation of women and comprehensive intellectual discussions on various crucial issues of women by women scholars, activists and leaders from various backgrounds. It is pointed out that in the first Parliament of 1893, there were only 19 female speakers, while in the 2015 Parliament, a good majority of speakers and chairpersons were women. The Vice-Chair of the Parliament itself was Rev. Dr. Phyllis W. Curott, who was also the Chairperson of Women’s Task Force. Not only this, the 2015 Parliament held an Inaugural Women’s Assembly focussing on the role of religion and spiritual traditions on women’s rights and their spiritual and overall development. It was emphasised that discrimination against women, and injustice and violence against women should not be promoted in the name of religion. Along with several panel discussions on women’s issues, there were also thought-provoking talks, discussions and presentations on ‘Hate-Speech’, ‘Religious Extremism and Violence’, ‘Climate change and Ecological Imbalance’, etc. Some of the world-known speakers of the Parliament include the Imam of the Grand Mosque of Makkah, Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Bin Humaid, Dr. Karen Arm Strong,  two Nobel Peace Prize winners, former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez and Peace Activist and native of Northern Ireland Mairead Maguire, co-founder of Peace People, Dr. Tariq Ramadhan, Dr. Jane Good All,  Rev. Jim Wallis, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Rabbi David Saperstein, Imam Malik Mujahid, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the Venerable Dharma Master Hsin Tao, John L. Esposito, Swami Suhitananda, Phyllis Currot, Janaan Hashim, Omar Suleiman, Dawud Wharnsby, Dr. Eboo Patel, Sheikha Tamara Gray, Rami Nashashibi, Dr. Hamid Slimi and others.
However, the greatly honoured 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet could not attend the Parliament due to his poor health condition. But, his interview with the Chair of the Parliament, Imam Mujahid was presented and shown in the Parliament. It is important to note that the Imam of the Grand Mosque of Makkah, Dr. Shaikh Salih Abdullah Humaid delivered a keynote address in the Parliament and also led the Friday congregational prayer.
An exciting feature of the Parliament was the Awards Giving Ceremony. The Parliament of the World’s Religions presented major Awards to the Charter for Compassion International and its founder Karen Armstrong, who received the Paul Carus Award, for her great impact on interfaith work. It is remarked that Armstrong’s recent book Fields of Blood has changed the general perception of its readers on the role of religions and the wars of the world at large. The award is named in honour of Paul Carus, a German-American, author, scholar of Comparative Religion, philosopher and publisher who is acknowledged for his pioneering services in organising the first historical Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. The other major award was the Ahimsa Award. Ahimsa Award is translated as Non-Violence award. The Ahimsa Award was given to the Charter for Compassion International which was received by the Global Compassion Council President, Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell on behalf of the organisation.
Besides talks, panel discussions and plenary sessions, there were several extremely interesting and exciting sites and events throughout the five days of the 2015 Parliament. There were colourful processions, art gallery, stalls selling books, little bazaars selling antique items, jewellery, dresses, etc. On top of all these there was an unforgettable ‘Sikh Langar’ organised by the Sikh community which provided delicious food, sweets, lassi, water, tea and coffee for thousands of people all the five days throughout the Parliament. People from all religions and traditions enjoyed this Langar hosted by Sikhs with all warmth, joy and discipline, served by the trained volunteers with multiple rounds until their hearts fill. Their motto was ‘caring and sharing’ with people of all faiths. It was a true demonstration of unity, integrity and solidarity of humanity with all diversity feasting under one roof, talking, interacting and smiling at each other with good faith and compassion. The Sikh Langar was also a great success earlier at the 2004 Parliament at Barcelona and satisfied thousands of people of all religions and traditions.
(to be concluded)