by Isabel Smyth

The 9th Parliament of World Religions was held in Chicago from 14-18 August this year.

The website records that 7,000 people attended with participants coming from 95 countries, representing over 210 traditions. The theme for the event was ‘The Call to Conscience’, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Parliament’s foundational document, which was drawn up by Hans Küng.  It is called Towards a Global Ethic and was accepted at the Parliament of 1993.

The 1993 Parliament had been called to commemorate the centenary of the original Parliament of World Religions, which took place in Chicago in 1893 as part of Chicago’s World Fair. It was the first major coming together of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Unitarians, and adherents of the Shinto and Zoroastrian traditions in modern history. At the opening session the chairman declared:

‘We are met together today as men, children of one God. We are not here as Baptists and Buddhists, Catholics and Confucians, Parsees and Presbyterians, Methodists and Moslems; we are here as members of a Parliament of Religions, over which flies no sectarian flag’.

The star of the show was Swami Vivekananda who got a standing ovation after his presentation on Hinduism. For the first time people of the west were introduced to the message of religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism and responded well to Vivekananda’s call for an end to ‘sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism…. and all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal’.

One hundred years later, in 1993, there was a reconvening of the Parliament in Chicago at which the Global Ethic document was presented and accepted after several years of consultation.

Isabel Smyth is a Sister of Notre Dame and is the founding director of Interfaith Scotland and former interfaith officer for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.  She is currently secretary to the Council of Christians and Jews.

Photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash