Too Happy Together
The Parliament of the World’s Religions Needs Some New Voices
by Peter Riddell
The Australian city of Melbourne and its new Convention Centre played host last December to the Parliament of the World’s Religions (PWR), arguably the world’s pre-eminent interfaith event. The PWR was birthed in Chicago in 1893 but remained in a state of limbo for a century until being revived in 1993, with subsequent meetings held in 1999, 2004, and, most recently, December 3–9, 2009.
Themes of Peace & Climate Change
The PWR is ostensibly designed to promote peace and understanding among the various faiths and, by extension, among the vast masses of the world who adhere to a faith of some kind, in line with a statement by the dissident Catholic theologian Hans Küng (one of the speakers in Melbourne): “There will be no world peace until there is peace among the religions.”
This fairly nebulous theme was very much in evidence at the PWR, not least through the presence of the Dalai Lama, spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism and a prominent speaker for peace and inter-religious harmony. He spoke briefly at the closing ceremony, but his influence loomed largest over the gathering through his earlier calls for the PWR to address the much-debated topic of global warming.
The PWR preceded the 2009 UN climate change conference in Copenhagen by a matter of days, and was clearly on the mind of many participants. Not only did many of the sessions in Melbourne address the climate change theme directly, but many PWR delegates also signed a 60-meter brown paper scroll that carried messages of encouragement and support for Copenhagen participants, calling on them to take measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Diversity of Liberals
The daily structure at the PWR clarified the goals of the event. Each day began with morning observances, with dozens of meetings held around the Convention Centre by the different faith groups. These were followed by intra-religious workshops addressing practice and matters of concern for each faith group. The morning ended with inter-religious sessions, often plenaries in either seminar or panel-discussion formats, in which some of the great debates between the religions could be aired. Inevitably, issues of friction between Islam and the West featured prominently in these inter-religious sessions.
The afternoons included engagement sessions, in which participants considered how faith could be put into practice in various ways, and sessions called Open Space, which provided further opportunities for reflection. An evening plenary session addressing diverse topics concluded each day.
While the major world religions figured prominently, representatives from more marginal groups also claimed their place. The exhibition hall displays featured a motley collection of religions, philosophies, ritualistic sects, and advocacy groups. The hall gave the impression of a throwback to the 1970s, with aging Western hippies, eager advocates for Islam, laid-back transcendentalists from East Asia, and some who were determined to let passers-by know that their group was “not a religion” all rubbing shoulders with each other.
Peter Riddell is Vice Principal-Academic at the Melbourne School of Theology in Australia, and a Senior Fellow of Kairos Journal.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
31.2—March/April 2018
The Transmission of Christianity Is Not a New Task by Nathanael Devlin
27.3—May/June 2014
Religious Freedom & Why It Matters
Working in the Spirit of John Leland by Robert P. George
18.4—May 2005
The Idylls, Idols & Devils That Corrupt the Moral Imagination by Vigen Guroian
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
