highlights

The Parliament in the news
The Parliament in photos
The Parliament in video

 ... The failure of Copenhagen followed soon after another global event with a less specific agenda that received much less attention, the Parliament for World Religions. 

Held in a huge conference centre in Melbourne representatives from 230 religions -- who would have thought they were so many? -- came together at great expense and, yes, with carbon footprints the size of a yeti -- mostly to talk. It was a visual feast too -- costumes and rituals on display -- and made one love the human race more because it seemed to be God's playground and box of colouring pencils.

Egotism was tucked under the robes as usual and demands for global action were hurrahed.  The Iranians were caught photographing the Bahai, but otherwise it was all good-natured.  The networking and idea-spinning, especially among the young participants, promise benefits. 

It was difficult to evaluate but overall it seemed that religion, despite the people promoting it, was a good thing, a sign of radical human innocence, even a well of hope in a world run dry.   

FULL ARTICLE

Sister Joan Chittister: The Parliament of the World's Religions is a living icon for which we all hope. It is a diorama of many peoples, all of whom express a different face of the Divine, all of them united in holiness, in common commitment to the entire human community, and all knowing themselves to be one in God. This was the highlight for me. Just watching this flow of goodness sweeping back and forth across the great foyer and down the halls of the Melbourne Conference Center was a kind of spiritual vision for me. To see this is to know that wars of religion are both a scandal and an impossibility and that the Parliament is a holy and necessary step to a future without religious wars or theocratic oppression.

S.J.C.: I participated in a panel on "Sacred Envy." Each of us panelists was asked to describe what we loved about our own religion and about each of the others. Then we were permitted to ask one another the question that most plagued us about another of the religions represented there. It was an impacting moment to hear real questions asked -- about freedom of religion in theocratic states or the connection between religion and politics, for instance -- and answered without defensiveness and with real depth. It proved the possibility of real interfaith discussion when the discussants talk openly and honestly about the struggles of the faith rather than either defend or decry the concerns of the other. It modeled an important role for religious figures in the modern state.

S.J.C.: Frankly, I was both amazed and heartened by the clear awareness at the Parliament of women's issues as a highly significant and defining dimension of authentic religious consciousness. To leave the spiritual role and significance of the feminine dimension of life out of our theological development and religious practice is to limit our consciousness of the fullness of the Divine. The Parliament's recognition of this was prophetic. Now we need to examine, if women are really valued by the great religious traditions of society, how it can possibly be that women are two-thirds of the poor, two-thirds of the hungry and two-thirds of the illiterate in the world? What is it that religion teaches that gives support to that kind of negligence?

S.J.C.: Sadly, I'm not sure that in most cases faith communities have really been at the foundation of gender equality in contemporary society. All sacred scriptures attest to the equality and spiritual value of women, but neither religious institutions nor the social critique they bring have done much for women over the centuries. Religion should be leading the struggle for gender equality, but in too many cases, secular institutions have led the new consciousness. At the same time, where women have become spiritual leaders and ministers in religious systems, both religion and society have changed quickly and for the better. The role of women in religion attests to its authenticity. Conversely, when religious organizations fail to include women in discussions, planning and participation, it leaves God as the only total sexist on the planet.

S.J.C.: The North and West have set the religious agenda for centuries. As a result, a great deal of spiritual wisdom has been lost or repressed or ignored. The religious world of the North and West are highly organized and highly institutionalized. Their influence has been overwhelming around the world. Now it may be time to listen and to learn as well as to teach and to model.

S.J.C.: The emphasis on "green" at this year's Parliament was timely, important and true to the ideals of creation enshrined in every religion. It gave the Parliament legitimacy in contemporary society that has for too long been missing in religion everywhere. We don't come together as a Parliament to bask in our rituals and readings. We come together to be a common voice, a common spiritual witness to the needs of human community. This year's agenda was living proof and inspired sign of that.

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