The Parliament
of the World's Religions, Barcelona Spain (July 2004)
By Phil Wetzel
The mission of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions is to cultivate
harmony between the world's religious and spiritual communities and foster their
engagement with the world and its other guiding institutions in order to achieve
a peaceful, just, and sustainable world.
The Parliament of the World's Religions held its inaugural event as part of
the Columbian Exposition in 1893 in Chicago. This historic gathering is widely
regarded as the beginning of the inter-religious movement worldwide. It took
until the year 1993 (the 100th anniversary of the original meeting) before the
Second Parliament was convened in Chicago. Eight thousand people from around
the world came together to share their identities, to celebrate diversity and
harmony, and to explore religious and spiritual responses to critical issues
facing the global community.
In 1999, the Third Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa called the world's
attention to the inter-religious movement's powerful contribution to overcoming
apartheid and building a new South Africa. This year, the Fourth Parliament
held in Barcelona, Spain attracted more than 8,000 religious leaders (Rev. Dirk
Ficca, the Council for the Parliament of the World's Religions Executive Director;
Rabbi David Rosen; Rev. Charles Gibbs, United Religions Initiative executive
director and hundreds more) and lay people (Nobel Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi,
well-known doctor and author Deepak Chopra, Jane Goodall, Raimon Pannikar, Dr.
Federico Zaragoza -- former Director General of UNESCO -- and thousands more,
including me) gathering to address "Overcoming Religiously Motivated Violence"
and other major issues facing the world (such as "Access to Clean Water", "Supporting
Refugees", and "Eliminating the Burden of International Debt on Poor Countries").
I have been privileged to work for PAX 2100 (www.pax2100.org)
as its executive director for the past two and a half years. The vision and
goal of PAX 2100 is the economic, political, and social wellness of all individuals,
cultures, and nations in a global framework that assures each person: PEACE,
justice, the right of retaining cultural identity, fair access to the earth's
resources, health care, education, the right and opportunity to work, freedom
of speech, and religion, the right to move freely around the world and to participate
in its governance.
Holding to this vision has been the most difficult and rewarding endeavor I
have ever been involved with. It has taken me to new places, conferences, and
countless meetings with nonprofit representatives from around the world. One
of the greatest pleasures for me in this work has been my involvement with the
Interfaith Initiative of Santa Barbara County, the Goleta Presbyterian Church
and now the Parliament for the World's Religions. Our work has focused on the
myriad ways in which we can all come to a better understanding of the religious
diversity in the world and how this understanding might lead us in developing
a "Culture of Peace". Through open dialogue and with open hearts and minds we
strive to understand, accept, and learn from each other about the major religions
and traditions that make up the framework of the world's spiritual movement.
We have come to the consensus that the major religions have so much more in
common than ways in which they differ. I am referring mostly to the common values
shared between the various faith traditions, like the Golden Rule, which when
translated from the various spiritual texts is almost identical (treat others
in the way you wish to be treated -- simply love one another). This has been
beautifully summarized by a good friend of PAX 2100, Religious Studies Professor
Nandini Ayer at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as follows: "He
who loves, lives; he who loves himself lives in hell; he who loves another lives
on earth; he who loves others lives in heaven; but he who silently adores the
Self of all creatures, lives in that Self, and it is Eternal PEACE." This statement
and the Golden Rule (what many consider to be the universal message of religion)
is the easiest way I can describe the work of this year's Parliament.
By focusing on the theme of this year's Parliament, "Pathways to Peace: the
Wisdom of Listening, the Power of Commitment", I can envision a world in which
we come to understand and tolerate our differences and celebrate our commonalities.
With a simple and profound act of treating each other in ways that we wish to
be treated, miracles can and do occur.
For more information on the Parliament please visit www.cpwr.org
and www.cpwrglobal.net
.
Phil
Wetzel is the executive
Director of PAX 2100. http://www.pax2100.org
He has worked on a variety of electrical engineering projects,
one of them on infrared detectors for the Hubble Telescope.