When the parliament opened on 11 September 1893, more than four thousand people crowded into the hall of Columbus. At ten o’clock, representatives of a dozen faiths marched down the aisle, arm in arm. On the platform the central position was taken by Cardinal Gibbons, ‘clad in scarlet robes’…Henry Barrows describes those seated next to the Cardinal. ‘On either side of him were grouped the Oriental delegates, whose many coloured raiment vied with his own in brilliancy. Conspicuous among these followers of Brahma and Buddha and Mohammed was the eloquent monk Vivekananda of Bombay, clad in gorgeous red apparel, his bronze face surmounted with a huge turban of yellow. Beside him in orange and white, sat B.B. Nagarkar of the Brahmo-Samaj and Dharmapala from Ceylon.’ One can sense the organisers’ excitement…that, after all the time and correspondence, people from around the world had assembled in Chicago. Names on papers had begun to become friends. As Barrows said in his opening address, ‘When, a few days ago, I met for the first time the delegates who have come to us from Japan, and shortly after the delegates who have come to us from India, I felt that the arms of human brotherhood had reached almost around the globe.

From the perspective of those involved in organized international movements for interfaith dialogue, the first Parliament of the World’s Religions, held in Chicago in 1893, is being reclaimed as the beginning of ‘the interfaith movement’ in the modern era. (Read more)