_Saturday morning, August 28: I have just picked up my press
pass and information packet and am trying to exit the fourth
floor of Chicago's magnificent Palmer House Hilton Hotel. The
lobby is so packed with bodies it takes me 15 minutes to move
100 feet, and 15 more minutes to find an opening on an elevator.
And what a spectacle this throng is: from saffron robes and
shaven heads to tightly wrapped turbans and flowing beards, this
is the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions, and it seems no
religion lacks a delegate here._
There are representatives from seemingly every school of
Hinduism and Buddhism; Jains, Sikhs, Confucianists, and Taoists;
Zoroastrians, Jews, Muslims, and Baha'is; representatives of
numerous indigenous religions, especially native American
traditions; Mormons; Rastafarians, witches and other neopagans;
Theosophists and numerous other New Agers; Catholic clergy and
laity and liberal Protestants; even a few evangelicals (although
most of them, like me, are here to observe and report, not to
join in the spirit of the event). The delegates are generally
courteous and friendly. The halls of the hotel are charged with
excitement and anticipation -- we all expect to see history in
the making.
_THE FIRST PARLIAMENT (1893): EAST MEETS WEST_
Such expectation can be attributed in part to the knowledge
that 100 years ago the original World's Parliament of Religions
-- held in conjunction with the Columbian Exposition of the
Chicago World's Fair -- did indeed have a profound affect on
20th century religion. Although the gathering was predominantly
Christian, both in delegates and themes -- and was not truly
global (since the majority of the world's religions were not
represented), it provided the occasion for a very favorable
introduction of certain Eastern and Near-Eastern religions to
the West (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism, the Baha'i Faith).
It was at the first Parliament that Swami Vivekananda won
over his audience -- many of whom had low expectations of an
"uncivilized heathen" -- with his genteel manner and erudite
presentation. Vivekananda was a 30-year-old Indian disciple of
Sri Ramakrishna (1836-86), a revered "avatar" (god-man) who
claimed he had followed the devotional teachings of several
religions (including Christianity) and found them to be
essentially the same as those of his own Hindu faith.
Vivekananda developed this theme with great success at the
Parliament, speaking reverently of Christ and affirming that the
God worshiped by many names in the world's religions is one and
the same. Capitalizing on his popularity, after the Parliament
Vivekananda established "Vedanta Societies" (affiliated with the
Rama-krishna Order in India) in several American cities. These
were the first missionary outposts for an Eastern religion in
the U.S., to be followed by Swami Yogananda's Self Realization
Fellowship in the 1920s and literally hundreds more, especially
after immigration restrictions were lifted in 1965....
Source File: crj0033a.txt
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