From proclamations of unity to celebrations of diversity:

The 1893 and 1993 World's Parliaments of Religions

At the first great meeting of representatives of the world's major religions, expressions of harmony and hope prevailed. People generally met as brothers and sisters in the family of God; and the golden rule--"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you"--was the shared symbol of the harmony they felt with one another and of their commitment to fair and loving interaction. The meeting was the first World's Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago as part of the Columbian Exhibition, or world's fair, in 1893. For at least a few weeks that September, the dual-concept of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man came near to being recognized by many religions as common ground.

In 1993, another World's Parliament of Religions was held in Chicago, and this time the emphasis was on affirming diversity. Unity among religions was pursued by getting as many individuals and groups as possible to commit to a statement of ethical principles and goals. The earlier approach of offering a broad religious umbrella as common ground was hardly in evidence. Critics claim that the earlier approach amounts to religious imperialism. The following paragraphs offer some the data from the 1893 Parliament.

Diverse affirmations of the universal family

The conviction of the universal family of God animated the Christian organizers of the Parliament, and several Christian speakers gave voice to it. Christian Prince Momolu Masaquoi of the Vey territory in Africa expressed a widespread hope when he said, "May the coming together of these wise men result in the full realization of the general fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the consecration of souls to the service of God" (Barrows, ed., vol 1, 172). Social and political implications of the family concept were indicated in the words of Bishop Arnett of the African Methodist Episcopal Church as he looked forward to a liberated Africa. The liberator, he said, "will form a republican government, whose cornerstone will be religion, morality, education, and temperance, acknowledging the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man; while the ten commandments and the golden rule shall be the rule of life in the great republic of redeemed Africa" (Neely, 70). Methodist Rev. Dr. Frank Bristol spoke of "the promise of one Faith, one Lord, one Father, one brotherhood" ((Barrows, ed., vol 1, p. 176). Two speakers drew the universal family concept directly from the New Testament. Rev. T. W. Dudley, Bishop of Kentucky, observed that the obviousness of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man was not based on theological exegesis and the heritage of church doctrine. It is implicit in the words of Jesus: "I was hungry and you gave me meat. Inasmuch as you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me" (368). Oxford Professor J. Estlin Carpenter appealed to Paul's sermon in Athens as evidence for universal sonship with God: "As even some of your poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring" (386-90). The idea that the evolution of religion culminates in the realization of the family of God was expressed by a scholar from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mrs. Eliza R. Sunderland, Ph.D., said, "How long the journey from the early tribal sacrificial, magical, unmoral, fetish, holy place, human sacrifice worship of the early Semites, including the Hebrews, to the universal fatherhood and brotherhood of religion of the sermon on the Mount and the golden rule, only those can understand who are willing to give serious study not to the latter alone, but to the former as well" (Neely, 285)."

Although Christians who objected to the doctrine of universal brotherhood mostly protested from outside the Parliament, a Pauline concept of sonship with God tied to faith in Jesus Christ was set forth by Walter Elliott of the Paulist Convent in New York. "The justification of a wicked man is his translation from the state in which man is born as a son of the first Adam into the stage of grace and adoption of the sons of God by the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Savior." (Neely, 167-68). elevating men to brotherhood with his own divine Son, making them partakers of the same grace which dwells in the soul of Christ, and shares hereafter in the same blessedness which he possesses with the Father. . . . . If to be regenerated means to be born of God, then what is to be sought after is newness of life by immediate contact with life's source and center in love." "In forming the filial character love is supreme [among virtues]" (Neely, 169).

Rabbi Dr. K. Kohler remarked that Moses "did not venture to preach at once in clear and unmistakable tones the great fundamental principle of the unity and brotherhood of man." The "Hebrews were too much attached to their land . . . to extend their interests beyond their own territory" (146). "There could be no brotherhood so long as both the material and religious interests collided in every way, and truth and justice themselves demanded warfare and struggle" (Neely, 146). He claimed, "Even though the golden rule has been found in Confucius as well as in Buddha, in Plato as in Socrates, it never engendered true love of man as brother and fellow-worker among their people beyond their own small circles. . . . The weaker member of the human household, therefore, must be treated with greater compassion and love, and every inequality adjusted as far as our powers reach" (Neely, 147).

Rabbi H. Peirara Mendes of New York's Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue: "To Moses . . . were high ideals imparted for mankind to aim at. On the very threshold of his mission the ideal of "the Fatherhood of God" was announced--'Israel is my son, my first-born,' implying that other nations are also his children" (212). He quoted the prophet Malachi: "Have we not all one Father" (Neely, 213).

Swami Vivekananda of Bombay began speaking with the words, "Sisters and Brothers of America" (Neely, 64). "So the whole struggle in [Hindu] systems is to become perfect, to become divine, to reach God and to see God, and this reaching God, seeing God, becoming perfect, even as the Father in heaven is perfect, constitutes the religion of the Hindus" (Barrows, vol. 2, 974).

B. Nagarkar represented the Brahmo-Somag, a branch of Hinduism that had arisen in modern times, stimulated by interaction with Christianity. "The religion of the Brahmo-Somaj is essentially a religion of life--the living and life-giving religion of love to God and love to man. Its cornerstones are the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the sisterhood of woman. We uphold reform in religion and religion in reform" (338).

Protap Chundar Mozoomdar concluded his presentation of the religion of the Brahmo-Somaj with these words. "Representatives of all religions, may all your religions merge into the Fatherhood of God and in the brotherhood of man, that Christ's prophecy may be fulfilled, the world's hope may be fulfilled, and mankind may become one kingdom with God, our Father" (138 Barrows, ed., vol 1, p. 351).

The High Priest of the Shinto Religion in Japan, the Right Rev. R. Shibata, said "What I wish to do is to assist you in carrying out the plan of forming the universal brotherhood under the one roof of truth" (Barrows, ed. vol 1, p. 168; one-volume edition, p. 851).

The concept of the universal family received a Confucian expression from Kung Hsien Ho of Shanghai. He said that one of the Confucian classics, the Chung Yung, teaches us to regard "all under heaven as one family, great rulers as elder branches in their parent's clan, great ministers as chief officers of this clan, and people at large as brothers of the same parents." The same wisdom teaches us to regard "heaven and earth as the parents of all alike" (Neely, 253).

A Japanese representative of Shinto expressed the concept as follows. "In the beginning the One Deity, self-originated, took the embodiments of two Deities; one with the male nature, and the other female" (Neely, 162). All, he affirmed, are the children of the One Deity who resides on Mount Fuji.

Women's issues at the 1893 Parliament

In preparation for the Parliament, beginning in May of 1893, there were twenty congresses, the first of which was on the progress of women. Rev. Augusta G. Chapin, Chairman of the Woman's Committee of Organization of the Congress affirmed that we are all children of "the infinite fatherly and motherly One." The Parliament, she argued, could not have happened earlier. A generation earlier, "woman could not have had a part in it in her own right for two reasons; one that her presence would not have been thought of or tolerated, and the other was that she herself was still to weak, too timid, and too unschooled to avail herself of such an opportunity had it been offered. Few indeed were they a quarter of a century ago who talked about the divine brotherood and human brotherhood, and few still were they who realized the practical religious power of these great conceptions. Now few are found to question them" (47). Chapin's words make it clear that the term "brotherhood of man" was generally understood to include women, even while her naming of God showed her spiritual liberty.

Cardinal Gibbons spoke of the moral rehabilitation of women and their dignity in Catholic marriage and as sisters serving in medicine and nursing. We approach God through service (Neely, 187-89).

Given the title of her talk, "The Divine Basis of the Cooperation of Men and Women," it it striking that Mrs. Lydia H. Dickinson made no reference to the Fatherhood of God. Her concept of leadership in marriage is noteworthy for the clarity with which she formulated the concept of shared leadership. Since work is a blessing, the subjection of Eve is not a curse. Men's external leadership is welcomed, and woman's intuition of divine truth within is and has been her leadership within marriage (Neely, 198-99).

It was Mrs. Marian Murdock of Cleveland who most definitely anticipated feminist theology. She called for women to have full equality in opportunities for ministry and in the concept of Deity. It is also possible to call God Mother. She quoted Theodore Parker: "God is our infinite Mother. She will hold us in her arms of blessedness and beauty forever and ever" (372).

Equality of believers, equality and inequality of religions

Although some speakers referred to protests by Christians that the Parliament betrayed the superiority of Christianity, from the viewpoint of a century later, it would seem as though a particular Christian perspective was being imposed upon those assembled. For example, under the leadership of Parliament organizers J. H. Barrows and C. C. Bonney, the prayer that Jesus taught, "Our Father, who art in heaven . . ." was used to open each session. It came quickly to be called "the universal prayer," and on each day the first speaker, from no matter what religion, would lead the group in repeating it.

Nevertheless it was the stated intention of the organizers to let the speakers express themselves openly. President C. C. Bonney exhorted representatives to speak "without the least surrender or compromise of anything which we respectively believe to the truth or duty" (Neely, 4th ed., 1984, p. 35). "The fraternal union of the religions of the world will come when each seeks truly to know how God has revealed himself in the other, and remembers the inexorable law that with what judgment it judges it shall itself be judged" (38). He exhorted his hearers to "absolute respect for the religious convictions of each other" (39). Bonney made a clear distinction, however, between respect for persons and respect for beliefs. "Let one other point be clearly stated. While the members of this congress meet, as men, on a common ground of perfect equality, . . . no attempt is here made to treat all religions as of equal merit" (40). It was in a practical sense that Bonney looked for unity to emerge. "We seek in this congress to unite all religion against all irreligion; to make the golden rule the basis of this union; and to present to the world the substantial unity of many religions in the good deeds of the religious life" (40).

It was a Universalist from Boston, Re. E. T. Rexford, who expounded the non-superiority of one religion to another (Neely, 204-07).

Count Berenstorff of Germany carried further the refusal to pretend equal respect for every belief. "An honest fight with spiritual weapons need not estrange the combatants; on the contrary, it often brings them nearer" (57).

It should be noted that for most speakers the hope for harmony among religions is based upon the observation that all religions at their best fulfill the standard of the speaker's religion.