On a sunny mid-August day 2023, in the Chicago’s McCormick Place conference centre at the shore of the Michigan Lake, thousands of religious, civic, spiritual, and grassroots changemakers have gathered for the opening of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, a historic and influential gathering. The colours of religions attires, smell of incense and freshly made food, sounds of different music instruments and human voices – such richness of diversity - was almost overwhelming.

Created to promote and cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities, the Parliament of the World’s Religions (PoWR) returned home to its birthplace for the first time since 1993 to hold its biannual convention and celebration of religious diversity.

The PoWR traces its history back to an event in 1893, in Chicago, where representatives of various religious communities and organisations first met and which became the starting point of the interfaith movement in the United States. The international movement for interreligious dialogue was then born to end religiously motivated violence. 130 years on, more than ever, the call to dialogue and peace work still remains a priority for people across the globe.

During the centenary celebration of its establishment, in 1993, also in Chicago, the PoWR endorsed a historical ground-breaking document, Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration.  The Declaration is the first document in history in which representatives of nearly all religions publicly agreed on a set of shared ethical values, norms, and attitudes, and remains one of the pillars of interreligious dialogue.

As a double anniversary, this year’s PoWR embraced a theme “A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom & Human Rights”. It gathered more than 7000 people of all ages from more than 95 countries representing 212 different faiths and traditions to defend the freedom and human rights of all and to look for inclusive, respectful and sustainable ways to live together in close proximity and solidarity.

During the Opening Ceremony, Rev. Vance Henry, the Chief of Faith Engagement at the Chicago Mayor’s Office, shared his observation that the world remains filled with darkness and division. Yet, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness,” he said. And “if we decided to put our lights together — we can force the darkness away.”

From climate change to defending human rights, from global ethics principles series of lectures to religious and spiritual exposition, from women’s storytelling to cosmic mass celebration – during five full days the PoWR offered its attendees and online followers hundreds of panels, parallel sessions, workshops, guided tours and celebrations. Together we reflected on the wounds of the world, earth and our societies, sought ways to respond, bear our responsibility, repair and heal. We shared meals, told our stories, learned from one another and raised our prayers together.

One of such workshops was conducted by our ENORB Board member, Heidi Rautionmaa together with UNESCO professor Arto Kallioniemi (Helsinki University, Finland), assistant professor Swati Chakraborty (GLA University, Mathura, India) and Islamic education inspector Mabrouka Rayach (Vienna, Austria). The workshop entitled “What is the role of interfaith education to repair injustices while transforming the future?” discussed the importance of religious education and religious dialogue in finding sustainable ways to correct injustices. The presenters shared practical solutions from India, Austria and Finland on how interworld-view dialogue can be used to critically examine reality and encourage the questioning of familiar thought and action patterns.

During her keynote speech, Rev. Asayo Koyo Horibe, president of the Buddhist Council of the Midwest, called this convention as both a spiritual event and a gathering of friends. “Talk to everyone. Greet everyone. And go home with the treasures you have received at this gathering.”

And so people did. The chatter, the laughter, the tears and the embraces accompanied the reflections and discussion during the 2023 PoWR convention. The event has ended, but the dialogue, the networking and the collaborative actions for the common good continues. For many of us the interfaith encounter became our daily reality and lifestyle. Just as this year’s PoWR theme suggests, at the heart of such gatherings is a call to strive to end injustices and eliminate people’s suffering, not only to advocate for a better world, but to get to work now: to continue building a more loving, more inclusive and peaceful social environment. “

Maryana Hnyp and Heidi Rautionmaa, European Network on Religion & Belief