• By Parveen Chopra

CHICAGO (TIP): Parliament of the World’s Religions (PoWR) 2023 convened in Chicago from August 14-18 under the chairmanship of an Indian American, Nitin Ajmera, tried to propel faith groups towards activism. The title makes the focus clear: ‘A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom & Human Rights’.

Knowing that PoWR has emerged as the biggest interfaith movement in the world, they are pushing for faith groups to get involved in global issues like social justice and climate action. Quite a few symposiums scheduled for the 5-day event had these themes. The presence of Black Lives Matter in the exhibition area also made a point.

When queried, Nitin Ajmera, a Jain CPA from Plainview, NY, explained to me, “Our pressing problems are not about respecting each other’s religion anymore. What we are now striving for is how our faith and religious groups support solutions to global problems. What are we going to do about climate change that is going to make our lives difficult in 30 to 50 years? What are we going to do about issues like inequality?”.

However, Eric Lawson, senior leader of Brahma Kumaris, who is a regular at PoWRs, is unsure of the Parliament’s transition away from reflection, introversion, and qualities of meditation.

PoWR, as we know, was revived in 1993, a century after its first convening in Chicago in 1893, made famous by the electric speech by Swami Vivekananda that became an important contact between the East and the West.

According to the organizers, over 6,500 people from 95 countries belonging to over 200 religious-spiritual groups ranging from Buddhists to Zoroastrians attended the massive event at the McCormick Place convention center in the Windy City. An estimated 500 people flew in from India. The diversity of humankind and the bonhomie witnessed among people, many wearing their colorful ethnic attires was worth a watch.

The convention was opened by the Mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson. US ambassador-at-large for religious freedom, Rashad Husain, said the US strives to protect religious freedom for all everywhere in the world. Dignitaries who sent video messages included UN Secretary-General António Guterres, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and US Senator Dick Durbin.

Religious leaders who graced the convention included Cardinal Blasé J. Cupich from Chicago, Swami Ishatmananda of Vedanta Society – Chicago, and Bhai Mohinder Singh, Chairman of Nishkam Sewak Jatha, UK.

The Parade of Faiths on August 13 which preceded the Parliament, was a colorful affair with hundreds of people from different faith groups based in Chicago marching near the convention venue. The Sikh group was visibly the largest. The Sikh community also served the langar lunch for all convention attendees over 5 days. The community raised half a million dollars for the purpose, an insider shared, adding that local trade unions resisted the free meals inside the venue, so they had to pitch tents outside for langar.

At the parade, I spotted Hindu spiritual guru Amma Sri Karunamayi ensconced in a ceremonial horse-driven carriage, and Jain guru Acharya Lokesh Muni.

With over 600 breakout panels and workshops, it was hard to decide which ones to attend. You also needed many hours to browse at the 200 booths in the exhibition hall, to gawk at the art exhibits, or to walk the labyrinth. I made it a point to attend the soul-satisfying Sacred Music Night on August 17, where the wheelchair-bound civil rights icon Jesse Jackson was honored.

(Parveen Chopra, founder of ALotusInTheMud.com, attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions )