September 11, 2010-January 2, 2011

CHICAGO—The Art Institute of Chicago will present a site-specific installation on the anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s historic speech of September 11, 1893 to the first World Parliament of Religions. In a new work entitled Public Notice 3, artist Jitish Kallat connects the date of Swami Vivekananda’s address to the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in a meditation on religious tolerance.

The 1893 Parliament, held in conjunction with the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, marked the birth of interreligious dialogue and the first formal gathering of representatives of eastern and western spiritual traditions. Iconic Hindu spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda urged an audience of 7,000 to practice tolerance and universal acceptance of all faith traditions.

Exactly 108 years prior to the 9/11 attacks, Vivekananda closed his address by saying, “I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.” His words were met with a standing ovation.

Public Notice 3 will display the text of Swami Vivekananda’s address in LED colors corresponding to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alert system on the risers of the Woman’s Board Grand Staircase in Fullerton Hall, the exact site of the address 117 years ago. The exhibit will be the first major presentation of Indian artist Jitish Kallat’s work in an American museum.

Augusta Jane Chapin

Augusta Jane Chapin, an organizer of the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, and the only woman to present a session at the Parliament, will be honored by the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame this year.

Born in New York, Chapin completed her education in Michigan and was the second woman to be ordained as a Universalist minister. She was also the first woman to serve on the Council of the Universalist General Convention, and the first woman ever to receive an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree, presented to her at the Chicago World’s Fair.

Chapin was a champion of women’s rights, forging the way for future generations of women in the United States to seek higher education and advanced degrees.

In addition to organizing the first Parliament in 1893, Chapin also served as Chairwoman of the Woman’s General Committee. She gave comments at the opening and closing presentations of the Parliament, and stated in her opening address, “My memory runs easily back to the time when, in all the modern world, there was not one well equipped college or university open to women students, and when, in all the modern world, no woman had been ordained, or even acknowledged, as a preacher outside the denomination of Friends.”

Chapin will be honored among two other Historical Honorees and 10 Contemporary Honorees on October 19 in East Lansing.

Click here to learn more about the event.

From Art & Artworks

This fall, acclaimed contemporary artist Jitish Kallat turns the landmark Art Institute Grand Staircase into a meditation on religious tolerance, drawing on the museum’s own history in concert with the most devastating terrorist attack on American soil. Public Notice 3 , a site-specific installation, brings together two key historical moments: the first Parliament of the World’s Religions, opening on September 11, 1893, in what is now the museum’s Fullerton Hall, and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 108 years later, on that very date. Public Notice 3–the first major presentation of Kallat’s work in an American museum–will be on view September 11, 2010 through January 2, 2011.

The Art Institute of Chicago has long held a unique historical connection with India. In 1893, during the World’s Columbian Exposition, the museum’s building served as the site of one of the most important gatherings in the history of modern religion, the first World’s Parliament of Religions. One of the opening speakers was a young Hindu monk from India, Swami Vivekananda, who stunned and enthralled the audience of 7,000 with an address that opened one of the first dialogues between Eastern and Western traditions and, importantly, argued passionately for universalism and religious tolerance. Exactly 108 years before the attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, Swami Vivekananda called for an end to all “bigotry and fanaticism” and pleaded for brotherhood across all faiths, a speech that was met with a standing ovation and was heralded by journalists as one of the pivotal moments of the Exposition. (Even today, the stretch of Michigan Avenue in front of the Art Institute is the honorary “Swami Vivekananda Way.”)

Kallat has chosen this historical event as the basis and site for his monumental installation. For Public Notice 3 , Kallat will convert the complete text of Vivekananda’s inspiring speech into LED displays on each of the 118 risers of the museum’s Woman’s Board Grand Staircase, which is itself adjacent to what is now Fullerton Hall, where Vivekananda made his original presentation. Drawing attention to the great chasm between this plea for tolerance of 1893 and the very different events of September 11, 2001, the text of the speech will be displayed in the five colors of the United States’ Department of Homeland Security alert system–red, orange, yellow, blue, and green.

This historical coincidence–and the fact that the speech was delivered at the earliest attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths–heightens the potency of Vivekananda’s persuasive words. The resulting work, Public Notice 3, creates a trenchant commentary on the evolution, or devolution, of religious tolerance across the 20th and 21st centuries. The installation will serve not as a passive commemorative act but rather as an actively contemplative space.

Public Notice 3 draws on Kallat’s earlier works, Public Notice and Public Notice 2, which also converted historic texts into large-scale installations.

Click here to read the entire article.

Click here to learn more about the exhibit.

From The Washington Post

Granted, the holiest shrine for many Chicagoans is Wrigley Field. But for those Cubs fans whose faith has wavered after more than a century without a World Series win – or who want a more traditional space in which to pray for the long-awaited baseball salvation – the Windy City hosts beautiful structures for adherents of many different religions.

Chicago’s religious diversity and the striking houses of worship it has given rise to go back, as so many things here do, to two seminal events of the late 19th century: the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. The former created a tabula rasa for new architectural structures – and an urgent need for their construction – and the latter showcased Chicago’s openness and inclusiveness.

The Bahai faith was one of the religions that made the most of its welcome during the multi-faith dialogue held alongside the World’s Fair. It was the first time the religion – begun in 19th-century Iran – was mentioned on this continent, and from the interest it sparked grew America’s initial Bahai community. When ground was broken on North America’s Bahai temple in 1912, it was in an open field far from commercial activity. Now it’s nestled in the Chicago suburbs, the stunning setting – up against Lake Michigan, surrounded by manicured gardens of tulips and magnolias – perhaps all the more arresting for springing from such a mundane environment.

It is the alabaster-domed temple itself that is the main attraction, however. It beckons like a majestic, three-tiered wedding cake frosted with an intricately carved stone filigree. It’s literally a brilliant gem of a building, the architect having thrown quartz into the concrete to make it glisten in the sunshine. If you’re not blinded by the radiance, up close you can make out symbols from a half-dozen religions – all considered holy by Bahais – as well as the lacy Arabic calligraphy that spells out one of the titles for the faith’s founder.

While the interior is also breathtaking, what’s most lovely about it is how clearly you can hear your own breathing. In this space for private prayer and meditation, the only sound permitted is that of human voices reading scripture. Aside from the daily 30-minute prayer services at 12:30 – when participants read from Bahai, Christian, Muslim and other hallowed texts as the spirit moves them, and the choir sings sacred music ranging from Mozart to Negro spirituals once a week – the only distractions are hushed footsteps and the whir of the wind off the lake.

The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Unity Temple in Oak Park takes the opposite tack in its attempt to welcome all those who enter. Instead of a panoply of religious symbols, the Unitarian church lacks so much as a cross. In place of awe and splendor, it emphasizes modesty and hominess. But the result is still a compelling, harmonious refuge well worth the trip to the neighborhood the architect made famous.

Click here to read the entire article.

From The Washington Post

By Suhag Shukla

Richard Gere is a Buddhist. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are initiated in Kabbalah. And Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are raising little Suri in the Church of Scientology. None were raised in the traditions which now inform their spirituality, along with the 44% of Americans who too have changed their religions. So why then should Julia Roberts’ revelation of her Hindu practice, that today inspires the spirituality of over two million Indian-origin Hindu Americans and an unaccounted number of non-Indian-origin Hindus — including those who may have converted or, for all intents and purposes, could be considered practicing Hindus — elicit the question of whether America is ready to embrace Hinduism?

Whether Americans know it or not, we’ve been embracing Hinduism for longer than most would guess. Remember that revolt against the “establishment” called the American transcendentalist movement? Yes, the one sparked by the American philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau? What inspired them? You guessed it: Hinduism. One of the earliest Hindu centers of worship in the U.S. — the Vedanta Society — was established in 1894 by Caucasian American disciples of Indian Hindu, Swami Vivekananda, after he took the first-ever World Parliament of Religions by storm. The Vedanta Society continues to have a strong “convert” and “born” Hindu following with centers across the 50 states. Let’s not forget Martin Luther King Junior and his non-violent civil disobedience movement, a movement which affords each and every one of us dignity and equal rights regardless of the color of our skin — a movement which I am also proud to know was strongly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, a practicing Hindu, and his interpretation of the Hindu concept of ahimsa or non-violence. And how about the example of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi? He may be better known as the Indian guru of the Beatles, but in the late 60s and early 70s, he boasted some one million meditation followers.

Fast forward to 2010. Is there a city left in the United States that does not have at least one yoga class or a spa that doesn’t have ayurvedic offerings? And one would be remiss to leave out Oprah — streaming into some 7.4 million households daily and using her monthly magazine as well social networks to promote the teachings of Eckhart Tolle — teachings he has said are influenced, in part, by Hindu saints Ramana Maharshi and Krishnamurthy. From the practical — yoga, meditation, vegetarianism and ayurveda to the more esoteric — belief in karma and reincarnation as well as an adherence to the trademark Hindu world view that multiple paths to the Truth can exist, core concepts of Hinduism are not only being embraced by Americans but are slowly being assimilated into the American collective conscience just as Judeo-Christian values were generations before.

After the lifting of the Asian Exclusion Act in the early 1960s, waves of Indian and other Hindu immigrants brought more aspects of Hinduism to American shores and began practicing their faith with the same freedom that all other religions enjoy in America. Today there are over 700 Hindu temples throughout the U.S.. From Hawaii to Minnesota down to Florida, and essentially every state in between, Hindu temples are flourishing and catering to both born Hindu and convert populations. The American embrace of Hinduism is also the result of the maintenance of traditions by these immigrants and their transmission to second and third generation Hindu Americans.

As most Europeans would attest, we Americans are a religious lot. Add to this either the melting pot or salad bowl metaphor, and the influence of any of the religions practiced in the U.S. should come at no surprise. But the question posed by Elizabeth Tenety in her Washington Post Under God piece begs another, more important question: why isn’t all this “proof” of Hinduism’s influence in America recognized? One answer: Hinduism, as a religious tradition, has for too long been mischaracterized and caricaturized in and by the media, academia and even school textbooks with age-old, colonial stereotypes portraying Hindu belief and practice as little more than “caste, cows and curry.” At the same time, some Western Hinduism-practitioners, many of whom are celebrities in Western yoga circles, as well as Indian Hindu gurus (and wannabe gurus), have either intentionally or unintentionally delinked Hindu philosophy and non-ritual practices, including Vedanta, yoga and meditation, from Hinduism.

Click here to read the entire article.

From Telerama

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From The Huffington Post

By Eboo Patel

…

Once considered a ceremonial activity reserved for leaders of religious denominations or experts in theology, interfaith cooperation is fast becoming a movement focused on social impact that involves everyone.

In the twenty-first century, faith can be a bomb of destruction, a barrier of division or a bridge of cooperation.

The stories of religion as a bomb of destruction are on the front pages of the newspaper every morning. The suicide attacks in Baghdad and Kabul are examples of religion as a bomb of destruction, as is the violent tension between faith groups from Northern Ireland to Nigeria.

Those erecting the barriers of religious division are less dramatic but still dangerous. Their work moves a diverse society in the direction of conflict instead of cooperation. The ‘new atheists’ like Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens build barriers by claiming all religious believers are poisoned and intent on poisoning others. Those who hold with Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilizations build barriers by advancing the idea that different religions are inherently and inevitably at odds with one another. Those who draw a straight line between the violent actions of a few extremists and an entire religion build barriers by telling people that every Muslim — their neighbor, their taxi driver, their friend from the PTA — is a potential enemy.

The materials that make up the bombs of destruction and the barriers of division are not just physical; they are also theological and intellectual. They include advancing theologies that require believers to suffocate or marginalize those who are different; emphasizing the stories of conflict between religious communities instead of the stories of cooperation; holding up the worst examples of the other community and saying that these examples define the whole group; and paying heightened attention to the differences between groups while proclaiming that there is no possibility of common ground.

The forces building bombs and barriers are strong. If the idea of faith as a bridge of cooperation is to win out, interfaith work has to expand from a small niche of enthusiasts to a social norm that involves everyone. Indeed, just as it is now status quo for universities, cities, civic groups and houses of worship to “go green,” so should it be the new norm for these entities to build bridges of interfaith cooperation.

President Obama knows the potential impact of interfaith cooperation, not just as a policymaker but also from his personal history. As a young community organizer in Chicago, Obama worked under a Jewish mentor to bring together Catholic, Protestant and Muslim groups to launch job training centers and educational enrichment programs on the south side of Chicago. He has lived the mission statement of the first Parliament of the World’s Religions, which took place in his home city over a century before he became President: “From now on the great religions of the world make war no longer on each other, and instead of on the giant ills that afflict humankind.”

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From The Times of India

The recently concluded FIFA World Cup football in South Africa caused worldwide excitement. Indians were overtaken by the passion of the game even though India was not participating in the event.

It is easy to get infected with the spirit of the game in a globalised world with its vast media networks that enable people to watch the game even at odd hours. Often such infectious spirit drives us to indulge ourselves on the material plane and remain immersed in superficial aspects of life. Drinking beer and watching football in Germany might have temporarily taken its people away from the humdrum business of life and made them feel elated for some time. But every sphere of life, including the sphere of sports and games, must explore the infinite dimensions which impact human existence and about which we are not adequately aware.

When Swami Vivekananda returned to India in 1897 after his historic trip to America where he addressed the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893, he delivered a series of lectures. In one of them he linked the attainment of spirituality to football. He said to the youth: “You will be nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the Bhagavad Gita”. Good health is the first step to strive for perfection. It involves overcoming weakness and acquiring confidence and spiritual dignity. It means cultivating self-esteem.

Scripture-reading is not sufficient if we are driven by frailties and temptations. Exercise is the key to achieve higher and finer objectives. Vivekananda was giving precedence to the individual’s right to quality health which can provide access to many other wonderful realms. He said that Indians remained lazy because they were deprived of strength and energy. He explained our inability to work in terms of our physical weakness. He even painfully noted that the root cause of selfishness and disunity among Indians was our weakness manifested in fragile body and spirit. He earnestly pleaded for measures to strengthen our physical and mental health.

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From the Shambhala SunSpace,

The first Parliament of the World’s Religions Event, held in 1893 in Chicago, was not only one of the earliest and most important interfaith gatherings in modern history, but also a watershed in the history of Buddhism’s transmission to the West. This past December saw the fifth Parliament in a 116-year period occur in Melbourne, Australia. The theme of this event, Make a World of Difference: Hearing Each Other, Healing the Earth, reflected “the urgent need for religious and spiritual communities and all people of goodwill to act on their concerns for the environment, peace, and overcoming poverty, and to take responsibility for cultivating awareness of our global interconnectedness.”

As with all of the Parliament events, this one included significant meetings and discussions between Buddhists and others. My friend and former Naropa University colleague Alisa Roadcup, who now serves as Outreach Director and Development Associate for the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions spoke with me via email about significant aspects of the Parliament for Buddhists…

The first Parliament event, held in 1893 in Chicago, was not only one of the earliest and most important interfaith gatherings in modern history, but a watershed in the history of Buddhism’s transmission to the West. Would you say something about the role that that Parliament, subsequent Parliaments, and the Council have played in this sense?

The 1893 Parliament was not only a fundamental event in the history of the interfaith movement, but also the first formal presentation of Eastern religions to the West. This introduction presented the opportunity for Buddhist study that helped to develop an emerging field of comparative religious studies that today is so important to the interfaith movement.

For Buddhism to emerge from the 1893 Parliament with as much respect and popularity as it did says a great deal, given the auspices of the first Parliament as a subtle means to announce the universal supremacy of Christianity. Buddhist presenters endured the assumption that religions outside of Christianity were inferior. This sleight of hand is obvious in some of the 1893 titles alone, such as “Some Characteristics of Buddhism as it exists in Japan Which Indicate that it is Not a Final Religion”, and “What the Christian Bible has Wrought for the Orient”. Buddhist presenters forged ahead in spite of this discrimination and courageously established their religion as one worthy of respect and admiration. This forbearance and humility played a role in Buddhism’s establishment in Western conversation.

A remarkable Buddhist presence was Anagarika Dharmapala in 1893. With an ancient statue of the Buddha resting on the platform beside him – Dharmapala gave two addresses on the Four Noble Truths and The Law of Karma, presenting formal teachings to a Western audience for the first time. Shaku Soyen was another remarkable leader, remembered as the person who brought the beloved Zen scholar, D.T. Suzuki to the West.

At one point, Dharmapala compared the 1893 Parliament to the Council of Asoka, and predicted that Dr. Barrows (an 1893 Parliament organizer) would be remembered as the “American Asoka”. This comparison offers insight into the high esteem Buddhist leaders held for the 1893 Parliament and the level of importance they believe it had for Buddhism’s transmission to the West. These presenters were also influential representatives from different traditions within Buddhism, which provided the 1893 audience with a glimpse of Buddhism’s rich diversity.

Paul Carus’s contribution is of key importance. In 1894, the year after the inaugural 1893 Parliament, Dr. Carus wrote The Gospel of Buddha, the classic text on Buddhism, which introduced many Westerners to the teachings of the Buddha. Because it resembled a Christian “gospel” in structure, it was more culturally compatible for Christian audiences. Paul Carus is remembered as a bridge-builder between religions and science, philosophy and society and Buddhism and Christianity.

Today, the Carus family remains a major supporter of the Council by offering The Paul Carus Award for Outstanding Interreligious Achievement, which provides a $100,000 grant to leaders in the interfaith movement at every Parliament.

The Parliaments have certainly played an important role in terms of Buddhism becoming a global phenomenon.

While Parliaments from 1993 onward have brought many people to greater awareness of the dharma, the religion was already a global phenomenon by the 1993 Parliament, in large part due to the precedent set in 1893.

The expanse of time between the 1893 and 1993 Parliaments did not hinder Buddhism’s flourishing in the West. Both an increase in Asian immigration and continued intrigue in Buddhism post-Parliament led to Buddhism’s growth. This set the stage for Buddhism occupying a much greater role in terms of the large number of Buddhist participants and programs at the 1993 Parliament and subsequent Parliaments.

Click here to read more about Buddhist participation at the 2009 Parliament

From The Chicago Tribune

Since it was founded more than two decades ago, the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago has come to a consensus on issues such as housing and gun control, served as a resource for local law enforcement and brought religious leaders together to do work in the community.

But as the organization celebrates its 25-year anniversary, its leaders say that helping local congregations better address major social issues — such as poverty and violence — is crucial to meeting the challenges of the 21^st century.

“One of the major challenges before us is how do we take what we’re doing at the top level … and get it down to the average person in the pew and on the prayer rug,” said the Rev. Stanley L. Davis, co-executive director of the council, which is made up of some of Chicago’s top religious leaders.

Helping local congregations take action on those issues is one way, said professor William Schweiker, director of the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

“It is important to include congregations in these discussions,” said Schweiker. “It allows religious people a way to voice their concerns beyond the claims of ‘official’ statements.”

…Chicago has been the home of formal interfaith conversations since the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, a gathering of international religious leaders during the World’s Columbian Exposition. The Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago was founded in 1985 by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who sought to tackle social injustices head on. Its core message to the city was clear: Your leaders of faith, however different, can sit at one table and tackle sensitive issues with respect and candor.

At the time, those religious leaders came from the city’s Christian and Jewish communities, but as Chicago has grown more diverse, so has the council. Today, its members also include Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians, Mormons, Sikhs and Baha’is.

…Dirk Ficca, executive director of the Chicago-based Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, said continuing the discussion is what’s important.

“If people can come to the table and have sharp disagreements and really engage, to me that is the healthiest sign of navigating religious diversity,” he said.

Click here to read the entire article.