wfn.org | Parliament of the World's Religions in South Africa

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2000-009

Parliament of the World's Religions in South Africa presses for 
interfaith cooperation

by James Solheim

     (ENS) As meetings go, it is difficult to imagine a more 
complex, fascinating, frustrating one than the Parliament of 
World's Religions, which drew about 7,000 participants to Cape 
Town, South Africa, the first week in December. 

     A complex marketplace for nearly every major religion on earth,
including a few that might be new to most people, the 
underlying themes were peace and interfaith cooperation, 
especially in the face of increasing sectarian violence in some 
parts of the world.

     The setting was crucial to the meeting, giving participants 
a chance to take a closer look at the new South Africa, emerging 
from the dark era of apartheid but still struggling against 
economic disparities and persistent violence. The day before the 
parliament officially opened, a bomb in a popular beach town near 
Cape Town injured 48 people. It was the 80th pipe bomb in the 
last year and perpetuates the mystery of violence since no one 
claims credit. A local banker said that, if the violence 
continues, "we are in deep trouble" because foreign investments 
and tourists will disappear. "Cape Town is the keyhole through 
which the outside world views South Africa," he said.

     An opening day rally near the Parliament Buildings in 
downtown Cape Town addressed another major issue for Africans--
the pandemic of AIDS. It is the number one killer in sub-Saharan 
Africa, killing 10 times more people than war. In 1998 about 
200,000 people died in wars, compared with about 2.2 million from 
AIDS. It was difficult not to notice the six-story condom on a 
downtown office building, urging the practice of safe sex.

     Cleve Jones, founder of the Names Project that put together 
the massive AIDS quilt, told the crowd gathered around a display 
of panels, "Don't give up. You must believe, in the way you did 
during the dark days of apartheid, that one day there will be a 
cure or vaccine. You must fight to stay alive until that day," he 
said. "We wish to say to President Mbeki that the decision not to 
provide treatment to pregnant women with HIV is scientifically 
misinformed, economically unsound and morally bankrupt."

     Participants then marched behind a peace flame through the 
busy streets, past St. George's Anglican Cathedral, which Desmond 
Tutu made a center of the fight against apartheid, to District 
Six. It was once a mixed racial community of 60,000 forced by 
apartheid legislation in 1966 to move out of the city, leaving 
behind two churches standing as lonely sentinels on a deserted 
plain. The peace torch was used to light an Olympic-style basin 
of flame, kept alive during the meeting.

A time of transformation

     In the opening plenary at Good Hope Centre, crawling with 
security, participants were welcomed by Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo 
of Cape Town, in the absence of President Thabo Mbeki. She said 
that Cape Town is a very special city with two faces. 

     In profound and moving comments that seemed to describe the 
climate in much of the world beyond the continent of Africa, she 
said, "One is the physically beautiful city we see around us, the 
other is a more somber one associated with oppression, imposed 
values, cultural domination, slavery, repressive law-making and 
the imprisonment for their beliefs of many of our country's 
leaders, including Nelson Mandela," she said.

     "One is a place of tree-lined streets, affluent families and 
spacious homes. The other is a place where poverty, joblessness, 
overcrowding, inadequate housing, ill health, hunger and fear is 
a reality. Today we have a city divided against itself Let this 
be the beginning of a real and lasting unity, in spite of all we 
think divides us. The example of acceptance in diversity, of 
sharing life experiences and a common yearning for spiritual 
meaning, is something all Capetonians should take to heart."

     The Rev. Dirk Ficca, an American who is executive director 
of the Chicago-based Council for the Parliament of the World's 
Religions, said that the meeting came at "a time of 
transformation for the African continent. We chose South Africa 
because of its rich religious diversity and because of the role 
religion has played in its life," he said. "The parliament is 
about religious harmony--not unity," he added. "Participants come 
fully as who they are. We are seeking convergence of purpose, not 
consensus. Our religious differences are not a problem to be 
solved but one to be celebrated... It is time to bring the voice 
of spirituality back to the table."

     Addressing an issue that would haunt attitudes about the 
meeting, Ficca said that the planning committee decided not to 
decide what is or is not a religion. He then led an exercise to 
demonstrate who was present. Very few responded from South 
America or even Europe, but there was heavy representation from 
North America and South Africa. About 90 countries were 
represented. The majority identified themselves as Christians, 
with a sprinkling of Buddhists and Hindus and only a few Bahai, 
Zoroastrians and Sikhs.

A new interfaith agenda

     The first parliament was held in 1893 in Chicago, in 
conjunction with the World's Columbian Exposition, when 
interfaith dialogue was a radical idea. But the world has 
changed, its religions are no longer isolated from each other, so 
a second parliament was convened a century later, also in 
Chicago. Planners made it clear at Cape Town that they hope to 
convene a parliament every five years or so.

     "For some the lure of the Parliament was the opportunity it 
offered to listen and to share, to engage in serious dialogue 

with other faiths, other cultures, and other paths," said Jim Kenney, 
who helped plan both the 1993 and 1999 meetings. He said 
that the Chicago 1993 parliament, despite some sharp 
disagreements and heated exchanges, resulted in a "prevailing 
spirit of hope and shared commitment. Gradually a broad consensus 
emerged that a new international interfaith agenda, which would 
draw on the experience and expertise of existing institutions 
devoted to interreligious understanding, was an urgent 
necessity."

     The last parliament produced a Call, originally drafted by 
Roman Catholic theologian Hans Kung, launching a "process of 
dissemination, consultation and emendation affirming the 
essential principles: No new global order without a new global 
ethic; every human being must be treated humanely; commitment to 
a culture of non-violence and respect for life, a culture of 
tolerance and a life of truthfulness, a culture of equal rights 
and partnership between men and women, and a transformation of 
consciousness as the priority for the planetary community," 
according to Kenney. 

     Representing what he called "a moral convergence," the 
global ethic "embodies the implicit promise that the world's 
religions can begin to speak with a single voice on issues of 
concern to us all and that they can begin to draft a common 
language--not a common theology--but a coherent and shareable way 
of addressing universal challenge. Religion is not always at its 
best but perhaps the parliament represents a new stirring, a new 
reality," he said.

Dazzling diversity

     The plenary hall took on a carnival atmosphere with dozens 
of booths hawking different religious messages. Earnest young 
people passed out invitations to listen to their version of the 
truth, conveyed by a dazzling array of teachers, swamis, gurus, 
and priests.  Where else could one see a Muslim mullah talking 
with a Hindu priest and a black Southern Baptist, joined by a 
Tibetan Buddhist nun, with shaved head, who is chattering away on 
her cell phone. A coven of witches from Chicago attracted quite a 
bit of attention, as did someone who claimed to be the 196th 
Pharaoh. Representatives of indigenous religions, especially from 
Africa and North America, were highly visible.

     Yet that diversity provoked some controversy. When the 
parliament decided to use the broadest definition of religion, it 
curbed significant involvement of Roman Catholics, Orthodox and 
many mainline denominations. South Africa's Chief Rabbi Cyril 
Harris said that the presence of pagans detracted from the real 
purpose of the parliament. "Religion should be democratic but the 
wider the definition the more one loses depth--the whole thing 

becomes an exercise in artificiality," he said. "The fear is that one gets 
a bunch of weirdoes using the parliament to get publicity. I would 
prefer it to be more mainstream."

     The national chairman of the Council of African Traditional 
Religions, Nokuzola Mndende, suggested that the chief rabbi 
should learn to be more tolerant, like the Dalai Lama. "If South 
Africans are true to their liberation they must learn to be 
tolerant." Elder Rowan Fairgrove, a Wiccan, said that neo-
paganism was the fastest growing religion in the world and that 
it represented a genuine attempt to return to ancient spiritual 
practices, many of them downtrodden by mainstream religions like 
Christianity.

     Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, however, agreed 
with the rabbi. After the parliament he met with the Dalai Lama 
and said in a press interview that he was disappointed by the 
"unorthodox" religious groups who attended, especially the 
witches and neo-pagans. "It should not be open to everybody who 
says they are a religion."

Mandela infuses excitement

     The star power of Nelson Mandela, former president of South 
Africa, was palpable as he was welcomed to a special plenary. 
"This coming together in the southern-most city on the African 
continent symbolizes mutual inter-dependence and common 
humanity," he told a crowd of over 5,000. He called the 
parliament "an affirmation of the nobility of the human spirit. 
"He said that the 20th century had seen more than its share of 
violence, suffering and pain but he argued against the cynicism 
of the age, contending that the parliament itself "counters that 
despairing cynicism."

     Accepting two awards for his efforts to fight violence, 
Mandela quickly paid tribute to "the ordinary, unsung men and 
women who in this century refused to bow to baser instincts of 
our nature." They were the ones who "saved our world from even 
more genocide," putting an end to tyrants and dictators, but also 
helping us finally realize that "poverty is the single most 
dangerous threat to society today."

     Echoing a theme that he had used at the 1998 Assembly of the 
World Council of Churches in Zimbabwe, Mandela said, "My 
generation is the product of religious education," when only the 
religious groups would educate blacks. "Without these religious 
institutions I would never have been here today." He added, "To 
really appreciate religion you had to be in a South African jail 
under apartheid, where you could see the cruelty of human beings 
to each other in its naked form. Again, religious institutions 
and their leaders gave us hope that one day we would return."

     Brushing aside claims that the anti-apartheid movement was 
dominated by radical elements, he said, "Religion was one of the 
motivating forces of everything we did." And he argued that 
"religion will have a crucial role inspiring humanity to meet the 
enormous challenges we face."

     He ended by suggesting that the South African experience in 
"settling a deep and long-standing conflict" might be an example 
for others because it proves that "common ground is greater than 
what divides people."

     Many visited  nearby Robben Island to dedicate a peace pole 
and look at the small jail cell where Mandela spent most of his 
27 years in confinement until his release in 1990.

Assembly produces Call to Guiding Institutions

     While participants waded through a list of over 800 
workshops, symposia, seminars, lectures, performances, exhibits 
and concerts, an "inner core" group of about 400 church leaders 
met in a closed assembly, hammering out a new draft of a 
statement that emerged from the 1993 meeting. Their task included 
efforts to design ways to impact the eight "guiding institutions" 
of society, including: governments; agriculture, labor, industry 
and commerce; education; arts and communications media; science 
and medicine; intergovernmental institutions; and voluntary 
associations. And they designed a list of hundreds of projects, 
which they called gifts, that would draw together people of faith 
around the world.

     According to the planners, participants in the assembly were 
chosen for their spiritual leadership within different religious 
traditions. "The key criteria are whether a person is known and 
respected in a tradition--and engaged in real work to address 
issues," according to Jim Kenney.

     "The assembly has been very problematic because it has been 
poorly focused," argued the Rev. Eric Beresford of the Anglican 
Church of Canada. He said that the assembly attempted to advance 
the work of the Global Ethic that emerged from the 1993 
parliament. He thinks that ethic needs more work, and that didn't 
happen at the assembly. "Specifically for me, it's the 
perspective from which we look at moral issues--the choice to 
look from the bottom up rather than the top down." The 
perspective is missing from the Call to Guiding Institutions, he 
said. "We have done a half-baked job of everything," including 
the list of projects or gifts, most of which are not even new. 
Too many players are not at the table, which diminishes the 
impact of the Call.

     Bishop Alan Chester of England, representing the archbishop 

of Canterbury, felt that the best part of the parliament was listening 
to one another's stories, with respect but without compromise of 
beliefs. He said it was a "tense time" in relations among religions but 
held out the hope that it would be possible to take practical steps of 
cooperation and to "speak out together on appropriate issues."

     He deplored the absence of Roman Catholics and Orthodox and 
questioned the definitions of religion. He said that the 
parliament, and the assembly in which he participated, was "a 
noble concept, still in its infancy. But if major religions are 
to take it seriously, we must ask what is a world religion."

     Bishop William Swing of California, a member of the 
assembly, said that it was difficult to read the map of 
interfaith dialogue and action "because it hasn't been written 
yet and everyone is operating with different definitions." He 
said that the parliament is "inventing itself as it goes along 
and therefore seems a bit chaotic, with little order and no map." 
Yet he is convinced that interfaith cooperation is becoming a 
necessity, not a luxury. The spiritual benefit is that it drives 
us deeper into our own traditions. While the dialogue is still in 
its early stages, he believes, it is being pushed by the 
developing reality that we are living closer together. "The 
Episcopal Church has a chance to get out in front of this issue, 
like it did with the AIDS crisis," he said. 

     Ms. Midge Roof, associate director of the ecumenical office, 
carries the interfaith dialogue portfolio and attended the 
parliament as the church's representative. She agreed with Swing. 
"The impetus is coming from the pews, not from the top down. As 
we get to know our neighbors better, we are realizing that we are 
not strictly a Christian nation any more." The Episcopal Church 
is in the early stages of determining where to invest its energy 
in interfaith dialogue, she said.

Dalai Lama speaks at closing plenary

     Parliament leaders used the closing plenary for some 
assessments. A South African member of the planning committee 
called it "a banquet for the soul," while others said that the 
confusing program was more of an "indigestible smorgasbord." Amy 
Marks, co-chair of the parliament, said that it was "a dream 
realized," building what she called "bridges of understanding. 
Someone else called it "a magnificent failure."

     Kenney introduced the Dalai Lama, exiled leader of Tibetan 
Buddhists, who had endorsed the parliament based on his 
conviction that it was "absolutely vital" that religious leaders 
meet and talk. At an earlier press conference he was asked about 
the apparent "snub" by President Mbeki, who declined to meet 

privately with him in apparent deference to pressure from the Chinese. 
The Dalai Lama said that it was "understandable" since 
governments must act in national interest. 

     An editorial in the Cape Argus newspaper strongly criticized 
Mbeki for "excuses not to meet one of the strongest symbols of 
peace, freedom and spirituality in modern history," at the same 
time that the government was providing "sanctuary to one of 
Africa's most evil men, former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile 
Mariam," who was in South Africa for medical treatment.

     Tibetans are not calling for independence, the Dalai Lama 
pointed out. "We have a right to self-determination but we are 
not asking for independence, irrespective of the past. We want 
the Chinese to give us genuine autonomy. Under the present 
situation, Tibetan culture is facing extinction. Some form of 
cultural genocide is taking place. If this culture is destroyed," 
he said, "in the future I'm sure there will be many Chinese who 
will have immense regret." He recognizes China's need for 
stability and unity but said that its government has "overreacted 
because deep inside the Chinese leadership is a sense of 
insecurity." Yet he is convinced that Tibet will ultimately have 
self-rule because "China is in the process of changing and there 
is no possibility of turning back."

     In his address to the plenary, he said that change comes 
only through action, not meditation or prayer, and he urged 
participants to go into areas of conflict and contribute in 
solving them. Instead of trying to propagate one's religion, it 
was more important to seek the common good. "It is important to 
care and to help others, but to seek inner peace and strength so 
that one is better equipped to help others," he said. "All human 
beings have a responsibility to look after themselves and the 
planet." He urged everyone to be open, unbiased and skeptical in 
the search for truth.

And now what?

     While participants attempted to sort through their 
experience and decide what to tell the folks back home, several 
concrete steps might make that easier.

     It was announced that a Millennium World Peace Summit would 
bring together a thousand religious leaders at the United Nations 
this August, just before the Heads of State Summit. They will be 
welcomed by UN General Secretary Kofi Annan. The four-day event, 
which will include an open forum and dialogue among the 
participants, will be televised. 

     The hope is that the religious leaders will "support the 
peace process, in concert with the political bodies there," 

according to Bawa Jain, executive coordinator. He said that the 
summit is based on the conviction that the "religious and 
spiritual communities can play a substantial role in easing 
tensions in the world zones of conflict. Ultimately, this first-
ever council of senior religious and spiritual advisors will be 
established as a resource to the UN General Secretary," he said.

     Many participants left reinforced and encouraged that a 
common vision of a just and peaceful society was emerging. "I 
came to realize more and more," said Kung, "that religion is a 
political issue--not just an academic affair. It has many 
political ramifications. There will be no peace among nations 
without peace among the religions and no peace among the 
religions without dialogue."

--James Solheim is director of the Episcopal Church's Office of 
News and Information.