The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-18
The Parliament Of Religions.

The worlds parliament of religions that
is assembled at Chicago, and is to hold
daily sessions until Sept. q, will probably
be the most noteworthy religious assemb-
lage in some respects, the world has ever
seen. Representatives from nearly every
religion on earth are now, or will be, in
attendance, and the widest scope for the
expression of religious opinion will be
permitted. The Brahmin and the Meth
odist sit side by side, and each doctrin-
aire may make whatever statement he
may please with regard to, or in defense
of, his doctrine
Some idea of the scope of the parliament
may be formed by glance at the list of
representatives who will submit papers.
This list includes Babu Protap Chunder
MozOomdar, chief apostle of the Brahmo-
Soaj sect, of Calcutta; H. Dharmapala,
Buddhist priest, grand secretary of the
Maha- Bohdi society, Colombo, Ceylon; b.
B. Nagarkar, priest of the Brahma re
ligion; Veerachand Ghandi, priest of
Jainism; the Rev Dionysius Latas, arch
bishop of Zante, representative of the
Greek church; Archbishops Ryan, Ire
land and Feehan, of the Catholic church.
The various protestant churches are rep
! resented by Rev. DR.. George Dana Board
man, Prof, Peabody, of Harvard; DR..
Edward Everett Hale, Rev Joseph Cook
| Prof. Ladd, of Yale; Rev DR. Burrows,
and others. Confucianism, Taoism and
| Buddhism, as well as a number of other
religions, have representatives present
\ who will read papers.
The parliament is not the result of a
| spontaneous and universal movement.
| There was considerable opposition to it,
and its arrangement was concluded only
| after hard work. 1t is noticeable, too.
/ that most of the opposition came frommem-
! bcrs of Protestant churches. One Protest
ant evangelical church organ declared its
! opposition upon the ground that 1.-THE at
| titude of the religion of Christ is one of
| eternal and uncompromising war towards
! all other religions" The Archbishop of
! Canterbury opposed the meeting, because
| it would apparently place the non
/ Christian religion on the same plane with
! Christianity, and give them too conspicu-
/ Gus recognition" On the other hand, the
]
of the proposed gathering: Il am in favor
Oft. want my people to know all about
/ the congress for want them to be in touch
with the best thought of the nineteenth
century" And a leading Brahmin, of
! Medura, India, said: "The time is fast
/ approaching when the best religion must
/ come to the front. If Christianity is the
! best religion, as its followers profoundly
( believe it TO be, it can suffer no harm, as
/ some of its defenders fear, in n compare
! tive congress of religions 1t will rather
make plain its superiority over them all
! and impress itself up on the followers of
other religions who come to defend their
own faith butwith open minds to learn
what is good in other faiths Christianity
should not hesitate to submit itself to the
/ test"
Indeed, Christianity does not fear the
test. 1t has able representatives at the
! parliament who will uphold and indicate
its claims And the cause Of the Chris
tian will be made the stronger by the
/ interchangeof the most advanced religious
thought duringthe meeting
The court authorities of Philadelphia
are sticklers for precedent and the letter
Of the law Not long ago a man was
robbed Of his clothes-his only decent
suit The thief was captured and the
/ clothes recovered, but they We're not re
! turned to their owner. Law and custom
make the police the custodiuns of prop
/ erty taken from thieves until the court
shall have passed upon the case. hence
/ therobbed man was forced 10 appear in
/ court il rags and tatters TO identify his
stolen suit.
Samuel j. Tilden, who is spoken of as a
/ probable candidate for secretary of state
/ OF New York on the democratic ticket, is
/ the nephew Of the Samuel j. Tilden who
J was elected 70 the Presideney in 1876.