Arizona republican., 1893-08-23
RELIGIOUS CONGRESS-.
Most Important of All Worlds
Fair Gatherings.
To Meet in Chicago September Some
of the Famous Men Interested In the
Parliament--The Objects of the
Meeting-Pspers to Be Read.
Especial Worlds Fair Letter. I


the worlds congress auxiliary none
will be of more general interest than
the parliament of religions which is to
meet at Chicago on September IL for
two weeks session. The objects of the
congress are to unite all religion
against all irreligion; to make the
golden rule the basis of this union;
to present to the world the substantial
unity of many religions in the good
deeds of religious life; to provide for a
regular worlds parliament of religions
in which their common aims and com
mon grounds of union may be set forth
and the marvellous religious progress
Of the nineteenth century be reviewed.;
and to facilitate separate and indie
pendent congresses of different re-
ligious denominations and organiza-
| tions, under their own officers, in
which their business may be trans
acted, their achievements presented
and their work for the future consid-
cred. The plans for this unique
meeting are in the hands of an execu-
| tive committee of which Rev. John
Henry Barrows, ID. d., the most emf
nent Presbyterian minister in Chicago,
| is the chairman. He is assisted by Rt
Rev. Bishop William Il. McLaren, of
the Protestant Episcopal church; Prof.
David Swing, an independent preacher;
Archbishop p. a. Eeehan, Catholic:
Rev. DR. +. A. Noble, Congregational
| list; Rev. DIR. w. NJ. Lawrence, Baptist;
| Rev. DR.. +. NJ. Bristol, Methodist
Episcopal; Rabbi Emil q. Hirsch, jew;
Rev. DIR. A. j. Garfield, Universalist;
! Rt. Rev. Bishop c. T.. Cheney, Reformed
Episcopal; Rev. NJ. G. Ranseen, Swedish
Lutheran; Rev. j. Berger, German
Methodist; Mr.. j. W. Plummer, Quaker;
| Rev. j. u. Torgersen, Norwegian Luth-
eran; Rev. l.. =. Mercer, Swedenbor-
gian, and Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones,
| Unitarian.
The general committee has labored
| hard to make the congress complete
success. 1t was instrumental in form
ing an advisory council, which now
numbers several thousand members
and represents all known forms of
Christianity as well as the different
schools of Judaism, Buddhism, Shinto-
| ism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Moham-
mechanism, Confucianism, and many
sects of minor Importance.
Among the members of the advisory
council are men famous in all parts of
the world, such as Prof. Max Muller,
Sir Edwin Arnold, the bishops of Wor-
cester and Ripon, William L. Glad
stone, Canon Freemantle, Gen. Will
liam Booth, William T. Stead, DIR. Adler,
chief rabbi of Great Britain, and other
famous English churchmen and laymen;
Count Bernstorff, Prof. Otto Pfeiderer,
Prof. NJ. Lazarus, Prof. Luthardt, Prof.
f. Hommell and other leaders of Ger
man religious thought; Prof. j. T. V.
Doedes and Prof. j. Valeton, Jr., of
| Holland; Count Goblet d. Allirella, of
Belgium, and an almost countless num-
Der of scholars from the rest of the con-
| tinental nations. Prominent among
the Oriental members of the council are
Hon. Justice Ameer Ali, of the supreme
court of Calcutta, an orthodox Moham-
medan; Rev. Zitsuzen Ashitsu, of Omi,
Japan, Buddhist high priest; Nil
kanth Vithal Shastri, a hereditary
high priest of the Hindoos; Reichi
Shibatha, high priest of the Zhikko
sect of Shintoism; Dastur Hoshang, a
Parsee high priest; Hon. Dadabhai
! Naoroji known to history as Sails
bury's black man." NUM- Atmaramji,
high priest of the Jain community in
India; Rev. George r. Candlin, Chris
tian missionary at Tientsin, China;
Neophytus VIII, most holy archbishop
and ecumenical patriarch of the Greek
church at Constantinople. (For the
pictures of many of these gentlemen
this journal is indebted to Frank Les
lies Illustrated Weekly.
| The general committee realized from
the start that it needed the enthusiast
tic cooperation of the religious world
to make the congress an epoch-cre-
ating gathering and sent out the fol.
lowing eloquent invitation to all parts
of the earth:
believing that God is, and that He
has not left Himself without witness:
believing that the influence of religion
tends to advance the general welfare
and is the most vital force in the social
order of every people; and convinced
that of truth God is no respecter of
persons, but that in every nation he
that feareth Him and worketh right
eousness is accepted of Him, we affec-
tionately invite the representatives of
all faiths to aid us in presenting to the
world, at the exposition of 1898, the
religious harmonies and unities of hui
manity, and also in showing forth the
moral and spiritual agencies which are
at the root of human progress. 1t is
proposed to consider the foundations
of religious faith: to review the tri-
umphs of religion in all ages; to set
forth the present state of religion
among the nations and its influence
over literature, art, commerce, govern
ment and the family life; to indicate
its power in promoting temperance
and social purity, and its harmony
with true science; to show its domi-
nance in the higher institutions of
learning; to make prominent the value
of the weekly rest day on religious and
other grounds; and to contribute to