Continuing Interreligious Dialogue Since 1893: Atla Staff Attend Chicago Interfaith Fair in 2020

The city of Chicago is a historic site for the global interfaith movement. In 1893, the city of Chicago hosted the World Columbian Exposition, which served as the birthplace of the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions. Held on the shores of Lake Michigan, the World’s Parliament of Religions marked the first formal gathering of representatives of many global spiritual traditions. Today, the 1893 Parliament is recognized as the birth of formal interreligious dialogue worldwide.

With the support of a grant from the Templeton Foundation and the partners in our network, the Parliament of the World’s Religions continued the spirit of interreligious gatherings by hosting a local Chicago Interfaith Fair on Thursday, February 6, 2020. Margot Lyon, Atla Director of Business Development, and Cristina Ochoa, Atla Product Specialist, attended the event.

Interfaith Organizations

Here are some highlights of the organizations represented.

Interfaith Youth Core

IFYC is a national nonprofit working towards an America where people of different faiths, worldviews, and traditions can bridge differences and find common values to build a shared life together.

Arise Chicago

A Leader in the Faith-Labor Movement: In response to the need for systemic change, Arise Chicago has partnered with several religious, community, labor, and academic community partners to seek changes in public policy which will lead to a fuller measure of God’s justice in the workplace.

Niagara Foundation

Niagara Foundation strives to promote social cohesion by fostering civic conversations and sustained relationships between people of different cultures and faiths.

Faith In Place

Faith in Place empowers Illinois people of all faiths to be leaders in caring for the Earth, providing resources to educate, connect, and advocate for healthier communities. Since 1999, Faith in Place has worked with over 1,000 houses of worship throughout Illinois to protect common land, water, and air.

Spiritual Playdate

Spiritual Playdate is an inclusive, interfaith web-based program that supports fun, engaging, social, and emotional learning while building the bridges of acceptance through group “Playdates” in the home or elsewhere.

Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants

The Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants is a nonprofit, faith-based organization of staff and volunteers called to respond actively and publicly to the suffering of all individuals and communities affected by immigration detention, deportation, and post-detention through pastoral care, advocacy, public witness, and other activities.

OMNIA Institute for Contextual Leadership

The OMNIA Institute for Contextual Leadership is a global leadership training and consulting program serving religious and civic leaders who are committed to solving society’s most intractable problems, such as racism, extremism, and economic justice.

Hyde Park & Kenwood Interfaith Council 

The Interfaith Council is an association of congregations and religious and spiritual bodies, founded in the Hyde Park and Kenwood neighborhoods in 1911 (originally as a council of churches, and thereafter as an interfaith association). Their purpose is to provide effective channels for cooperative expression of shared concern for the well-being of the communities in which member organizations are situated.

The InterReligious Institute (IRI) at Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS)

The InterReligious Institute (IRI) at Chicago Theological Seminary is devoted to courageous conversations, challenging questions, and innovative action. Through the intersections of academia, theology, and public dialogue, they offer curricular, co-curricular, and public initiatives. Founded in 2017 with generous support from the Henry Luce Foundation, their mission is to create a more just and pluralistic society, where everyone has space to breathe. Yasmine El-Abou-Kheir, Atla member and Director of the CTS library, attended the fair and was one of the IRI representatives at the table.

McCormick Theological Seminary

For 190 years,  McCormick has been a progressive leader within the Reformed tradition, committed to fostering a community of Christian leadership that serves diverse ministries and congregations in a challenging and complex world. Through academic excellence, critical reflection, and transforming witness, McCormick Theological Seminary uniquely equips excellent Church leaders for faithful, inclusive, and liberating ministries in God’s world.

Did you or your institution do something to celebrate World Interfaith Harmony Week? We would welcome the opportunity to hear more.