World Religion Day
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World Religion Day is an observance that was initiated in 1950 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States, which is celebrated worldwide on the third Sunday in January each year. Though initiated in the United States, World Religion Day has come to be celebrated internationally by followers of the
Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
. Described as a "Baháʼí-inspired idea that has taken on a life of its own", the origins of World Religion Day lie in the Baháʼí principles of the oneness of religion and of progressive revelation, which describe religion as evolving continuously throughout the history of humanity. The purpose of World Religion Day is to highlight the ideas that the spiritual principles underlying the world's religions are harmonious, and that religions play a significant role in unifying humanity.


Purpose

Initially a Baháʼí observance, World Religion Day was inspired by the Baháʼí principles of the oneness of religion and of progressive revelation, which describe religion as evolving continuously throughout the history of humanity. It promotes these principles by highlighting the ideas that the spiritual principles underlying the world's religions are harmonious, and that religions play a significant role in unifying humanity. As a means of clarifying the nature and purpose of World Religion Day, the
Universal House of Justice The Universal House of Justice is the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Baháʼí Faith. It was envisioned by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, as an institution that could legislate on issues not already addressed in the ...
, the elected council that serves as the head of the Baháʼí Faith noted in a 1968 message that, rather than providing a "platform for all religions and their emergent
ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...
ideas," the observance serves as "a celebration of the need for and the coming of a world religion for mankind, the
Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
itself." In April 2002, the Universal House of Justice published a letter, "To the World's Religious Leaders", in which it stated:
...interfaith discourse, if it is to contribute meaningfully to healing the ills that afflict a desperate humanity, must now address honestly ... the implications of the over-arching truth ... that God is one and that, beyond all diversity of cultural expression and human interpretation, religion is likewise one.
World Religion Day has been described as a "Baháʼí-inspired idea that has taken on a life of its own", because its observance is no longer confined to the Baháʼí community, where it originally took shape. Although observances of World Religion Day are still sponsored and supported by Baháʼí communities worldwide, Baha'i institutions such as the Universal House of Justice or the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States no longer play active roles in the promotion of events, apart from reporting on them. Instead, an increasing number of observances are independently organized by interfaith or multi-faith coalitions.


History

The earliest observation entitled "World Peace Through World Religion" was in
Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...
at the Eastland Park Hotel in October 1947 with a talk by Firuz Kazemzadeh. In 1949 observances in various communities in the United States made the local newspapers in December called "World Religion Day". It was standardized across the United States by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States in December 1949 to be held January 15, 1950. It also began to be observed internationally starting as early as in
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in 1950 in two cities and
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in 1951. By 1958 Baháʼís had gathered notices of events in a number of countries—sometimes attracting hundreds of people and sometimes overlapping with race amity priorities. In
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, for example, meetings were noted in 1958, 1959, and 1960, among many countries activities. In
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in 1962 it was noted in several cities.


More pronounced awareness

The observance has grown in some scale of recognition beginning in the 1950s. It was noted on various
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stations in the 1950s and 1960s: * (formerly) KVSM (1951, San Francisco Bay Area) * (formerly) KCNA (1951, Tucson area) * KFAR (1951, 1960, and 1962, Fairbanks, Alaska) * (formerly) KTIM (1954, San Francisco Bay Area), * WIOU (AM) (1955, Kokomo, Indiana) *
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(1956, Geneva, New York) * KVNA (AM) (1957, Flagstaff, Arizona) Various noted speakers have given talks in the 1950s to the 1970s: * O. Z. Whitehead, actor and writer * Dwight W. Allen, professor of education and reformer * Stanwood Cobb, educator and reformer * Hilda Yen, diplomat and aviator * Robert B. Powers, police chief and writer * William Sears, television and radio personality A number of locales have seen Mayoral proclamations in the United States and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s: * 1966 – Reno Nevada and Portsmouth, New Hampshire * 1967 – Arcadia, California * 1969 – Carbondale, Illinois * 1973 – Hamburg, New York * 1974 and 1975 – Brandon, Manitoba * 1977 – Hamburg, New York, In 1968 the proclamation was issued by Warren E. Hearnes,
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.


Stamps

In 1985
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
issued the first World Religion Day
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. This was followed by a stamp issued by the
Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...
in 2007. The Congo stamp showed a globe with the symbols of 11 religions surrounding it, and the text (in French) read, "God is the source of all religions."


Modern observance

There is a long tradition of hosting panels and symposia with representatives of many religions at World Religion Day observances. After years of activity since 2000 in 2011 Ottawa city government hosted an event that was video taped. It was subsequently noted in 2014 on
CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...
. Since 2013 participants have gathered at a virtual presentation in
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at the UUtopia Center for an observance. The 2014 observance had screenshots taken. The 2015 event of talks of a panel of speakers was recorded. In 2013 the
Parliament of Religions There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...
noted it. The
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
' blog noted it in 2015.


See also

* World Interfaith Harmony Week


Notes


References

* {{authority control Sunday observances January observances Bahá'í Faith and other religions Recurring events established in 1949 Holidays and observances by scheduling (nth weekday of the month) 1949 establishments in the United States