Wembley's Parliament of Living Religions was part of the

British Empire Exhibition The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibit ...

of 1924, inviting famous representatives of important living religions within the British Empire. Although the exhibition was held at

Wembley Park Wembley Park is a district of the London Borough of Brent, England. It is roughly centred on Bridge Road, a mile northeast of Wembley town centre and northwest from Charing Cross. The name Wembley Park refers to the area that, at its broadest ...

in north-west

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

the conference was held at the

Imperial Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust is a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pro ...

, between 22 September and 3 October 1924. The tradition of this and similar

World Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

s go back to the early 18th century. Some of the more famous ones have been

The Great Exhibition of 1851 The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...

in London and

Parliament of the World's 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 ...

in Chicago in 1893.

Religions (not) presented

William Loftus Hare (1868-1943), at the time Director of Studies in Comparative Religion and Philosophy to the Theosophical Society, wrote: "Christianity and Judaism were excluded from our plan for several sufficient reasons – not because, as some critic had not very seriously suggested, we considered them to be‚ no longer living religions. To have attempted to include the Christian faith in a short conference of single sessions would have involved many difficulties, the first being the invidious choice of expositors. We could not have pleased everybody. Secondly, we should have been instructing the already instructed. Thirdly, it would have been something of an impertinence for us to set up a new pulpit amid the thousands to which people may resort already. In lesser degree the same arguments apply to Judaism, which in its main Biblical features, is very familiar. We had of course, no anti-Christian bias nor had any of our expositors, except in the most formal sense. Practically, the English and the Christian received and returned the utmost friendliness. We placed Hinduism first on our program for various reasons which are apparent. Two hundred and seventeen millions of our fellow citizens deserved more than one lecture and would have had more if our time for preparation had been extended."

Main participants and religious representatives

* Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (Islam) *Sir Francis Young-Husband *Pandit Shyam Shankar *Al-Haj Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din *Mustafa Khan *Sheikh Kahdim El Dojaily *Sufi Hafiz Raushan Ali *Dr. W.A. de Silva *Mr. G.P. Malalasekera *Mr. Shoson Miyamoto *Shams-ul-Ulema Dastur Kaikobad Adarbad Noshirvan *Rai Bahadur Jagmander Lal Jaini *Sardar Kahan Singh *Mr. Hsu Ti-Shan *Mr. N.C. Sen *Professor S.N. Pherwani *Mr. Mountford Mills *Mr. Ruhi Afnan *The Venerable Archdeacon Williams *Mr. Richard St. Barbe Baker *Mr. Albert Thoka *Mr. L.W.G. Malcom *Professor J. Arthur Thomson *Mr. Victor Branford *Professor H.J. Fleure *Rachel Annand Taylor *Mr. Christopher Dawson *Mr. William Loftus Hare *Professor Patrick Geddes *Reverend Tyssul Davies

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wembley's Conference of Living Religions 1924 British Empire Exhibition Entertainment lists Culture-related timelines 1924 in religion 1924 in London Religion in London