The Parliament of the World’s Religions is compelled to address the most pressing issue of our time. Freedom, human rights, and democracy are under attack all over the world.

The Parliament calls on the world to join hands in defending human rights and freedom at this critical juncture for communities around the globe. This track offers programs that raise hope and empower people of faith and goodwill in addressing the foundational issue of our time; the threat to freedom and human rights and the rise of autocracy in our world.

With steadily growing disaffection and marginalization in democracies worldwide coinciding with a proliferation of political campaigns funded by religiously partisan or antidemocratic political action and corporate interests, the Parliament of the World’s Religions highlights the voices of officials and organizers working at the intersection of faith and democracy in a track that examines and offers practical insights for people of faith and goodwill to defend freedom, human rights, and enhance equity in the political process.

The Parliament of the World’s Religions is returning home to the City of Chicago and featuring organizers, artists, and leaders from religious, municipal, educational, and intersectional social movements committed to showcasing how Chicagoans leverage interfaith cooperation, defend freedom and human rights, celebrate diverse interreligious achievements in peace and justice and stand with our planet.

The faith and interfaith understanding track of the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions features a spiritual spectrum of program formats that give diverse traditions a space to shine, convene, reflect, and engage others.

Faith and interfaith programming provides nourishing personal space for meditation, reflection, and conversation on an issue or contributes dialogue to the greater mission of pursuing peace, justice, and sustainability through the lens of multifaith relationships and cooperation.

The Parliament of the World’s Religions recognizes the necessity for being rigorously engaged in overcoming differences that obstruct the achievement of peace and justice. The track features thinkers and doers working constructively beyond talk of injustice, through concrete action, working in projects that offer insights and training on peace and justice.

“Protect the only earth we have,” “Faith for Earth” and more banners, titles, and calls to action characterize the mission of environmental justice undertaken by scholars, leaders, and presenters of all faiths throughout the past 30 years of Parliament of the World’s Religions convenings. The track features programming highlighting critical actions to be advanced in communities worldwide, led by the voices of faith that contribute crucial ethical leadership in the global mission of saving our planet.

Indigenous Peoples’ touch the Parliament of the World’s Religions through profound and sacred engagements that encompass far-reaching advocacy on urgent issues including the protection of sacred Indigenous sites, and all of life itself. From cross-cultural dialogue among youth to activism led by Indigenous Elders and Wisdom Keepers, the Parliament of the World’s Religions features ritual, workshops, artistic expression, sacred observances, and panels led by Indigenous Peoples from around the world on self-identified topics as well on the major themes of the 2023 convening: democracy, freedom and human rights.

Since its beginnings, many of the breakthrough moments on Parliament stages have come through the young representatives of spiritual and social groups, next generation speakers, performers, and artists that keep interfaith dialogue and action focused on inclusion, impact, and inspiration. The track features programming with spiritually and geographically diverse youth and young adult changemakers that are working towards interfaith cooperation in their communities and are tackling critical issues on defending democracy, freedom and human rights, climate action, peace & justice, the dignity of women & girls, and Indigenous Peoples.

Programs that embody the women’s dignity track of a Parliament of the World’s Religions stand for the inclusion, equality, dignity, and respect for the status of women and girls, prioritizing the human rights, talents, bodily integrity, and opportunities across the global community of faiths and throughout public life.  The track features voices from across the global spectrum of religious and spiritual communities, civic institutions, and intersectional social movements enabling collective and individual action to promote the dignity and human rights of women and girls, to stop religiously justified violence against women and girls and to promote women’s leadership and equal participation in religious and spiritual communities.

The ethical directives outlined by the Parliament’s foundational document, Towards a Global Ethic, are as timely today as they were in 1993 when religious and spiritual leaders endorsed the critical commitments to a culture of non-violence and respect for life, solidarity and a just economic order, tolerance and a life of truthfulness, equal rights and partnership between men and women, and sustainability and care for the Earth. The track features scholars, organizers, and community leaders working to advance the Global Ethic as a foundational document.