Four Continents Compete for Universal Religious Peace Congress

Four continents are competing for the Universal Religious Peace Congress, according to a report of Dr. Henry A. Atkinson, who has just returned from Europe where he consulted religious leaders of Europe concerning the plan to hold an international meeting at which all the great religions of the world will be represented. Dr. Atkinson is General Secretary of the Church Peace Union which proposed this Congress two years ago and appointed a committee to make preparations. Several cities in the United States have invited the Congress to meet there. There are applications from every continent except South America and Australia. Among the cities under consideration are Geneva, Switzerland; Cairo, Egypt and Calcutta, India.

An international committee of 1,000 is now being organized, to include representatives of the eleven great living religions of the world, namely, Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Confucians, Shintoists, Taoists, Hindoos, Parsees, Jains, and Sikhs. These eleven religions will be assigned representation in the Committee of 1,000 in numerical proportion.

The purpose of the Congress, according to Dr. Atkinson’s report, is to bring together adherents of the world’s living religions to discuss the questions relating to international justice and good will, to make known the content of each religion relating to these questions, and to compare the ideals of human brotherhood and world peace. It will be based upon the principle that world peace can be established only through the recognition of Universal Brotherhood.

The preliminary organization work for the Universal Religious Peace Conference is in the hands of a committee consisting of Dean Shailer Mathews, Chairman; Dr. Peter Ainslie, Dr. Frank Oliver Hall, Prof. William I. Hull, Dr. Charles E. Jefferson, Marcus M. Marks, Dr. John R. Mott, Dr. James J. Walsh, with Dr. Atkinson as General Secretary.

It is planned that the Congress will be held during 1930.