Posted by Jonah on November 19, 1998 at 10:12:02:

1999 Parliament of the World's Religions

Cape Town, South Africa
December 1-8, 1999

Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions

A New Day Dawning: Spiritual Yearnings and Sacred Possibilities
The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions is delighted to announce the convening of the
1999 Parliament of the World's Religions, December 1-8, 1999, in Cape Town, South Africa.

Cape Town, South Africa
Nestled against Table Mountain and overlooking the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Cape Town is home to
many races, religious traditions, and cultural varieties. Religious, spiritual, cultural, and civic
leaders, groups, and communities there are working in partnership with CPWR to make the 1999
Parliament an unforgettable gift to the world.

The Parliament Experience
In a period of heightened spiritual interest and renewal, the 1999 Parliament will offer countless
opportunities for discovery and inquiry.

Participants will:

~ Touch their own traditions at deeper levels

~ Explore the origins, development, and perspectives of unfamiliar paths

~ Compare and contrast beliefs and practices from widely separated places and times

Through lectures, workshops, and plenary sessions, through worship, prayer, or meditation, and
through chance meetings with people from around the world, the Parliament event will offer
everything from occasions for personal spiritual growth and exposure to transformative approaches
to social engagement, to new friendships and an enduring experience of the sacred.

Five powerful themes will shape the Parliament program:

~ Encountering Religion & Spirituality

~ Making Connections

~ Calling for Creative Engagement: Religion and the Guiding Institutions

~ Offering Gifts of Service

~ Embracing South Africa

Register Early
Now is the time to register for the 1999 Parliament. Those who register before December 31, 1998
will pay only US$250/person. Rates increase significantly in 1999. A special rate (US$225) is
available for students and seniors. Discount registration rates are also available for families (parents
with children 18 or under) and groups of 8 or more persons. To obtain a Parliament Registration
Form, contact the CPWR office, or register online.

P.O. Box 1630
Chicago, IL 60690-1630
Tel: +1 312-629-2990
Fax: +1 312-629-2991
E-mail: register@cpwr.org
You can also register at this web site.

The 1993 Parliament in Chicago was inspired by the historic first Parliament, held in that city in
1893. In 1999 the Parliament moves to a different continent and hemisphere. South Africa will offer
a dramatically different vantage point from which to view the challenges and opportunities facing our
world.

South Africa
Convening the 1999 Parliament in South Africa presents an wonderful opportunity to the religions of
the world, to come together, in a spirit of hope and possibility, at a critical moment in history As a
result of its extraordinary journey, South Africa symbolizes our best hopes for the future. At the
same time the challenges and opportunities facing the world are starkly visible in the South African
microcosm. The beauty of this land, the exuberance of its people, the rhythms of daily life, and the
legacy of an extraordinary moral and spiritual victory offer a rich and inspiring setting for the 1999
Parliament of the World's Religions.

A Call to Creative Engagement
At the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions, an Assembly, which included nearly 200 respected
and influential persons from the world's religious and spiritual communities, gave overwhelming
assent to a groundbreaking document, Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration.

At the 1999 Parliament, the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions will present a new
document, A Call to Our Guiding Institutions, addressed to religion, government, business, education,
and media. The Call will ask these institutions to reflect on and redefine their roles at the threshold of
the next century and the next millennium.

The document will have two complementary elements. First will be a call for "creative engagement,"
encouraging religious individuals, communities, and affiliated organizations to find new ways to
cooperate with government, business, education, and media to address the critical issues which
confront the human community. In the face of these critical issues and in the context of these new
relationships, the document will also include a call for specific actions urgently needed at the
threshold of the next century.

Drafted through a two-year process, in consultation with members of the 1999 Assembly and with
the Millennium Institute in Washington, DC, the Call will be issued by the Council as a gift to the
world. At the Parliament event, the Assembly will discuss strategies for implementing the aims of the
Call. All 1999 Parliament participants will be invited to carry home the message of the Call and to
find new modes of creative engagement there.

Gifts in Service to the World
The Call to Our Guiding Institutions will provide inspiration and direction for those wishing to offer
gifts of service to the world. To give such a gift is an expression of a fundamental spiritual inclination
towards generosity, caring, hospitality, compassion, and good will. The extent to which goodness has
existed in the world has always been directly related to the giving of such gifts and the spirit in which
they are given. In spite of the progress made through ambitious endeavors and noble institutions, the
fate of the world continues to rest on such gifts -- and now, more than ever.

The invitation to offer gifts of service comes in the midst of worldwide attention to the "millennial
moment" (1999-2001). The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions -- in partnership
with the Millennium Institute -- is seizing this unique opportunity to inspire individuals,
organizations, nations, and religious and spiritual communities to offer strategic "millennial
threshold" gifts that will make long-term differences within the planetary community.

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