The World Religions Speak on "The Relevance of Religion in the Modern World"

The first Spiritual Summit Conference, held in Calcutta, India, October 22-26. 1968, proved that spokesmen of the great religions of the world can co-operate effectively, and opened up a fascinating vista in which these religions with their 2,500,000,000 adherents, may work together for the benefit of mankind.

Represented were Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Baha'i, Zoroastrianism. Jainism and Shinto. The religious leaders were joined by a panel of distinguished scholars of comparative religions. With remarkable frankness and clarity, personages like India's famed Swami Chimayananda, Her Serene Highness Princess Poon Diskul of Thailand, the late Thomas Merton, American Trappist monk; Bishop A. J. Shaw, of the Methodist Church of Southern Asia; Dr. Ezra Spicehandler of Jerusalem, Dr. Syed Vahiduddin of India; Dr. Wei Tat of China; Dastoor N.D. Minochehr Homji of the Zoroastrians; Dr. V. Raghavan of Madras; and Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr of Tehran analyzed the relevance of their own religions to a world plagued by such problems as poverty amid plenty, discrimination and prejudice, the generation gap and the recurrence of war.

The papers for the Calcutta conference, presented in this significant volume, are a unique exposition of the way the religions regard themselves in respect to history, aspiration, relationship with other religions and with regard to contemporary problems. The convictions expressed come not from outside, but from within the religions themselves. The words are those of spokesmen whose scholarship and breadth of vision will be a revelation alike to churchman, educator, student and lay seeker after truth.