Interfaith dialogue - the World Congress of Faiths“Seventy years ago on July 3rd 1936, the World Congress of Faiths convened at University College, London. It was a highly unusual and controversial
event. Not a single bishop of the Church of England dared to be seen in the company of members of other religions. They were in the business of conversion not conversation.
For many years, the World Congress of Faiths was a solitary voice calling for a fellowship of faiths. Today, ‘social cohesion’ and ‘interfaith dialogue’ are the watchword. International interfaith conferences are common and the
number of local interfaith groups in Britain has doubled since the year 2000. Yet, if this new mood is to be strong enough to withstand the testing of terrorism, it needs to be deeply rooted in the Spirit.
It was a spiritual or mystical experience that motivated Francis Younghusband to found the WCF and it is this dimension that WCF beings to the contemporary interfaith scene.
Younghusband was an explorer of remote parts of the earth as well as of the
realms of the spirit. In 1903 he led a controversial mission to Lhasa. The day after signing a treaty with the Tibetans, as he wrote later in his book VITAL RELIGION he went off by himself to the mountains feeling elated by the good will of those he had been fighting against. But then ‘elation grew to exultation, exultation to an exaltation which thrilled through me with overpowering intensity... I felt in touch with the flaming heart of the world...
A mighty joy-giving power was at work in the world... Never again could I think evil. Never could I bear enmity’.
This was the inspiration for much of his life’s work, but in convening the World Congress of Faiths, Younghusband did not dwell on this experience. Instead he talked about his travels in Asia which had brought him into close contact with Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Confucians...”
Written by Rev Dr Marcus Braybrooke, President of the World Congress of Faiths, the article discusses the insights that can be gained by sharing the experiences and beliefs and wisdom of different faiths. | 
