2004 Parliament of World Religions

Conference details

(Barcelona, 14 July 2004) - As the Parliament of the World's Religions came to a close after a week of debates by nearly 8,000 members of diverse religious communities centered around commitments on the issues of religious violence, access to safe water, the fate of refugees worldwide, and the elimination of developing countries' debts, religious leaders who convened the gathering deemed the event a success.

Four delegates of the Sikh Human Rights Group attended the Parliament for World Religions in Barcelona, Spain, where it was agreed to embark on a project towards a covenant on pluralism.

Dr Jasdev Singh Rai of Sikh Human Rights Group, Prof Arvind Sharma from Canada and Prof Patrice Brodeur of USA led the session in which it was generally agreed that the world’s religions, spiritual, secular and atheist institutions need to move beyond dialogue to a commitment on pluralism.

The session was attended by several people of different faiths and the three panellists have agreed to take this project forwards. It is hoped that the project will draw in representatives from major world religions and international institutions to put together a covenant on pluralism.

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