The 1980's

In the 1980's Lucie Meijer of the IARF Secretariat organized the IARF Social Service Network to support IARF members sponsoring community development projects in Northern Ireland, Eastern Europe, the Indian subcontinent and the Philippines. IARF national conferences were also organized in India and in the Philippines, and Muslims, Sikhs and indigenous communities from South Asia joined IARF. In 1983 an international theological conference was held at Leuenberg, Switzerland to prepare issues for the 1984 Congress that was held in Tokyo on the theme, "Religious Path to Peace: Eastern Initiative and Western Response." The IARF Congress in Tokyo had the greatest number of participants since the Congresses held before World War I, and home visits were offered for the first time. In 1984 the first film of an IARF Congress was made by Rissho Kosei-kai, and the IARF Japan Liaison Committee that met regularly prior to the Congress continued afterwards to meet almost monthly. The IARF Japan Chapter was also organized at the time of the 1984 Congress and has published a regular newsletter and held an annual conference since that time.

In 1987 the IARF Congress was held at Stanford University in California. The theme of the Congress was "World Religions Face the 21st Century," and for the first time small group discussions called "Circle Groups" were introduced into the program. A revised statement of purpose was approved at the General Assembly of the Congress that asserted: "IARF is an inter-religious, international, intercultural organization. It advocates religious freedom in the sense of: (a) free, critical and honest affirmation of one's own religious tradition; (b) religion which liberates and does not oppress; (c) the defense of freedom of conscience and the free exercise of religion in all nations. IARF advances understanding, dialogue and readiness to learn and promotes sympathy and harmony among the different religious traditions. It is dedicated to a global community of mutual cooperation among religious communities and adherents of different religions. It strives for an attitude of openness to truth, to love and to justice." As in 1984, the Proceedings of the 1987 Congress were published by the Frankfurt secretariat, and again Rissho Kosei-kai produced a film of the Congress.