Activity | The International Association for Religious Freedom

Peter le Poole posted in the group Congress 2023

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Something else: I was reading tonight in the book Autobiography of a Yogi, by Swami Yogananda, and he describes how he was sent in 1920 to Boston to take part as Indian delegate in an International Congress of Religious Liberals, held under the auspices of the American Unitarian Association. He doesn’t mention IARF, but I suppose it must have been an IARF Congress. He gave a presentation there, where he talked there i.a. on the basic unity of all religions. He doesn’t really report on the Congress, but I find it fascinating that he mentions the Congress as the beginning of his extensive stay in the US.

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3 Comments

Lukasz (Luke) Liniewicz
1 year, 1 month ago

Yes, there was a Congress in 1920 in Boston, and it was indeed “ours” (https://iarf.net/congress/). The history of the IARF is fascinating! And if you’re interested in Swami Vivekananda, there are several articles about him among the materials George has shared with Congress participants (they are available here: https://iarf.net/groups/congress-2023/materials/). George has studied Vivekananda and movements in modern Hinduism, has written a lot about them and is considered an expert on the subject.
@george2
- George M Williams
  1 year, 1 month ago
  
  We weren’t IARF yet. This was our name in 1920 for that Congress in Boston. And yes, invitees from India and Japan were called delegates and invited to make presentations. Still, some of the Japanese professors from the Japanese Free Religion Association felt patronized by the American Unitarian Association (not yet the UUA) but not so across the river at Harvard where they were treated as equals. (Documentation in Cosmic Sage–free 390 page download in IARF.net Materials).
  - Peter le Poole
    1 year, 1 month ago
    
    Thanks George and Luke for your replies and comments. I am happy to learn about the history of IARF, also on sensitivities. Luke, the book I referred to is from (Paramahansa or Swami) Yogananda, not Vivekananda, he lived earlier, and had already died when the Boston Congress took place in 2020. But you made me curious, I will read more about Vivekananda!