Global Hindu gathering sparks debate over pride in religious identity
“I didn’t come here to find an echo chamber,” one attendee said.
Men chat during a break of the World Hindu Congress on September 7, 2018, in Lombard, Illinois. RNS photo by Emily McFarlan Miller.
The World Hindu Congress gathered 2,500 people from 60 countries in Lombard, Illinois, marking a historic event in global Hinduism while facing a dispute about the intersection of the religion and politics today.
In September 125 years ago, Swami Vivekananda gave a speech to the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, saying he was proud to belong to a “religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance.”
That speech “put Hinduism on the global map,” said Nitika Sharma, spokeswoman for the Lombard event, organized by the World Hindu Foundation.
