<P> There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths . The event was celebrated by another conference on its centenary in 1993 . This led to a new series of conferences under the official title Parliament of the World's Religions . </P> <P> An organization was incorporated in 1988 to carry out the tradition of the Parliament of the World's Religions by marking the centennial of the first Parliament . The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions is headquartered in Chicago . Its board of trustees are elected from various faith communities . Rev. Dr. Larry Greenfield serves as its executive director . </P> <P> In 1893, the city of Chicago hosted the World Columbian Exposition, an early world's fair . So many people were coming to Chicago from all over the world that many smaller conferences, called Congresses and Parliaments, were scheduled to take advantage of this unprecedented gathering . One of these was the World's Parliament of Religions, an initiative of the Swedenborgian layman (and judge) Charles Carroll Bonney . The Parliament of Religions was by far the largest of the congresses held in conjunction with the Exposition . John Henry Barrows, a clergyman, was appointed as the first chairman of the General Committee of the 1893 Parliament by Charles Bonney . </P> <P> The Parliament of Religions opened on 11 September 1893 at the World's Congress Auxiliary Building which is now The Art Institute of Chicago, and ran from 11 to 27 September, marking it the first organized interfaith gathering . Today it is recognized as the occasion of the birth of formal interreligious dialogue worldwide, with representatives of a wide variety of religions and new religious movements, including: </P>

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