World Religion Day is celebrated every January on the third Sunday of the month. The aim of World Religion Day is to promote understanding and peace between all religions, encouraging people to learn about other faiths and their followers. In 2021, the World Religion Day is being celebrated on 17th January.
World Religion Day was initiated in 1950 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States in Wilmette, Ill. It is observed on the third Sunday of January by Baha’is, and increasingly, by people around the globe, to foster understanding and communication among followers of all religions. The purpose is to call attention to the harmony of spiritual principles and the oneness of the world’s religions.
Many organizations celebrate the day by holding interfaith events where faith leaders get together to give talks and lectures. People are encouraged to talk to and listen to people from faiths different than their own and to understand the basic tenets of other religions.
History of Religion Day
Religion Day was first celebrated in Portland, Maine under the title of “World Peace Through World Religion.” Firuz Kazemzadeh hosted the talk in Eastland Park Hotel in October of 1947. Since then, the observance of this day has spread throughout the world with the center being held at various locations with strong authors, educators, and philosophers speaking about the importance of World Religions.
Sri Lanka went so far as to release a postage stamp honoring Religion Day, with another issued by the Republic of Congo. The focus of this holiday is to spread awareness and knowledge of the thousands of religions practiced in the world today, and a sharing of tolerance and understanding between people of all faiths.
Aim
The aim is to unite everyone, whatever their faith, by showing us all that there are common foundations to all religions and that together we can help humanity and live in harmony. By celebrating the similarities in different faiths and understanding other religions, the day shows us how we can work together to create a better world.
How is World Religion Day Celebrated?
World Religion Day is celebrated in a variety of ways. Many people will attend special services which centre around respecting other religions and reflecting on the universal message of the six main religions: treating each other with respect and understanding to create a better world for everyone.
Special services are held around the world to celebrate similarities, create understanding and to show how we can work together to create a better world.
What Are The Six Major Religions?
The six major religions of the world are Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and Sikhism. These are the most widely practised religions in the world. Nearly seventy-five per cent of the world practices one of these six religions. World Religion Day seeks to emphasise the similarities between these religions, and the role religion has played in uniting people across the planet.
How to celebrate Religion Day
Religion Day is easy to observe, you need merely take the time and effort to study the faiths of the world around you with an open mind. Religion Day is about conversion, it’s about learning about the religions that shape the world around you, and becoming aware of how many there are that just don’t appear in mainstream western culture.
Take some time to open the taboo subject of religion today, share openly and learn about what those around you believe, and maybe do a little research into your favorite culture to learn a bit about its foundational religions. Whether you’re learning about the Hindu faith with its thousands of Gods, or precisely how the thousands of denominations of Christianity grew out of the Judaic faith thousands of years ago, Religion Day is your opportunity to broaden your horizons.
Obviously, this includes taking this opportunity to speak to others about your religion, but remember as you do so that Religion Day is not about conversion. Speak to another with an open heart and open mind, and share what your religion has to say, and then take the time to listen to them talk about theirs from a place of understanding and love.
