International Association for Religious Freedom

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Robert Traer

The International Association for Religious Freedom, or IARF, is the oldest international interfaith organization. Its history spans the 20th century and reflects many of the difficult issues that confronted religious leaders and scholars during that tumultuous period, particularly in Europe and in the United States. Unitarians and free or liberal Christians provided leadership throughout the century, and in the last two decades they have been ably assisted by Japanese lay Buddhists and shrine Shinto priests and also Indian Brahmos, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Unitarians, and members of the Ramakrishna Mission.

This brief summary of the history of the IARF cannot do justice to all those who have contributed to its work over so many years. Perhaps, however, it can help the reader at the beginning of the 21st century appreciate the struggle of visionary men and women for tolerance and understanding with freedom among the diverse peoples of our one world. Lessons may be learned from such a reflection, for the past is not altogether different from the present and may well bear upon our common future.

The IARF began in 1900 on May 25th in Boston, Massachusetts at the 75th anniversary meeting of the American Unitarian Association. Its original name was the International Council of Unitarian and Other Liberal Religious Thinkers and Workers. "The object of this council," its founders declared, "is to open communication with those in all lands who are striving to unite Pure Religion and Perfect Liberty, and to increase fellowship and cooperation among them." The first president was Joseph Estlin Carpenter, an English Unitarian professor of theology and religious studies at Manchester College in Oxford. The secretary for the first two decades was Charles W. Wendte, an American Unitarian minister who had helped organize the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. The first Executive Committee included ten other men: four from Holland, two from Switzerland, and representatives from France, Germany and Hungary.

The initial Congress was held in London in May 1901 in response to an invitation from the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. It lasted three days and as many as 2,000 persons attended its sessions. As a result, 770 individuals from 21 different religious groups and 15 countries became members of the Council. Most of these were from Europe and the United States. B. C. Ghosh of India brought greetings from the Brahmo Samaj movement, but Z. Toyosaki representing liberal religious groups in Japan did not arrive from Tokyo in time for the Congress. Proceedings were published under the title Liberal Religious Thought at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century.

The 2nd Congress was held in September 1903 in Amsterdam under the title "Congress of Religious Free-thinkers" and was hosted by the Vergadering van Moderne Theologen of Holland, an association of liberal ministers. Sixteen countries were represented and 900 persons enrolled as paying members. The Dutch hosts led an opening service of worship and provided several excursions for foreign guests. More than twenty papers were given in English, Dutch, German, and French by scholars from the Netherlands, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Belgium, India and Japan. J. Estlin Carpenter from Oxford spoke on "The Place of Christianity in the Religions of the World." S. A. Eliot of Boston addressed the question of "Liberal Christianity in the United States." V. R. Shinde from Calcutta presented a paper with the title "Liberal Religion in English India," and S. Toyosaki of Tokyo reported on "The Progress of Liberal Religious Thought in Japan." In 1904 Brill in Leyden published the proceedings of the Council as Religion and Liberty edited by P. H. Hugenholtz, Jr.

The Council held its 3rd Congress in 1905 in Geneva under the title "Congress of Religious and Progressive Christians." A few Roman Catholics participated, and over four hundred reports on the Congress appeared in European newspapers. The five religious services in French, German and English were held in the ancient Cathedral of St. Peter, and 568 persons enrolled as members of the Congress. On the occasion of that meeting a society was organized to assist French-speaking Protestants in Switzerland and a recommendation was approved to publish the beliefs and purposes of the affiliated religious organizations.

In 1907 the Council returned to Boston to hold the "Fourth International Congress of Religious Liberals." On behalf of the Executive Committee of the International Council, Charles Wendte reported that 2,391 individuals had registered for the Congress and paid the fee. Of these, 172 were from countries other than the United States. Great Britain accounted for 122 of the overseas participants, but religious liberals were also present from Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, India and Japan. Affiliated societies included Unitarian, Universalist, free and liberal Christian, free religious groups in Europe, North America, Japan and South Africa, and the Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj in India. Rabbi Charles Fleischer of Boston addressed the Congress, and M. Barakatullah of India presented a liberal Muslim perspective. Official delegates were received from 88 religious associations and 33 separate church fellowships, and 106 honorary Vice-Presidents were recognized for their assistance in promoting the event.

The opening ceremony of the 4th Congress included Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Roman Catholic participants, but Protestants and Unitarians were in the great majority. Charles Wendte characterized all the participants as "religious liberals" and their movement as "liberalism." He affirmed that their main purpose was to develop the religious life: "We believe that the religious sentiment is natural to man and of surpassing importance; that, whatever may befall its accidental and transitory embodiments in dogma, sacrament, and ritual, religion itself will endure forever, the very life-blood of the soul of man, the inner power which lifts him above the solicitations of the senses and the distractions of the world into communion with God and self-sacrificing devotion to mankind."

Rev. Thomas R. Slicer of All Souls' Church in New York spoke to the Congress on the "Glory of God," and a chorus sang Handel's arrangement of the text from Isaiah: "And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it." The 1907 Congress, however, urged participants to embrace liberal religion and resist orthodoxy. "Liberalism is to us a temper, an attitude of the mind, a disposition of the heart towards truth. Liberalism is the supremacy of the spirit over the letter in religion. It is the mind in a state of growth, and is thus differentiated from orthodoxy, which is the type of a mind that has stopped growing, which accepts finalities in religion and claims that its opinions are infallible."

In keeping with this commitment, Wendte urged Congress participants to maintain "a tolerant and sympathetic spirit" toward all those with whom they might differ. "The true liberal not only speaks the truth but he speaks it in love . . .. He is not impatient with error if it be error held in the spirit of truth. The only unpardonable sin in his eyes is uncharity,-a loveless heart, an intolerant mind." To an audience that more than filled the largest hall in Boston, Wendte affirmed with the apostle Paul that "where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." He concluded his opening remarks by inviting those gathered for the Congress to help "build the Universal Church."

Several women spoke to the Congress in 1907 include Julia Ward Howe of Boston, who also composed a hymn for the event. In an address entitled "Good Will to Men" Booker T. Washington, Principal of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, expressed "a peculiar debt of gratitude to those of the liberal faith" who helped to banish slavery from American soil. "Such gatherings as this," he affirmed, "are helping to hasten the day referred to by Christ when he said, 'You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free'."

In his opening address Samuel A. Eliot, the president of the Council, proclaimed: "The significance of this gathering is that it is composed of men and women who in the pursuit of truth and righteousness dare to commit themselves unreservedly to the control of the law of liberty." Eliot appealed to "conscience, reason, and experience" and called upon the "Brethren of the Liberal Faith" to unite as "pioneers of pure religion and perfect liberty" in order to bring peace to the earth. To promote the purposes of the Congress, follow-up meetings were held in Ann Arbor and Chicago and at churches in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Berkeley, California.

The 5th Congress was held in Berlin in August 1910 as the "World Congress of Free Christianity and Religious Progress." In "A Summary and Appreciation" Charles Wendte explained that the Executive Committee meeting in Berlin had decided the original name of the Council should be changed to conform more closely to the participation of religious liberals in the meetings held in the first ten years of the twentieth century. Unitarians had been in the majority at first, but liberal or free Christians became more numerous by the middle of the decade, particularly in Europe. This fact was reflected in the names given the Congresses during the first decade of the century. In Berlin, Unitarians on the Executive Committee suggested the name of the Council no longer explicitly refer to Unitarians and proposed that the title of the Boston Congress be used for the Council. After two meetings of the Executive Committee unanimous support was achieved for the name, "International Congress of Free Christians and Other Religious Liberals." The latter phrase was intended "to include in its fellowship all phases of reverent free thought and all progressive forms of ethnic and world-faith outside of Christianity, such as liberal Judaism, Hindu Theism, advanced Buddhism, and Mohammedanism."

In addition to the change of name in 1910 the Executive Committee was enlarged from twelve persons to include five members from Germany, four from Great Britain, four from the United States, three from France, two from Switzerland, two from Scandinavia, and one each from Italy and Hungary. Proposals to include Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist representatives on the Executive Committee were deferred to the 1913 Congress. Before arriving at the Berlin Congress foreign delegates stopped at Cologne to participate in a demonstration under the auspices of the Friends of Protestant Freedom in the Rhinelands, an association of over four thousand members that supported the rights of individuals and congregations within the German State Church. The demonstration concluded with the singing in German of Luther's stirring hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."

Speakers to the Berlin Congress included the German liberal scholar Adolf Harnack, who distinguished between the earliest gospel account in the New Testament and the later gospels representing the theologies of the early churches; the American theologian Walter Rauschenbusch, who presented an address entitled "The Social Awakening of the American Churches;" and the German historian Ernst Troeltsch, who spoke on "The Possibility of a Free Christianity." After the Congress, participants joined excursions to Wittenberg and Weimar to visit the homes of Martin Luther, Goethe and Schiller.

The proceedings of the 1910 Congress were published in German, but Charles W. Wendte and V. D. Davis edited an English version that was printed in London. Seventy addresses are grouped under the following headings: "What Religious Liberals of Other Nations Owe to the Religious Life and Theological Science of Germany," "A Presentation of German Theology and German Church Life," "Papers by Foreign Delegates, "Sympathetic Relations Between Different Religious Denominations in Christendom," "Sympathetic Relations Between Christianity and Other Great World-Faiths," "Religion and the Social Question," and "Supplementary Addresses at Weimar and Eisenach."

A decade after its founding, what would become known as the IARF was taking shape. A Council that was at first largely Unitarian had become an interfaith Congress. It was concerned with religious freedom, tolerance, and cooperation among religious groups. Reason and goodwill were promoted to redress social issues, and women as well as men were chosen as leaders. By 1910 a Congress included interfaith devotions, presentations and programs in the languages of its major participants, a concern for the rights of religious movements in the country where it was held, and pre or post Congress excursions or other programs.

The last meeting of the Congress before World War I was held in July 1913 in Paris. When the Congress reconvened after World War I in October 1920 in Boston, W. H. Drummond began his service as secretary. In August 1922 at the Congress at Leiden, Holland twelve nations were represented: England, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the United States of America. Academic issues concerning the scientific study of religion and the use of historical criticism to study the Bible and other religious scriptures were set to one side in order to consider the future of Christian civilization. Encouragement was given to a new League of Youth for Free Christian students, and the speech in German by the Unitarian Dr. Capek from Prague stirred all the participants to strive for a rebirth of liberty in Europe. A year later a youth section was founded under the name "Leiden International Bureau," which later took the name "International Religious Fellowship."

The first Bulletin of the International Congress of Free Christians and other Religious Liberals appeared in December 1922. It published a greeting from J. Estlin Carpenter in Oxford, the first president of the Association, who remarked: "we have joined in the age-long quest for Truth, and we seek to learn the meaning of each other's experience, and feel the value of combined endeavor." As Charles W. Wendte was also unable to attend the Congress, the Bulletin printed his letter of greeting. Wendte noted that: "The reactionary tendencies in church and state which are the common and deplorable inheritance of all nations engaged in the recent struggle, give us an additional reason for existence as a useful agency for promoting tolerance, progressive opinions, and a spiritual, rather than a dogmatic religion. To hearten and encourage the minorities which in all lands are bravely striving for religious freedom and a rational faith; to bring into fraternal and helpful relations with each other the scattered individuals and congregations, the world over, who are seeking and maintaining advanced and unpopular opinions on religious and ethical topics; to comfort and aid the victims of political and ecclesiastical oppression in their demands for liberty, justice and equal religious rights-these are among our aims as an international and religious Association."

World War I brought to a temporary halt the movement that had begun in 1900, and it was more than five years before the "Seventh Congress of Free Christians and Other Religious Liberals" was convened in Prague in September 1927. Only about 150 persons registered for the Congress, but open sessions drew 1,500-2,000 participants. Recovery from the material and spiritual devastation of the war was slow. The hopes and plans of many of those participating in international efforts to promote tolerance and understanding had been shattered by the violent passions of the war.

Then in 1930 at Arnhem, Holland the thirty-year old movement was organized officially and renamed "The International Association for Liberal Christianity and Religious Freedom." A secretariat was established and staffed by the Dutch Central Committee for Liberal Protestantism, and L. J. van Holk became the first secretary. In 1931 the Independent Church of Filipino Christians in the Philippines joined the Association, and a year later the 1932 Congress in St Gallen, Switzerland approved the new constitution.

In 1934 the International Association for Liberal Christianity and Religious Freedom held the "11th International Congress of Religious Liberals" at Copenhagen. One of the topics addressed by the Congress was "Liberal Religion and the Church Universal." Materials from this Congress use the acronym "I.A.R.F." and note that 350 members attended. International Sunday was introduced in 1934 on the first Sunday of October, and the Bulletin no. 15 was published in November of that year. When the Executive Committee of the IARF met in 1935, it scheduled International Sunday for the second Sunday in January. It also decided to produce a Handbook on the I.A.R.F. that was published in London the next year and cost one British shilling.

IARF Bulletin no. 17, which was published in 1935 contained a statement by W. R. M. Noordhoff of Holland that called on the Association to demonstrate its commitment to freedom. "In 1900 'religious freedom' meant: freedom in religion," Noordhoff wrote. "At that time the individual claimed his rights for personal freedom over against the stubborn orthodoxy of many Christian Churches." Three and a half decades later, he suggested, "'religious freedom' means: freedom for religion: freedom to the powers of religious thought and will to exercise their influence upon the life of humanity, freedom to let religion work." Therefore, "In this fight for freedom we need not only a number of individuals who have a strong faith in the things which they hold true and righteous. What we need equally much is a demonstrative community."

Beginning in 1936 the Bulletin was published in German as well English. Writing in issue no. 19, H. Faber suggested that the IARF was in the "second period" of its development: "We realize that it has to fulfil a real task in the present world situation. This task is not only to unite the liberal Christians and other religious Liberals the world over, but to give testimony of what Free Christianity is and strives after." In 1936 the IARF held an International Theological Conference at Arnhem on the theme, "Liberal Christianity: Its Aims and Outlooks." About 60 IARF members attended this gathering, and a report of its conclusions was published in the July 1937 issue of the Bulletin.

The 12th IARF Congress was held in 1937 at Oxford with the theme, "Liberal Christianity: The World's Need." A report on the activities of the IARF between 1934 and 1937 was presented to the Congress by its three secretaries: W. R. M. Noordhoff, H. Faber and C. J. Bleeker. The annual subscription for individual members was set at 2 1/2 Dutch Guilders and 41 persons from 6 countries paid it; 14 of these were from England, and 18 were from Holland. Contributions were also received from 15 affiliated organizations in the United States, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Holland, Romania, South Africa and Switzerland. The financial situation of the Association was aided by earnings from the "Charles W. and Abbie Grant Wendte Fund" established by Mrs. Wendte prior to her death.

A small theological conference was held in 1938 in Bentveld, Holland but was followed in 1939 by war in Europe and the occupation of Holland in May 1940, which led to the closing of the Secretariat for five years. Soon after the liberation of Holland on May 4, 1945, the IARF Secretariat reopened and began relief work in the distressed parts of Europe. Preparation meetings for the next IARF Congress were held in 1946 in Cambridge and in 1947 in Bern. The 13th Congress of the IARF was initially planned for Prague in 1948 but that proved to be difficult, so the Congress was convened at Amsterdam in 1949.

The theme of the 13th Congress was "The Mission and Message of Liberal Religion." At the time of the Congress the IARF had member groups in Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India (Brahmo Samaj), the Philippines (Independent Church of the Philippines), Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. "As religious liberals," the Congress participants affirmed: "We stand for Religion against the rising tide of secularism in a world that has very largely accepted a materialistic, if not an atheistic philosophy. We stand for Tolerance in a world that is increasingly dominated by sectarianism and bigotry. We stand for Liberty in a world that has at many points surrendered to arbitrary authority. We stand for Reason in a world that has succumbed to an alarming degree to blind emotionalism. We stand for Individual Responsibility in a world that puts its trust chiefly in mass movements and a regimenting State. We stand for the Ethics of Jesus in a world that seems to have reverted to the ethics of the jungle. We stand for these things uncompromisingly and openly. We do not expect to find it an easy position to hold. But we believe that we shall have many powerful allies when the real issues are made clear."

In his sermon during the Congress worship service Frederick May Eliot of Boston argued that the biblical image of "the kingdom of heaven" when properly understood "is the message and the mission of liberal religion in our modern world." Similarly, the Theological Section of the 1949 Congress took a clear theistic position and used biblical Christian images to set forth a Unitarian vision: "We believe in God, the Unfathomable, the eternal Creator of the world and of man, Who creates man in His own image, and thereby gives him a dignity he can never lose. He has placed man as a limited but free creature over against himself, in order that man may surrender himself to Him in trust and love. We believe that the freedom with which man has been endowed is such, that he can use it either for salvation or for destruction. If he pursues his own ends, he destroys himself, if he opens his heart to God and to his neighbor he finds the true life. We believe that Christ shows us what divine love means. He shows us the Father, to whom we can turn in all our guilt and need. He shows us our neighbor as our brother, as one for whom we are responsible in all his guilt and need."

In August 1952 the IARF Congress met in Oxford, England. The theme was "Authority and Freedom in the Modern World," and the Congress was divided into five sections: Theology, World Religions, Sociology, Religious Education, and Science and Religion. The section on Theology addressed the question: "How can the liberal resolve conflicts arising between faith and reason?" The section on World Religions discussed how religions other than Christianity recognized freedom, and the section on Sociology sought restraints on individualism through "forms of community life in which the individual and society are properly balanced." The section on Religious Education looked for ways to help children "grow freely into a world motivated by the ideal of freedom while at the same time helping them to discipline their freedom in terms of the needs of the community." And the section on Science and Religion asked: "To what extent do the results of scientific investigation have an authority for the religious minded layman?"

Speakers at the 14th Congress included James Luther Adams, professor of ethics at the University of Chicago, Claas Jouco Bleeker, professor in the history of religions at Amsterdam University, Fritz Buri, professor of theology at Basle University, James Chuter Ede, former British Home Secretary, Rev. L. A. Garrard, New Testament scholar at Manchester College in Oxford and the Unitarian College in Manchester, Friedrich Heiler, professor in the history of religions at Marburg University, and L. J. van Holk, professor in philisophy of religion and ethics at Leiden University.

In 1953 the Association sponsored an International Conference on Tolerance in Geneva, and in his "Message for International Sunday 1954" IARF President Percival F. Brundage summed up the conclusions of that gathering: "Our message to all of the churches . . . is that the world today needs to understand and practice Tolerance. The greatest prophets of all religions have expressed the same idea but no one has phrased it more broadly or beautifully than Jesus Christ when he said: 'Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men do to you do ye even so to them.' (St. Matthew 7:12)"

In 1955 the IARF held its 15th Congress in Belfast, Northern Ireland on the theme, "Liberal Religion in an Age of Anxiety." Afterwards, Frederick M. Eliot of Boston wrote: "the significant thing about the Belfast Congress . . . was the obvious desire of everyone to rise above a dogmatic liberalism and affirm the truly inclusive nature of the fellowship of the I.A.R.F." He noted that this spirit was present in 1900, "but in the period between the first and the second world wars there developed what might have proved to be a divisive and ultimately fatal emphasis on doctrine as more important than freedom." At Belfast in 1955, however, he felt it was plain that "the original spirit will prevail." Also in 1955 the IARF published a revision of the booklet, The I.A.R.F: Its Vision and Work, and in this booklet one of the secretaries of the Association, S. van der Woude, wrote: "Some of our churches and groups got their continuous tradition directly from the Reformation, some have their origin in the Enlightenment or in other spiritual developments, but we belong to the same organization, spread over the whole world, which has written in its standard the golden words: 'LIBERTY AND TRUTH'."

The 16th Congress of the IARF was held at the University of Chicago in August 1958 on the theme, "Today's Religions Can Meet the World's Needs Today." The evenings of this Congress were devoted to addresses by members of "the five great world religions." Dr. Wilhelm Pauck of Union Theological Seminary gave an address on "The Prospects of Protestant Liberalism." Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, the foreign minister of Pakistan from 1947 to 1954 and the leader of the Pakistan delegation to the UN from 1947 to 1951, delivered a speech entitled "The Contribution of Islam to the Solution of the World's Problems Today." Philip Randall Giles, the General Superintendent of the Universalist Church of America, later commented wryly on his surprise at finding Muslim pamphleteers "handing out propaganda on that world faith" at every door of Rockefeller Chapel after the address. Dr. Kalidas Nag of Calcutta spoke to the Congress on "Hinduism," and the Honorable Justice Thado Maha Tbray Sithu U Chan Htoon of Burma, a former Attorney General and the founder of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, spoke for Buddhism. Rabbi Dr. Solomon B. Freehof of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations delivered the fifth evening address on the topic, "Liberal Judaism and the Modern Need."

Panel discussions met daily to address the following subjects: Philosophy and theology, Growing Tensions: Social, Racial and Religious, Science in the Modern World, Worship, Education and the Arts, Ethics and International Relations, and Human Values and Economic Forces. Each panel submitted findings and suggested resolutions that were adopted by the Congress. The preamble to these findings and resolutions contains the following paragraph: "The liberal religious outlook is freedom-loving, freedom-seeking, freedom-giving. This search for freedom calls for communication between the great religious traditions and perspectives, for the dialogue that elicits creative integrity. Through sympathetic conversation between perspectives, there emerges new mutual understanding, new discovery of the latent meanings of the perspectives, and new recognition of common responsibilities. Of such genuine dialogues we refuse to predict or to prejudge the outcome. To prejudge is to impede or pervert the conversation. Genuine conversation leads to new possibilities. Precisely this confidence in communication is the confidence that a power greater than ourselves, and greater than we know, works when we respond to its demands. It is out of this conversation with others and with the transcendent that integrity overcomes arrogance with creative love."

After the 1958 Congress many of the participants took part in a tour by bus to Pittsburgh, Washington, DC, and Boston. At the time of the Congress the IARF had 25 member groups from: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India (Brahmo Samaj), Japan (Japan Free Religious Association), Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland (Old-Catholic Congregation of Krakow), Rumania, South Africa, Surinam (Evangelical Lutheran Congregation), Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States of America. The International Union of Liberal Christian Women, the International Religious Fellowship, and Albert Schweitzer College in Switzerland were registered as associate member groups.

The purposes of the IARF in 1958 were: "(1) to bring into closer union the historic liberal churches, the liberal element in all churches, and isolated congregations and workers for religious freedom; (2) to draw into the same fellowship free religious groups throughout the world which are in ssential agreement with our ways of thinking; and (3) to open and maintain communication with free Christian groups in all lands who are striving to unite religion and liberty, and to increase fellowship and cooperation among them." In 1959 the News Digest of the International Association for Liberal Christianity and Religious Freedom announced to those who had not attended the Chicago Congress that steps were being taken by the IARF to establish an inter-faith center.

In 1961 the 17th Congress was held in Davos, Switzerland on the theme, "The Unity of Mankind in Our Divided World." Morning lectures addressed issues concerning world community and the relationships between the West and Africa and Asia. Panel discussions in the afternoons dealt with social issues such as food and population growth, racial discrimination, strains on the family, and the influence of technology on spiritual values. The Albert Schweitzer College in Churwalden offered a seminar on scientific study and technology prior to the Congress, and tours were available to participants afterwards.

In his report following the Congress its President, H. Faber, reflected on the need to consider: "the place of our movement in growing world unity. The suggestion to strike from the name of our organization the words 'Liberal Christianity' and to keep only the words 'Religious Freedom' was intended to make it possible for non-Christians to take an active part in the movement, which from its start in 1900 has stirred interest in all parts of the world." European participants at the Congress were generally opposed to this suggestion, and thus a decision was postponed. Looking beyond the question of a name, Faber hoped that the IARF would be able to "make a contribution in the field of international and also of interfaith relations."

Two distinguished leaders of the IARF attended Vatican Council II in 1963 as observers and pondered the implications of the changes in the Roman Catholic Church. L. J. van Holk confessed that the experience led him to admit: "there are flaws in our own approach to religious life. Our excessive spiritualism often degenerates into vagueness. Our taste for liberty often degenerates into pure anarchy. Our predilection for simplicity often underrates the value of symbolism." James Luther Adams observed that: "from a liberal perspective, every judgment about Roman Catholicism, and therefore about the Council, is conditioned by a profound objection to the Roman conception of doctrinal authority." But he also saw that the "new spirit" in Catholicism would "present a more vigorous competition to Protestantism than in the past" and might help Protestants reinterpret "the genius" of their tradition and "find a new relevance in coming to terms with the problems and needs and insights of our modern world."

In March of 1964 an open letter signed by H. Stewart Carter, J. Luther Adams, and J. van Goudoever of the IARF Commission on International Affairs was published in the News Digest. This letter asserts that: "the possibilities inherent in Liberal Christianity can only be fulfilled by our Association when it helps to make contact with representatives from the world's religions in order to show that relationships other than missionary and conversion can be achieved." The authors urged greater efforts to involve "representatives of world religions" in cooperating to confront pressing world problems: "Today all world religions are called upon to transcend their native culture and tradition in the hope that they can come together on a world platform to meet the world's religious, ethical and moral problems in a cooperative and critical spirit."

In 1964 the IARF Congress was in The Hague at the Vrijzinnig Christelijk Lyceum, where 450 persons gathered around the theme, "A Religion for the World of Tomorrow." Representatives of the Roman Catholic Secretariat to further Christian Unity were present along with representatives from the World Council of Churches, the International Union for Progressive Judaism, and the International Humanist and Ethical Union. An "Interfaith Meeting" was held during the Congress to discuss attracting more non-Christian groups to join the IARF, but the General Meeting was divided over a proposal from American members to change the Association's name and the matter was referred to the Executive Committee.

A report by the IARF Secretariat for the years 1961-1964 included the candid admission that: "There still seems to be too wide a gap between Liberal Christianity in the form in which it is dominant on the European Continent and that free religious spirit which, especially in the U.U.A., does not always primarily derive its vital force from the Christian tradition. It has for years been one of the main concerns of the I.A.R.F. to uncover the common ground Unitarians and Universalists in N. America and Liberal Christians in Europe stand on. And indeed it is probably one of the main weaknesses of our Association that there is still a lack of real understanding between these two main trends in the I.A.R.F."

In 1966 the 19th Congress was held in London on the topic, "The spiritual Challenge of Mankind Today and Our Response." Three commissions were formed, and these are described by Lajos Kovacs, former Bishop of the Unitarian Church in Romania and the 23rd president of the IARF, as follows:

"The first wanted to unite those whose main interests were historical Christianity and the new ecumenical spirit. It included the Unitarian Christian Churches of England, Romania, Hungary, and the United States, as well as other religious bodies of European liberal Protestant churches. The aim of the second commission was to create international relations with those who were looking for new forms of religious expression in a secularized 'post'-Christian society. These were the religious humanists, mainly in the United States. The program of the third commission was to create a larger and most systematic connection with the liberal-minded representatives of the world religions." Max A Kapp, Director of Overseas and Interfaith Relations of the Unitarian Universalist Association and Secretary of the IARF, suggested that once the three commissions were in place the words "Liberal Christianity" should be removed from the name of the IARF, but no decision was taken on his proposal.

Jewish and Roman Catholic representatives attended the 1966 Congress, and a presentation was made by the Imam of the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking, England. In the discussion that followed this presentation of Islamic theology one IARF member commented, "that if the word 'Koran' in the Imam's talk had been replaced by the word 'Bible' the talk might have been given by Billy Graham!" The devotional service for the Congress was held in the Unitarian Essex Church in London and included scripture readings by a Hindu and a Jew as well as chanting by a Muslim cantor. The service and the Congress ended with the recessional hymn, "Forward through the Ages," and a benediction.

In 1969 the IARF Congress returned to Boston and addressed the theme, "Religious Encounter with the Changing World." The 20th IARF Congress focussed its discussions around four areas of concern: (1) "The Christian in the Modern World," (2) "The Religious Approach to the Modern World," (3) "Dialogue of World Religions," and (4) "Peace, Justice and Human Rights." In Boston the name of the IARF was changed from the International Association for Liberal Christianity and Religious Freedom to the International Association for Religious Freedom. Also in 1969 Japanese Shinto and Buddhist groups-the Konko Church of Izuo and Rissho Kosei-kai-joined the Association, and the following year Tsubaki Grand Shrine was enrolled as a member.

Reflecting on the 20th Congress, H. Faber observed that: "in an IARF dialogue the participants will first discover what divides them and only after that what unites them." In Europe, he noted, religious life is dominated by established churches, which means that there "liberalism must be church-oriented" and "must try to renew the spirit and the organization of the institution." On the other hand, in America liberals have greater flexibility because of the congregational style of religion. Despite these differences, however, Faber argued that European and American liberals confront the same problem: "how to evaluate modern ideas about tolerance, emancipation, revolution and a new morality." And he urged that "the American-European dialogue in the IARF . . . center around this all important problem.

In 1972 the IARF Congress was held in Heidelberg, Germany on the theme, "Man, His Freedom and His Future." An international youth camp was held prior to the Congress at the same time as the International Union of Liberal Christian Women held its triennial conference. In 1973 Diether Gehrmann began as full-time general secretary of the IARF, and the following year the Secretariat was moved from Holland to Frankfurt, Germany. Also in 1973 the IARF sponsored its first conference in Africa in Lagos, Nigeria. In 1975 the IARF Congress was held in Montreal to address the topic, "Our Unity in Diversity," and in 1976 an IARF trip to Japan enabled many American and European members to learn more about Japanese religious life. The following year an IARF study tour went to India for encounter and dialogue with various religious groups. In 1978 the Congress returned to Oxford to discuss the theme, "The Limits of Toleration Today," and in 1981 the theme of the Congress held in Noordwijkerhout, Holland was "The Tide of Religion."

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 a 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 since that time has published a regular newsletter and held an annual conference.

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 included the following statement: "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 once again Rissho Kosei-kai produced a film of the IARF Congress.

In 1990 the IARF held its 27th Congress at Hamburg, Germany on the theme, "Religions Cooperating for One World." Hans Küng delivered the opening address with the now well-known title, "No Peace in the World Without Peace Among the Religions," but the end of the Cold War in Europe was foremost in the minds of many Congress participants. The General Assembly passed a number of resolutions concerning religious freedom that affirmed international law, the process of democratization in Romania, and increased advocacy by the IARF on behalf of religious freedom. The General Assembly also passed a resolution on the purposes and inclusiveness of the IARF that identified: "The need to broaden the IARF's membership to include all the world's major religious groups." A tour after the Congress took participants to Romania to visit Unitarian churches in Transylvania. Diether Gehrmann retired in 1990, and Robert Traer began his service as general secretary.

In 1993 the IARF held a three-day Congress in Bangalore, India and then co-sponsored a four-day centennial observance of the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago with the World Conference on Religion and Peace, the World Congress of Faiths, and the Temple of Understanding. IARF members from South Asia were able to attend the 1993 Congress in larger numbers than ever before, and new member groups from Russia and Korea were also represented. After the Congress the IARF Japan Liaison Committee hosted an international conference in Japan and arranged for visiting IARF members to take part in an ancient Shinto ritual at the Ise Shrine. The following year the IARF published in India the Proceedings of the 1993 Congress, and the International Interfaith Centre established in Oxford by the IARF and the World Congress of Faiths published materials from the 1993 centennial observance under the title, Visions of an Interfaith Future: Proceedings of Sarva-Dharma-Sammelana.

After the 1993 Congress the IARF Secretariat moved to Oxford, where it shares office space with the International Interfaith Centre, the World Congress of Faiths, and the UK representative of Rissho Kosei-kai. The International Interfaith Centre sponsors an autumn lecture in Oxford and annual conferences on resolving religious conflict. Between 1993 and 1996 the IARF established regional offices in South Asia, Europe, the Philippines, and New York, and Buddhists from the Republic of China, Israeli Jews, Palestinian Christians and Muslims, and Reconstructionist Jews joined the Association. Dr. Gianfranco Rossi began to represent the IARF in Geneva at the UN Commission on Human Rights, and Sue Nichols, an IARF representative to the UN in New York, organized and served as the first president of the Non-Governmental Organizations Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief. In 1994 an IARF European conference was held in Cluj, Romania on the topic "Human Rights in Europe" and its proceedings were published and are available. In 1995 the IARF Japan Liaison Committee and the IARF Japan Chapter co-sponsored a concert in Tokyo to raise funds for the victims of the horrendous earthquake in Kobe, Japan.

In 1996 the IARF held its 29th World Congress at Iksan City in the Republic of Korea, in cooperation with Won Kwang University on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. The Won Buddhists hosted a Congress that was marked by a significant dialogue between Japanese and Korean members of the IARF, a large number of young adults who met before the Congress and participated throughout it, and a moving interfaith service at the Demilitarized Zone for peace on the Korean peninsula. Representatives of Palestinian and Israeli IARF groups stirred the Congress with their speeches, and Muslim participants from Bangladesh and India also made striking presentations. The Congress Proceedings were published for the first time on the Internet at the IARF web site, and Rissho Kosei-kai produced a Congress video that is currently available in PAL and NTSC formats.

Since 1996 the IARF Chapter in India has sponsored many interfaith forums to promote tolerance, and the Social Service Network has initiated a revolving loan fund. New IARF members include an indigenous community from Mindanao in the Philippines and a research group of young Muslim scholars in Egypt. In 1997 the International Interfaith Centre co-sponsored the first interfaith peace conference in Northern Ireland. European conferences with young adult programs co-sponsored by the International Religious Fellowship were held in 1997 at Hilversum in the Netherlands and the following year at Bad Boll in Germany. Also in 1998 the IARF Coordinating Council for South Asia convened a young adult conference in Leh-Ladakh in the Himalayas that included the first interfaith public event in that region.

In 1999 the IARF will hold its 30th Congress at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. A Young Adult Program will precede the Congress, and tours will follow. As in the past, the International Association of Liberal Religious Women will hold its triennial conference prior to the Congress. The theme of the 1999 Congress is "Creating an Earth Community: A Religious Imperative." Information may be found on the IARF web site, and the Congress Proceedings will again be published there. A Congress video will also be available before the end of the year. The Council elected in 1999 will have 6 or 7 women among its 21 members from Canada, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Romania, the Republic of China, the United States, and the United Kingdom and will include Buddhists, Christians, a Hindu, a Jewish rabbi, a Muslim, Shinto priests, Unitarians, and Unitarian Universalists.

Because 2000 is the centenary of the IARF, the 30th Congress will include a study group on IARF history. The opening ceremony of the Congress will present an historical overview, and a centennial book will be published in 2000 with essays from IARF members covering various periods of the IARF's history. The next century of the IARF will begin this year at the 30th IARF Congress in Vancouver.

For almost a hundred years the IARF has addressed questions concerning liberal religion, free Christianity, and the relationship of both to the world's religions. In 1900 liberal religion was the originating inspiration, but a decade later the focus had shifted to free Christianity. These two major themes in the history of the IARF largely reflect the concerns of Americans and Europeans active in the Association. From 1910 until after World War II the concern for free (or liberal) Christianity was predominant, but the theme of the 1949 Congress concerned liberal religion. The Congresses in the 1950's reflected on Western liberalism in relation to the world religions, and throughout the 1960's there was debate about removing the phrase "Liberal Christianity" from the name of the International Association for Liberal Christianity and Religious Freedom. In 1969 in Boston the name of the IARF was finally changed to the International Association for Religious Freedom, and Shinto and Buddhist groups were accepted into membership. Since that time Japanese member groups have taken an active part in the work of the IARF, and in the 1980's and 1990's Indian IARF members also came to play a more important role.

Of the three major strands in the IARF tradition, it seems the two that were dominant for most of this century are now subordinate to the third. At the end of the 20th century, only a few IARF European members are trying to advance free (or liberal) Christianity through the Association. Moreover, American Unitarian Universalist members who support liberal religion now emphasize promoting religious freedom (for all religions) and supporting the interfaith cooperation that is championed by Japanese and Indian members of the IARF.

Commissions were established in the late 1960's to allow these differences to flourish and to encourage dialogue about them, and in the 1990's regional IARF programs have similarly permitted diverse religious and cultural interests within the IARF. Christian IARF members in Europe have pursued theological topics in summer conferences, whereas India IARF members from Brahmo, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Unitarian, and the Ramakrishna Mission groups have promoted interfaith harmony in South Asia through local programs and community development projects. Lay Buddhist and shrine Shinto members of the IARF have continued to support interfaith activities in Japan and have brought to international events a concern for consensus that is challenging for Westerners. IARF activities in the Philippines have reached beyond the traditional Christian and Unitarian member groups to include Chinese Buddhists in Manila as well as indigenous communities and Muslims in Mindanao.

Is the International Association for Religious Freedom now fragmented by religious and regional differences? Or, has the IARF integrated the diverse themes of its history by affirming religious freedom as a fundamental human right and interfaith cooperation as a primary strategy for achieving tolerance? Neither of these conclusions seems justified. Perhaps in the years ahead the IARF will continue to seek a synthesis of the commitments that have been central to its life in the 20th century.