50 years ago....

May/June 1959

A World Conference on Religion and Freedom met in Dallas, April 17-19, 1959. The faiths represented were Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Mohammedanism. In one session, at least, the main difficulty was to get the panelists to show the specific bearing of their own faith on current problems of freedom.

It was impressive that many foreign participants were high-ranking government officials who could be articulate on the tenets of their religion as well as on the economic and political situations in their countries. And it was intriguing to hear from the former Premier of Burma, U Nu, who preached the Buddhist life of contemplation and urged the practitioner of meditation to contemplate "the rise and fall of the abdomen"--an expanded version indeed of the contemplation of one's navel!

--Patrick Romanell, "The World Conference on Religion and Freedom"