Editorial

"Humanity - Nature - Technology: a new world arising" - one could hardly think of a more general theme. The EXPO World’s Fair in Hanover from 1 June to 31 October 2000 offers all participating countries, organisations and companies the opportunity to exhibit whatever they like - one way or another it all fits the theme. Religious issues are among those represented in the halls and pavilions, in many different ways, not least of all by the German churches’ presentation in the Pavilion of Christ with its full schedule of events, which is receiving a good deal of positive response.

It is not so easy to say that of the EXPO as a whole, at least not in Germany, its host country. To date only half the expected number of visitors has been there, but even those in charge now say that their prognoses were much too optimistic from the beginning. An advertising campaign was initiated, to help move those who are still undecided to make a quick decision to come to Hanover after all. Others, when they hear the word EXPO, think only of their worry that in the end the taxpayers will have to make up the deficit. This World’s Fair has cost 3.5 billion DM, and it appears entirely possible that when it is over, the deficit will come to more than a billion DM. The organisers complain that in many cases the media are reporting more about numbers of visitors, and deficits, than about the event itself.

The great majority of those who have visited this World’s Fair is enthusiastic. Indeed, an impressive number of presentations at the EXPO are concerned with issues of importance to all humankind. And finally the Fair opens up a unique opportunity to meet and talk with people from more than 150 countries and to learn more about their homelands. It is certainly understandable that each country presents its best side, although in the case of many with despotic regimes it is rather awkward. But this can hardly be avoided at such a World’s Fair.

Many presentations raise issues of interreligious dialogue and of living together on a daily basis with people of different faiths. The pavilions of the Holy See and of Islam, and the Buddhist temple complex from Bhutan are, along with the Pavilion of Christ, further examples of the presence of religion at the World’s Fair. They express the variety of world religious experience, and invite dialogue. On 12 September there will be a "Day of World Religions" at the EXPO.

For many the EXPO in Hanover is that which World’s Fairs have been for a century and a half - a chance to be entertained, amazed, to be in the midst of the hustle and bustle. The desert fortress of the United Arab Emirates with desert sand specially flown in, the golden pagodas from Nepal, the perfected multimedia presentations of many countries, the space capsule from Russia, the luxury yachts from Monaco... Critics may call it an amusement park or just a lot of racket, but for those let themselves be caught up in the bustle of the world’s marketplace, the EXPO is a great experience.

The World’s Fair is also a "gigantic party", one of the organisers declared at EXPO’s opening. And he insisted that this was not all, and indeed there is a lot of well-presented information on the condition our earth is in, and on people’s commitment to preserving it: biogas and clean air measures, ways to overcome poverty and new concepts in transportation.... Whether the efforts of the churches and many environment and development organisations will have the hoped-for effect, and get people talking about global problems and possibilities for action, remains to be seen after the EXPO is over. Then one may hope that more will be left of the World’s Fair than just a financial deficit.

Editorial

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