Some of the more famous ones have been The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London and Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.
William Loftus Hare (1868-1943), at the time Director of Studies in Comparative Religion and Philosophy to the Theosophical Society, wrote: "Christianity and Judaism were excluded from our plan for several sufficient reasons – not because, as some critic had not very seriously suggested, we considered them to be‚ no longer living religions.
To have attempted to include the Christian faith in a short conference of single sessions would have involved many difficulties, the first being the invidious choice of expositors.
In lesser degree the same arguments apply to Judaism, which in its main Biblical features, is very familiar.
Two hundred and seventeen millions of our fellow citizens deserved more than one lecture and would have had more if our time for preparation had been extended.