Bahá’í World/Volume 10/Youth Activities Throughout the Bahá’í World
YOUTH ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE Bahá’í WORLD
AROUND THE BAHÁ’Í WORLD WITH YOUTH
BY MARZIEH GAIL
SOME of the Bahá’í youth were scattered around the world during these years. They had strange experiences in faraway places.
There was Duncan McAlear, Sergeant with the U. S. Medical Corps, walking down the road to Neufchfiteau near Bastogne. It was just before the Battle of the Bulge. They had given him the afternoon off, and he had two plans, one to teach the Faith to someone—anyone who came along; the other to visit the only ice cream parlor in Neufchateau and eat ersatz ice cream with ersatz cookies. He sat in the ice cream parlor and he saw an old man and woman coming. They approached a GI, asked something, got a curt “No,” went on to another GI, asked again. Finally they came to Duncan. They looked hopeful. But they spoke Flemish and Duncan’s French was Massachusetts. He listened, though, and they said, ”We are seeking to recover an opportunity that we let go by.” He told them to sit with him and have ersatz ice cream and cookies. He said, "What opportunity?” They said, "Long ago in Brussels, a woman brought us a teaching. But we let it go by. Now we keep asking the American soldiers if they ever heard of Martha Root.”
Later they said, uIn those days we were afraid; afraid of being excommunicated, losing everything. Now we have lost everything anyhow: the spiritual and the material. We want to learn about Martha Root’s Faith and then we can die.” That was how Duncan went home with them, talking till midnight, overstaying his leave and being
It was the answer to all our desires.
punished for it. But he was able to tell them what they wanted.
Young Rustam Paymán, born in Yazd, Persia, came to New York City from Ṭihrán. Shortly thereafter, when he had just reached twenty-one, he was elected a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly. Chairman also of the New York youth group, Rustam is a link uniting the youth of the United States, India (Where he has many friends), and Persia. In Persia, he reports, the National Youth Committee is a very important body; as many as 210 youths have served at one time on this Committee and its thirteen subcommittees. In the Bahá’í year 101, local youth committees opened libraries for the sale and rental of books in ten cities and towns. The first national Bahá’í Youth Conference met in Ṭihrán and among other things made plans to facilitate the education of Bahá’í youth in outlying districts. Some of the youth correspond with youth in other countries; others arrange teaching meetings, or musical programs, others organize classes in Arabic or English, or for literacy, others put out bulletins, or collect clothing and funds for the needy. An annual youth symposium is held here as elsewhere. Its theme is always designed, Rustarn says, "to make life in Persia healthier and happier.” In 1944 the theme was, "How can you contribute to the people’s health and hygiene?” Youth were asked to contribute money, medicines, soap, medical teaching hours, hall space for lectures on hygiene, funds or labor to build a public bath, etc. The Ṭihrán Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds is equipped with playing
Bahá’í Youth Committee of Hamadán, Persia.
fields and tennis courts; fifty-one Armenian youth rent the grounds and equipment on certain days. Some of the Bahá’ís are outstanding athletes.
The youth of Ṭihrán have a novel teaching method. They form groups of five, and each group makes friends with one or two non-Bahá’ís. Refraining at first from religious discussion, they eventually tell the newcomers of the Faith. There are about sixty such groups in Ṭihrán. The example of the American believers is a great stimulus to the Persians. The youth have gone out and pioneered under terrible hardships, both because of primitive living conditions and primitive behavior in backward areas. Two of the martyrs in the first year of the second century were pioneer youth.
Etta Mae Lawrence of New York City went out as a Bahá’í pioneer to Buenos Aires, Argentina. On arrival, she knew no Spanish; she had no job, and almost no money. She wanted to take the next boat home. In great discouragement, she went to the tomb of Mrs. May Maxwell. “It is back in a little, deep, silent graveyard,” Etta Mae says. "Trees intertwine above the grave. When you go in, the bell on the cemetery gate rings and a little girl comes out and asks if
you want to buy flowers. You try to choose the ones May would have liked—small, dainty flowers. Her grave is like the Temple at Wilmette—it differs so from its surroundings.”
She wept and prayed there at the tomb. Afterward, her problems were solved. She obtained a secretarial job at the American Embassy, learned Spanish, and, although youngest of the nine, was elected chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly. The biggest problem confronting the friends there, she says, was the long wartime working hours, from eight in the morning till eight at night. There was little time to study and living costs were such that it was difficult to purchase books. The young Assembly. four of whom were in their early twenties, was weighted down with administrative tasks. In July, 1944, the youth group were directed to prepare a monthly newsletter; this was brought out in the form of a fourpage mimeographed bulletin, containing messages from the Guardian and excerpts from English Bahá’í texts not yet available in Spanish. The youth also furnished Bahá’í speakers for an organization known as “El Grupo de Labor” open to all faiths. On Bahá’í Youth Day, March 4, 1945, Etta Mae
addressed the Symposium, which was followed by a tea. Sr. Oscar Aguirre’s subject on this occasion, "God’s Plan for the Peace of the World,” was a typical theme; Haig and Antranik Kevorkian were the other speakers. A reporter from the Standard Newspaper of Buenos Aires interviewed the youth and a very favorable article resulted. Before she left, the friends discussed the possibility of founding a summer school; at Etta Mae’s suggestion, they cabled the Guardian, and received an answering cable warmly encouraging the project. Three of the Bahá’ís have beautiful adjoining gardens, totalling several hundred acres, on the outskirts of the town; the school has now been founded here, and meets Sundays all through the summer. Etta Mae hopes to arrange for American prefabricated houses to be shipped to Buenos Aires and marketed there; this would greatly benefit the Bahá’ís. The youth of Argentina really study and know the Teachings, she says. An eighteen-year old Argentinian, whose chief source of education has been the Bahá’í writings, can speak brilliantly on the Faith.
Santiago, Chile, celebrated Bahá’í Youth Day at the home of one of the youth. Marcia Steward and Roberto Hererra spoke. Questions and answers followed. Many nationalities were represented, and the guests included a famous Chilean actress, journalists and other professional men, all young and of great capacity, requesting further information and Bahá’í books. The youth of Punta Arenas celebrated the day with a public meeting at the Hotel Cosmos.
In Lima, Peru, the youth committee chairman Alejandro Franco spoke at the Bahá’í Youth Day celebration on “Youth’s Role in the World of Tomorrow.” A young woman, the most recent Bahá’í there, spoke on woman’s future role. Jorge Sarco, visiting Bahá’í from Guayaquil Ecuador, presented the Bahá’í Teachings.
A number of youth in Lima had expressed the desire to learn English; Alejandro Franco invited them to the Bahá’í Center for this purpose. A club ultimately named “The Universal Fellowship Club” and complete with officers, regulations and emblem, was formed by them. They meet at the Center four times a month for educational games
and discussion in English. Their main theme for 1945 was “The kind of world in which I’d like to live.” Topics discussed from the Bahá’í standpoint included Superstition, Prejudices, Crime and the Treatment of Criminals. Most of these youth attend the Cultural Institute and share the Bahá’í principles learned with their fellow students.
Guayaquil’s first Bahá’í Youth Day (1945) was held in the guest house of Mrs. Anita McGill. Nine nationalities were represented. Eduardo Gonzales, member of the first Spiritual Assembly in Guayaquil, spoke on uFacing our Responsibilities,” Lauro Sanchez on "Why I am a Bahá’í,” and Virginia Orbison, visiting teacher, concluded. Most of the members of the present community in Guayaquil are in their twenties.
Evelyn Larson, Chicago youth, went as a pioneer to San Jose, Costa Rica. Luisa Baker, young Bahá’í pioneer to Caracas, Venezuela, attended in Panama the first Bahá’í Latin American Conference.
Bahá’í Youth Day, 1945, was held by the Bahá’ís of Havana, Cuba in the auditorium of “Radio Universal,” and broadcast over CMBF. Twenty—one year old Cantos de la Torre was chairman. Carmelo Perez, chairman of the youth committee, spoke on the history of the Faith, and Dr. Walker Blomquist on Bahá’í principles and the role of Bahá’í youth. The program was advertised by a press notice in the Havana Post and by handpainted placards displayed throughout the city.
Because youth are specifically called upon by Shoghi Effendi in “The Advent of Divine Justice” to participate effectively "in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í activity,” Ayned and Lucien McComb of New York longed to respond at once. Their plans were ultimately limited by the peacetime draft—Lucien could not leave the United States. They therefore chose Puerto Rico for their pioneering labors, gave up their jobs, sold their furniture and joined the two resident pioneers, Miss Jones and Mrs. Disdier. Lucien obtained a good position in Puerto Rico and for four years their home was the Bahá’í center. The first Local Spiritual Assembly was established in San Juan, and today four other towns on the
Island also have resident Bahá’ís. The young Sr. Marcelino Castro, first Puerto Rican believer, is now chairman of the all-Puerto Rican Assembly of San Juan, and has carried the Teachings to his relatives in Juncos. Sr. Castro first came to the McCombs to study English; they taught him by having him compare the Spanish and English editions of Esslemont, and he soon declared his faith. Jeffrey, the McComb’s little son, was the first child born of Bahá’í pioneers in the West Indies, and grew up speaking Spanish. The McCombs, well liked because they made every effort to respect local customs, reached hundreds of persons through conversations, literature, public meetings including Bahá’í Youth Day, and the radio. Most of those attracted were young. They write: “We, the Bahá’í youth of the world, have the great privilege today of being able to take a large part in the promulgation of the Faith . . . we are the ones who can best attract other youth.”
North American youth, those Who remained at home, were hard at work, in their summer schools, particularly Louhelen; at youth conferences; on group and individual
Youth Group of Karachi, India.
teaching circuits; on the air. They also taught the Faith in colleges; in this field Persian youth, such as Drs. Hfishang, Manficiiihr Jévid and Farhang Jévid at the University of Illinois, Firfiz Káẓim-Zédih of Moscow at Stanford University, ‘Izzat AminAmin at the University of Washington, Shidán Fath—A‘zam now at the College of Agriculture, Davis, California, and, arriving in February 1946, Jamshid Fozdar of India at the University of California, were also active. Youth in the Armed Forces such as John Eichenauer and Bruce Davison, and, including the women’s branches of the service, brought the Teachings to thousands. The story of these years is not yet told. Seymour Weinberg, Warrant Officer, j.g., became a Bahá’í in Augusta, Georgia, early in 1944. Articles by him concerning the Faith appeared in the Augusta Herald, on which he served briefly as a columnist. With the chaplain’s permission, he placed Bahá’í literature in the chapel at Daniel Field, Georgia. A new Commanding Officer forbade him to teach the Faith, but modified the order When Seymour pointed out that it constituted a restriction of his personal
liberty; he was therefore allowed to teach with caution, and to give literature only to those requesting it. Hundreds of persons requested it.
Not yet a Bahá’í, he asked the Unitarian minister at Charleston, S. C., to have the Bahá’í teacher Mrs. Alta Kruger address an evening forum there. “Oh, those people in the clouds!” was the minister’s comment, but he extended the invitation and about one hundred persons came. Seymour was furious with himself during the brisk question and answer period that followed; he already believed in the Faith but had no arguments to support his views; following this he bought several armloads of Bahá’í books and began to study in earnest.
William Towart was a conscientious objector. Beatrice Rainboth visited his camp at Elkton, Oregon, holding crowded Bahá’í firesides for three days. Towart and another C. O., Michael Jaymir, became Bahá’ís.
William, now realizing the basic philosophy of pacifism was anarchistic, requested non-combatant service. Previously l-A, he was classified by the examining psychiatrist as 4-F (rejected), because he had remained two and one-half years in Conscientious Objectors’ camps. He offered to pioneer for the Faith, and the National Teaching Committee suggested Providence, Rhode Island. Here, in April, 1944, still in his twenties, he became chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly. William was trained as —————a Congregationalist minister; before the war he was in charge of three churches in Ashland. Maine.
Bahá’í youth of Winnipeg often invite speakers, such as Professor Craig of United College, to address their meetings at the Bahá’í Center. Emeric Sala and others have addressed Dr. Craig’s classes in comparative religion, and Mr. Sala also spoke to the institution’s Economics Club on “Bahá’í Views on the Economic Question.” Marion Metcalfe, student at the college, became a Bahá’í. Winnipeg youth work with other youth organizations throughout the city. Three members attended meetings of the Canadian Youth Commission (Manitoba Branch) and contributed to the Commission’s study of uYouth and Religion.” The Local Spiritual Assembly appointed Mrs. Jean Johnston as
a delegate to the continuing Winnipeg subcommittee of this organization; in connection with a popular ethnic concert held in the City Auditorium under their auspices, Mrs. Johnston made many friends for the Faith. United College also invited Rowland Estall to address its Student Christian Association, and Emeric Sala to speak before the inter—Racial Fellowship of the University of Manitoba. Bahá’í Youth Day is regularly celebrated.
Sixteen year old Brenda Coulson, daughter of Bahá’í parents and living in Manchester, England, started a youth group there early in 1944. Nine youth, including children, attend the monthly gatherings, Which feature a business meeting, a talk and refreshments. Brenda also writes a monthly letter to young people in England and abroad; twenty—four of these are sent out, and received as far away as the United States, Alexandria and Suez.
Brenda addressed a meeting at the Manchester Bahá’í Center on "A Young Bahá’í Looks at Czechoslovakia.” Her talk was translated into Czech and printed in the Czech national newspaper. In token of their appreciation Karel Capek’s book “Masaryk Tells His Story” was sent her by the Czech Foreign Office.
Torquay reports its celebration of Bahá’í Youth Day. It sponsors social gatherings for youth and their parents, as well as study classes.
The present Bahá’í youth of Germany were very young when, two years prior to the outbreak of war, all Bahá’í teaching was forbidden in their country. Hedwig Hesselmeier of the Stuttgart youth group reports that a good many local Bahá’ís had their books seized by the Gestapo; her own home was not searched and the family were able to keep their Bahá’í library. Meetings were banned, but people read the Teachings in their houses. If anyone knocked, they hid the books. Hedwig often discussed religion with such of her friends as she could trust, but many were atheists or rigidly sectarian. Stuttgart was heavily bombed from the air. After a bombing, the Bahá’ís would read the Teachings and thus gain courage to help the others. Hedwig is glad that the Bahá’ís of Germany can now meet in freedom.
Youth of Lima, Peru, and members of the Universal Friendship Club, whose weekly meetings are held in Miss Nicklin’s home, the Bahá’í pioneer for Peru.
In Alexandria, Egypt, girls now participate in Bahá’í Youth Day celebrations, which are held at the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds. The youth meet Sundays to study the Faith under two teachers appointed by the Local Spiritual Assembly. Committees run by the youth are: Literary Committee—to translate Bahá’í newsletters into and from foreign languages, and prepare discussion subjects for the meetings; Service Committee—to serve refreshments at Feasts, etc.; Correspondence Committee—to contact other Bahá’í youth; Travel Committec—to arrange Weekend trips to outlying districts. The youth do much of the Assembly’s office work; they are in charge of the Library and the Archives, and serve in the Accounting Department of both the Local and National Assemblies. For the first time in Egypt, they published a wall calendar (year 102), selling it widely. The Guardian wrote them his appreciation of the five copies presented to him.
Authorities refused the National Youth Committee of Australia and New Zealand permission to publish T/Je Bahá’í Yom‘b journal either by printing or duplication. Material for an impressive first issue had
been completed, but the entire project had to be suspended. The Werriwa Bahá’í Youth Group, i.e., the youth of Yerrinbool and Tahmoor, hold meetings regularly. During the 8th annual Bahá’í Summer School at Yerrinbool, (which meets in January), the youth arranged a three-day program. The “tennis afternoons” could well be copied elsewhere: youth from Yerrinbool, Wollongong, Bowral and Wingello come to these, for tennis and other games as well as discussions on the Faith in the Hyde-Dunn Memorial Hall. Bahá’í Youth Day was celebrated with a tennis tournament at "Bolton Place” and a talk followed by discussion. One of the youth, Shirley Smith, declared her wish to become a Bahá’í. A message from the American, Henry Jarvis, for the youth of today, was featured. Sydney circularized thirty youth organizations, inviting representatives to the Youth Day celebrations (1945); talks were given by the Principal, Sydney Conservatorium of Music High School, on “Education and Youth”; by a representative of the Women’s League of Health (a physical culture display item by youth followed this); a member of the Aborigines Welfare Board and the secretary
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of the National Spiritual Assembly also participated; young artists supplied the music. About seventy persons attended, and following dinner were shown through the beautiful National Headquarters of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand. The program, continuing on the next day, featured four talks by youth on themes suggested by the youth of North America. Hobart observed Bahá’í Youth Day as a public meeting at the Lord Mayor’s Courtroom. The Junior Red Cross, the Quakers, the League of Nations and two Bahá’í speakers shared the program, which was followed by a dinner at the Bahá’í Center. The Auckland youth have been studying Esperanto. On Bahá’í Youth Day, Adelaide youth sent out letters and airgraphs to individuals in the service and to the National Youth Committees of the British Isles and of Persia. Two gifts of £5 each, by Mrs. W. H. Hawthorne and Jim Heggie, went toward founding a youth lending library which was already in use by Youth Day. Other youth organizations, University students, High Schooi teachers, business girls, the press, musicians, were present. Lucy Trueman was chairman, and the musical program included the radio artist James Duncan. A buffet supper and social gathering followed.
In India the youth are organized wherever a Local Spiritual Assembly exists. Teaching is their main concern; they are considered the most effective teachers of other youth. They correspond With youth in other countries, and attend classes for deepening in the Faith. Under India’s Six Year Plan which established so many new groups and assemblies, the following youth pioneered: Muhammad Irshéd of Calcutta, to Serampur; ‘Azizu’llah Nawé—Yazdén of Bombay, t0 Sholapur; Kaylgiusraw Manavi of Bombay, to Sholapur; ‘Azizu’llah Tashakkuri of Bombay, to ShoIapur; Ehudédéd Suhayli of Bombay, to Kolhapur; Mrs. Khudédéd Suhayli of Poona, to Kolhapur; Gushtasp Yigénigi of Poona, to Belgaum; Mrs. Yigénigi to Belgaum; Mrs. Ridvfin Mubidzédih of Poona, to Surat; Bahrain J. Z. Mahalléti of Poona, to Mysore; Bahram Aydt’m of Persia, to Quetta; Mfiru’lláh Akhtar-Ehévari of Persia, to Quetta; ‘Ali Sulhjli of Persia, to Quetta; Mihrbain Alga
tari of Karachi, to Lahore. (And later)
Muhammad Hayét from Delhi, to Jammu;
‘Abdu’r-Rahmén from Delhi, to Nagpur,
where Mr. and Mrs. Mihrbén Bomas are
also teaching.
A youth, Jamshid Lhébit, served six months as assistant to the secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, 1944—45 . Youth symposiums were held February 26, 1945, in Calcutta, Bombay, Poona, Panehgani, Kolhapur, Sholapur, Karachi, Srinagar and Ujjain. Many of these meetings were reported in the press, and a Wide circle of non-Bahá’ís thus learned of the Faith. On this day the youth of the cities named wrote jointly to the Guardian. Excerpts from his reply follow: "It pleased him greatly to see that there are so many active Bahá’í youth groups in India, and his heart was particularly rejoiced to receive messages from such far-off centers as Kashmir and Balfighistén, Where, a few years ago, there were practically no Bahá’ís at all! He hopes that in the years that lie ahead of us—years of unrest, of trouble; of transition for the whole world —that the Bahá’í youth will increasingly rise to meet the challenge of the times, and to carry the message of Bahá’u’liéh, through both teaching and example, all over India, and, indeed, Asia . . . He hopes you will study the teachings deeply, their spiritual moral, and administrative precepts, and at the same time take as active 21 part as possible in the life of your respective Bahá’í communities. . . . ”
At Panchgani, a hill station 63 miles from Poona, the National Spiritual Assembly established a youth hostel Where children of Bahá’í parents could live together and profit from their earliest years by Bahá’í precept and practice. At present the children will attend school elsewhere, but it is hoped that the hostel will eventually develop into a Bahá’í school. Founded August 1, 1945, its inauguration was attended by the National Spiritual Assembly. The program that day makes a not inappropriate conclusion to this short survey of Bahá’í youth around the world; we quote:
“Prayers were chanted and talks on the Bahá’í principles given. The command to parents to educate their children, giving
preference in this matter to daughters; the obligation of the state to undertake this work where the parents failed, recovering the cost from them Where they were financially able; the necessity of learning some art, craft or trade; the discarding of that learning which begins in words and ends in words, were stressed. There were seventeen students at the start; it was a small beginning truly, but does not the mighty tree spring from the tiny seed? Telegrams of congratulations and donations from the friends were a proof of the support of the Indian Bahá’í community to this institution and the following cable from the Guardian an assurance of its final success: ‘Delighted praying steady progress newly founded institution loving appreciation.’ ”
FUTURE CIVILIZATION
A SYMPOSIUM
PART I
“Dynamic Power of Religion” -—-—Takashi R. Imagire
A GENERATION ago it might have seemed that science could manage the world and guide it into permanent prosperity, happiness, and a secure civilization. But such does not seem to be the case now. Science has proved itself to be a marvelous instrument for material progress; but it is certain that no ideal civilization based upon justice and mutuality can be established by means of science alone. “Science is one of the wings with which humanity must fly; but religion is the other,” said ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith. Religion is a necessary force, for religion is dynamic in the influence it exerts on both the hearts and minds of men.
In "Security for a Failing World,” by Stanwood Cobb, a noted educator and writer, a Bahá’í, the first chapter is entitled, “Is the Intelligence of Man Capable of Creating 3 Stable Civilization?” The intellect of man can plan and create, but it is not, in the vast majority of men, a force capable of Governing the emotions. On the contrary, the intellect with most of us serves chiefly as a tool or instrument with Which to gain the things we want. Thus the intellect tends to become the servant of man’s emotional nature rather than its ruler. Of course, there are some men who by the force of their intellects can completely govern their emotional natures, but they are so rare that they are called philosophers.
When man’s social standing or economic security is involved, man’s action tends to be founded upon his most basic emotions of egoism and greed. Take for example the fallacy of saying education alone will solve race and class prejudice, the abolishment of which is one of the basic principles for world peace. The drawback is the fact that when pressure of public opinion comes to beat, or when having racial or class prejudices becomes too comfortable to obliterate, man acts according to the way he feels rather than the way he knows intellectually to be right. In such cases education merely makes him more clever and subtle in rationalizing his prejudice. If education alone fails, what then? What can govern the emotions?
It is religion. Has not religion proved its ability to do this in the past? Indeed it has; and it will prove its ability to do this again in the future. Recall in history, how often in the name of religion, for its cause, men have been able to overcome their emotions of fear of death, to withstand persecutions, to sacrifice their all for religion—how it has changed their lives into pious ones, enabling man to acquire a zealous desire to serve. Christ called it “rebirth.”
In considering the effect of religion upon
men it is necessary to differentiate between
nature religions and revealed religions. Nature
religions, religions which have evolved
through man’s own naive concepts concern
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ing the cosmic forces that surround and condition him, rise no higher than their source. Revealed religions, religions that are revealed by the Manifestations of God, the Mouthpieces or Messengers of God, have a very striking effect upon the lives of their adherents.
Who were those who proclaimed to express the Will of God? We who are of Christian background will know Christ did, and Moses. With deeper study into history, we find that Zoroaster did, so did Krishna, Buddha, Muhammad, the Báb, and Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder‘ of the Bahá’í Faith. But you may ask, were they all really Messengers of God? Investigate and find out! Christ said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Each One just mentioned lived in utmost poverty, were humble men and yet have been able to change the lives, the hearts of men, even many hundred years after Their passings. All based Their Teachings on the Love of the One God. Each established great civilizations and have been able to do so without military power, political influence, or monetary backing; no one but a Manifestation of God has been able to do this!
Each Manifestation of God gave spiritual laws and social laws. The spiritual laws are the same for all time; they have never changed. All religions teach that we must do good, that we must be generous, sincere, truthful, Iaw—abiding, and faithful. All this is reasonable and logically the only way in which humanity can progress. The social laws are given to the utmost capacity of the people of the time in which these laws are presented; the capacity of the people determines the necessary laws to be given by the Manifestation, just as the condition of the patient determines the necessary remedy to be prescribed by the doctor.
In the time of Moses, there were ten crimes punishable by death. When Christ came this was changed; the old axiom of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” was converted into ”love your enemies, do good to them that hate you.” In the former days the punishment for theft was cutting off the hands, which was necessary for that time. In our time, this law cannot be applied. One will also discover that revealed
religions reach their zeniths and then decline and come to an end, due primarily to the fact that man—made rituals and misinterpretations creep in. But by God’s infinite mercy, religion is renewed by another Manifestation.
It is easier to perceive the decline in other religions than to become aware that the period of decline has been reached in one’s own religion. Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, the fact is that Christianity, compared with its dynamic power in past centuries, manifests an evident decline of spiritual force. In the Western world science ousted religion as the directive force of society, and religious skepticism has grown with great rapidity. A century ago in this country, God was recognized as the guiding power in all human affairs. The Name of God was on the tips of the tongues of the founders of our country. We modems are very conscious of the comforts and pleasures which science has brought us, but we are too little conscious of God as the one power which animates and dominates all things.
Christ said, “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples: if ye have love one to another.” However, Christianity today has not only become split into division after division, into an increasing number of sects, which are bitterly opposed to each other, but also strife exists between Christians, Moslems, Jews, and Buddhists. "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples . . .”
A great stumbling block to many, in the way of religious unity, is the difference between the revelations given by the different Manifestations. What is commanded by one is forbidden by another; how then can both be right, how can both be proclaiming the Will of God? Surely the Truth is one and cannot change. Yes, absolute Truth is one and cannot change; but the absolute Truth is infinitely beyond the present range of human understanding. Our conceptions of Truth must constantly change, whether from a religious or scientific standpoint. Each Manifestation proclaimed a former teacher and promised the return of another. Our earlier, imperfect ideas will, by the Grace of God, be replaced as time goes on
Bahá’í Youth Group of Panchgani, India, 1946.
by more and more adequate conceptions through these Manifestations. Just as a man’s concept of a dog changes during his lifetime. To a baby, a dog was something that Was soft and furry and that liked to lick him. To a boy, a dog was a faithful companion which wagged its tail when happy and liked to chase cats. To a young man, a dog was an animal with four legs, usually of the wolf family or in the case of the Chow from the bear. To a scientist, a dog is of the phylum, Chordata; subphylum, Vertebrata; and of the class, Mammalia. Of the Mammalia, a dog is of the Eutheria, under that of the Monodephia, because it is nourished before birth by a placenta unlike the Marsupials who carry their young in a pouch; and so on. Describing a dog as a carnivorous domesticated mammal, the scientist would go on to say that his bone structure is such and such, and that his circulatory, digestive, respiratory, reproductive, and nervous systems are thus and so. In such a way does the scientist change his boyish, imperfect ideas, for more adequate conceptions.
And so it is with religion.
The religion of God is one religion, and all the Manifestations have taught it; but religion, like science, is a living and growing thing, not lifeless and unchanging.
For example, in the teachings of Moses we see the bud; in those of Christ, the flower; in those of Bahá’u’lláh, the fruit. The flower does not destroy the bud; nor does the fruit destroy the flower, It destroys not, but fulfills. The budscales must fall in order that
the flower may bloom; and the petals must fall that the fruit may grow and ripen. It would be foolishly sentimental to say, "Oh, but the flower was so beautiful,” and then refuse the fruit when the bearing of the fruit is the very purpose of the flower. It would be foolishly sentimental to say, "Oh, but I admire my high school teacher,” then refuse to graduate and go on to college when the very purpose of the high school teacher was to prepare the student for college. It would be foolishly sentimental to say, “Oh, but I love Christ” and then refuse to accept the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, when the very purpose of Christ was to prepare His followers for Him, as Christ promised.
Science alone fails to give us a secure Civilization; the intellect of man fails, owing to the fact that the emotions rule the intellect. Religion is necessary to control the emotions, so that the emotions can properly use the intellect as a tool to reap the benefits of science in order to establish world peace. Religion is renewed and revealed periodically, especially at the most trying and darkest hours, and has been able to raise mankind to a high level of civilization because of its dynamic power to influence both heart and mind, because true religion appeals both to heart and mind. All great civilizations were founded, directly or indirectly, by the revealers of religion, the Manifestations of God.
Of all times, we are in dire need of a Divine Physician. We now live in a dark hour. But some of us are beginning to see the Light, to see that the dawn is breaking.
PART II
"The Time Foreordained” ——Betty Scheffler
THERE is no revealed religion whose Founder has not reserved a part of His Book for prophecies concerning One Whom God would manifest subsequent to Him. All religious scriptures contain prophecies regarding the time of the end, known as the Day of Judgment or the Day of Resurrection, when the Promised One would appear and bring the Kingdom of God upon earth.
Moreover, all peoples are awaiting two Manifestations Who must be contemporaneous. In the Bible, the Jews have a promise of the Lord of Hosts and the Messiah. In the Gospels, the return of Christ and Elijah is promised. In Islam, the Mihdi and the Messiah; and it is also true of the other religions. The Bahá’í Message is that this great day, awaited by all, has indeed come; and
that through the advent of the Báb, and Bahá’u’lláh, the promise of all the ages has been fulfilled, and the age which is the consummation of all past Revelation ushered in. The prophetic cycle has ended, and the cycle of fulfillment begun.
In the year 1844 in Shíráz, Persia, One who is known as the Báb, which means Gate, announced to eighteen men who had been awaiting and searching for the Promised One, that He was a mouthpiece of God and that he had been entrusted with the Divine Mission of warning the people of the approach of the time of the end, the coming of that great hour which would witness the descent of the Spirit of God spoken of in the Holy Scriptures. In His books He extolled the name, mentioned the signs, pointed to His Revelation, alluded in symbolic language to the exact time of His appearance. These eighteen men, the first disciples of the Báb, He sent to all parts of Persia to announce to the people His own Revelation as a Prophet of God and to prepare them for the advent of the One Who was to follow, Whom the Báb referred to as ”Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest.” So fearlessly and eloquently did these followers proclaim the Message, that the news of the appearance of the Báb rapidly spread to all parts of the land.
Persia was at that time perhaps the darkest country, her people the most degenerate, ignorant, and superstitious, in the civilized world; and they were held in submission by the fanatic and corrupt Moslem clergy, who exercised undisputed authority over the masses. In word they professed belief in God and in His Prophet, Muḥammad; in deed they denied His Teaching and had come to be opposed to every new and liberal idea, devoted only to maintaining their own position of leadership. As the Bábí Faith grew and the commotion stirred up in Shíráz began to spread to other cities and provinces, the clergy saw in it a threat to their authority; and so they arose to put out the light of the new Faith. For a time they refrained from open hostility, realizing that this would defeat their purpose, and sought to win the support of governmental authorities by circulating false rumors accusing the Báb of political claims.
The conversion of an even greater number of men of eminent rank, recognized for their learning and wisdom, who openly acknowledged their belief in the truth of the Báb’s claims, served to bring the Cause to the attention of the multitudes. Soon a wave of inquiry swept over the whole country and large congregations gathered to hear the Message of the Prophet of —————-Shíráz. Finally the situation reached such proportions that the Sháh himself was no longer able to ignore it; and so he delegated one of the most trusted and influential of his subjects to investigate the matter. This man, Vahid by name, in the course of three interviews, was so completely won over by the arguments and personality of the Báb, that he returned merely a written report to the Court and arose to dedicate his life to the service of the Faith, for which he later became a martyr.
The clergy, determined to halt the progress of the Bábí Cause, enlisted the support of the grand vizar of the shah, and in turn, of the local governments, by implanting in them a fear of their ultimate downfall, should the Cause of the Báb succeed in awakening the people to demand the needed reforms in the church and state. They were successful in precipitating a series of tragedies which followed one upon the other and to all outward seeming extinguished the light of the Faith.
The Báb was imprisoned in a remote northern province in a mountain fortress and except for a brief moment when He was called to Tabríz to appear before a group of ecclesiastical and state dignitaries who hoped to force Him to abandon His claim or, by ridicule, cause the people to abandon their belief, He spent the remaining years of His life in prison. From here He wrote warnings and appeals in anticipation of the approaching hour of his martyrdom and of the appearance of the One Who was to follow, whose advent the Báb characterized as “The Fruit and ultimate purpose of His Own Dispensation.”
Meanwhile in three different sections of Persia, wars raged against the Bábís. Civil and ecclesiastical forces joined and undertook the systematic plunder and massacre of the Bábí community. The imprisonment of the
Bab had become a signal for the commencement of a reign of terror which swept over the whole country. So brutal was that reign of terror in Which over 20,000 followers of the Báb were put to death under the most cruel and revolting tortures, that a noted French publicist wrote, uAll Europe was stirred to pity and indignation.” In 1850 the Báb, then in His 3lst year, fell a victim to the fanatical fury of persecutors and was martyred by a firing squad in Tabríz. For the moment the flame which had burned so fiercely and intently for nine years seemed extinguished, but it was destined to blaze forth once again through the Revelation of the One foretold by the Báb. Bahá’u’lláh, whose name means the Glory of God, was born in 1817 in Ṭihrán, a member of one of the most prominent families of Persia. He turned aside from material comfort and security and embraced the Cause of the Báb, becoming one of its most fearless exponents. He succeeded in enlisting many of the learned doctors and divines of His native province in the service of the new Faith. He became recognized for His wisdom and eloquence in answering the questions and arguments of all who came to Him. During one of the uprisings against the Bábis, Bahá’u’lláh was arrested and forced to suffer four months in the prison dungeon of Ṭihrán. Upon His release it was decided that He should be exiled to Baghdad, ‘Iráq. Here Bahá’u’lláh brought the Babi community into unity, strengthened and guided it, instilling new faith and courage in the hearts of its members. It was here in the year 1863 that Bahá’u’lláh announced that He was the One foretold by the Báb, Whose advent all of the peoples of the earth were expecting. He announced that He was the inaugurator of the long awaited Millennium, the One promised by all the Prophets of the past, Whose dispensations were a preparation for His Own. Those who arose to proclaim the truth of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh became thenceforth known as Bahá’ís. Bahá’u’lláh, forced to leave His native land in 1853, spent almost his entire life a prisoner and an exile, suffering banishment from Baghád to Constantinople, then to Adrianople, and finally to imprisonment in ‘Akká, Palestine. Each succeeding banishment and imprisonment saw not the diminishing in the number of His followers and the dissolution of His Cause, but rather their increase and an ever greater unity. In Adrianople, Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed His Mission to the world’s secular and ecclesiastical leaders—the Christian and Moslem clergy and the kings, who because of the authority and ascendency they had assumed, were responsible for the immediate destinies of their followers and subjects. As Bahá’u’lláh addressed these epistles, calling them to embrace His Truth, His followers were already spreading His Message beyond the confines of Persia—to Egypt, to the Caucasus, and to Syria.
Bahá’u’lláh’s banishment to ‘Akká, lasting twenty-four years, to which the Shah of Persia and the Sultan of Turkey condemned Him, is a period which saw. changes in many ways in the life and activities of Bahá’u’lláh—chiefly in the tremendous extension of the range and volume of His Writings. These constitute the sequel to the proclamation of His Mission initiated in Adrianople, the Revelation of the Laws and Ordinances of His Dispensation, and the reaffirmation and elucidation of the fundamental Laws and Principles of His Faith. Bahá’u’lláh Himself affirmed that never since the beginning of the world has the Message of God been so openly proclaimed.
In the year 1892 Bahá’u’lláh passed from this world, and with His ascension a period unparalleled in the world’s religious history drew to a close. Prophecies foretelling the advent of the Faith had been fulfilled, the fundamental laws and principles—the foundation for the world order destined to arise—had been enunciated; and finally, Bahá’u’lláh had provided for the preservation of the unity and integrity of His Faith.
Through the Covenant established by Bahá’u’lláh in which His son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was appointed the sole interpreter of the Bahá’í Teachings, the Faith was protected from the disasters resulting from division which has afflicted the religions of the past. After the passing of Bahá’u’lláh, His followers turned to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the explanation and the decisions regarding the understanding and application of the laws
and principles of the Faith. Under the ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Faith was spread throughout many countries. Bahá’í communities were established in the western world, in France, in Germany, in England, and in the United States, as well as in the East. After ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s release from prison which He shared for forty years with His Father, Bahá’u’lláh, He undertook a three-year journey to the West, to Europe, and America, speaking before large audiences in churches, synagogues, and before peace societies upon the basic and distinguishing features of His Father’s Faith. And in the city of ‘Isliqabab, Russia, the first Bahá’í House of Worship, initiated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself, was completed. In Wilmette, Illinois, plans for the construction of the first Bahá’í Temple of the West were made and the cornerstone laid by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Through Him every barrier that
threatened to halt the progress and development of the Faith was cut down, the Teachings were amplified, and the features of the Bahá’í Administrative Otder—which Bahá’ís believe is the pattern for future world order —were delineated.
Upon the death of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the year of 1921, His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, was appointed through his Will and Testament, the first Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, and in him the authority as interpreter of the Teachings rests. Under the guidance and direction of Shoghi Effendi, the Faith has expanded and developed; today Bahá’ís are residing in seventy-eight countries of the world and Bahá’í literature has been translated and published in forty-one languages. And so already, only one hundred years after its birth, the Bahá’í Faith can be seen to be the world Faith, uniting the peoples of every race and nationality.
PART III
”God’s Plan for World Peace” —Charles Monroe Ioas
VVE know the conditions extant in the world at the period of the inception of the Bahá’í Faith. That the condition of the world has been altered more during this first century of the Bahá’í era than during any corresponding period in the history of mankind cannot be disputed. Bahá’u’lláh brought principles and plans which in His age Would be termed revolutionary. This issue of world peace is one. One hundred years ago—or even fifty years ago, for that matter—real world peace and unity was an unheard-of thing. Today our greatest desire is the planning and organization of a strong and durable peace. This is the thought foremost in the minds of all men, as whichever way We turn, We are confronted with peace plans—plans which are based upon economic interdependence—plans which are based upon political cooperation—plans which are based upon geographical proximity.
When we think of the manifold peace proposals today, we come to the conclusion that surely one of these will meet our needs.
But is this the case? In order to answer this question we must have some definite objective towards which we are striving. Our first desire is that this should be a lasting peace; we also wish that all men be included in this peace; and finally, we are desirous of its being a cooperative peace. Will the plans which are being put forth throughout the world today assure these results?
The peace plans of the economists Will not. One chief reason is that the peace of the economist consists solely of a group of agreements among the various governments. They cannot stand alone without the backing of the individual citizen; and the citizen will not stand behind pieces of paper bearing astronomical figures which he does not comprehend and which do not directly affect him.
Nor will a geographical peace achieve these results. When one speaks of a geographical peace, it necessarily entails exclusive characteristics. In other words, there might be peace, for example, among the Americas, while the countries of the Orient
Bahá’í Youth Group of Kolhapur, ————————India, 1946.
remained in a state of disunion. This condition might be likened to a sick body—if one part of the body is ill, the remainder of the body is affected. Therefore, the final peace must include all nations and peoples of the world.
Likewise, a political peace is inadequate. Agreements made by governments ignore the fact that men will retain their inbred feelings of hatred, animosity, and prejudice. With these conditions existing, men will never be able to live together amicably.
Now, Why is it that none of these plans could achieve the desired results? There is one chief reason, and that is the fact that they all overlook the most important element of any durable peace—the individual. The true peace must be one in which all men will be able to live together in a friendly and loving world. In order to achieve this, the minds and hearts of men must be altered —men must learn that they are all the leaves of one tree and the fruits of one garden—that they are, in reality, equal to
one another. Man-made plans are incapable of doing this!
"God alone ordereth all things and is all powerful.” Therefore, a divine plan is in order—a plan Which bears the power of God to alter man’s inner being. It is this plan Which Bahá’u’lláh has brought to the world in its darkest days. Bahá’u’lláh has brought God’s plan for world peace!
The foremost criterion of a true and lasting peace is the unity of mankind. This unity does not mean a signing of pacts by the nations of the world; but it means a bond of unity which ties all men one to another. Americans, for example, must realize that the people on the other side of the globe are their neighbors, not foreigners; that they are the same type of men as are the Americans. Biologically and spiritually, men are all the same, Wherever they may happen to be born. It is merely a figment of man’s imagination which creates the differences which cause our present lack of unity. Religion is one unifying force, for
Bahá’í Youth Group of Poona, India, 1946.
it alone is the cause of love and affection. Therefore, religion is the only road to the unity of mankind.
How, then is this most great unity to be achieved? In the first place, according to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, prejudices of all sorts must be obliterated and forgotten. This is imperative in order that men may face each other with clear minds and untainted consciences. In reality, however, this elimination of prejudice is not so great a task, for when we analyze prejudice, when we tear it down to its roots, we find that there is really no cause whatsoever for prejudice.
Religious prejudice, which is so rampant in the world today, was never meant to be so by the One Object of the adoration of all the religions. Nay, one of the teachings of Jesus Christ was that one should “be in love and charity with all men.” What a far cry from this are the conditions which exist today, for now there is animosity and division even among the followers of Christ. However, When men realize the unity of God, religious prejudice will pass out of existence.
In the same way, racial prejudice is an
illusory thing. It is superstition, pure and simple. What folly it is that we should think that the color of a man’s skin could affect his inner being! What greater folly it is that We should think that one particular color of skin should naturally entail a greater intellect and a finer moral character. As previously mentioned, all men are one and the same in the eyes of God.
Again, we see that national prejudice is false. But I need not go into this—we know that God created no territorial boundaries! Thus it is that prejudice, one of the chief causes of animosity and warfare among men, is a mere nothing which Will disappear as a puff of smoke into the sky when analyzed. Its absolute banishment is one of the steppingstones to world peace.
Another steppingstone is that there must be equal educational opportunities throughout the world and that there must be a universal language established. The necessity of these things is self-evident. One of the hindrances to unity in the world today is the fact that we cannot understand the other people of the world. Education and a common language will eliminate this barner.
The third steppingstone is an economic one. Bahá’u’lláh tells us that there must be an equal access of the means of existence for all. There must be no extremes of wealth and no extremes of poverty. There must be a cooperation between labor and capital. However, it is not a socialistic state which we foresee, for the Bahá’ís recognize that humanity, like a great army, requires generals, captains, various other officers, each with his own appointed duties. Degrees are absolutely necessary to insure an orderly organization.
These are but three of the larger and firmer steppingstones to the true peace which lies at the end of this trail.
Let us now see What form God’s ordered world is going to take. In the first place, it will include all the peoples of the world, none will be excluded. All the nations of the world will surrender supreme sovereignty to the central international government. However, each member state will, at the same time, remain autonomous. This type of organization can best be visualized by comparing it with our governmental form, in the United States. Here each state is sovereign in all matters Which pertain only to the citizens within its borders. However, our federal government makes the decisions when two or more states are concerned. Recreate the United States on a grander scale, and you have a World Federation with a strong world government.
To this world government, the states Will cede their privilege of making war. Also, the member states will disarm. This government will naturally need funds with which to function. Therefore, it will have a taxing power. Moreover, economic barriers Will be removed in order that there may be free and unhampered trade among the nations.
At the head of the world government will be an International Executive with powers adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority on every member of the world organization. His duty will be to carry out decisions of the legislature and to act quickly in times of emergency.
The legislative branch of the government will be composed of a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the citizens of their respective states and whose nominations shall be confirmed by the government of their countries. In this way, we will have a truly representative governing body.
Finally, and of greatest importance, there will be a Supreme Tribunal established by the peoples and governments of every nation, composed of members elected from each country. The members of this great council, who have been elected by the people and approved by the government of their countries, will assemble in unity and accord. All disputes of an international character will be submitted to this Court, its work being to arrange by arbitration everything which otherwise would be a cause of war. A majority vote of this body will carry a measure; and, since it is a truly representative body, its decisions will be binding upon all parties concerned. However, if one of the nations does not wish to obey, there will be an international police force to enforce the decisions of the International Tribunal. In this way, we shall have a strong world government continually conscious of the best interests of all the peoples of the world.
Thus it is that world peace will come to pass! Thus it is that men some day will live together in concord and in harmony! Thus it is that the world will eventually be organized as one corporeal body! This is God’s plan for world peace!
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Bahá’í YOUTH ACTIVITIES
Bahá’í Youth Group of Sarinagar, Kas_l_1mir, 1946.
Bahá’í Youth Group of Quetta, Balficlxistén, 1946.
PART IV
”The Spiritual Challenge to Youth” —Pari Zia—Walrath
TODAY youth has become heir to a world which is economically, socially, politically, and religiously in a state of complete collapse. How can youth hope to rebuild this broken down civilization? Will it be worth restoring; and furthermore, will this restoration last and not fall into ruins again in a few decades?
Innately youth is full of enthusiasm, courage, love of adventure, anxious to conquer new frontiers, ready for every challenge. The establishment of a World Order based on the Laws of God, as given to man by the Prophet for this day, Bahá’u’lláh,—this is the greatest challenge ever presented to youth. Youth needs a goal, an ideal upon which to set its aim. Paul Baker, a former religious director at Fiske University, in his article on “The Mind of Youth,” says that some great challenges are needed to offer the young people. A great crusade with high motives behind it lifts youth to its greatest heights. Young people are capable of great hardships, suffering, sacrifice, and service—there is in youth potentialities of greatness and nobleness, which are drawn out only by a great task.
Man, through God’s mercy, is the only creatflre on earth which is the possessor of free—will, that is, he can turn toward God through God’s divine Messengers or he can reject God and His Prophets. This is all a part of the Spiritual Challenge. Youth must in this day investigate Truth for himself. And during this investigation, what will he find? That every person, every group, the scientist, the economist, the politician, has a different idea, a different standard for Truth. How can he be certain then what the standard should be? Every criterion for truth which man possesses is subject to error and fault. Bahá’u’lláh tells us that the only standard of truth which is infallible is the standard given to man by God through his Holy Manifestations, or Prophets. This is the standard that we must use today, the standard for re-educa tion, for economics, the standard upon which the laws for human relations, the laws governing national and international problems must be based.
We hear a great deal today about unity; but I wonder how many people realize just what that very small word implies? ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has drawn a very clear and beautiful picture of this unity which starts in the very depths of the earth with the minerals themselves being gradually assimilated by the vegetable kingdom; the vegetable, in turn, is raised to the station of the animal kingdom by its assimilation into that kingdom; and the animal is, in turn, absorbed into the very tissues of the human; and how is man uplifted? What is the purpose of his creation? The cycle must be rounded out and completed in some manner; there must be some great cause in the back of this ordered creation. Man must in this day realize the aim and purpose of his entire existence—to know and to love God and through his love for God, love his fellow men. Before true universal Peace can be established there must be a complete unity of conscience. Not just a superficial unity which consists in saying or thinking "Oh, yes, we are agreed there must be an end to war.”—“We are ready to love everyone.” —”We are willing to observe the rights and privileges of all men.” This unity must be realized in the very hearts and souls of men. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us that this spiritual unity which emanates only from the Prophet of God is the perfect unity, that it creates such a condition in mankind that each one will make sacrifices for the other, that the utmost desire will be to forfeit life and all that pertains to it in the behalf of another’s good. This unity has been demonstrated in the past. We are acquainted with the dynamic power of the Prophets of the past; we know the great history of this World Faith, of the thousands of martyrdoms of people who were not spiritually blind, who as in the times of the previous Prophets,
Bahá’í Youth attending the Symposium held in Bombay, India, February 25th, 1945, in honor of International Bahá’í Youth Day.
knew the only way to establish 3. Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We also know the plan which Bahá’u’lláh gave to the world nearly a century ago. What kinds of persons were they who so willingly and gladly gave up their lives that a Great Truth might live? They were men of the same character as those who must put into practice this new plan of living. This plan can only become effective if carried out by a people Who are living truly spiritual lives, by a people —————willing to forsake personal aims and to dedicate themselves to universal goals and ideals, willing not only to dedicate their intelligence and strength, but also their lives.
For when the Prophet of God comes, He changes the very heart of man and this unity, this faith, and this obedience to the laws of God must be carried into every degree of existence, into the political sphere, the business world, the world of arts and sciences. For it is not enough to have a belief in religion, that belief must be transmuted over into everyday living. Religion guides the individual in his relation to his fellowmen. The test of true religion lies in the influence it has on our lives. It must produce in our hearts 3. love of God Which must be transmuted into love for man; it must produce a sense of security and true happiness for man.
We cannot deny that religion as it is today has failed to guide youth and to give it the security which is its crying need. Youth
cannot be imprisoned by the narrow theological doctrines of man-made religion. Youth cannot accept a religion which is so different from the scientific and logical principles Which are the foundation of education today. The revolt of modern youth seemingly against religion is at bottom not revolt against religion, but against the trappings and dogma that conceal the true God. The solution must be not in an unnatural limiting of life, but rather in the spontaneous motivation which can only come from a religion which youth freely adopts and holds to with complete loyalty.
Yes, this civilization can be rebuilt—this old world order will be changed through the will of God. Man Will, by his own volition, live on a higher spiritual plane and abide by the teachings of true religion. Then will the most Great Peace Which Bahá’u’lláh prophesies descend on mankind.
What greater challenge, what greater crusade could be given to youth? Bahá’í Youth has accepted this challenge. Into this great world wide movement the youth of many countries, of many races, of many hereditary religions are throwing themselves with deep sincerity and earnest endeavor. The Bahá’í Youth have found in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the fulfillment of all the prophetic cycles of the past and the great spiritual truths restated in modem terms for this modern world. Through the teachings of
Bahá’u’lláh, youth can assume the opportunities and responsibilities of this day, for Bahá’u’lláh has given the plans, the purpose, the standards, and ideals for the building of a new race of man and a new civilization. Bahá’í Youth all over the world are able to look forward to the future of civilization
with security in their hearts, with clear and untroubled minds, because they know that out of the ashes of this confused and chaotic state will arise a new world through the power of the Spirit emanating from God and released to this modern world by Bahá’u’lláh.
FAITH IN ACTION
BY JOHN CARL EICHENAUER, III
(C
O GOD! These souls are Thy heavenly Army. Assist them and with the cohorts of the Supreme Concourse, make them victorious, so that each one of them may become like unto a regiment and conquer these countries through the love of God and the illumination of the divine teachings.”‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
These lines are from a prayer in the Tablets of the Divine Plan revealed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (The Servant of the Glory), for the carrying of the Message of Bahá’u’lláh (The Glory of God) to all parts of the earth. The first part of this Plan was completed with the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in every State and Province in North America, and in every Latin American Republic. With the emergence of Europe, Asia and Africa from the perilous night of war, the stage is set for the fulfilling Tablets of the Plan calling for the anchoring of the Administrative Order in every country of these sorely-afflicted continents.
Let us review some of the initial steps made in this world-wide teaching campaign by Bahá’ís in the military services. There were soldiers, sailors, merchant seamen, WACS, WAVES and a Woman Marine in the United States forces, not to mention service personnel of Canada, Australia, Great Britain and other countries. Well over 200, they participated at once in the disintegration of the old order of nationalism and prejudice and in the inauguration of a new era of international cooperative undertakings. Front line aidmen and rear echelon Joes, supply troops and intelligence personnel, white and Negro, young and old, officers and enlisted men, they reached every continent and traversed every ocean in laying
the foundations of the world civilization envisaged by the Divine Architect of this Era, Bahá’u’lláh of Mézindarén.
First let us hear from the South Pacific. A Chicago Bahá’í, Technical Sergeant Edwin H. Koyl (attached to a medical unit) writes from New Guinea, "Lonely as life is here, I often think of the significance of all that is transpiring. I say lonely because that is about the only effect this war has had on me in a negative way. Others have given their lives, some have given their limbs, their speech, their eyes. Just as the Guardian said about a decade ago; ours is to be a spiritual martyrdom, and in place of physical blood oftimes I have bled spiritually. It was a trying experience, I say, was, because I can look back on what seems to be the worst of it. (He wrote on 18 June 1945.) We always figure it that way until we find ourselves in another ‘valley.’ But you and I know that there is always something to be gained from such experiences. I have tried my best not to let the message of each incident and trial escape me; time will tell how well I have succeeded.
"My present position is a very pleasant one, has been for the past several months. We have a small but efficient setup that administers primary medication to a large group of service troops. Each day is filled With its responsibilities to be discharged, and each night finds us one day nearer the Lesser Peace and those we love.
"I find plenty to keep me busy. It seems
that there is always just a little more to
do than I have time for. Is not that an
ideal situation? Idle time is spent running
movies for the officers three nights a week,
playing volley ball, writing letters and reading.
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Bahá’í Youth Group of Bombay, India, 1946.
As to the latter, through the generosity of Mrs. Julia Shows, I am now enjoying ‘God Passes By.’ Have received the Chicago Bahá’í News regularly, the National not so often. I would like very much to be furnished with a list of the Bahá’í communities in the Philippine Islands.
"It can now be told that I am stationed at Milne Bay at the southeastern tip of New Guinea. It is a beautiful spot, truly one of the spots of the South Pacific. Were there snow on the mountains opposite I would feel right at home. Green jungle, blue sky, and bluer water, cocoanut palms—oh, how romantic! Except for ten weeks in Biak (I) have been here over nineteen months.
“Remember me to the Community, and tell them that if perchance I cannot make the Outer Drive in ’45, surely I can make one-one-six (Chicago Bahá’í Center is located at 116 Michigan Avenue) in ’46. ’Till then may God be With you! Your Bahá’í brother, Edwin Koyl.” (This letter was Written to the editor of Chicago Bahá’í News, Mr. I. W. Steven.)
From the Western Pacific on Saipan, another Chicago Bahá’í, Joseph F. Peter, writes
in a letter to Mrs. Ioas, Chicago Bahá’í Servicemen Correspondent, "Do you know Paul Pettit? (From Bucyrus, Ohio.) Well, he is now on Tinian and I’ve already arranged for transportation there—even got Saturday off, too—I hope Joe (Joe Tierno of the New York Community) can make it with mehe is trying. The way we are going now we’re liable to form an Assembly—if we only had six more, and (if) I (were) a few months older!!! Clement Perry (of the Cleveland Bahá’í Community) has so far supplied us with all the addresses, but he is still all alone (on New Guinea). ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said that all parts of the world must be visited including the islands of the Pacific and a good number have been visited already. uFor a man can withstand anything except that which was divinely intended.” (Quoted from Chicago Bahá’í News for August, 1945.) On September 28, Joseph writes, “Tomorrow I’m heading for Tinian with a friend of mine in my outfit. When I first heard that Paul was on Tinian I asked my friend if he wanted to come along to Tinian to look over the island—he asked if I knew Paul—I said no, he asked if I had ever
written him—I said no—did I know what he looked like—nopell—he was really floored, but when Paul walked out of the hut I knew him instantly and my friend remarked to me later, our greeting was like that of two lost brothers. By now my friend has almost finished Esslemont (‘Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era,’ by Dr. J. E. Esslemont) and I’m looking forward to a very pleasant weekend on Tinian with Paul, Harry (3 New Orleans Bahá’í) and my friend. The most pleasant seven months of my life was spent in Honolulu where I had a chance to meet all the friends including some ‘from Maui and Hawaii and especially Miss Agnes Alexander who shared many of her experiences in Japan and other countries with me.”
Still another Chicago Bahá’í, Lt. Ernest A. Thayer, D. C., U.S.N.R., writes, “I left my home and last station on March 8. I reported for sea transportation on March 17 at San Francisco . . . (and) waited until April 4 when I started ship hiking and islandhopping across the Pacific. The first stop was Pearl Harbor, next Eniwetok, then Guam and finally to my ship on May 14.
uIt; was all very interesting, sometimes rather rugged physically, but I came through in good health and good spirits. I must say though that I failed to find that well-known ‘glamour’ so customarily associated with South Sea islands, so I can eliminate a few spots from my itinerary if I ever take a peace time world cruise.
"My ship is large and comfortable, if such can be said about life on a ship. It is really not bad at all but any residence in the tropics gets monotonous, especially because of its limitation. The temperature is well over 100 degrees right now, and I have found that, even though I have been here only a short time, the body adjusts itself quite well, because the other day in a mild typhoon the thermometer dropped to 82 and every one was quite chilly.
”This is a repair ship which does all kinds of repairs for other ships. . . Due to the nature of work, the personnel is highly specialized, and in general the officers and men in charge are of good type intellectually. This is good in some ways, but I seem to stand alone, mentally and spiritually, with respect to Bahá’í. These men are either sat THE BAHA’I WORLD
isfied with what they have or have a tendency to ignore spiritual values altogether, so my opportunity to pioneer among them is very limited.” (From Chicago Bahá’í N ews, September 1945.)
A member of the Cleveland Community, Pfc. Clement J. Perry (with a supply unit) writes on August 31, 1945 from Manila, “Yesterday I was in my tent and in came Dick Suhm (of Sandusky, Ohio community). . . . We were glad to see each other and we talked a long time about the gang and old times. He is located roughly five miles away from me; it sure is shorter than the 1,000 miles that we were separated prior to my moving.”
Corporal Joe Tierno, 176th Station Hospital, of New York City writes on 18 August 1945 from Saipan, “Paul Pettit is on a neighboring island (Tinian) . Joe Peter went to visit him by boat, I followed by plane. Paul has paid us a return visit by boat.”
From Luzon, P. I., Pfc. Richard T. Suhm (with a medical unit) from Sandusky, Ohio writes on 5 July 1945, “So far I haven’t run into any Bahá’ís in Manila, though there must be many. However, the city is in such a state of ruin that life is far from normal. . . . I was talking to one of the Hindu guards out here the other night who has lived in the Islands for nineteen years. He said that at the time he left India there were very many Bahá’ís in that country. I am still working in the dispensary and enjoying it all very much. We have a good gang towork for. Among other things I am writing a book with one of the bouts out here about life in the Army in the Philippines. Also, I have an opportunity to study calculus at the Philippine Institute, two nights a week. Then, also, I am studying a correspondence course in Elementary Analysis from the University of Wisconsin.”
These informal accounts portray the daily life of and demonstrate the deep feeling of fellowship that exists among Bahá’ís, some of whom know each other only by correspondence. Their common bond is belief in the Elixir of the Divine Physician of this age of maturity of the human race. Yesterday oceans separated them, today they are stationed near each other, but ever present is
C
Bahá’í Youth Group of‘Sholapur, India, 1946.
the spiritual tie of "one universal Cause, one common Faith.” Regardless of race, color, social or economic background, “Allah’u’Abhá” (God the Glorious) is the password to happiness for any Bahá’í in over seventy countries of the world. One feels that the early Christians, Muhammadans and Jews must have had the same close brotherhood in their religious activities. Would that all religions might re—examine and emulate the lives of their first believers and martyrs. Bahá’ís have the obligation to share their treasure with all interested in raising the moral, social and economic standards of the whole human race. Opportunities are many: The first sergeant (a Catholic) would like to know just how this Faith is different from Christianity. (Basic spiritual verities are the same in both—the belief in one God and the brotherhood of man—but different material laws and institutions designed for the needs of a world civilization are needed today.) A buddy wonders why you give up
alcoholic beverages. (Either we abide by every Law of the Prophet or we compromise our loyalty. Man cannot obey two masters.) Another fellow says, “All you do is eat, sleep and drink religion.” Of course, we don’t aim to be fanatics, but we do believe religion should be the guiding force in human life, that our actions should be motivated by a desire to serve humanity, that moderation should be practiced in all things. If religion does not influence our daily life, it is no more than a coat- we wear on Sunday and take off the rest of the week.
And now a word from a veteran of North Africa and Italy. Pfc. Charles H. McAllister (of New York City) , Medical Detachment. He writes from Naples, ”By my new address you can see I am not with the 386th Engineers any more. We were saddened and broken hearted when we were informed that we were to be separated and sent to two different organizations. Our Colonel did his best to keep us together but to no avail. We
were as one family and practically everyone in the battalion had heard of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. They were particularly interested in the principle of the oneness of mankind. We discussed it not on one, but on many occasions. I often read to them from ‘The Advent of Divine Justice,’ ‘Bahá’í World Faith,’ 'The Promised Day Is Come,’ and also from ‘The Dawn-Breakers.’
"Since I have been in Naples I have found a music teacher and I have been taking voice lessons for about six months. Her name is Signora Asunta Cimmino Vingiani. Her husband speaks French; so I gave him a copy of ‘Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era’ in French. After reading it through he said to me, ‘This is the religion for the Italian people. Every Italian should have this book in his home.’ I also gave away a copy of ‘The Hidden Words’ and ‘The Seven Valleys’ in French; so you can see that the teaching horizon is very bright. Aside from my regular duties and music lessons, I find time to sing with the orchestra, and work with Special Service and the Red Cross in presenting programs for the GI’s. So, until next time, your Bahá’í brother, Charles.”
A Milwaukee Bahá’í, Technical Sergeant R. C. Niss, writes, l‘In my work, survival and combat in Arctic and wet, cold conditions (Aleutian Islands), I have come across a few Alaskan Eskimos and Indians and rather than telling them specifically about the Faith, I drew out from them their ideas and feelings in order to better understand them. In fact, this idea has guided most of my Army interests. From a virtual ignorance of people, their ideas, habits and feelings, I feel I have a small foothold now of understanding them. Nothing of my Army career have I regretted for the association with such different personalities has gained me much. Yet with seventy-three points I should be on my way home after four and one—half years and will that be a happy day!” (October 5, 1945.)
Quite a few Bahá’ís served in Germany. From Launsbach by Giessen and Frankfurt we have a fine account from Sergeant Robert Bruce Davison (Medical Unit). On 22 August 1945, he writes, “I have seen my brother twice (they are both from Miami, Florida) over here and have given the Mes THE BAHA’I WORLD
sage‘ to most of the boys in my outfit and to at least a dozen civilians in every town we’ve been in, and in this town, many, many more than a dozen. Three people I’ve met have heard of it before. Before our recent great change in personnel most of the boys knew that I was forever and without condition plugging racial equality.” Not having any addresses of Bahá’ís in Frankfurt, Sgt. Davison inserted the following notice in the Frankfurter Rundscbau of September 8, 1945, "Bahá’ís in Frankfurt wollen sich bitten in Verbind setzen mit Sgt. R. B. Davison, 156 Infant Medical Detachment Heddernheim, Romerstadt Strasse.” In a few days he was visited by several Bahá’ís. The first meeting in seven years was held Friday, 14 September 1945 at the home of Herr Barthel, 14 Wohlerstrasse, and by the end of the month the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Frankfurt was in the process of formation due to his exceptional zeal. On October 7, he wrote, "I was shipped to Europe in December of 1944 with the 70th Infantry Division. Our unit had just eighty—eight days of combat, one of which my brother spent with me. It was the 17th of February near Forbach. We talked Bahá’í a few minutes, read a prayer together and then worked the whole day, bandaging and evacuating the freshly wounded till we dripped with sweat. (Sgt. Davison was a front-line aidman.) (Since the first meeting) we have met weekly in the following order: Herr Barthel’s, Friday, 21 September; Niedernau S 8, 28 September; and now our regular place of meeting, Gutleut Strassc 121, Friday 5th October. I spoke on September 14, twelve present; Frl. Edith Horn and I spoke let, 16 present; Dr. Hermann Grossman spoke on the 28th and 5th of October with 22 and 18 present respectively.” Bruce’s weapons are a winning smile, a marvelous personality and an extraordinary grasp of German acquired in only a few months.
Lt. Richard A. McCurdy (of the Lima, Ohio, community, with a medical unit), served in western Germany and writes on January 26, 1945, "As you probably have already surmised, I am in a forward medical station, having mostly liaison duties. At the dispensary (in Paris) we had some real discussions,
Youth Education Committee of Kirmán, Persia, 1945.
there being a Jew, a Buddhist and several Christians among the medics. Earlier I had met a Muhammadan soldier in one of the depots. So we could surely talk unity and peace from several angles. You can well imagine. At Mereville, one English-speaking French woman is writing to Barbie (his wife) about it. In Paris, the dispensary clerk (an instructor in French at home) and I met some friends near the Bastile and in the course of the evening I showed pictures of the Temple, among which Was a photograph of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Which they questioned me about. Much to my amazement the clerk explained the Cause, mostly in French, and later these people passed the Message on (I only caught the word Bahá’í occasionally) to a cafe owner Who remarked that Paris needed such 3 Faith. This French woman Who also spoke fairly good English, asked me several times if I would come and tell her more Bahá’í and introduce her to other Bahá’ís in Paris. ‘You will take me, yes?’ was her last request. But my orders ended my Paris trips.”
Later, he writes from Recklinghausen, Germany, “Weekend before last I spent a
few days with Cap’t. (Connie) Baker (also of Lima), my first Bahá’í contact since I left Barbie last August in Greenville, Pa. We did have a splendid time—he is with the 25th General Hospital in Belgium—not far from Maastricht or Liege.”
Technician Fifth Grade David Ned Blackmer (of Binghamton, N. Y.), attached to a Field Hospital, writes on October 6, "I have yet to meet any Bahá’ís overseas, although it has been possible to tell many people of the Faith and, on occasion, to follow up their inevitable interest. In Eng land, or among Army personnel, these contacts are not unusual. They occur more frequently than they did at home; due, perhaps, to our encountering more people; due, more likely to the awareness of world needs which the War has forced.
uIt struck me as unique, however, that my first contact on the Continent should be a Belgian woman who spoke no English. Our convoy had stopped before her home for a noon break and she brought us fresh bread and coffee. Contrary to 'some experiences we had had with civilians, she determinedly refused payment of any kind.
This was intriguing. With much pantomime, and my limited French, she told me of her three sons, dead in Germany, and of her unwavering faith that a better world was at hand. At that point we should have moved on, but I was impelled to try to tell this lady about the Bahá’í Faith. As our convoy started to move, one of the lead trucks discovered a need for repairs. They took over an hour, during which I tried to convey Bahá’u’lláh’s Message, with some success. She wanted to know more than there was time to tell, so I left her a copy, in English, of ‘Bahá’í Teachings for a World Faith.’ She assured me that she had a friend who could translate it to her. As we drove away she stood turning the pamphlet in her hands and smoothing it, waving now and again until we were out of sight.
“There was the German who worked for us who wanted to talk politics. When I told him that ‘Ein Reich, ein Volk, ein Fiihrer' should be superseded by ‘Die Erde is nur ein Lande, und die Gemainschaft ist das Volk,’ he responded enthusiastically, saying that friends should be chosen by the responding of heart to heart regardless of birth, color, or politics. He, too, was enthusiastic over the Bahá’í principles.
“There have been all kinds of encounters with people who, while not yet Bahá’ís still show great awareness of the spirit of this age. They always seem glad to hear of the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and, regardless of speech barriers, it always seems possible to give the Message wherever it is necessary. I know something of what the man must have felt who, although he knew no Persian, protested the ‘interruptions’ of the interpreter who was translating as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke. That man’s sympathetic comprehension was founded on a spiritual understanding which required only the Master. Words were superfluous.
“I believe the Teachings hold something of that same power, even in our hands. It has often happened that as soon as my halting translation into French or German has established one of the principles of Bahá’u’lláh as the basis for conversation, a bond of understanding comes into being which bridges the difficulties my ignorance of these languages has caused. Comprehension flows
faster than words can follow. It is much like rolling a hoop which requires only an occasional tap in the right direction to keep it bowling along!
uof all my experiences in Europe, this impresses me as being most significant. Wherever, whenever, it has seemed right to tell a fellow man of the Bahá’í Faith, those differences of birth, race, nationality, education, religion, language, and all of the other accidental variations of circumstance which are commonly thought to obstruct understanding, have vanished. We are two men talking together of the values in life which shall always matter; rejoicing that, in our time, these truths have been brought to maturity, and struck with new power, through their enunciation by a Manifestation of God.
“The language of the heart transcends speech and, through the increased understanding which study of the Faith brings, a Bahá’í is well schooled in this tongue. It does not require words. There was a Mongolian who came to us, shot through the chest from side to side. He was uneasy among strange people and strange experiences, but our eyes met in friendship and we understood each other. And he quieted enough so that we could help him.
“There was a Nazi, dying, who needed a hand to hold. What are the politics of Death? The look he gave me before he closed his eyes could have been read in any country.
“Statistically, I have distributed over a hundred pamphlets 'Bahá’í Teachings for a World Faith,’ discriminately, always to someone who either read English himself, or who knew a friend who would translate for him. Of the leaflet, ‘The World Faith of Bahá’u’lláh,’ Shoghi Effendi’s summary, I have given sixty or seventy away. And it has been possible to speak of the Faith to perhaps fifty or sixty others to whom it was not practicable to give literature. ! Ned.”
Others who served in Germany are Pfc. Ray H. Edwards (of Los Angeles, Calif.) 58th Field Hospital; Sgt. Clarence Stigall, Medical Detachment, 1 3 17th Engineer (General Service) Regiment, Technician Fifth
First public meeting for Youth held under the auspices of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Punta Arenas, Magallanes, Chile, July, 1945.
Grade Ambrose Dumler (of Milwaukee, Wis), 32nd General Hospital; Corporal John Ashton (of Evanston, Ill.) 104th Infantry Division; Corporal H. Duncan McAlear (of Boston, Mass.) with the 546th Anti-Aircraft Artillery; and Lt. Joel Marangella (of New York City) With the 9th Army Hq., Chemical Section.
Two Bahá’í medical soldiers were on Hospital Ships; Technician Third Grade Larry
Beers (of New York City) served on the,
Hospital Ship USAHSKoranda; Technician Fourth Grade Harlan Schefller (of Wilmette, Ill.) served on a Hospital Ship between San Francisco and Pacific bases.
A number of American Bahá’í soldiers contacted the British Bahá’ís: Corporal Norman Smith; Technical Sgt. Donald P. Kinney; and Sgt. Henry H. Tellerman.
Exceptional have been the activities of Corporal Alvin Blum in New Zealand, and in the Philippines. An American Bahá’í
soldier aided in the establishment of the first Local Assembly in the Republic of Panama. Pfc. Elmer Duckett of Monrovia, Ca1if., contacted the Bahá’ís in India. A few Bahá’í servicemen were given the extreme privilege to make the pilgrimage to the World Center of the Faith in Haifa, Palestine and to meet the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi.
As one reflects upon the exploits of these adventurers in the path of God one is reassured that there is tremendous power in this Faith which impels its followers, regardless of capacity, social or economic status, to spend their utmost in the establishment of the institutions which are a pattern for a future society. We cannot but remain convinced that the prophecy of Bahá’u’lláh is being fulfilled, that the world is slowly but surely becoming one country and mankind its citizens.
Stuttgart, Germany 21 October, 1945.
Bahá’í Character-Training Classes from two of the twelve districts in Ṭihrán, Persia, in Which children’s training work is regularly conducted. Such classes throughout the city are attended by more than sixteen hundred children and youth under the age of eighteen.
YOUTH AND THE BAHA’I
YOUTH ACTIVITIES
463
r
CAUSE
BY ESTEBAN CANALES LEYTON
Foreword: Before expressing my modest opinions upon this subject, I desire to make it clear that in speaking of the youth, I do not only refer to people of 21 years of age, or less, but to those up to approximately 30 years of age. Also, I wish to state that the Bahá’í community of Punta Arenas, of which I have the privilege to belong, is composed in the majority of people of this age.
I FIRMLY believe that the greatest responsibility for the most successful progress of our beloved Cause in the near future rests upon the young people of this great World Community, and upon the labor they exert Will depend especially the swift establishment of the Faith. It has been my observation, during my short experience as a Bahá’í teacher, that when young people enter the Cause, they embrace it with more sincerity, more loyalty and enthusiasm, than the older people, and thereby achieve more efficient work in the spread of the Teachings.
It is very natural and logical that this should be so, not only here in my country of Chile, but in any land, inasmuch as the youth are less attached to prejiidices and traditions of the past. Once they enter the Faith and come to understand its true importance, they devote their best energies toward the attainment of such high purposes as the unfolding, by every means within their reach, of the sacred Teachings of our Well-Beloved Bahá’u’lláh, the only remedy which can save this so very sick body of mankind.
Many of the friends who read these humble statements Will know already of the growing victories which are being won by our beloved Faith in this isolated tip of the Continent. This is due to the great efforts put forth by the young members of this Community under the Wise guidance of our experienced and excellent teachers, Mrs. Marcia Steward and Mr. Artemus Lamb,
with whom I have had the privilege of collaborating.
It is for this reason that I make a fervent call to all the dear friends who have the privilege of imparting the sacred Teachings of our beloved Bahá’u’lla’ih, to devote and concentrate their greatest efforts in attracting and preparing the young people in our Cause, for upon them depends the greatest and swiftest success of the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith.
YOUTH ACTIVITIES IN MAGALLANES, CHILE
In Punta Arenas, the most southerly city of the world, a public meeting for the Youth was held for the first time, on July 29, 1945. Participants on this occasion were the youth members of this community, several members of the Assembly and various young people interested in the Cause.
The meeting was held at the residence of Mr. Artemus Lamb and was arranged by Sr. Esteban Canales Leyton, Srta. Rosy Vodanovic and Sr. Hugo Arteagabeitia, members of the Assembly, Who read interesting extracts from the Bahá’í Writings, selected for this occasion. Srta. Nelly Andrade gave a beautiful program of piano compositions, after which tea was served. It was an interesting and friendly gathering Which was distinguished by the cordial and happy spirit which reigned throughout the event.
In the same city, on the 4th of August, another meeting was held for the Youth and other people interested in the Cause, consisting of a tea Which was given at the Hotel Cosmos. After tea was served, Mr. Lamb showed the slides of the Temple which had recently been received from the United States. Sr. Esteban Canales gave explanations of the views which were projected.
Due to the excellent publicity which the Committee of Publications of the Bahá’í Assembly of Punta Arenas has given the Cause in the newspapers and radio of this locality, the professor of History of the
In the garden of a home in Ṭihrán, Persia, the children of a Bahá’í Character-Training Class present: a play demonstrating the purposes of their class meetings. There are one hundred and eleven Character-Training Classes in the city of Ṭihrán, conducted by ninety-one teachers.
First “Bahá’í Youth Day” Meeting held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, March 17, 1945.
High School of this city gave his pupils the task of investigating the Faith. In this way, about 400 students are acquiring a sound knowledge of it. Later Mr. Artemus Lamb
and Sr. Esteban Canales interviewed this professor, Sr. René Ramirez, who proved to be very interested personally in the Cause and is now reading its literature.
THE CHILDREN’S SHARE OF SUMMER SCHOOL
BY DORIS GOODRICK
Bahá’í Summer School Sessions afford valuable opportunities to observe in detail the methods of Bahá’í teachers of children, Who, gathered together from several States and Provinces, are working together in true Bahá’í harmony. At the Geyserville School session of 1945 the children shared in the practical application of Bahá’í community life, as the pupils in the older classes provided, through their handicraft projects, some of the equipment needed for the classes for the younger children.
The ages of the children ranged from the nursery group, who were from two to five years old, through the primary grade aged
from six to eight, the intermediate from nine to eleven, the high intermediate from eleven to thirteen, and the junior youth from thirteen to fifteen. The teachers were well qualified for their work, having had experience in their own communities, and they were not restricted as to their methods of teaching.
One very important feature was the general assembly for the children, before they went to their separate classes. This was conducted by the supervisor of the children’s study classes. Volunteers were called upon to recite prayers, and it Was an inspiration to see the junior youth respond
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Baha 1 Youth Symposium held in
readily and unhesitatingly. They will so soon be shouldering their share of the Bahá’í work for this second century. Volunteers were also asked to lead in singing, and even the little nursery tots would step up in front of the class and lead with one of the simple Bahá’í songs Which the children had selected. A few words of inspiration about the Bahá’í Teachings or perhaps a short quiz would follow. One morning the children were asked what they thought the title "Hidden Words” meant, and a seven-year—old promptly answered, "I think it means hidden truth.”
The songs and prayer and the kindly, cheerful little chat with the children seemed to set the tone for the day’s work. This work was divided into two morning class periods, from 9:30 to 12:15, including the assembly; the first period for study and the second period for handicraft. Some of the classes were held outdoors on or near a large porch. The nursery tots had an enclosed outdoor play yard, with swings and a sand box.
The classes for the nursery tots are very important. There are families who come to Summer School every year and their children start in the nursery and come on up through the classes. The nursery work requires two teachers in attendance at all times. The special project for the nursery children was to teach them cooperative play. During the first period they played in the sand box and the swing, sang nursery songs, played with toys and were entertained by the teacher reading stories. Simple handicraft was given them during the second period.
Expression painting was perhaps the most interesting of the handicrafts. For this the washable water paints were used. These come in powder form and are mixed with water as required. Most paint stores carry this paint under brand names. Some schools get kalsomine paints, which are mixed with water, instead of the special water paints prepared for children. Poster paint, which is mixed with Water, may also be used. If the children spill this paint on their clothing, it can be washed out if laundered Within twelve hours.
For paper we used what the newspapers call newsprint. Some newspapers have butt ends of rolis that they will sell and others have scrap which- they will gladly donate for children’s classes. Wallpaper is also a splendid material, as the back is plain and the texture is good. Discontinued lines may be purchased cheaply, or ends of rolls left over from papering rooms may be used. The pieces should be about 18 by 24 inches. In our classes these sheets were thumbtacked to easels which had been made by the junior youth class as a handicraft project. Each child was allowed to select his own color and those of four and five years of age were allowed to have two colors. Small brushes with long handles were given them. No suggestion was made as to What they should paint nor were they asked what they were painting until they finished. Some finished in five minutes and wanted to do something else, others worked at it for some time. When the picture was completed, the children were encouraged to tell what it was and then their name and the name of the picture was written in the corner. No attempt whatever was made to help them with the painting or to correct anything they painted.
There is a paint also which can be given to the children for finger painting. For this form they simply apply the paint with a finger instead of using a brush. These expression paintings are of great value to experts trained in diagnosing mental and nervous conditions of children. Sometimes children are cured of nightmares and nervous upsets by thus expressing themselves freely. They seem to transfer the strange confusions in their young minds to the paper and are relieved of nervous tension.
Clay modeling was much enjoyed by the children. We made this clay by mixing 2 cups of salt with 1 cup of flour and adding water to make a stiff dough. A little of the powder used for making the water paints gave it the necessary color interest. The vegetable colorings sold in the markets for coloring cake frostings and candies can be used, and are harmless if the children try to eat any of the clay. If this clay is worked back into a ball and wrapped in a wet cloth it can be used repeatedly. Commercial clay
Group of Bahá’í Youth attending Geyserville, California Summer School Session, 1944.
from the toy stores was used also at Geyserville.
Bright colored paper which can be purchased at the stationery store has many uses in handicraft projects. If it is cut into small patterns, designs, such as triangles, crescents, squares, circles, etc., the children paste them onto a gray background, arranging the different shapes to make a picture. Strips of the colored paper can be pasted to make paper chains to use for decorating the hall when they exhibit their work; or they can be woven into mats, allowing the children free expression in color combinations.
Whenever the children tired of what they were doing, they were allowed to do something else. Sometimes they liked to stop their work and look at bright pictures in a story book. Five minutes is a long time for the youngest ones when there are so many attractions such as the swing and the sand box and the toys. It was found most helpful to give the children a simple lunch, such as graham crackers and milk or fruit juice when the change was made between the class periods. This not only applied to the nursery tots but the older ones were found to benefit by it also.
The special theme of study for the children past the nursery age was to learn a
little more about the spiritual stations of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi In one class this was carried out by teaching and reviewing for several days, and then having the children question each other. For instance, one child would be given the topic of the Báb and the other children told to prepare questions to ask him the following day. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said that children should question each other in class. Some very unique questions were asked. The children’s questions approached the subject from angles that had not occurred to the instructor. One child asked if the Báb were still living when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was first sent to prison. They also wanted definite historical data about the difficulties the believers had in moving the body of the Báb from the time of His martyrdom until ‘Abdu’l-Bahá placed it in the shrine. They seemed to respond to stirring events, action and evident facts.
In another class the children were told to give the Message of the Faith to a visitor who came in. This they readily did, and one boy brought out a copy of ”Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era” and showed her the chapters containing the answers to her questions. She asked what kind of a religion it was and who it was for, and one small boy told her
Bahá’í Youth at Esslingen School, Germany, August, 1945.
it was a “public religion,” and that it was for everybody.
An interesting study of the “Hidden Words” was made in one class. Each child would be given a description of a Hidden Word and asked to find it and read it in class next day. As an example, one of the verses of the “Hidden Words” tells where God has stored His jewels. The children enjoyed this and thought it a great joke on themselves that they had to read the book of "Hidden Words” several times in order to find these particular verses. Each one was asked to find his own verse without help from the other members of the class.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá said that it was well for children to receive prizes for their work in school. In one class in preparation for this, points were given each day for work assigned the day before. At the end of Summer School two of the children in the class tied for first place. The two stood up in front of the class and had an exciting quiz contest to decide which one should receive the prize. This had been decided on at the beginning of the class when the children asked what would happen in case two of them had the same number of points. Children not only work much harder when a prize is to be given but are much easier to
discipline; for instance, points can be taken away for unruly behavior.
The handicraft classes for the older children produced some very useful and ornamental articles. The macaroni plaques were particularly interesting. For these, macaroni in the form of letters of the alphabet was used. All stores do not have it, but stores selling fancy groceries, especially Italian stores will have it. A pound is sufficient for a dozen or more children. The children sorted these macaroni letters out to make verses of the uHidden Words.” Plaques about 6 by 8 inches were cut of plyboard, and painted With shellac. If the plyboard cannot be obtained, then wall board made of processed paper can be used; plaster board should not be used unless the edge is bound with tape. This wall board must then be painted with shellac or sizing. The macaroni letters are then fastened on with mucilage. The mucilage should be used freely. Any stain it makes on the board will be covered with paint later. Flower or scroll decorations can be added by using letters such as “u” and "v” for the petals and “i” for the stems; or some of the letters can be broken to make interesting outlines and patterns. These are allowed to dry until the next day, then enamel paints are used
in several colors for the background, the letters and the decorations. These are very attractive.
Plaster plaques and book ends in interesting shapes and designs were purchased and the children painted them with oil paints. These plaques were first lacquered with shellac. Then a large plate was placed in the center of the table and various colors and shades of oil paint that comes in tubes was squeezed out on this plate. Brushes were dipped in turpentine while using these paints. When the paint hardened on the plate over night, the brushes dipped in turpentine would soften it. Small brushes were used for both the plaster and macaroni plaques. The work on these plaques was carefully supervised by a competent instructor and the children were taught to clean their brushes. They turned out very creditable work.
The boys in the junior youth class were instructed in the making of work tables for the different classes. They also made the easels for the nursery class and enameled tin cans in bright colors for holding the water paints the children used. One of the projects for girls in junior youth class was the making of bean bags and stuffed toys for the nursery class. For the fairy play given this year, the girls made butterfly wings of yellow crepe paper and pasted bright spots of color on them. Head bands with antennae were made of cardboard. The making of the costumes was volunteer work which they did during their free time in the afternoon.
The meaning of prayer was the study theme for another class. The story of 105 the Shepherd Boy, With its great wealth of spiritual symbolism, was used to illustrate the need of our being alone once a day to remember that God gives us everything we have, and that we should love God more than worldly wealth. The story is in several parts scattered through different study outlines, and Bahá’í books and magazines. The instructor told it to the children in simple words. Then the children made a cardboard panorama illustrating the scene of the king leaving his castle for a horseback ride and finding the simple shepherd boy where he had waited by the road for
hours in order that he might look on the face of the king he loved so well.
For this panorama, a long work table, about 30 by 64 inches, was covered with two large sheets of cardboard. Plain white paper such as newsprint or wrapping paper would do if cardboard is not available. The children sketched in the road and the grass with crayons. The castle was made of cardboard. A square box and some long narrow boxes for towers was very effective. Corrugated paper such as bottles are wrapped in made good roofs. For the sheep—fold and the shepherd’s but the children wanted to use some long narrow sticks which they had found. These they glued together and glued to the table and it was very realistic. The horse. the men, the sheep and the trees were cut from cardboard and thumbtacked to the table.
If no one in the class sketches, the necessary pictures can be obtained from the children’s picture books or by watching for pictures in the advertisements in magazines and newspapers. If heavy cardboard is difficult to obtain, the sides of cereal boxes may be used by gluing two printed sides together to make one good firm piece of cardboard. The pictures may be traced from the magazine with thin paper and transferred to the cardboard with carbon paper, cut out and colored on both sides with crayon. These figures will stand erect if they are bent at the bottom. For instance, split the trunk of the tree lengthwise for about one—fourth of an inch then crease one side of the trunk forward and the other side backward, two thumbtacks will then hold it to the table so it will stand erect. A paste made of flour and water or a wallpaper paste, which is obtained dry and mixed as needed, would do just as well as glue or thumbtacks. It is a good object lesson for the children if they learn to substitute simple homemade materials for those which are sometimes difficult to obtain in stores for one reason or another.
The lake with the swans was part of the panorama and the children made the lake of White paper colored blue with crayon and tacked the cardboard swans securely to it. This panorama could have been made by using a mirror for the lake, small pieces of
The first Bahá’í Boarding School in India.
Opening of the new Bahá’í Children’s
Hostel at Panchgani, a hill station, August lst, 1945.
foliage for trees and modeling animals and men out of the homemade clay we used for the nursery handicraft. The children planned the placing of the objects in the panorama and learned a lesson in Bahá’í consultation at the same time. No one child decided the placing of any of the figures, and, in case they were not unanimous in their decision, a vote was taken and the minority readily accepted the decision of the majority. Something of proportion and perspective can be taught them when they are selecting the pictures, so that they will not have the sheep as large as the lake and so that they will understand why the objects in the foreground can properly be large in proportion to those in the background in order to convey the sense of distance.
An entertainment put on by the children forms part of the Summer School program, and the children who made the panorama also worked out a play based on the story of 105 the Shepherd Boy as their contribution. Another class put on a one-part play of a little girl who falls asleep and learns of the Bahá’í principles through the fairies, and wakes to find that her mother has been reading “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era.”
This was very attractive, as it gave the Bahá’í Message.
The easels were brought on the stage for the nursery children the night of the entertainment and they sang nursery songs and painted a picture. Each child then explained to the audience what his picture represented. The older girls had learned a new song for the occasion and there were prayers in English, Spanish and Arabic. The nursery paintings were displayed on the walls and the handicraft was spread out on tables. The children decorated the hall with crepe paper streamers. This was volunteer work on the part of the children, which they did in the afternoon after their last rehearsal of their two plays.
The story of 103 the Shepherd Boy, being in four parts, would either require a stage curtain and several changes of scenery or. as in our case, a very simple handling. Children, the world over, love to dress up in discarded clothing or old pieces of cloth and work out their own plays. 50 it was decided to have the children put on the play just as they would if they were playing out in the orchard without any audience.
All but one child came on stage. One of them said, "What can we play? There’s
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nothing to do around here!” Another said,
”Paul is coming over with a new game for
us.” Then Paul came in carrying a bundle
of old clothes and said, “I found these
things in the attic. Let’s put on the play
of Ios the Shepherd Boy.” Another child
says, “Paul, why don’t you tell the story
again before we start the play?”
Then all of them sat down and Paul told in his own words the story of the simple shepherd boy who so longed to see the good and wise king of his land that he stood for hours by the road where he had heard the king was to pass, and refused to be driven away by the king’s men. The king could not forget the boy who so loved him that his only wish was to gaze on his face, and he finally sent for Ios to live in the castle. There the members of the king’s court became very jealous of the favors showered on Ios, and when they observed that every night at midnight Ios went to a tiny room in the tower and locked the door, they went to the king and reported that no doubt Ios was hiding jewels and money there and would later run away. That night the king and his court followed Ios to learn his secret. They then found that he went to this room only to put on his old shepherd’s clothes and to meditate on the fact that he was a very humble man, and that all he had was what his beloved king had given him.
The king decided to test Ios and calling his court together they went for a ride. Suddenly the king emptied a box of jewels out cnto the sand. Everyone but Ios got down and hastily searched the sand for jewels. Ios remained by the king’s side. When the king asked him why he didn’t pick up the jewels, Ios said, uO, King, I do not wish for wealth. I only want to stay by your side to gaze on your face and to guard you.” The king was so convinced of Ios’ sincerity that he appointed him to guard his only son.
On the palace grounds there was a lake with some very beautiful swans in it. The king loved these swans Very much. One day the king’s son killed one of the swans with a bow and arrow and then quickly gave the bow to Ios and ran away when he saw his father coming through the forest. Ios refused to tell what had happened because he wished to spare the king the grief
of knowing that his son had done this terrible thing. Although the king loved 105 so clearly, he felt he could no longer trust him and Ios was banished from the king’s presence.
In time the king’s son could no longer bear the burden on his conscience and he confessed to his father that Ios was innocent. The king at once went to 105’ hut to bring him back, but long grieving had made 105 very ill and the king found him on his death bed. Supremely happy knowing the king loved him, Ios died after gazing lovingly on the king’s face once more.
The story being told, the children jumped up and sorted out the clothes Paul had brought in, and put them on. Some of these were lengths of cloth and some parts of old costumes that had been stored at the Summer School. There was a long black coat for the king and a fine long stick for his royal sceptre. Ios had a large piece of burlap to wrap around him and another long stick for his shepherd’s crook. The king also carried a long stick for a sceptre. Later a long blue coat was given to Ios when he came to live in the castle. The king’s men wore uniforms that were made of lengths of cloth with a neck opening cut in them so that they hung down an equal length front and back. The king’s son also wore one of these with a short black jacket over it. The box of jewels can be any small hard substance that will not roll when emptied out. We used paper clips and the audience was much amused. They enjoyed this unexpected device because they knew it represented the imaginative makeshifts children produce in their undirected play.
For 'scenery the children simply pointed to one corner of the stage and said, uThat chair will be the shepherd’s hut, and the one in this corner can be the castle.” When a change of scene was required, they stopped and one said, "Now what comes next?”, and someone else said, "Why, don’t you remember, this is where . . . .”
The dialogue was written out by the teacher, but the children were not required to learn it word for word. They were allowed to change it as they wished. They did change it somewhat at each rehearsal and improved it immensely. They were also
reassured that it would be all right if they needed to prompt each other the night of the play, as long as they did it simply, just as children would do if they were playing alone. The audience went into gales of laughter when one of the youngsters had trouble getting his costume on and another child had to help him. It was so natural that some thought it had purposely been made part of the play.
When the last act was finished they gathered in a group and said, "That was fun! Let’s have Paul save these things for us so we can play it again.” Then one said, "I wonder why ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told that story.” Another said, “‘Abdu’l-Bahá said that Bahá’u’lláh was our spiritual king.” Then they talked about it being necessary to be like 103 and love Bahá’u’lláh more than jewels, and money, and to go alone once a day to remember that they had nothing of their own selves, that Bahá’u’lláh gave them everything. Then they trooped off the stage, one of them saying, “I’m hungry, let’s go home to supper.”
The children worked hard practicing for the play, and during the few days of preparation, seeds of spiritual truth were sown that will inevitably bear fruit.
The junior youth gave an entertainment another evening. They demonstrated how Bahá’í ethics could be applied to games to insure fair play. This they did by playing a game of quoits on the stage and then settling a dispute which arose. Later they held a class session on the stage, with one of the girls acting as a new pupil. They were studying the “Dawn Breakers,” and when the new member asked questions, they answered her by reading from the “Dawn Breakers” and the Bible; thus demonstrating the principle of independent investigation of the truth. Then they dismissed the Class to hold a party to which the audience was invited.
First the A B C game was played. This was to be in the form of quotations from “Hidden Words,” and to be given in order of the alphabet. It was explained that the articles such as "the” need not be counted. For instance; the verse beginning “The bird,” could be counted for the letter “b.” Also the salutations need not be counted, and
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the letter X could be used in a word beginning with “ex.” In a few cases, such as the letter "2,” it was necessary to find the word in the middle of the sentence. The audience entered into the spirit of it and found a verse for each letter, though many of the verses were not taken from the “Hidden Words.” The class then posted a list of the verses, showing that the verses could all be found in the uHidden Words.”
A paper with a quotation from the Teachings was then passed to every one with instructions to make the names of countries from the letters in this quotation. The quotation used began "The world is but one country.” A prize was given to the one making the longest list of countries. The prizes offered were carrots, beautifully decorated with ribbons!
The entertainment wound up with a quiz program. Invitations were passed out to about twenty-five of the audience. These friends were lined up and questioned by the children. The questions asked were such as this—“Who was the Seventeenth Letter of the Living? What was the name of the Twelfth Imam?” This was a lot of fun for those Who were privileged to look on. The grand prize given for this contest was a carrot combined with white paper, to make a beautiful calla lily. The reward the children received for giving this evening’s entertainment could only be guessed at by trying to estimate the value of such research work as the children had to do to make up their games and the quiz contest.
An immense amount of work can be accomplished with a class that meets every day: but it was not all work for the children. In the afternoon there was swimming in the river; educational and comedy films were rented for them; a weiner roast was held by the river, there were hikes in the hills and time for games in the orchards; nature study excursions were combined with class work. Some of the Geyserville residents sent their children to the Summer School, and one woman volunteered her services to assist with the nursery work. One very impressive thing was the children’s love of singing. We would go down to class in the morning to find them singing as they set out the chairs, or to find a group singing
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as they were waiting to be taken out on an excursion. Several of them expressed a desire for some new songs.
One mother was inspired to open 3 Summer School for children in her home during vacation, and invited the neighbor children to attend mornings. Two teachers can manage a group of this kind by alternating class periods. One teaches the larger class while the nursery children receive instruction in handicraft; then the older children are taught handicraft while the nursery class is taught simple Bahá’í ethics, such as kindness to animals. However, it is much more successful to divide the children into at least three age groups.
Part of the bounty of teaching children is in the questions they ask, which must be
written down in your notebook and looked up, in order to be sure they are given the correct answer. It is a highly technical and very responsible work to teach the Bahá’í Faith to little children. They must be given the correct outer teachings, and then in God’s own time the inner teachings will be revealed to them. New visual methods, new adaptations of old methods await the Bahá’í teacher who Will step into this almost entirely unexplored field of teaching—unexplored and precious, this teaching of the Bahá’í Faith to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s children.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, "The education of children is one of the most great services. All these children are mine. If they are educated and illumined, it is as though my own children were so characterized.”
RANDOM PAGES FROM
”A BAHA’I
A is for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
The name ‘Abdu’l-Bahá means "Servant of God.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá knew that the way to be happy was to serve and help other people.
B is for the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh
The Báb was a very good and gentle man called a Prophet. He was sent by God to teach the people to be good and tell them about the coming of another great, loving Teacher, called Bahá’u’lláh.
God sent the great Prophet, Bahá’u’lláh, to teach all the people in the world how to love each other and live happily together.
L is for Love
Love is the most beautiful and precious thing there is. It is God’s love for the world that makes Him send the Prophets.
CHILD’S A—B—C”
It is our love for God that makes us love and help each other. It is love Which brings us the greatest joy and happiness.
M is for Manifestation
A Manifestation, or Prophet, is a Messenger from God, sent by Him to teach men how to live good and happy lives. There have been many Manifestations of God. Some of their names are: Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, The Báb, Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’u’lláh is the Manifestation of God for our time.
O is for Oneness
People from all countries, with different colored skin and speaking different languages, were made by God and are loved by Him. We must all learn this and act like brothers and sisters who love each other. Unity is a good word for oneness.
