Bahá’í World/Volume 8/Youth Activities Throughout the Bahá’í World
5.
YOUTH ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE BAHÁ’Í WORLD
BY FLORENCE MATTOON
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
GOD has not forgotten man; man has forgotten God. As young Bahá’ís we know that this is true. The world, however, does not agree. It is our great responsibility and privilege to tell the world that God has again sent mankind a Teacher—a Leader —a Divine Manifestation to lead us out of the confusion, carnage, and despair of the world today. We no longer live in a world of satisfied people who are sure of the future. Everyone is feeling the uncertainty of today and is fearing tomorrow.
Among the hopeful of the world there stand the Bahá’ís who believe that "A new era of divine consciousness is upon us. The world is going through a process of transformation. A new race is being developed. This is the hour of unity of the sons of men and the drawing together of all races and all classes.” The Bahá’ís know that the world faces an even greater catastrophe than that of 1914. They know that out of this war will come for the first time a universal and enduring peace. They look forward to a time when "Wars shall cease between the nations, and, by the will of God, the most great peace shall come. The world shall be seen as a new world and all men will live as brothers.”
The entire Bahá’í world has been stirred to undreamed of achievements by the steady flow of letters sent to us by our Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. Through these dynamic letters we see our Faith, not as a visionary ideal toward which we may falteringly grope, but as a firm rock upon which we may be permitted to help establish the New World Order. In a letter to Bahá’í Youth, dated December 31, 1938, Shoghi Effendi wrote that there were two major points which he would recommend the Bahá’í youth to stress in all their talks and writings. “First is the all-important fact that mankind is, in this age through the potentialities released by the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, entering the highest and most significant stage of its development, mainly that of maturity, and that the Bahá’ís view therefore the present-day convulsions agitating society, in every realm of human activity, as signs and evidences of this new growth. The social upheavals we are witnessing today, the moral confusion, the economic and political transformations, more swift and cataclysmic than any humanity has ever witnessed, all mark the birth pangs of the New World Order revealed by God for this age.
"Next to this teaching of the maturity of mankind, and as a corollary of it, comes the principle of the oneness of humanity, which, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has repeatedly stated, constitutes the hall-mark of the Bahá’í Revelation. The implications of this principle of the oneness of humanity are many and far-reaching, and it is on these that, the Guardian feels, our Bahá’í youth should dwell in their talks and activities, proving by their deeds as well as through their words, their faithful and whole-hearted adherence to this corner-stone principle of the Faith.
“Above all they should strive to get rid of all their ancestral prejudices, whether of race, creed or class, and thus attract through the example of their lives many outsiders to the Cause. At a time when racial prejudice is becoming so widespread and intense, it should be their constant endeavor to associate and mingle with the members of all races, and thereby demonstrate to the world at large the hollowness, nay the stupidity of
The Bahá’í children’s class of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, taken with their teachers, 1938.
the racial doctrines and philosophies which are so increasingly poisoning the minds of individuals, classes and nations throughout the world.
"This,” he concluded, "is the high standard of thought and conduct which the Guardian wishes the Bahá’í youth to strictly and faithfully maintain. May they, each and all, arise and live up to its high and noble ideals.”
BAHÁ’Í STANDARDS AFFECT YOUTH
In a letter to the youth who attended the
Louhelen Summer School, in Davison,
Michigan, dated July 29, 1939, Shoghi Effendi
wrote that, “Above all, Bahá”i Youth, by
their faithful and close adherence to those
high standards of Bahá’í life and conduct,
can best and most effectively contribute
towards the growth of that institution
(Louhelen Summer School) and attract to it the
attention and interest of the non-Bahá’í
world outside.” How easy it is for youth to
unfurl banners and enthusiastically tell
others of a great new Faith. While we
realize that the enthusiasm and adventurous
spirit of youth is of untold value in the
spreading of the Bahá’í Faith, still
we realize more and more that
the character and life of a Bahá’í
is a thousand times more important
than his words. Lip service is not
enough. The Bahá’í Faith does require of
its followers exacting and
sometimes demanding standards.
Sometimes it is difficult
to obey these standards. Bahá’í youth are
understanding more and more that
it is necessary to do so. It is
difficult to be different.
It is not pleasant at first. Yet we know
that the character which we develop will be
the rock upon which the Bahá’í Community
will rise. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, many years
ago, “I desire for you distinction.” Today,
we must gain that distinction by changing
our own lives, transforming them, so that
they will attract others to the Bahá’í Faith.
Bahá’u’lláh said: “Whoso ariseth among you
to teach the cause of his Lord, let him before
all else, teach his own self, that his speech
may attract the hearts of them that hear
him.” Again Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “Let
truthfulness and courtesy be your
adorning. Suffer not yourselves to
be deprived of the robe
of forbearance and justice, that the sweet
savors of holiness may be wafted from your
hearts upon all created things. Beware, O
people of Bahá, lest ye walk in the ways of
them whose words differ from their deeds.
Strive that ye may be enabled to manifest
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to the peoples of
the earth the signs of God,
and to mirror forth His commandments.
Let your acts be a guide unto all mankind,
for the professions of most men, be they high
or low, differ from their conduct. It is
through your deeds that ye can distinguish
yourselves from others.”
As one talks to young Bahá’ís, it is evident that they are eager to follow the ideals of Bahá’í conduct. When a young person recognizes the greatness and majesty and love of the Bahá’í Faith, it is no longer hard for him to give up alcohol. While smoking is not forbidden, it is strongly discouraged and many young Bahá’ís have stopped smoking.
Bahá’ís, old as well as young, must obey their governments. In case his country goes to war, the Bahá’í must also go to war, if called. The Bahá’í is not a pacifist because he believes pacifism can only bring about anarchy. Shoghi Effendi once said to Helen Bishop: "Non-cooperation is too passive a philosophy to become an effective way for social reconstruction.” The Bahá’ís believe that this is the day of Justice. Justice must be brought about by peaceful means, however. Labor strikes and acts of physical violence are opposed to the spirit of the Bahá’í Faith. Bahá’u’lláh once wrote: "In every country or government where any of this community reside, they must behave toward the government with faithfulness, trustfulness, and truthfulness.”
Every young Bahá’í is required to engage in some work or profession, no matter how handicapped he may be. Bahá’u’lláh said: “Work, especially when performed in the spirit of service, is a form of worship.”
The virtues of courtesy, honesty, justice dignity, tolerance, and kindliness are enjoined upon every Bahá’í. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stressed the importance of chastity. To an American believer, he wrote: "Because in the ocean of divine knowledge one particle of chastity is greater than ten thousand years of adoration.” Shoghi Effendi wrote in The Advent of Divine Justice: "In these days when the forces of irreligion are weakening the moral fibre, and undermining the foundations of individual morality, the obligation of chastity and holiness must claim an increasing share of the attention of the American believers, both in their individual capacities and as the responsible custodians of the interests of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. . . . A chaste and holy life must be made the controlling principle in the behavior and conduct of all Bahá’ís, both in their social relations with the members of their own community, and in their contact with the world at large. It must be upheld, in all its integrity and implications, in every phase of the life of those who fill the ranks of that Faith, whether in their homes, their travels, their clubs, their societies, their entertainments, their schools, and their universities. It must be accorded special consideration in the conduct of the social activities of every Bahá’í Summer School and any other occasions on which Bahá’í community life is organized and fostered. It must be closely and continually identified with the mission of the Bahá’í Youth, both as an element in the life of the Bahá’í community, and as a factor in the future progress and orientation of the youth of their own country.
“Such a chaste and holy life, with its implications of modesty, purity, temperance, decency, and clean-mindedness, involves no less than the exercise of moderation in all that pertains to dress, language, amusements, and all artistic and literary avocations. It demands daily vigilance in the control of one’s carnal desires and corrupt inclinations. It calls for the abandonment of a frivolous conduct, with its excessive attachment to trivial and often misdirected pleasures. It requires total abstinence from all alcoholic drinks, from opium, and from similar habit-forming drugs. It condemns the prostitution of art and of literature, the practices of nudism and of companionate marriage, infidelity in marital relationships, and all manner of promiscuity, of easy familiarity, and of sexual vices. It can tolerate no compromise with the theories, the standards, the habits, and the excesses of a decadent age. Nay, rather it seeks to demonstrate, through the dynamic force of its example, the pernicious character of such theories, the falsity of such standards, the hollowness of such claims, the perversity of such habits, and the sacrilegious character of such excesses. “It must be remembered, however, that the maintenance of such a high standard
John Eichenauer, the youngest pioneer of the Bahá’í Faith, who in 1939, at the age of seventeen, went to San Salvador to establish a center.
of moral conduct is not to be associated or confused with any form of asceticism, or of excessive and bigoted puritanism. The standard inculcated by Bahá’u’lláh, seeks, under no circumstances, to deny any one the legitimate right and privilege to derive the fullest advantage and benefit from the manifold joys, beauties and pleasure with which the world has been so plentifully enriched by an All-Loving Creator.”
It is not easy to become a true Bahá’í. That young man or young woman who sincerely strives to live according to these standards and who glories in so doing—he is truly helping to build the world-wide Bahá’í Community.
BAHÁ’Í YOUTH ACTIVITIES IN THE AMERICAS
The Bahá’í Youth of America have a
tremendous goal to strive for. In
The Advent of Divine Justice,
there is a paragraph addressed to
the Bahá’í Youth of
America. Shoghi Effendi wrote, “To the
Bahá’í Youth of America, moreover, I feel
a word should be addressed in particular, as
I survey the possibilities which a campaign
of such gigantic proportions has to offer to
the eager and enterprising spirit that so
powerfully animates them in the service of
the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Though lacking
in experience and faced with insufficient
resources, yet the adventurous spirit which
they possess, and the vigor, the alertness,
and optimism they have thus far so
consistently shown, qualify them to play an active
part in arousing the interest, and in securing
the allegiance of their fellow youth in those
countries. No greater demonstration can be
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given to the people
of both continents of the
youthful vitality and the vibrant
power animating the life and institutions
of the nascent Faith of Bahá’u’lláh
than an intelligent, persistent,
and effective participation
of the Bahá’í Youth, of every
race, nationality, and class, in
both the teaching and
administrative spheres of Bahá’í activity.
Through such a participation the critics and
enemies of the Faith, watching
with varying degrees of skepticism
and resentment,
the evolutionary processes of the Cause of
God and its institutions, can best
be convinced of the indubitable
truth that such a
Cause is intensely alive, is
sound to its very
core, and its destinies in safe keeping. I
hope, and indeed pray, that
such a participation may not
only redound to the glory, the
power, and the prestige of the Faith, but
may also react so powerfully on the spiritual
lives, and galvanize to such an extent the
energies of the youthful members of the
Bahá’í community, as to empower them to
display, in a fuller measure, their inherent
capacities, and to unfold a further stage in
their spiritual evolution under the shadow
of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.”
Since 1933, the Bahá’í Youth activities have been steadily progressing. Before that time there were many unorganized groups of young people who studied the Bahá’í teachings and discussed them together. Through the efforts of the National Bahá’í Youth Committee these groups have become a very real part of almost every Bahá’í Community in the United States and Canada. More and more groups are becoming organized throughout the world. Margaret Swengel, secretary of the National Youth Committee, sent out a questionnaire to all the Bahá’í communities in the United States and Canada in September, 1939. To date sixty-six communities have replied. In thirty-six of the communities who have so far answered the questionnaire there are active groups of young people studying the Bahá’í Faith.
Since 1937, the National Bahá’í Youth Committee has met at Louhelen Summer School to make plans for the coming year. In 1938, eight members were able to be present. In the spring of 1939, the National Spiritual Assembly made a change in the organization of the National Bahá’í Youth Committee. They appointed six young people to an executive committee of the National Youth Committee. These six people live within easy traveling distance of one another. This makes it easier for them to meet together frequently. Five of the executive committee were able to meet at Louhelen Summer School during the second session, in August. There are eleven associate members of the Committee who live throughout the United States and Canada.
Following is the report of the activities of the American Bahá’í Youth in carrying out the plans made by the National Youth Committee, in addition to their individual group projects.
A. ANNUAL WORLD BAHÁ’Í YOUTH DAYS
The Fourth Annual World Bahá’í Youth Day was held February 26th, 1939 (except in Muḥammadan countries, where it was held February 24th because Friday is their holiday). This is the greatest teaching effort made by the Bahá’í youth of the world. It is the time when Bahá’í youth, the world over, act simultaneously to teach the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. The general theme was The Unfoldment of World Civilization. The occasion was publicized by letters sent out to youth groups throughout the world. Most of the December, 1939, issue of Bahá’í Youth was devoted to plans for the Youth Day. It contained a series of outlines for discussion of the five sub-topics chosen. These sub-topics were: Unity in Diversity, World Order, What Hath God Wrought, One Common Faith, and Lost Horizons. Demonstrating the unity of their faith and the universality of their belief, countries as far apart as the United States, ‘Iráq, England, France, Canada, Egypt, Írán, and India participated in the event. Reports show that twenty-nine groups in the United States and Canada took part. Ten groups abroad participated. Many groups abroad were unable to take part because they are forbidden to have public meetings.
In preparation for this great day, regional conferences were held in New York and Chicago. Reports show a high standard of effort and enthusiasm. Printed programs, special invitations, newspaper publicity,
The Bahá’í Youth Group of Alexandria, Egypt.
publicity in college papers, posters, and radio programs indicate a remarkable celebration of the Bahá’í Youth Day. Most of the programs included musical selections and the serving of light refreshments.
A permanent record of these world-wide Symposiums has been sent to our Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. It is in the form of a scrap book containing a general message signed by young Bahá’ís at each Symposium, photographs, publicity, programs, and detailed accounts of every session. Such an account has been sent to Shoghi Effendi after each Bahá’í Youth Day.
At the time of the Third World Bahá’í Youth Day, in 1938, a cablegram was sent to the Guardian: “Youth groups throughout (the) world today collaborate (in a) unified public teaching effort (in the) Third Annual World Bahá’í Youth Symposiums. May we so consecrate (the) spirit animating us (in the) service (of our) beloved Cause.” The Guardian replied: “Deeply appreciate message. Delighted solidarity youth groups. Praying extension services increased understanding and nobler standard Bahá’í virtue. Shoghi.” In reply to the cablegram which the National Youth Committee sent on the day of the Fourth Annual World Bahá’í Youth Day, Shoghi Effendi cabled: “Profound appreciation youth committee’s sentiments praying deepening spirit extensions services.”
In Bahá’í Youth of October, 1939, we read: “The Fifth Annual International Youth Symposium will be February 25, 1940 (in Muhammadan communities the day of the Symposium will be Friday, February 23, as Friday is their weekly day of rest.” The general theme this year is The Dawn of a New Day. The detailed outlines for the sub-topics will be published in the Bahá’í Youth Bulletin in the December issue. The purpose of this symposium is to make known to the peoples of the world the Great Message of Bahá’u’lláh.”
B. “BAHÁ’Í YOUTH”—AN INTERNATIONAL YOUTH BULLETIN
This magazine, a quarterly, has grown
from a small, mimeographed bulletin to a
sixteen-page publication in which is found
editorials, general articles, letters from
Shoghi Effendi, verse, suggestions for study,
international news, general letters from
the Youth Committee, announcements and
book reviews. Bahá’í Youth is published in
New York City. One thousand copies are
printed of each issue. Much of the credit
for this splendid publication goes to the
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editor (Lawrence La Rocque in 1938-39,
Annamarie Kunz Honnold in 1939-40) and
to the Business Manager, (Mae Graves Dyer).
C. STUDY DAYS
Since 1937, the National Youth Committee has planned Study Days “to prepare ourselves thoroughly for life in the Bahá’í community and for youth work and effective teaching.” We need much more than a mere surface knowledge of the Bahá’í Faith.
In the June, 1938, issue of Bahá’í Youth we read the following report of the Study Days: “The five Youth Study Days, proposed and outlined by the National Youth Committee last September, found enthusiastic reception in eighteen of our forty-four Youth Groups. Sustained study day activity was reported from Montreal, Canada; Eliot, Maine; Springfield, Mass.; New Haven, Conn.; Philadelphia, Pa.; New York City; Binghamton, N. Y.; Urbana, Ill.; Peoria, Ill.; Chicago, Ill.; Northshore, Ill.; Cleveland, Ohio; Kenosha, Wis.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Seattle, Wash.; San Francisco, Cal., and Berkeley, Cal.
"Youth groups, with from three to twenty-five in attendance held regular concentrated study meetings in Bahá’í homes and Bahá’í centers, each group following the procedure best suited to local conditions. When two study sessions on the same day were not possible, ofttimes two Sunday afternoons or two evenings were used, or just one session was devoted to this new group study. In one instance it was reported by a particularly zealous group that they held meetings for each Study Day until they covered all the material outlined because it was difficult for them to find time for a day’s preparation all at one time.
“After a prayer and music and the reading of the suggested references (sometimes supplemented by other study material), smaller groups sometimes followed the lecture-and-general-discussion-of-the-questions method; others reserved the first session for individual study of assigned references, all of which were discussed in the second period; while others divided their number into smaller groups, each group taking a division made in the study material, collectively analyzing the results of its reading, and being responsible for a part of the discussion which followed.
“When only one session was feasible, the suggested questions were sometimes chosen beforehand, each member conducting his special part of the discussion on the Study Day. In some cases, short talks were given by all the members of small groups, followed by a general discussion on each phase of the subject.
“The plan of holding these youth meetings in private homes on our bi—monthly Study Days was believed to have been conducive to added interest on the part of the youth themselves, and also to have created an interest in the neighborhood.
"Refreshments were invariably served between the session following the meetings.”
In 1939, there were seven study days. The first two days we studied The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh and the last five days we studied the five sections of “Some Answered Questions.”
In the October, 1939, issue of Bahá’í Youth we read “There are to be five study days—in October, November, January, March, and April. The general theme will be the Bahá’í Epoch. It was felt by the National Youth Committee that Bahá’í youth need to be better informed about Bahá’í history; therefore, this topic was selected. The subject for the five Study Days are as follows:
October— Secular Persian History and History of the Báb.
November—Life of Bahá’u’lláh.
January—Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
March—Current Bahá’í History. (This will cover contemporary Bahá’í activities.)
April—The Golden Age: Study of the New World Order. Study Outlines will be published in the Bahá’í Youth Bulletin.”
We feel very strongly that these study days deepen the understanding and organize the knowledge of enrolled Bahá’í Youth and those beginning a serious study of the Teachings. Knowledge is the lifeblood of the Cause. The most successful Bahá’ís, both as teachers and as individuals, are those who have the best understanding of the Teachings.
Bahá’í youth attending the seventh annual Bahá’í Youth luncheon held in conjunction with the Bahá’í convention, Evanston, Illinois, 1939.
We feel that this study helps a young person to truly fill his place in the Bahá’í community.
D. PERSIAN DINNERS
In 1939, Bahá’í Youth Groups throughout the world met together in a novel and interesting way. Persian dinners were planned. After eating oriental dishes, different members of the youth groups acted as story-tellers and told of the lives of the Dawnbreakers—told of the beauty and courage and wisdom and love of the great heroes of our faith.
E. REGIONAL CONFERENCES
The regional conferences in New York City and in Chicago have become annual events. The value of these conferences, usually held about January 1st, in stimulating youth to new enthusiasm and activity cannot be emphasized too greatly. Perhaps it is not so much what we talk about and discuss at the conferences as it is the joy of reunion which makes them so worth while.
In 1939 the general topic of both the Eastern and Mid Western conferences was Teaching. The talks and discussions were directed toward working out plans for greater participation of young people in the teaching activity of the local and national communities.
Plans are already well under way for the 1940 regional conference in Wilmette, Ill. It is to be January 6th and 7th at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette. The theme will be Youth’s Destiny in a Chaotic World. These topics will be discussed: Bahá’í Character, Bahá’í Attitude toward War, The Minority Question (how to attract minority groups), and Teaching (at home, near home, and pioneering and settling new areas). Saturday evening, January 6th, the Northshore Youth Group will entertain the guests at a buffet supper after which there will be a musical program.
Following is the report of the Third
Annual Weekend Youth Conference held at
Binghamton, New York: “Members of the
Binghamton Bahá’í Committee for Youth
entertained at their homes those attending
the third annual youth Conference June
10th and 11th, 1939. Following a picnic
supper, an outdoor meeting was held at
which the speakers were Mrs. Willard
McKay and Mr. John Sterns of Jamestown,
N. Y. On Sunday, the whole group was
entertained at Quaker Lake with swimming,
hiking, etc. In the afternoon, an informal
discussion meeting was held, at which
Rinaldo Quigley, Betty Murray and Philip
Sprague of New York City gave short talks.
General talks and discussion followed,
during which plans for the summer
were discussed, including a return
visit of the Binghamton friends to
Jamestown. The main
theme of the conference was Teaching,
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and many new
ideas were exchanged and talked over.
"Many non-Bahá’ís from Binghamton also attended all sessions, and the total attendance at meals was approximately sixty. We feel that the week-end was most inspiring, and we hope that it may really become an annual conference.”
F. YOUTH LUNCHEON
The seventh annual Bahá’í Youth Luncheon held in the ballroom of the Orrington Hotel in Evanston, Illinois, on Sunday, April 30, 1939, was a grand climax for all the youth who came to the Convention. The event, sponsored by the youth groups of Chicago and the North Shore, has been for years a highlight on the program of the Convention. This year there were people at the luncheon from Ṭihrán, Írán; Honolulu; Toronto and Moncton, Canada; as well as from every part of the United States.
Edwin Koyl of Chicago, as chairman, made all arrangements for the occasion. The program began with a prayer read by Joe Hannen. Linda Taylor entertained us with two readings. Larry La Rocque, chairman of the National Youth Committee talked on the work of the National Youth Committee and its relation to each local youth group. Vernita Mason read the paragraph in The Advent of Divine Justice addressed by Shoghi Effendi to Bahá’í Youth.
Greetings from the Persian Bahá’ís were given to those present by Mr. and Mrs. Sabett. Marvin Newport, accompanied by Lillian Dobbins sang several beautiful songs. The climax of the meeting came with an inspiring talk by Virginia Camelon, entitled, Looking Back to 1939. She painted a word picture depicting the historians of the year 2005 A.D. writing in letters of gold upon tablets of chrysolite the deeds of those who in 1939 A.D., the 95th year of the Bahá’í Era, arose with valor and determination to do their utmost for the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Florence Mattoon read the closing prayer. Everyone felt it was one of the finest luncheons that have been given.
G. BAHÁ’Í SUMMER SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES
The Bahá’í summer schools serve a unique function. Through them both adults and young people are enabled to see the type of society possible when the laws of Bahá’u’lláh are followed. There is a spirit of love and harmony and practical idealism pervading the whole atmosphere of the schools. There are many opportunities for cooperation at the summer schools. The students help plan and execute the program, they consult over problems arising, and they conduct the devotions and help provide group recreation. In their dormitories they try to show harmony which transcends color, social, and age differences.
The following reports of summer schools in the United States appeared in “Bahá’í Youth” Vol. V, No. 3.
LOUHELEN YOUTH SESSIONS—1939
BETTY SCHEFFLER
In the increased attendance, greater enthusiasm and more complete participation in youth activities at Louhelen Summer School this summer, the Bahá’í Youth showed their desire to make the summer school a really fine institution and true center of learning. The Youth Session was divided into two five day periods, the first from June 25 to 30, the second from August 16 to 21.
The morning program, beginning with devotions before breakfast, included three courses. The first on the subject, Character Building, was conducted by Miss Flora Hottes in the first session and Mrs. Virginia Camelon in the second. The Bahá’í standard of conduct, its effect upon the individual and upon society as a whole in creating a foundation for the New World Order, was emphasized. The first of the following two courses, which were carried on simultaneously, was designed for younger and newly interested youth, The Promise of All Ages, concerning the Bahá’í principles and history. Mr. Ralph Garner and Mr. Edward Miessler as the teachers of this class encouraged all of the youth attending to take part in the discussions. The second class on the
Teacher and class at the Bahá’í Summer School, Louhelen Ranch, Davison, Michigan, during the 1939 Youth Session.
Prophet of Arabia was intended for those who wished to make deeper inquiry into a phase of religious study so closely associated with our Faith. This class, given by Mr. N. H. Firoozi, the first, and Mrs. Helen Bishop, the second session, involved an intensive study of the background of Islám, that is, the conditions in Arabia before the appearance of Muḥammad, the life and character of the Prophet, the revelation of the Qur’án and the institutions and culture of the Moslem Faith. Valuable bibliographies designed as a guide to more profound individual study were listed by both teachers.
In the afternoon class on the topic, The Laws of Bahá’u’lláh, directed in the first session by Mr. Clarence Niss and in the second by Mr. Carl Scheffler, the youth discussed the Bahá’í laws as differentiated from the principles of the Bahá’í Faith, the working of universal law, and the specific Bahá’í laws thus far known which in their present day application will lead to the New World Order.
Bahá’í administration and the privileges and responsibilities of Bahá’í citizenship, involving the consideration of local community problems, proved an interesting subject for a forum on the last day of the session. During the first period a mock Spiritual Assembly was elected which then directed the local activities, meeting and discussing as a group the problems which any Bahá’í Assembly might meet.
Afternoons were, for the most part, left free for recreation which included swimming, tennis, ping—pong, croquet, horseback riding and other activities. Often plans were made so that the group as a whole might do something together.
Early in the evening during the latter
youth session, Mrs. Carpenter gave talks on
the World Order Letters of Shoghi Effendi,
impressing again upon the youth the
standards which they, as Bahá’ís must uphold and
the responsibilities which rest upon them as
the new world order unfolds. The young
people at Louhelen enjoyed also a talk by
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Mrs. Carpenter on the
pronunciation of Persian names and phrases.
Evening entertainment included a treasure hunt followed by group singing and a marshmallow roast in the glen, a masquerade party, stunt nights in which everyone took part in presenting short plays, games and dancing. The youth groups from various cities in the region cooperated with the North Shore group in planning the evening programs so that everyone might take part. Each day was brought to a close with devotions held in the dormitories.
The importance of the Bahá’í Summer School at present and its place in the future order is stressed by H. Rabbani in a letter received from Shoghi Effendi in answer to the message of greeting sent by the youth attending the June session. In it he says:
“Remembering the strong emphasis repeatedly laid by the Guardian on the importance of the institution of the summer school, both as a center for the preparation and training of prospective teachers and pioneers, and for the commingling and fellowship of various elements in the Bahá’í Community, the Bahá’í Youth, on whom Louhelen Ranch has exercised a particular and indeed irresistible appeal, and whose sessions they have so frequently and in such large numbers attended, have a peculiar responsibility to shoulder in connection with its development into that ideal Bahá’í University of the future, which should be the aim of every existing Bahá’í Summer School to establish in the fullness of time. Through their regular attendance at each and every session of the school, and their participation in all phases of its activities, intellectual, spiritual, social and recreational, and above all by their faithful and close adherence to those high standards of Bahá’í life and conduct, they can best and most effectively contribute towards the growth of that institution and attract to it the attention and interest of the non-Bahá’í world outside.”
GEYSERVILLE YOUTH SESSION
JOHN EICHENAUER, JR.
Bahá’u’lláh has inspired the youth of the Thirteenth Annual Bahá’í Summer School at Geyserville, California, to new and loftier heights of achievement. The spirit pervading the varied activities was truly wonderful and made one feel he had spent three weeks in an entirely different world. In these twenty-one days we have been given spiritual insight into the Teachings, Teachings that must ultimately cover the earth.
Although the school was founded in 1926 by John and Louise Bosch, this is the first youth session that has been held separately. Affairs of the youth were supervised by a student government committee which was elected by youth present at an organization meeting held just after the Unity Feast, Sunday afternoon, July 2. Everyone, children, youth, and adults attended devotions at 9:00 for from 15 to 20 minutes. At 9:45 the first youth course on The Young Bahá’í in the World Today, including such subjects as “What is a Bahá’í youth and how distinguished?” "Spiritual and social attitudes toward such individual problems as family relations, marriage, work, prayer; and such collective problems as war, class struggle, etc.,” was held. From 11:00 to 11:45 an intensive course including projects in contacts, publicity, radio, public speaking, and the use of Bahá’í literature in teaching, gave us good preparation for teaching work. Classes adjourned before 12:00 so that everyone could "get his million dollar check at the bank,” i.e., obey the law of Bahá’u’lláh and repeat the obligatory prayer. Our staff of teachers included Marion Holley, director, Evelyn Cliff, Marzieh Carpenter, Charlotte Linfoot, Virginia Orbison, Hishmat ‘Alá’í, Marion Yazdi, Mr. John B. Shaw, Mrs. Ella Goodall Cooper, and Mr. Willard Hatch.
Subjects were briefly presented by teachers and with their supervision of the creative discussion that followed, a spontaneity in all present was brought out which would otherwise remain hidden in presence of adults. Afternoons were spent in projects selected by the individual. Some attended round table discussions of The Advent of Divine Justice under the great tree. Others worked on publicity which appeared in
Attendants at the Youth session of the Bahá’í Summer School at Louhelen Ranch, Davison, Michigan.
Geyserville, Cloverdale, and Healdsburg papers. Speakers chosen for the youth public meeting by the student government committee spent several afternoons in preparation. Still others contacted town people to invite them to the dance, July 8th, and youth public meeting, July 13th. About 3:30 groups would usually organize to go swimming in the Russian River. Entertainments included talks on art and music appreciation; motion picture travelogues of Mexico, China, Africa, Philippines, and the Holy Land; Geyserville Gaieties, comedy with all participating; and the pageant about the Báb, Gate of Dawn.
The youth public meeting was held Thursday evening, July 13th, in Bahá’í Hall. A prayer meeting for speakers was held just before the meeting. Farrukh Ioas was chairman and Mme. Rose Florence accompanied by Anita Ioas sang at different times. John Eichenauer repeated a prayer in Spanish to demonstrate concentration of teaching activity on Latin America. Frances Nolan spoke on Humanity’s Coming of Age, telling of the powers loose in the world today that must be used for the benefit and not the destruction of humanity. Barbara Dorgan spoke on E Pluribus Unum, demonstrating how “from many one” must be applied to many phases of life. John Eichenauer spoke on America’s Spiritual Mission, outlining America’s station as well as that of American youth in the coming years. This was followed by Adrienne Ellis’ presentation of The World of Tomorrow, as envisaged by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. Genay Schoeny concluded the meeting with some quotations from the writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. Jack Fatooh closed the meeting with a prayer in Esperanto to demonstrate that needed principle of an international auxiliary language. Over the week end, July 7th to 9th, San Francisco youth were entertained, and a party was given Friday night, a dance Saturday night, and a youth conference, Sunday morning. Friday morning, July 14th, a conference was held to plan for next year’s session.
GREEN ACRE YOUTH SESSION
BETTY SHOOK
Despite the fact that there were only
30 present at Youth Week, the spirit
prevailing was very strong. The classes, of
which there were two in the morning
conducted by Norman Smith, a Youth, and
Horace Holley and also a Laboratory course
in the afternoon conducted by Dr. Shook,
were well attended. In the evenings there
were social gatherings for the Youth at
various homes. At the beginning of the week,
the Youth met to consult about the rules
to be observed during the week. Previously
these rules have been given out by
the committee, but this year they felt it was time
they were using the Bahá’í principle
of consultation and the results were
very gratifying. Saturday morning there
was a Symposium on Teaching. Orcella
Rexford spoke
on Pioneering and Mrs. Bowman spoke on
the use of literature in Teaching.
Afterwards plans were discussed for next year’s
Youth Week and Horace Holley gave a
[Page 556]
short talk on the
real meaning of Youth
Week. One of the non-believers, a brilliant
Youth from New York, stated that during
Youth Week he had found what he had been
looking for in regard to the Faith for
several years. The deeds and actions of the
Youth impressed him very much. After this
meeting there was a beach picnic at
Oguniquit Beach and the week closed with a
dance at the Inn in the evening.
MANY YOUTH ARE PIONEER TEACHERS OF THE BAHA’I FAITH
"They that have forsaken their country for the purpose of teaching Our Cause—these shall the Faithful Spirit strengthen through its power . . . By My life! No act, however great, can compare with it, except such deeds as have been ordained by God, the all-Powerful, the Most Mighty. Such a service is indeed the prince of all goodly deeds, and the ornament of every goodly act.”—The Advent of Divine Justice, page 57.
"That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race.”—Gleanings, page 250.
In 1936, Shoghi Effendi sent this message to the Annual Bahá’í Convention in Wilmette, Illinois: “Would to God, every state within American Republic and every Republic in American continent might ere termination this glorious century embrace light Faith of Bahá’u’lláh and establish structural basis of His World Order.” All Bahá’ís are working to reach this goal by 1944.
The spiritual force released by Shoghi Effendi when he established this goal has stirred many young Bahá’ís with ardor to become pioneer teachers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. John Eichenauer, a member of the National Bahá’í Youth Committee, left his home in Phoenix, Arizona, to go to Central America to pioneer. We received a card from him, dated October 11, 1939, in which he said, “Mrs. Caswell and I came together to Panama. We arrived on the fourth, met Matthew Kaszab and Joseph Wantuk, the first Bahá’í of Panama. Yesterday morning Matthew and I gave a fifteen minute radio program over HP5A in Spanish and English. We have met several newspaper and radio people through Matthew. We leave on the sixteenth for Nicaragua and then I go on to San Salvador.” John is the youngest pioneer teacher among the Bahá’ís. He studied Spanish, read Spanish and Mexican newspapers whenever he could, and sought out people of these nationalities in order to become better acquainted with them. On November 9, he wrote a letter saying, “I’m here in San Salvador pioneering, and Clarence Iverson (also from Phoenix, Arizona) is coming to join me. You will probably be interested to know that there are eight declared Bahá’ís here. The first believer is a good friend of mine, especially because he speaks English and can interpret my words into Spanish. He will soon go to Santa Ana and he will probably do wonderful things for he has brought three of the eight in here. You will be surprised as I was at the publicity enclosed (three long articles about the Bahá’í Faith). I wrote some articles in Spanish, and am supposed to answer the opinions of the local thinkers. The paper is quite liberal. It keeps me “broke” buying papers with Bahá’í publicity in them. I use the newspaper articles as literature until more arrives. I will probably enter a private high school here and work half a day and devote the other half to working for the Faith. I work all day long now and don’t get everything done.”
During the summer, Gerrard Sluter, a young Bahá’í from Toronto, Canada, came to the Bahá’í House of Worship, in Wilmette, en route to Guatemala to teach the Bahá’í Faith.
Wilfrid Barton, a young Bahá’í who has long been active in Bahá’í work in Chicago, Boston, and Kansas City, sailed for Montevideo, Uruguay, this fall.
The pioneer work in Canada has received
a tremendous impetus recently because of
the settlement of three young Vancouver
Bahá’ís there. Rowland Estall is a pioneer
in Winnipeg. He has already started a study
class there. Miss Doris Skinner is in
[Page 557]
Calgary, Alberta.
She secured a position within
two weeks after her arrival there. Miss
Skinner writes, “Really, I don’t know why
more Bahá’ís don’t do pioneer work; it is
quite the most exciting experience I have
ever had. I wouldn’t go home again for
anything.” Katherine Moscrop is in Regina,
Saskatchewan, helping to spread the
teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
Miss Elsie Beecroft, formerly of New York City, went to Toronto, Canada, a few years ago and has been doing outstanding Bahá’í teaching among the young people there.
Miss Betty Shook, of Norton, Massachusetts, reports thrilling experiences in Atlanta, Georgia. Miss Shook is a member of the National Youth Committee.
Miss Pearl Burt and Etta Mae Lawrence have left New York City to go to New Orleans, Louisiana, to help to establish a Bahá’í community.
Mr. and Mrs. William Sears are now living in Salt Lake City. From there they write, “We love Salt Lake City and feel that a slow beginning is a firm ending. So far I have a small list of about fifteen who have been given a picture of the Cause. . . . We expect in the fall to do some extensive radio work. Until then we will continue doing ground work.”
Mr. and Mrs. Don McNally are doing pioneer work in Providence, Rhode Island. They now have a fireside meeting for young people on Wednesdays. They write, “The experience of coming here has been the most glorious adventure of our lives and we are now so fully aware of the power of Bahá’u’lláh and of our inability to do anything ourselves. . . . One really must get out in the world to know the real value of being a Bahá’í and experiencing the fellowship that exists within those sacred twelve principles.”
These young Bahá’ís and many others who are pioneering near their own cities glory in the knowledge that they are bringing into being the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
OTHER ACTIVITIES OF BAHÁ’Í YOUTH GROUPS
While the main endeavor of the Bahá’í Youth Groups is to study the Bahá’í Faith, still we feel great joy in being with other young Bahá’ís and friends in a social way. Most of the youth groups report social gatherings, such as picnics, hikes, parties, and teas, to which they invite friends who have shown some interest in the Bahá’í teachings. Lorriane Statler, secretary of the Peoria, Illinois, group writes: “The last Tuesday of every month we devote to the youth who don’t know much about the teachings. After a meeting we have a social hour—music, poems, dramatics, games, and refreshments.”
“This summer,” writes Eleanor Sweney,
secretary of the Champaign-Urbana
(Illinois) Youth Group, “we departed from our
regular weekly evening meetings, and
instead had early Sunday morning breakfasts
in Crystal Lake Park. After a social
get-together over sausage and pancakes or ham
and eggs fried out in the open, we had an
inspirational devotion period from one of
the hills. The quiet and the out-of-doors
made those unusually effective worship
periods. Our meetings were weekly then, as
at any other time of the year.” The youth
group in Champaign-Urbana is composed
almost entirely of University of Illinois
students. Miss Sweney writes: “With Margaret
Kunz and Margaret Swengel, both of the
National Youth Committee in our group,
we hope to do well this year even though
half of our group left us through
graduation this year. It is
interesting to note that
everyone of our youth group found
employment in the field he desired
almost immediately upon leaving school.” Concerning
teaching activities, she writes, “As our group
is made up largely of college students, the
personnel shifts each year as members
graduate and leave the community to return to
their own home towns or to work in other
states and as new students come to the
campus. Our work is very important, then,
since we teach a large territory merely by
staying at home. One of our outstanding
meetings sponsored in cooperation with the
adult group was one at which Dorothy Baker
[Page 558]
and Rabbi Sachar of
the Hillel Foundation
here spoke on the ‘Problem of the Jew.’
There were more than a hundred present at
this meeting.”
A letter from the executive committee of the New York City Youth Group dated October, 1939, tells us of many fine activities. “The Youth Committee conducts one regular meeting a week on Thursday evenings. It has been the policy at these meetings to present both young and old speakers, thus giving diverse aspects of the Bahá’í Faith. The talks are short, affording time for questions and discussions. Following as much as possible a simple and sincere approach, using as a pattern and inspiration the talks by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the meetings have proved to be very stimulating and productive. The youth have participated in symposiums, feasts, out-of-town teaching trips and picnics, public gatherings and at the Bahá’í exhibit at the World’s Fair. A dramatic club composed of Bahá’í and non-Bahá’í Youth proved that the drama could be utilized as a teaching medium and many interracial parties and entertainments served to promote the spirit of fellowship and amity.”
The youth group in West Englewood, New Jersey, finds symposiums to be splendid ways to teach the Bahá’í Faith. One of their most successful symposiums was held November 25th, 1939, at the Evergreen Cabin, Teaneck, New Jersey. The theme was Bahá’í, The Answer. The speakers were: Mr. Benjamin Davis, What Is a Bahá’í?, Mr. Norman Smith, Bahá’í Attitude Towards this Chaos, and Miss Ruth Frey. There were other Youth Symposiums where speakers came from New York City. Miss Ellen Wagner, the secretary of this group, writes further, telling us, “Mr. Norman Smith and Miss Ruth Frey were invited to attend a Lutheran meeting at a private home, in February, 1939. Mr. Smith and Miss Frey spoke to the group and many responded, asking numerous questions. We have also been associating with the "Inter Faith Youth Council.”
In Lima, Ohio, there are two youth groups. One group, called the “Youth Group,” consists of young people between the ages of 15 and 21. The other called the "Young People’s Group,” consists of young people between the ages of 21 and 31. Both groups are very active and have enthusiastically taken part in all the activities outlined by the National Youth Committee.
The Kenosha, Wisconsin, Bahá’í Youth Group realizes its need for deep study of the Bahá’í Faith in all its aspects. Young people vitally interested in world problems, economic, political, and social, have been coming to their meetings. Robert Koehl, chairman of the Kenosha Youth Group, wrote in a report dated October, 1939: "This discussion type of meeting showed up the need for further study on the part of the Kenosha Bahá’í Youth in the realms of Bahá’í doctrine, psychology, and patience. Undoubtedly the young people, Bahá’í and non-Bahá’í, profited from the meetings. More than ten people became actively interested in the Bahá’í religious viewpoint.”
The Youth Group in Seattle, Washington, tried out a new type of program in 1938-1939. It was patterned after the popular Radio Quiz programs. They felt that with the question and answer type of program much more material could be presented that would be concise and to the point. Also, more youth could take part. They divided the program into three parts, as follows: (1) Questions of general historical importance which tend to show how world conditions of the past century have been pointing to the present general crisis; (2) Questions concerning current events tending to show how society is inevitably moving toward a “Future World Commonwealth;” (3) Questions aiming to present unequivocally the manner in which the Bahá’í Faith as the world religion is already laying the foundation of the New World Order.
The Seattle Youth Group, besides being very active in their own community, have helped to form a youth group in Monroe, Washington. They also make teaching trips to Vancouver and Portland.
In California there is an active group of young Bahá’ís who call themselves the Bay-Area Bahá’í Youth Group. The group is composed of Bahá’ís from San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Mateo. Miss Farrukh Ioas, sub-secretary of the National Youth Committee, writes: “The response to these
Group attending the Bahá’í Youth session of the Geyserville Bahá’í Summer School, California, 1939.
combined meetings has been very gratifying. The young people from one side of the Bay go together in a couple of automobiles to the other side. It is felt that the combined group is more invigorating and develops a finer discussion than the separate meetings could. This contact acts as a stimulus to renewed effort in study, living the life, and teaching.”
The Youth Group in Phoenix, Arizona, is a most active and alive group. They have presented many radio programs concerning the Bahá’í Faith. They have participated most heartily with all the plans sent out by the National Youth Committee. In August, 1938, three members of the Phoenix Youth Group made a 3000-mile trip through New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona. These three, Clarence Iverson, John and Marshall Eichenauer, met many Bahá’ís and told many non-Bahá’ís of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. They also left books in libraries. Clarence Iverson and John Eichenauer are now doing pioneer teaching work in Central America.
Joseph Noyes, one of the secretaries of the National Youth Committee, reports much activity around Binghamton, New York. In September, 1939, they started the fall activities with a picnic. Norman Smith, of West Englewood, New Jersey, talked on America, the Hope of the World. On September 30, 1939, the Binghamton Youth Group went to Jamestown, New York, to repay a visit that that group had made in the spring. The Binghamton group presented a program introducing the Bahá’í Faith, bringing out the history and the religious and social teachings. On the next day a carload of young people came to Jamestown from Buffalo, New York, for an afternoon meeting. The Binghamton Youth Group has started a new type of meeting. The series is called Widening Our Horizons. Non-Bahá’í speakers are asked to speak on community service projects and other topics of general interest. On December 17th, 1939, a comparative religion class in one of the churches attended a meeting to learn about the Bahá’í Faith. As Joseph Noyes writes, “There is no doubt about it, the weeks will have to be longer or else the forty-hour working week will need to be shortened for Bahá’ís! But we wouldn’t be happy if we weren’t so busy, and we really have something to work for.”
Shoghi Effendi wrote to the National
Youth Committee in 1937: "With the
increasing gloom that is rapidly surrounding
the world around them, the Bahá’í Youth of
[Page 560]
the world, and of America in particular,
should fully realize their tremendous and
sacred responsibility of keeping alive the
torch of faith in their hearts, and
to endeavor through united, sustained,
and carefully-planned and systematic effort to diffuse
the light of the Teachings among the
despairing and harassed youth of the world.”
Shoghi Effendi tells us how we may accomplish this in The Unfoldment of World Civilization. To achieve this truly gigantic task the Bahá’í youth throughout the world must not only strive to spread the knowledge of the Teachings, but also and above all to live them as completely as circumstances permit. They should attract people to the Cause not so much through the exposition of its principles and teachings but through the power of their individual lives. The Bahá’í youth must indeed exemplify through their lives, both as individuals and as conscious and active members of the Bahá’í community, the purity, the effectiveness and sublime character of their Faith. They can teach best when they live up to the standard inculcated by Bahá’u’lláh.”
BAHÁ’Í ACTIVITIES IN EUROPE AND ASIA
Europe, the center of culture for centuries past, seems determined to destroy itself. Every news broadcast, every newspaper tells us more of the horror of war in Europe and Asia. Chaos reigns. No one can escape. Bahá’u’lláh wrote, “The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts “the human race is daily increasing.” Two decades ago ‘Abdu’l-Bahá prophesied, “The ills from which the world now suffers will multiply; the gloom which envelops it will deepen. The Balkans will remain discontented. Its restlessness will increase. The vanquished Powers will continue to agitate. They will resort to every measure that may rekindle the flame of war. Movements, newly born and world-wide in their range, will exert their utmost for the advancement of their design.” We see these things happening all around us, particularly in the countries of Europe and Asia. Intelligent young people throughout the world cannot ignore the terror of this condition.
In the October, 1939, edition of Bahá’í Youth, Margaret Kunz, chairman of the National Youth Committee, addressed an editorial to Bahá’í young people in all lands, telling them that the upheavals of today must not deflect our course. She wrote: "Today there are two great wars being waged in the world; one in the Orient and the other in Europe. The effects of these wars will be world-wide. None of us can escape the tragic reverberations of the bloody, savage war now being carried on.
“What position and attitude must the Bahá’í Youth assume? This is a vital question to each of us. In the Advent of Divine Justice, Shoghi Effendi gives us the answer. ‘Dangers, however sinister, must, at no time, dim the radiance of their new-born faith. Strife and confusion, however bewildering, must never befog their vision. Tribulation, however afflictive, must never shatter their resolve. Denunciations, however clamorous, must never sap their loyalty; never deflect their course. The present Plan, embodying the budding hopes of a departed Master, must be pursued, relentlessly pursued, whatever may befall them in the future, however distracting the crises that may agitate their country or the world.’
“Shoghi Effendi further points out that the strife, tribulations, and upheavals all about us are a part of the Divine Plan and we must accept them as such. The Bahá’ís must not ‘forget that the synchronization of such worldshaking crises with the progressive unfoldment and fruition of their divinely appointed task is itself the work of Providence, the design of an inscrutable Wisdom, and the purpose of an all-compelling Will, a Will that directs and controls, in its own mysterious way, both the fortunes of the Faith and the destinies of men. Such simultaneous processes of rise and of fall, of integration and of disintegration, of order and chaos, with their continuous and reciprocal reactions on each other, are but aspects of a greater Plan, one and indivisible, whose Source is God, whose author is Bahá’u’lláh, the theatre of whose operations is the entire planet, and whose ultimate objectives
A meeting of the young Bahá’ís from five neighboring centers held at Jamestown, New York, 1939.
are the unity of the human race and peace of all mankind.’
“In a letter to the Bahá’ís dated July 28, 1939, Shoghi Effendi gives us these instructions: ‘Though powerless to avert the impending contest the followers of Bahá’u’lláh can, by the spirit they evince and the efforts they exert, help to circumscribe its range, shorten its duration, allay its hardships, proclaim its salutary consequences, and demonstrate its necessary and vital role in the shaping of human destiny. Theirs is the duty to hold, aloft and undimmed, the torch of Divine Guidance, as the shades of night descend upon, and ultimately envelop the entire human race.’
"Bahá’í Youth, this is our task: ‘To hold, aloft and undimmed, the torch of Divine Guidance, as the shades of night descend upon, and ultimately envelop the entire human race.’
“The words of our beloved Guardian are clear. Our work must go forward in spite of the tragedies surrounding us on every hand. May each of us become a center of light and hope to a sick humanity in dire need of the message of Bahá’u’lláh.”
On account of restrictions of all kinds we have not been able to receive reports of Bahá’í activities in many countries of Europe. In these countries we know that the public activities of Bahá’ís have been restrained, if not stopped entirely. We know, also, that although their activities may be at a standstill, nevertheless, they are "holding aloft the torch of Divine Guidance” in their hearts and lives.
In a few European countries Bahá’ís are still free to work and teach the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, for example—
England — From London, Lancashire,
Manchester and Bradford come reports of
splendid youth work among the Bahá’ís.
Dorothy Cansdale of London wrote in a letter
dated October, 1938: “So far as our work is
concerned, we have just been getting started
again after the break in the summer. The
English Summer School was grand and we
really feel it was a great success. There were
about seventy visitors altogether, and three
people actually declared themselves believers
in the Faith in the course of the session.
The Youth group itself had meetings all last
winter on all sorts of topics, and also held
social evenings at various homes, and in the
summer picnics in the country. We have
lost about half-a-dozen members through the
[Page 562]
return of Persian students
to their own
country, but we have contacted several new
circles of people in London, where we were
not known before, and from these new
people, some of whom were the direct result
of last year’s Youth Symposium, we have
two new believers who will formally declare
themselves as soon as they come of age.
London is organizing a drive to have as many
fireside meetings as possible this winter. We
find that we get better results from this
more intimate form of teaching, though we
have not given up having public meetings.
I live in a flat with another Bahá’í girl and
we have an "at home” every Tuesday to
which we invite anyone who has ever showed
any interest in the Cause and anybody we
think is likely to.
A letter from Miss Helen Chessell of Lancashire brought us the joyous news that a National Youth Committee for England had been appointed in the fall of 1938. The members of the committee are Mr. Wilkinson of Bradford, Mr. Rosenfield of London, and Miss Helen Chessell of Lancashire. Largely on account of their efforts the Youth Symposiums held in England were very successful.
Of the Lancashire Youth Group, Miss Chessell tells us: "The Bahá’í Youth Group here has only just been formed, and as yet our numbers are only very small, but despite this we hope to do great things. We are holding study classes here every Tuesday evening on Some Answered Questions, and of course later on we shall take other books. The Bahá’ís of Bradford and Manchester have been keeping in touch with one another by meeting on several rambles at a lovely little place halfway between the two, Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire.”
A great many of the lectures given at the Bahá’í Summer School in July, 1939, were presented by David Hofman and Ḥasan Balyuzi, a young Bahá’í of the London Group. The Bahá’í Theatre Group attracts many young people of London to investigate further into the Bahá’í Teachings.
We are sure that the untiring efforts of the three members of the National Youth Committee of England will result in many confirmations among the youth of that country.
France—Each year since 1930 the Union of Bahá’í Students have invited the Bahá’í Youth of Europe to a conference. The conferences have been held at Paris, France. The eighth annual conference was held the 1st and 2nd of January, 1938. Talks were given by Bahá’í youth from Lyons, Paris, and London. Friends came from Belgium, Egypt, Írán, and Switzerland. In the evening, January 2nd, they invited the friends to a friendship dinner.
In a letter from Mr. C. N. Kennedy, of Paris, France, dated January, 1939, we read of the Bahá’í work in general in Paris, Marseille, and Lyons, France. He stresses that the sad European political events of last fall and ever since are making people more anxious to investigate spiritual truths.
Another report from Paris tells us that the ninth annual conference of Bahá’í Youth was held in Paris on May 28th, 1939. The subjects and speakers were as follows:
Analogies among the Different Manifestations—Monsieur Berdjis (Switzerland).
Different Aspects of Prayer—Mademoiselle Migette (Lyons).
Concrete Action of the Bahá’ís in Actual Circumstances — Monsieur Macatoune (Paris).
Monday, May 29th, the young people who attended the conference commemorated the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh. They also held a friendship breakfast. The Bahá’í Youth who attended felt it to be a most inspiring occasion. The importance of this reunion is apparent as it has the whole support of Shoghi Effendi.
Letters of loving greetings have been sent by the Bahá’í Youth of Lyons, Marseilles, and Paris, France to the Youth of America.
Bulgaria—Mrs. Louise Gregory reports that there is quite a large group of Bahá’ís in Sophia, Bulgaria. Lately two students at Varna, Bulgaria, became declared believers. Several refugee students at Belgrade have become deeply interested in the Bahá’í Faith.
Czecboslovakia—Sometime in 1938, we received a copy of a paper entitled “Pax.” It was sent to us by a young Bahá’í of Prague. The date of the paper was July and August, 1938 issue. This article, written by
The Mid-West Regional Bahá’í Youth conference held January 8th and 9th, 1938, at Wilmette, Illinois.
[Page 564]
a non-Bahá’í, read
as follows: “The peace
program calls our attention to the Bahá’í
Movement, which is striving towards a New
World Order, on a moral development of
humanity, and has followers here in
Czechoslovakia. By request of the Czech section of
this paper the Czechoslovak Bahá’ís have
given us these ideals of their faith. They
will be glad to forward additional
information upon a written request to the editor.
"Bahá’ís recognize the ‘Oneness of God’ and His Prophets, and the ‘Oneness of Humanity.’ The Bahá’í Faith raises the banner of independent investigation of truth. It condemns all forms of superstitions and prejudice. It teaches that the foundation of religion is to strive for peace and harmony. It teaches that religion and science must go hand in hand, for that is the only foundation of peaceful, orderly and progressive society. It emphasizes further, equal rights for men and women. It raises the standard of work to the station of prayer. It recommends the acceptance of an international language, as a means of assuring peace.
"This teaching originated about the middle of the 19th century in Persia. The forerunner of the founder of the Faith was Mírzá ‘Alí-Muḥammad, of Shíráz, known as the Báb (the Gate). He prophesied, in 1844, the coming of a new Prophet.
“The founder of the Faith was Bahá’u’lláh (Glory of God) Whose coming the Báb prophesied. He declared his station in 1863, in Baghdád.
"The explainer of the teachings and the exemplar of life was His oldest son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Servant of God), Who from childhood shared the fate of His Father. In the year 1908, when the new government régime freed the political prisoners, He undertook extensive trips for the purpose of spreading the Bahá’í teachings, in Egypt, Europe, and America. He died in 1921, in Haifa, Palestine.
“By His Will He appointed His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, in Haifa as the first Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith.
“The Spiritual and administrative center of the Bahá’í Faith is in ‘Akká and Haifa. The administrative center for European countries is in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The first time our attention was called to the Bahá’í teachings was in 1913 by Milos Wurm, in a pamphlet translated from German. The translation of the title of the pamphlet would read Proclamation of Peace in the East. Later in 1926, we again heard of the Bahá’í Faith from the lips of Martha L. Root, who in her constant travels all over the world, propagates Bahá’í thought through Esperanto lectures, and newspaper items.
"The text book, Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era has been translated into 35 languages, among them Czech. The Bahá’ís believe that the dawn of a new humanity is here. Among those who strive for peace, all disputes will disappear. The time is here when all humanity must unite, all races and classes. Wars between nations will cease. By the Will of God, world peace will be established. The world will be a new world and all will be as brothers.”
Hungary—From Jeanne Boles, a member of the New York City Youth Group’s Executive Committee, we have just received a letter telling us of some outstanding Bahá’í youth in Budapest. Public activities there are practically suspended. Nevertheless, they are able to do some very fine Bahá’í work. For example, one young woman is translating the Hidden Words into Hungarian. It is difficult to speak of the Bahá’í Faith in Hungary because of political and religious pressure. Anti-Semitism is rampant. It is difficult to bring Christians and Jews together in one meeting, so they must be approached separately.
India and Burma—We were very happy to receive a letter dated August, 1939, from the secretary of the newly formed National Bahá’í Youth Committee of India and Burma. The fact that such a committee has been appointed surely is evidence of great activity among the youth of those countries. The following people are members of the new committee:
Mr. ‘Alí ‘Abbás Butt, B.A. (Simla); Mr. Siyyid Ghulam Murtaza ‘Alí (Rangoon); Mr. Mihraban Jamshidi (Karachi); Mr. Nadir Ḥusayn (Delhi); Mr. Ḥabibu’lláh Miḥr-i-‘Alí Manji (Bombay) to act as secretary.
The Youth Groups of Pasadena and adjacent Bahá’í Communities. Pasadena, California, October, 1939.
The duties and functions of the committee have been defined by the National Spiritual Assembly of India and Burma as follows:
1. To keep in touch with the American Youth Committee and coördinate their activities in general and the Annual World Bahá’í Youth Symposium in particular.
2. To prepare plans for activities throughout the year either following the American plans or making our own plans for the purpose.
3. To encourage the formation of Youth Committees in all the centers and to stimulate their activities by constant appeals to them to follow the year’s program.
4. To prepare periodic reports on the work of the different Youth Committees and to send them to the National Spiritual Assembly for information and to the Bahá’í News Letter for publication.
Some years ago the secretary of this new National Youth Committee received a letter from the secretary of Shoghi Effendi which said: “It is towards youth that the Guardian is eagerly looking and it is upon ‘their shoulders that he is laying all the responsibilities for the promotion of the Cause. Theirs is the opportunity to arise and serve to their utmost this Great Cause of God.”
From Bombay, India, we received a most enthusiastic report of their activities during 1938-1939. The group there held 35 regular meetings and 2 special meetings during the year. They started a study class which is held once a week. The group contributes a copy of the World Order magazine to the Royal Asiatic Society Library, Bombay Branch, and to the Khalsa College Library, Matunga, Bombay. They tell of the great inspiration which they received from the visit of Martha L. Root: “When she parted from us on December 29th, 1938, we felt as if our very soul was leaving our body.” The greatest event in the history of the group this year was the holding of the Fourth Annual World Bahá’í Youth Day on February 26, 1939. Nearly 150 prominent and leading citizens of the city were present. It is very interesting to know that talks were given in Gujerati, English, Urdu, and Hindi.
[Page 566]
The Third Annual Bahá’í Youth Day in
Poona was so well appreciated that the
speakers were invited to repeat it in local
colleges. Delhi invited all their guests to a
grand dinner at the close of the Symposium.
These groups, as well as the youth groups in
Surat and Karachi, report fine meetings at
the time of the Fourth Annual Bahá’í Youth
Day.
Írán—From the Unity of the East and West Committee of Ṭihrán, Írán, comes an exciting account of the work of a young Bahá’í teacher, Mr. A. G. Faizi: “Mr. Faizi is a well educated young Bahá’í who fifteen months ago gave up his job in order to dedicate his whole time to the service of the Cause. He has been living in Najaf-Ábád (village near Iṣfáhán) helping the friends there in their activities. Najaf-Ábád is a small rural place. Of its 2500 inhabitants 1500 are Bahá’ís. They have always been and still are subject to persecution, but their firmness and faith in God is unshakable.
“Lately the schools there established by the believers have been closed. But the energetic Educational Committee immediately organized a new and novel system of education. They divided the 400 Bahá’í children into several classes according to age and knowledge. These classes are held at different private places and run by six women teachers headed by Mr. Faizi. The teachers begin their round early in the morning and finish at midnight. . . .
"Another very interesting scheme the Najaf-Ábád Youth Group have already begun to put into action is the building of a public bath with four compartments. To a person who knows the unhygienic conditions in such places as Najaf-Ábád, the building of a bath is a praiseworthy scheme and a vital necessity. Here again the spirit of love and solidarity is predominant. All the Bahá’ís, young and old, are coöperating and helping to build this bath. Some bring stones and materials from long distances, some actually work as masons, and others help financially. With such a spirit no enterprise can fail!
“A plan for building a place to be used as a public library is also being prepared, and help has been offered not only by every member of that community but by a great number of centers in and outside the country. Two hundred books have already been offered, and Ḥusayn Effendi Rabbani has promised them more.”
The outstanding work of Mr. Faizi and his companions is an inspiration to every Bahá’í.
Egypt—The Bahá’í Youth Committee of Cairo, Egypt, wrote: “We were so much delighted to arrange for a youth meeting on Friday, February 24, 1939. On account of present circumstances in which the hearts and minds are stirred by religious antagonism, the symposium could not be publicly arranged. Nevertheless the fragrance and spirituality which we felt on that day were of such degree that they will remain vivid until the coming day when all these obstacles will be removed by the power of the Word and the banner of Ya Bahá’u’l, Abhá will be unfurled.”
Mr. Ibrahim El Masry, of Kafr El Dawar, Egypt, has written a brief article called In Egypt. Mr. Masry says that the Egyptians are in great need of the Bahá’í Teachings. He says that the Christian and Muḥammadan teachings are not enough to purify the spirits in our time. His article gives us insight into the deplorable conditions of the lower classes in Egypt. He writes: “The farmer is a poor creature. He is alive in the twentieth century but his habits are those of the old ages. He eats dirty food and drinks defiled water. He has no house. He lives in a cottage or den. When you ask a farmer, ‘Are you pleased with this life?’ he says, ‘Yes, God wishes so and I must respect His will.’ The religious men tell him this.
“When the government begs him to let his son enter the school without paying fees, he refuses and says that his son helps him in cultivating the land. The governor in the village is obliged to call the boys to enter the school in spite of the wish of their parents.
“He does not fear God although he prays all the time. I think that education is the best remedy. It is not enough to educate a farmer. He must live with an educated man to imitate him.”
[Page 567]
Bahá’í YOUTH ACTIVITIES
'Iráq—The Bahá’í Youth of Baghdád, ‘Iráq, report a fine meeting at the time of the Fourth Annal Bahá’í Youth Day. They write: "The meeting was a beautiful demonstration by the ‘Iráqí Youth of their unity and cooperation with the rest of the Bahá’í Youth throughout the world. They held special meetings beforehand to make plans for the occasion. All the talks were given in Arabic. Kamil ‘Abbás spoke on the Aims and Purposes of the Bahá’í Faith, Adib R. Baghdádi spoke on Unity in Diversity, ‘Azíz Sabur spoke on The Need for Spirituality. Refreshments were served after the talks. They report that the "addresses were well received by the audience.
China—Mr. H. A. Ouskouli, of Shanghai, China, has published a small pamphlet, "Some Principles of the Bahá’í Faith.” In it is a brief statement by Dr. Y. S. Tsao, Principal of Tsing-Hwa University of Peking. He says: "After studying the Bahá’í Faith and the reviving effect it produces over the heart and mind of man, I came to the conclusion that the only way to regenerate China is to introduce the Bahá’í teachings in China. Therefore I began to translate Bahá’í books into Chinese, so that the Chinese nation may be benefited too by this heavenly Manifestation. That is why every day after leaving my office, though very tired, I go home and start working on the translations of Bahá’í Teachings, and usually I forget that I am tired.”
In a letter dated November 13th, 1939, Mr. Ouskouli sent the English version of an article written by the translator of a part of the book. This article is included in the front of the book together with an introduction by the late Dr. Tsao. Following is the introduction written by I. S. Shen: “I happened to have read through the wonderful book Some Questions Answered and was amazed by its truthful realities—the realities of Divine Manifestations.
“My friend, Mr. M. H. A. Ouskouli, handed me one copy of this book which was already translated by the late Mr. Tsao, but unfortunately a part of Mr. Tsao’s translation, Chapters XXXIX to XLIV, was destroyed at the time of printing, and Mr. Tsao died subsequently before the destroyed part could be translated by him again. It was in July, 1939, when Mr. Ouskouli asked me to translate the destroyed part of the original work.
“I at first refused to do the translation before I read and studied the whole book, and suddenly I felt a light come into my life. I, as a realist and a man never seriously considering religious studies, began to be pleased with one of the twelve Bahá’í principles, viz.: ‘Religion should be in accord with science and reason.’ Nothing can be truer than the above principle and it is nothing but the real truth.
“Having translated the destroyed part, I could not but form the conclusion that this book, the teaching of Bahá’u’lláh, at this time of the world when nations are vying with each other and hatred and fears are reigning, is a great contribution toward the Divine task of removing the international differences and bringing about the universal peace of mankind.”
Mr. I. S. Shen wrote this introduction in Shanghai, July 30, 1939.
Loving letters of greeting have been sent by the Bahá’ís of Oslo, Norway; Gjinokaster, Albania; Lebanon; ‘Akká, Palestine; Tokyo, Japan; and Tabríz, Írán.
Though these reports evidence great interest, great activity, on the part of the young Bahá’ís throughout the world, yet they stand barely on the threshold of the great opportunities which will be theirs. Although there are restrictions upon Bahá’í Youth in almost every land, nevertheless, the universal truths which they are studying are equipping them with courage and knowledge so that they may help in the reconstruction of society for world peace and for the brotherhood of mankind.
EXCERPTS FROM “BAHÁ’Í YOUTH” MAGAZINE
February, 1938-December, 1939
I. EDITORIALS
- Balance in an Unbalanced World—Kenneth Christian
- The Path Is Clear—Wilfrid Barton
- A Plea—Annamarie Kunz Honnold
II. ARTICLES
- Why Be Religious?—Betty Shook
- World Citizenship—Ansel Schurgast
- Humanity’s Coming of Age—Virginia Russell
- The Scientist Needs Religion—Otto Zmeskal
- Bahá’í Internationalism—Herbert Berman
III. SPECIAL FEATURES
- A Youth Who Made History—Teresita E. Ryan
- The New Hour Has Struck! (A survey of Shoghi Effendi’s Cablegrams)—Nan Reasoner
- A Letter—Bahíyyih Farajullah
- The Unfoldment of World Civilization
(including outlines of study for the Fourth Annual World Bahá’í Youth Day)
- A New Civilization at Work (a
reprint from Karachi Daily Gazette of June 25, 1938)
- The Báb—Robert Koehl
I
EDITORIALS
BALANCE IN AN UNBALANCED WORLD
David Starr Jordan was so impressed by the personality and life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that he made the statement, "‘Abdu’l-Bahá will unite the East and the West, for he treads the mystical path with practical feet.” In ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as the living Exemplar of the Bahá’í Faith, we find the perfect balance between man the thinker and man the activist.
In finding a practical way of living under conditions of modern life, we must first achieve for ourselves a healthy body — a body equipped to carry us successfully through the demands which every day makes upon us. Then, with this as a foundation, our next task is to build a personality which achieves a workable balance between the extremes of the extrovert and the introvert.
This is much more easily said than done. The importance is obvious, however, when we see the results of too much introspection and emphasis on self. Equally undesirable are the individuals who live such a vigorous, shallow social life that one wonders how completely their mental and spiritual powers have been stunted. Individuals in either class are not living happily or “normally.”
Is it not, then, our individual task to seek the middle road as we work out our life problems from day to day, and week to week?
Man needs an Educator if he is to find
The Bahá’í Youth Group of Karachi, India, 1938.
and be able to follow such a middle path. In the Bahá’í concept of life and history, the Prophets, or Manifestations of God, are the great spiritual geniuses who give man the pattern of life which is balanced. The great social and economic changes of history make it necessary for the pattern to be repeated, changed, and amplified from age to age. The succeeding Manifestations who appear in progressive revelation renew for man the ancient Faith and point out again the golden mean of human conduct.
The Bahá’í Teachings reveal the unity of man. For, in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, we find emerging a picture of man developing all the aspects of his nature, individual and social. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá demonstrated this as the Bahá’í Exemplar under all conditions of life in both the Orient and the Occident. In addition to the great literature to which we may turn for counsel on any aspect of life, we have the constant example of His life.
“The mystical path with practical feet”— spiritual man creatively at work in the modern world—there is the Pattern for a balanced life in an unbalanced world.
THE PATH IS CLEAR
“The call has gone forth, the path is clear,” writes Shoghi Effendi in a recent letter to the American Bahá’í Community. Can we, as Bahá’í youth, have any doubt as to what that path is? Can we, in the face of such a realization, hesitate to devote these precious moments of our lives to contributing our significant part to the prosecution of this task—a task so supreme, so unparalleled in the history of our planet that none shall ever be able to adequately estimate its value?
Again Shoghi Effendi says, “The
potentialities with which an
Almighty Providence
has endowed it (i.e., the World
Order of
Bahá’u’lláh) will no doubt enable
its promoters to achieve their purpose. Much,
however, will depend upon the spirit and
manner in which the task will be
conducted.” Once more let us try to
[Page 570]
appreciate the
implication of these words. The
crisis confronting not alone the world at
large, but also, and as a corollary to the
first, the followers of Bahá’u’lláh,
individually and collectively, is too colossal and
too imminent for us to remain passive or
oblivious.
“The twin processes of internal disintegration and external chaos,” writes Shoghi Effendi, “are being accelerated and every day are inexorably moving towards a climax. The rumblings that must precede the eruption of those forces that must cause ‘the limbs of humanity to quake’ can already be heard. ‘The time of the end,’ ‘the latter years,’ as foretold in the Scriptures, are at long last upon us. . . . The Community of the Most Great Name, the leaven that must leaven the lump, the chosen remnant that must survive the rolling up of the old, discredited, tottering order, and assist in the unfoldment of a new one in its stead, is standing ready, alert, clear-visioned, and resolute.”
An Almighty Providence has decreed the triumph of our Cause whether we will or no. But that which concerns us here and now is our own relation to it—“much will depend upon the spirit and manner in which that task will be conducted. Through the clearness and steadiness of their vision, through the unvitiated vitality of their belief, through the incorruptibility of their character, through the adamantine force of their resolve, the matchless superiority of their aims and purpose, and the unsurpassed range of their accomplishments, they who labor for the glory of the Most Great Name throughout both Americas can best demonstrate to the visionless, faithless and restless society to which they belong their power to proffer a haven of refuge to its members in the hour of their realized doom.”
And now that “the path is clear” before us shall we not, Bahá’í youth, arise as never before and avail ourselves to the fullest degree of the priceless privilege that is ours? Let us detach our lives completely from a preoccupation with the thoughts, interests, and pursuits of the decadent society about us—the heritage of a civilization rotten at the core—and turn our faces wholly to Bahá’u’lláh, centering our attentions upon that which will conduce to the up-building of that New World Order, and of the institutions inseparably associated with it, ordained by God as the sole refuge for a despairing humanity. Bahá’í youth, what shall be the measure of our service, our heroism?
A PLEA
“. . . Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Bahá, for God hath prescribed unto every one the duty of proclaiming His Message, and regardeth it as the most meritorious of all deeds.”
Are we heeding Bahá’u’lláh’s stirring words? Are we utilizing every available opportunity for teaching this great Cause? If we are failing, we can offer absolutely no legitimate excuse. We are breaking a trust.
We cannot say that our friends are not ready for it. A letter from Haifa, quoted in Bahá’í News for August, 1938, tells us that the believers should give the Message even to those who appear unready, for we cannot judge what influence may be exerted by God’s word. With the love-of-God spirit we are to “accept whatever response our (his) words may evoke in our (his) hearer.”
Dare we say that we were not born to be speakers? Bahá’u’lláh has given us a promise when He declares, “We are with you at all times, and shall strengthen you through the power of truth.” Furthermore, teaching need not be from the platform. The fireside discussion and tête-a-tête style are effective methods.
Does modern life allow many consecutive days to pass wherein we do not somehow or other make new acquaintances? Are we aware that each new person whom we contact, no matter in what situation, has been placed in a position where he may hear “of the greatness of this day?” Are we going to deprive him of this great privilege? The responsibility to act lies with us.
We have no justification for saying that
we find no opportunities to teach. Have
we attempted to find them? Have we
welcomed. and utilized the slightest opportunity?
[Page 571]
Have we used the teaching prayers
at the beginning of each day, before going
to class or to work, when going into the
world to attend to our various duties? Have
we asked Bahá’u’lláh to open up the way
for us?
If we would cultivate the habit of using a teaching prayer daily, surely our eyes would see what we have failed to perceive before. We must have faith in Bahá’u’lláh when we pray, “O God! O God! Thou seest my weakness, lowliness and humility amongst Thy creatures; nevertheless I have trusted in Thee and have arisen in the promotion of Thy Teachings amongst Thy strong servants, relying on Thy power and might!”
We impart light to the world and stimulate happiness within ourselves when we consciously arise and do our part to teach God’s Word for this day.
II
ARTICLES
WHY BE RELIGIOUS?
BETTY SHOOK
Unfortunately the word “religious” repels many young people. To them "religious” means something solemn, something almost unnatural, something bound in traditions and not understandable. Also the term implies piety, and to be pious is not a normal ambition of any young person. This is probably due to the false conception of piety which is so often connected with religion.
On the other hand, the term “philosophy” does not arouse this spirit of antagonism. It does not seem to be so ironbound; it is more pliable. To be philosophical seems less harsh and unnatural than to be so-called "religious.”
But how fundamentally untrue both of these concepts are. Philosophy, though it stimulates thought, gets no where. The same problems are taken up by different philosophers, but the fallacy lies in the fact that none of them agree. The beauty of a prophetic religion is that you have some one to whom you can turn. In the Bahá’í Faith we have Bahá’u’lláh. He is understanding and moreover He is our helper in all our problems. When we have a difficult problem to solve, we turn to His writings for the solution. These problems do not pertain necessarily to religion either; Bahá’u’lláh has solutions for all our problems, religious and secular.
According to the dictionary, religion means, "Feeling and living in accordance with a belief in a divine power . . . Pious is also given as a synonym. . . . When we look up pious we find, that it means, "showing reverence for God. . . .”
How silly we have been in the past to have let the connotation of the two words upset us and turn us away from something which in reality is our life. Our religion should make us happy. Is there any reason why we shouldn’t be happy? Is there any reason why God should not want us to be happy? Religions of the past have instilled in people the “fear of God” rather than the "love of God.” In the Bahá’í Faith we are taught to do things for the love of God.
The question arises, “How can one be religious or even happy when the world around us is in such a chaotic condition?” This is a good question, but it is obvious that it does not imply any action. The questioner probably feels that it is purely foolish to be happy under these conditions and that the prayers of a so-called religious person could not solve these problems; truly, a most hopeless outlook on life.
However, we as Bahá’ís have another
method: that of action. We can be happy
because we feel that these calamities and
disasters are but tests for us and we should
show our strength. We pray for this
strength and then proceed to the best of our
ability to overcome these obstacles. These
tests become a joy rather than a burden
[Page 572]
when we know that God
is helping us.
True, prayer alone will not solve
any problem. It is an old conception
that we pray
and God will do the rest. Not so, however,
in this day of the New World Order; action
is the necessary function.
To go one step further; we are taught that worship and work go hand in hand. "In the Bahá’í Cause, arts, sciences and all crafts are considered as worship. . . . Briefly, all effort and exertion put forth by man from the fullness of his heart is worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the will to do service to humanity. This is worship: to serve mankind and minister to people’s needs. Service is prayer.” (Bahá’í Scripture, par. 826)
How can anyone help but be religious if he makes action in service his whole life, as every Bahá’í endeavors to do?
WORLD CITIZENSHIP
ANSEL SCHURGAST
In this day of turmoil and confusion in which the North hates the South, and the South hates the North; the Negro hates the white man, and the white man hates the Negro; the Fascist hates the Socialist, and the Socialist hates the Fascist; the East hates the West, and the West does not understand the East, we see a need of a change of attitude. Our economic system is failing because of this lack of unity in the world; sciences are hindered because our economic system is not working smoothly.
Patriotism must give way to world citizenship. Loving our own country is proper and necessary, but loving our kind, (humanity), is much more important. The world of today cannot possibly advance unless prejudices are given up and a proper world attitude is promoted. This globe which is so closely united by both communication and transportation cannot go on living and working as long as its nations act as isolated, separate units.
Why do we spend so many valuable years of our life studying languages? Because there is no auxiliary world language. Why do people starve in one part of the world, while food is burned in another part? Because there is no international government to adjust such things. There is not even a feeling of cooperation; the people would rather burn food than spend a few dollars to ship to countries where it is needed. Why do we lose money every time we change our coins for those of another country? Because there is no international currency. Why do we spend the greatest part of our “tax dollar” for guns, battleships, and poisonous gases to kill our fellowmen instead of spending that same money for building bridges or improving housing conditions? For the same reason that the League of Nations failed. Every country wants to “get” but is not willing to give to those who need; every country is suspicious of every neighboring country instead of being friendly and trying to coöperate for the good of both.
By education through radio and other means the world is slowly awakening to the fact that something must be done. Admiral Byrd writes: “The great folly of all follies is the amazing attitude of civilized nations toward each other. It seems a great madness. If this attitude is not changed I don’t see how our civilization, as we know it, will survive. If I survive this ordeal, I shall devote what is left of my life largely to trying to help further the friendship of my country with other nations of the world.”—(World Events) And again H. V. Morton writes: "I cannot understand how any traveler can stand unmoved at the graveside of the civilization from which our own world springs, or can see a Corinthian capitol lying in the mud without feeling that such things hold a lesson and a warning, and, perhaps, a prophecy.” ("In The Steps of St. Paul”)
Many peace organizations have been formed to try to bring about world unity, but most of these are failing because of selfish prejudices.
Youth in our colleges realize that things cannot go on as they are, but they do not know where to turn. The slogan: “Do as the last generation did,” is no longer true, for if we did that we would get into an even
Some of the Bahá’í Youth of Ṭihrán celebrating international Bahá’í Youth Day.
more hopeless chaos than the one we are facing now. One thing that we greatly need: broad-minded teachers in our schools who will “put over” this idea of world citizenship and world consciousness such as we have in our Bahá’í summer schools. The important thing for us to keep in mind is that we should get up and do something about it, and not just sit around talking about it. To my mind the best thing that we can do is to express our attitude to others around us even though we are ridiculed at first.
Shoghi Effendi’s words state very aptly what our attitude really is; "Though loyal to their respective governments, though profoundly interested in anything which affects their security and welfare, though anxious to share whatever promotes their best interests, . . . they conceive their Faith to be essentially non-political, supra-national in character, rigidly non-partisan, and entirely dissociated from nationalistic ambitions, pursuits, and purposes. Such a faith knows no division of class or party. . . . It subordinates every particularistic interest to the paramount interests of humanity, firmly convinced that in a world of interdependent peoples and nations the advantage of the part is best to be reached by the advantage of the whole, and that no abiding benefit can be conferred on the component part if the general interests of the entity itself are ignored or neglected.” (Unfoldment of World Civilization.)
When we get the entire world to understand and accept this attitude, that we must be impartial citizens of the world besides being citizens of our countries, then we shall have taken one of the greatest steps towards the fulfillment of the New World Order.
HUMANITY’S COMING OF AGE
VIRGINIA RUSSELL
Religion is a most vital force in the realm of human existence, and nothing can separate one from the other. From the earliest times, when man found his ambitions and desires to live more affluently frustrated and opposed by a power which he recognized as superior and dependent upon arbitrary volition, he sought to secure resources and allies.
At first he sought these allies outside
himself and thought he found them in
natural objects—a stage of religion
called animism. Nature-worship was followed by
polytheism, a kind of animism attributing
personality to the spirits of the
natural objects. Naturally, his
tendency was towards
superstition. Whatever was unknown,
powerful, or vast invariably
impressed his imagination
[Page 574]
with an awesome
kind of dread. If a
great stone or petrified tree seemed to give
help, it was due to the spirits therein. These
objects were only the outward manifestations
of an indwelling spirit, and therefore
worthy of veneration. And so it was that
the spirit was named and endowed with
godhood.
Monotheism arrived with a dispute in the minds of men in regard to the various gods and goddesses of Olympus. One great god gaining ascendancy over the other gods and the minor gods suffering elimination, eventually led to monotheism.
As Fetishism was left behind, so in due time man’s reason led him forth from star-worship. Gradually, he exchanged his outmoded doctrine of arbitrary volition for that of law.
At last the temperamental genii and gods who constantly preyed upon the fear and veneration of all because of their seeming influence on every event, were displaced by the lofty conception of one Almighty Being who ruled the universe according to reason, and therefore according to law.
Because it is impossible for the finite mind to comprehend the infinite, it was decreed that there should appear on the earth Divine Messengers of God; interpreters and promulgators of his Word; great educators of the people.
As government must be adapted to climate, so must the Prophets of God state the Truth so that it is applicable to the land in which that prophet appears, and can be comprehended by the inhabitants of that period. As Bahá’u’lláh has said, “In every Dispensation the light of Divine Revelation has been vouchsafed to men in direct proportion to their spiritual capacity.”
It is with equal discrimination that we look upon the holy Manifestations who have been the founders of various great religions and note their unity and agreement in purpose and teaching. His Holiness Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muḥammad, the Báb, and Bahá’u’lláh are one in spirit and reality. Each Prophet fulfilled the promise of the One who came before Him and likewise each forecast the appearance of the One who would follow.
Judaism, a religion maintained by the Jews and offered to the world by Abraham, its first adherent, established the Unity of God in the midst of a polytheistic generation.
Moses appeared at a time when the people had reached the depths of decadence, ignorance, and degradation. By the patience, fortitude, and willing endurance of this great Educator, His ingenuity and zealous work, a race was brought far on the road of religious evolution. From animistic polytheism, it attained to the dawn of ethical monotheism in a very short space of time. As can be expected of the message of a true prophet, the laws and teachings brought forth by Moses served not only that period of darkness, but formed the backbone of legislature and religious customs in the periods to follow when they were adopted by the Christians and spread around the world. As a result of the institutions and the establishment of Moses’ religious and civil laws, the people attained a position which entitled them to honor among all nations, and the highest degree of civilization of that period.
Zoroaster realized the need of arousing in the Persians a hatred for unworthy things; the need for a guide to teach them ethical discrimination. Like Moses, he became a great leader, welding and steadying the wandering tribes, making of them a stabilized nation through his influence and teachings. The world will ever remain His debtor for the system of philosophy, ethics, and theology He built up for it.
Buddhism arose in India as an antagonist against the theological system of the Vedas, which was enforced by a tyrannical hierarchy. It had a prodigious and unequalled success—a success resting on the assertion of absolute equality of all men. This, in a country that had for decades been burdened with castes. It introduced a powerful monastic system and offered many points resembling the subsequent one of Europe.
A short time before the appearance of Christ, there was a gradual mental breakdown in Greece; a breakdown of that strength from which original discovery matures. There was no new development in the physical sciences; natural philosophy had come to a standstill. Men were content to rest on their past laurels. Greek intellectual
The Bahá’í Youth Committee of Bombay, India, taken with Martha Root on the occasion of her tour of India and Burma during 1938.
life had passed into oblivion, and the moral conditions of the European world were in antagonism to scientific progress.
At about this same time, the priests and followers of every god were permitted to pursue without interference their own special forms of worship in Rome. The final outcome of the comparisons instituted, was the philosophical rejection of polytheism and a scepticism as regards them all. It indicated a complete mental and social demoralization—mental demoralization, for the principles of knowledge were sapped and man persuaded that his reason was no guide; social demoralization, for he was taught that right and wrong, virtue and vice, conscience, law and God are merely illusions.
To what appalling condition society has arrived when it reaches the conclusion that there is no religion, no justice, virtue or truth in the world; that the only object of human existence is unlimited physical enjoyment, and the only standard of man’s position is wealth!
With the disintegration of polytheism, the decline of philosophy, and the moral and social disorganization of the Roman Empire, the people turned to Christianity. Asia and Africa were tranquil, but with the tranquillity of despair. Is there anyone who can conscientiously say that such abhorrent conditions could be rectified by anyone other than One who is imbued with the essential illumination, the bounty of which can be received only from the Reality of the Divinity? Helped and confirmed by divine power, Christ, a true educator of the world of humanity, abrogated the Ancient Mosaic Law, reformed the general morals, and once again laid the foundation of external glory for the Israelites, thus fulfilling the law of Moses. He brought humanity the blessed tidings of universal peace and spread abroad teachings which were not for Israel alone, but were for the general well-being of the whole human race.
In 603 A.D. there was born in Arabia at
Mecca, a man who exercised a very great
[Page 576]
influence upon the
human race. This illustrious man, Muḥammad,
raised his own nation from Fetishism,
the adoration of meteoric stone, and
from the basest idol-worship. He
preached a monotheism which
quickly pushed into the background the
empty disputes of the Arians and Catholics.
He applied Himself to improving the social
conditions of his people, and was the first
to take steps in the direction of religious
and political unity when He consolidated
all the tribes of Arabia into one unit. While
Europe underwent the throes of the Dark
Ages, culture and science flourished in Islám
to the superiority of the other nations.
Muḥammadanism had never been surpassed in
adaptation to the spiritual wants of humble
life.
Today the churches founded on the old conception of religion are emptying and those who filled them are seeking to satisfy their hunger in the hundreds of sects and cults that spring up on every side when spiritual famine sets in and mental stamina weakens from lack of proper nourishment. Such is the danger of intellect outgrowing the formulas of faith.
It is necessary that the Truth be interpreted and reformulated to fit the conditions as they exist today. With the great advances made in science, politics, philosophy, and education, it is inevitable that a new synthesis be formed and that man should seek to unify his experiences.
With the appearance of the Báb, in 1844, a multitude of Persians became enlightened and radiant with the effect of the Báb’s message; thus was laid a foundation of high morals, customs, and vastly improved conditions in Persia. He not only awakened this unenlightened mass, but foretold and prepared them for the coming of One greater than He.
Who can question the station of this great Educator who suffered imprisonment and exile, abuse and every kind of affliction in order that a foundation might be laid as a basis for unity throughout the entire world and peace might be inaugurated?
Bahá’u’lláh declared unremittingly that He was the long-awaited Educator and Teacher for the entire world, whose appearance was foretold in all the Holy Books.
Man has attained maturity. It is his privilege and responsibility to investigate the Truth for himself—searching until he finds the pure gold, unadulterated by the gloss of dogmas, creeds, and doctrines that embellish the faith of his ancestors.
The conformity of religion to science and reason, the oneness of the human race, unity of nations, races, and religions, the complete banishment of superstitions and prejudices, equality of men and women, the establishment of a supreme international tribunal, justice, and righteousness, the unification of languages, and compulsory education for all —these and many other teachings were revealed by Bahá’u’lláh more than sixty years ago.
His message is unparalleled in its compendiousness and scope, and directly in accord with the signs and needs of the time. There has never before been a period in history in which there were so many proposed solutions to the numerous problems and conflicts, nor was the need of guidance to a struggling mankind so urgently and widely felt.
Bahá’u’lláh said, “man was created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.” This can only be accomplished by the guidance of the principles and foundations for the progress as illuminated by the pen of the Prophet for this day.
THE SCIENTIST NEEDS RELIGION
OTTO ZMESKAL
In entering upon a discussion of a controversial subject, it is well to define in a precise manner the terms upon which the discussion is to rest. In this discussion there are two terms: scientist, and religion. A scientist we shall define as one whose main objective is the pursuit of the secrets of nature, whose outstanding trait is observance, and whose chief virtue is an adamantine refusal to accept the unproven. To conform with the author’s scope, the discussion will be further narrowed to the material
Midwest Bahá’í Youth Conference held at Wilmette, Illinois, January 6-7, 1940. The picture was taken in the recently designated Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds or National Bahá’í Headquarters.
scientist. Religion will be defined as God’s plan for man.
The scientist persistently seeks to unravel the mysteries of the universe. He constantly searches for new facts; however, no true scientist is a mere fact-finder or data-gatherer. After the accumulation of the facts, there must needs follow the classification and organization of these facts from which the trends and the significances of the facts are determined. The ultimate goal is to establish a generalization from which new facts may be predicated and determined. This generalization is then tested. When repeated observation indicates that it is valid it is called a law. The scientist then feels that he has command of one of nature’s processes, that he has learned another of her formulae.
Has he? In no case is the law an explicit direction of an action of nature. Laws are merely approximations whose validity is established over a limited range, only. For example, consider the equation of state— the law describing the behavior of gases when subjected to variations in temperature and pressure. The equation is a law only under narrow limits of the variables, and must be modified empirically to apply to varying conditions.
It is the task of the scientist to answer the question, "Why?” The facts of nature are usually known for a considerable time before man becomes able to attempt to explain them. In other words, sciences develop from the arts. Invariably in his explanations, the scientist reaches an impasse; he finds himself unable to answer the final, “Why?” For example, the art of working ductile metals, as copper, silver, and gold, to increase their hardness is an ancient one, but only recently have scientists been able to break the surface of the question, “Why does work harden metals?”
The scientist continually endeavors to improve upon his concepts of nature. He ultimately approaches the problem of the structure of matter. He has proceeded with
The Bahá’í Youth Group of Los Angeles, California, February, 1939.
his tools to the electron, to what he believes to be the fundamental particle of matter. He cannot see his subject, yet he is not groping in the dark; for he can determine the trail his subject leaves in its actions. The actions of all that the scientist worked with heretofore could be fairly well described in terms of classical mechanics. To describe the electron he had to invent a new mechanics, to which he has given the name quantum mechanics. Knocking on the door of what he hopes to be the storehouse of nature’s secrets, he is yet without a key that fits the lock. In other words, the scientist is refining his attack on nature, but is yet a long way from complete knowledge of her.
In the embyronic stage of his study the scientist becomes reverent at the seemingly perfect order of nature; after more detailed observation he becomes dismayed at the disorder he notices. He adopts the view that the whole universe is governed by probability, from conception to destruction. He does not find solace in any of the old religions, governed by a literal adherence to allegorical teachings. Their bigotry and refusal to accept the truth in favor of a misinterpreted and decayed tradition forces him to deny them. His God becomes the God of Chance. His spiritual life becomes barren, and his efforts become devoid of the potential power to attain that which he seeks. He is in need of a restatement of the fundamentals of life.
Is the scientist endeavoring to measure
the universe with a straight yardstick? That
is, are not his measurements too coarse
(perhaps even fundamentally inaccurate)
to discern the operations of nature?
Is not nature
the visible handiwork of an invisible creator?
Is not the scientist too egotistical in thinking
that he can gain access to the key of God’s
domain without aid from the Owner? On
the other hand, should he feel that he is
searching for that which is not to be known?
He can not answer these questions of
himself; he must ask the One who has authority
from God to answer. God has given to this
age Bahá’u’lláh, who says, “The generality
of mankind is still immature. Had it
acquired sufficient capacity We would have
bestowed upon it so great a measure of our
knowledge that all . . . would have found
[Page 579]
themselves . . . completely
independent of
all knowledge save the knowledge of God. . . .”
The great scientist is the creator, the one who recognizes the verities of nature. Of course, observation and the organization of observation are necessary, but they are not enough. A “hunch,” or intuition, is needed to start observation on the path leading to the discovery of one of nature’s secrets. How does this creative instinct come? Is it not God’s gift, presented to man when man is ready for it? Does this mean that search is futile? Will the knowledge come to us despite our efforts? Is it not better to adopt the attitude that God will allow man to know of Him in proportion to man’s capability to assume that knowledge; that the search must ever continue, and when the time is right, the answer will be found? The scientist should ever search, striving constantly to increase the store of knowledge of nature, attempting always to find the fundamental, praying fervently to be the one permitted to reveal the truth.
Can the scientist ever hope to know precisely of nature’s actions? He hopes that he may; he is duty-bound to ever strive towards that objective. Will God ever allow man to know the precise truth? Bahá’u’lláh gives us the answer: “Within the treasury of Our Wisdom there lies unrevealed a knowledge, one word of which, if we chose to divulge it to mankind . . . would enable every one to discover the secrets of all the sciences. Other knowledges we do as well possess, not a single letter of which We can disclose, nor do We find humanity able to hear even the barest reference to their meaning. . . . The day is approaching. . . .”
BAHA’I INTERNATIONALISM
HERBERT BERMAN
The idea of internationalism—of a United States of Europe and of the world—is, of course, not new. It was advanced not only by prophets like Isaiah, but, in modern times, by men like Kant, Goethe, and Napoleon. Kant "dreamt of a future confederation of all states and peoples for the establishment of a universal peace,” and Goethe, explaining his refusal to write war songs against the French, declared, “National hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture. But there is a degree where it vanishes altogether, and where one stands to a certain extent above nations, and feels the weal or woe of a neighboring people, as if it had happened to one’s own.” Napoleon said, in language strikingly similar to that used by Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that had his plans succeeded, "Europe would soon have become one nation, and any who travelled in it would always have been in a common fatherland. . . . Sooner or later, this union will be brought about by the force of events. The first impetus has been given; and, after the fall and disappearance of my system, it seems to me that the only way in which an equilibrium can be achieved in Europe is through a league of nations.” What the Bahá’í Faith contributes to internationalism is not so much the idea itself as the impetus that can make its realization possible. Bahá’u’lláh, indeed, attributes all the astonishing progress made in the last hundred years or so to the energy released by His Revelation. “A new life is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth,” he announces, “and yet none hath discovered its cause or perceived its motive.” Nothing, He asserts, can prevent the triumph of His Cause and the principles it supports. “Whether ye rejoice or whether ye burst for fury, the heavens are cleft asunder, and God hath come down, invested with radiant sovereignty.” Shoghi Effendi likewise declares: “The principle of the Oneness of Mankind—the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh revolve—is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. . . . It implies at once a warning and a promise —a warning that in it lies the sole means for the salvation of a greatly suffering world, a promise that its realization is at hand.”
[Page 580]
The Faith also
teaches that internationalism
cannot come about from the mere annunciation
of the idea, but that its realization
can be accomplished only after intense
spiritual anguish. “That so fundamental a
revolution . . . can be achieved through the
ordinary processes of diplomacy and
education seems highly improbable,” writes the
Guardian. "We have but to turn our gaze
to humanity’s blood-stained history to
realize that nothing short of intense mental as
well as physical agony has been able to
precipitate those epoch-making changes that
constitute the greatest landmarks in
the history of human civilization.”
Reliance on such utterances enables the Bahá’ís to look beyond the present depressing conditions to a brighter future. Humanity, declares Shoghi Effendi, is now passing through its adolescence, “the most turbulent stage of its evolution.” Infancy and childhood are passed, maturity is not yet come. When it does arrive, however, a condition is to come which is well described in the familiar but still poignant words of the Apocalypse: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”
III
SPECIAL FEATURES
A YOUTH WHO MADE HISTORY
(A Reflection on "The Dawn-Breakers”)
TERESITA E. RYAN
“I declare you equal to this task.”
Imagine the happiness of Mullá Ḥusayn, when Siyyid Káẓim addressed these words to the youthful disciple!
We read in The Dawn-Breakers how Mullá Ḥusayn sprang to his feet, kissed the hem of his teacher’s garment, and with complete severance set out to perform a mission the difficulties and delicacy of which might well have discouraged a man of maturity and experience.
We enter with him, vicariously, into the presence of the renowned Siyyid, and hear his courageous plea for the assistance of the learned man. We observe the emotions of the Siyyid who is moved to tears by the sincerity of Mullá Ḥusayn, and charmed by his eloquence and fervent manner. When the Siyyid does all that is asked of him, our joy is boundless, for we see that Mullá Ḥusayn was, indeed, “equal to this task.”
Continued evidences of Mullá Ḥusayn’s greatness are described and we find him ceaselessly spreading the knowledge of the Revelation, increasing the numbers of followers wherever he goes, winning them by his selflessness and love for the Cause.
Nabil said he had heard this testimony from the lips of one of the early believers: "He seemed to us the very embodiment of piety and virtue. He inspired us with his rectitude of conduct and passionate loyalty. Such were the force of his character and the ardour of his faith that we felt convinced that he, unaided and alone, would be capable of achieving the triumph of the Faith of God.”
One is impressed by the faith which Mullá Ḥusayn aroused in those with whom he came in contact. What was responsible for this remarkable power? Might it not have been due to his own faith? Always he seemed confident that he would be given the strength and means to achieve what he set out to do.
Priceless rewards were bestowed upon him; his was the privilege of being the first to believe in the Báb, who gave him the title, "Bábu’l Báb” (Gate of the Gate). His life was crowned magnificently when, at the age of 38, he was martyred while on his way, with some of his followers, to assist Bahá’u’lláh.
We are stirred by many emotions when
[Page 581]
we study
The Dawn-Breakers. Heartbreaking
for all of us are the accounts of
the tribulations endured so heroically by
the pioneers of our Faith. We feel the pain
of the dreadful tortures, the unspeakable
mortifications inflicted upon them.
But through the entire narrative there is a strain of indescribable joy. To serve the Cause has, from its earliest days, been the one glory its followers have longed to attain. The Dawn-Breakers realized the fulfillment of that glorious ambition.
Our pride increases, as page by page, the glowing story unfolds of those noble souls who left us our great heritage, the tremendous responsibility of serving the Cause of God.
Mighty and lowly, old and young attained the Supreme Joy of being numbered among the Dawn-Breakers.
Each reader sees in Nabil’s narrative a character he might have been himself. What tremendous inspiration there is for every believer in such beautiful Bahá’í examples! The study of their noble lives should, indeed, help to make us "equal to this task.”
THE NEW HOUR HAS STRUCK!
A Survey of Shoghi Effendi’s Cablegrams
NAN REASONER
A Cablegram from the Guardian, dated December 1935, concerning the completion of the Temple read in part:
"Forces which progressive Revelation of this Mighty Symbol of Our Faith (i.e., The Temple) is fast releasing in heart of sorely tried continent, no one of this generation can correctly appraise. . . . The New Hour has struck in the history of our beloved Cause calling for nationwide systematic sustained effort in teaching field, enabling thereby these forces to be directed into such channels as shall redound to the glory of our Faith and honor of its institutions.”
Two and a half years have passed since the declaration of the New Hour was made by the Guardian following the completion of the dome unit in the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in December 1935. Not only does this symbolize a significant period in the development of the Cause, but it marks a sudden turn in world events as well. At least three major wars have taken place since 1935, not to mention the numerous revolutions and petty political strifes which have harassed nations as close to us as Central America and Mexico. The United States herself has quaked from internal corruption and labor contentions on one hand, while on the other physical disaster in the shape of floods, droughts, and dust storms have steadily taken their toll.
Concerning these staggering events, a repeated note of warning is evidenced in the cablegrams from the Guardian (beginning 1936) which was not so apparent before.
From the Guardian’s cablegram dated May, 1936, we read:
“First century of Bahá’í era drawing to a close. Humanity entering outer fringe most perilous stage of its existence. Opportunities of present hour unimaginably precious!”
In August of the same year we read:
"Time is short! The sands of a chaotic, despairing civilization are steadily running out.”
Again in the same cablegram:
“Audacity, resolution and self-abnegation are imperatively demanded. Impatiently and prayerfully waiting.”
In a cablegram dated October, 1936, we read:
"Shadows encircling sore-tried human society noticeably deepening. World crisis inexorably moving towards climax, challenging torch bearers Bahá’í Civilization scale loftier heights individual heroism.”
In October, 1936 came the most ominous forewarning from Haifa.
“The present opportunity unutterably precious. It may not recur again!”
That administration is sufficiently organized for the present, we were told in this cablegram, dated November 28, 1937:
“The various rulings and regulations
recorded in the Bahá’í Administration and the
[Page 582]
supplementary statements
already issued by
the National Spiritual Assembly, are for the
present sufficiently detailed to guide the
friends in their present-day activities.”
Confirming this fact are these two fragments from a cablegram August 1936 and another dated in March of the same year:
“Functioning within the framework of an Administrative Order so laboriously erected—”
"Now that the Administrative organs of a firmly established Faith are vigorously and harmoniously functioning—”
An even greater impetus has been added to the Administration by the appointment of the 171 delegates to the Convention of 1938, through which the Guardian’s suggestion for a more representative National Spiritual Assembly we hope will be realized.
With regard to Teaching, five powerful weapons have been translated by the Guardian as especially suitable for the needs of this Hour: Nabil’s Narrative, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets—The Divine Plan, the Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, and Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh. And the writings of Shoghi Effendi himself have unfailingly guided us through these precarious years since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing.
In a cablegram of March, 1936, we read:
“This new stage in the gradual unfoldment of the formative period of our Faith into which we have just entered, the phase of concentrated teaching activity, synchronizes with a period of deepening gloom, of universal impotence, of ever-increasing destitution and widespread disillusionment in the fortunes of a declining age. . . .” and from a cablegram dated October, 1936:
“The American believers, if they wish to carry out in the spirit and the letter the parting wishes of their beloved Master, must intensify their teaching work a thousandfold, and extend its ramifications beyond the confines of their native land, and as far as the most distant outposts of their far-flung Faith.”
In another cablegram dated May, 1936, came this touching appeal.
“Would to God every state within American Republic and every Republic in American Continent might, ere termination of this glorious century, embrace the light of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh and establish (the) structural basis of His World Order.”
The Seven Year Plan came into being May 1, 1937 as a revitalizing measure, and a direct appeal from the Guardian to the American Youth concerning this issue is here quoted from a letter, dated January 15, 1938, which was written especially for this survey:
“The point which the Guardian wishes you to emphasize in your appeal is a twofold one: first, the absolute necessity for Bahá’í young men and women to participate actively and increasingly in the activities which the American believers are initiating under the Seven Year Plan, and particularly in connection with the organization and extension of the teaching work. They have indeed a special responsibility to shoulder in the discharge of this most vital task now facing The American Bahá’í Community, and upon the measure of their self-sacrifice and devotion to such a task will assuredly depend the success and future progress of their labors for the promotion of Bahá’í Youth activity throughout the States.
“The Bahá’í Youth, the Guardian strongly feels, should also welcome such cooperation in carrying out the Teaching Program outlined in the Seven Year Plan because of the marvelous opportunity it offers them to acquire better training in teaching the Cause. To this end, he would further urge on American young Bahá’ís to attend regularly all the sessions of either one of the three established Summer Schools in the United States. He is confident that through such attendance, not only their knowledge of the teaching will be considerably deepened but they will increasingly gain in unity and fellowship and become thoroughly imbued with that spirit of service which is the aim of every loyal and true believer to acquire.”
Let us keep in mind that the fulfillment of the Divine Plan entrusted to us by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and furthered by our beloved Guardian is a far greater task than the conquest of this or any continent by our forefathers: it is the spiritual conquest of America! to quote again from the Guardian’s cable in December 1936:
The North Shore Youth Group composed of Bahá’ís from communities in the vicinity of the Bahá’í Temple, Wilmette, Illinois, taken in 1939.
[Page 584]
"The Dawn Breakers
in a previous age
have on Persian soil signalized by their acts
the birth of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Might
not American believers, their spiritual
descendants, prove themselves in turn capable
of ushering in on world scale the
civilization of which that Faith is the
direct source and sole begetter?”
April, 1937, brought us the joyous news of the consummation of the union of East and West in the marriage of Rúḥíyyih Khánum to the Guardian. Quoting from the Guardian’s cablegram commenting on this historical event:
“Deeply moved your message. Institution Guardianship head cornerstone of the Administrative Order of Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, already ennobled through its organic connection with the Persons of Twin Founders of the Bahá’í Faith, is now further reinforced through direct association with West and particularly with the American believers, whose spiritual destiny is to usher in World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. For my part, desire to congratulate community of American believers on acquisition of tie vitally binding them to so weighty an organ, of their Faith.”
Finally let us consider carefully the cable dated September, 1937:
“In a world perilously near cataclysmic convulsions destined (to) experience, at a time when forces of repression are launching their assaults and conspiring to undermine foundations of most powerful strongholds of Bahá’í Faith in land of its birth . . . an inescapable, well nigh staggering responsibility rests on America, its chief remaining Citadel. Who among its stalwart defenders will arise untrammeled and unafraid to implant its banner in those states, provinces and Countries? . . . Entreat afresh American Community heed vital urgency of my impassioned plea and spur efforts bring speedy termination first stage in evolution so important phase of dual task so enthusiastically shouldered.
A LETTER
The following letter, written by Miss Bahíyyih Farajullah, an Egyptian Bahá’í now residing in ‘Iráq, came to us from Mr. Nureddin ‘Abbás, of Baghdád. His letter says, “While looking into the writings of her college days, I found a copy of a letter penned by her in answer to a letter sent to her by a teacher who called to convert Miss Bahíyyih to Christianity. The teacher is an American woman and is a missionary by nature. It indeed was a brave temerity, a shining symbol of solid faith on the part of a girl student while still in the preparatory school to answer her prejudiced teacher so courageously. I was so impressed with its zeal and style that I would like so much to share it with you. . . .”
Dear Miss ————
. . . According to the principle, “Better late than never,” I here will acquit myself of the duty of answering your dear message.
Being elevated in religious atmosphere, I always was imbued with tolerance and reverence towards all creeds. My parents always impressed me with the undeniable fact that all religions accord in one principle, and that each one, historically speaking, fulfills the other; that they are all spiritual outpourings from one divine source. Christ His Holiness, according to our religion, holds amongst the founders of religion a very high esteem. We certainly believe in Christ as a Saviour of humanity. Indeed, we Bahá’ís feel that we are the real Christians. We adore Him as a Prophet, we love Him as a Saviour, and we worship Him as one of the Sons of Gods Whom the divine Will ordained that they should sacrifice their lives for the welfare of humanity.
I always revel in reading the Sermon on
the Mountain, and take it as one of the
greatest blessings God ever revealed
to humanity. But at the same time I put on
equal footing to it the great teachings
expressing the same spirit and the same
spiritual melody and the teachings of the other
great inspired Prophets and benefactors of
humanity. What would become of the hundreds
of millions in China, India, Africa,
had it not been for the great influence of
the teachings of Muḥammad, of Gautama
Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tse and others? I
[Page 585]
certainly admit that
there are a good number of imperfections
wrongly attributed to
the teachings of these reformers, yet
I assure you with the spirit of tolerance which
is one of the main principles of Christ, one
can realize that it is not and it will never
be through their fault that such nations are
sometimes morally backward. Consult any
believer in religions other than Christianity,
and certainly you’ll be convinced and
undoubtedly astonished that such people
entertain the same beliefs as you do and hold
tenaciously to principles entirely identical
with the principles of Christ.
You are certainly acquainted with the teaching of Buddhism. European scholars are of opinion that Christ was influenced by the teachings of Buddhism. I have at my disposal a book written by a certain Professor Dwight Goddard, entitled Was Jesus Influenced by Buddhism? in which the author claims that certainly Christ was influenced by Buddhism. On my part as a Bahá’í, I don’t hold the view of this author. I only believe that both Christ and Gautama Buddha were Sons of God, and that they have drunk of the same Divine Source, that the greatness of God such as to send from time to time according to a periodical order Christs, Muḥammads, Moses, and so forth—God’s Divinity does not change. We consider the personalities of the Prophets as different horizons from which rises the same Sun always. Whatever they say is God’s Word.
I hope from all these that you will know that I am not so unchristian as you thought. The only difference between you and me is this: that I take a wider view of God’s order than you take, that I consider those prophets whom you believe to be impostors, as God’s Words and as God’s Sons. I think with this view one can go on better with his fellow human beings than with a narrow one which restricts respect and deference to one Prophet only. Such a view to my humble opinion accords more with the principles of Christ, which consider all human beings as brothers, than with the one you, alas, entertain.
Well, excuse me for my long letter. I wanted simply to convince you that I understand the principles of Christ and that I believe in them. . . .
Sincerely yours,
“THE UNFOLDMENT OF WORLD CIVILIZATION”
Fourth Annual World Bahá’í Youth Day
"Now it (humanity) has entered its long predicted phase of maturity.”
How familiar now are these words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, written many years before the ominous trend of world events impelled the Guardian to warn us that “‘The time of the end,’ ‘the latter years,’ as foretold in the Scriptures, are at long last upon us!”
Who, when reading the frequent and impassioned pleas from Shoghi Effendi, can fail to respond from the depths of his soul? Who is there in our ranks who has not promised God that he would “rise from the couch of heedlessness” to teach, teach, teach! “Impatiently and prayerfully waiting,” says our Guardian, in tones which should galvanize every follower of Bahá’u’lláh into instant action.
On February 26, 1939, will come our greatest opportunity for group service—the Fourth Annual World Bahá’í Youth Day. The National Youth Committee is calling all Bahá’í youth to participation in the greatest and most important of our yearly activities. We have the glorious promise of Bahá’u’lláh that the Supreme Concourse will assist all those who arise to serve Him.
Under the general theme of The Unfoldment of World Civilization, representative young people in each community are to give public talks on the following subjects:
Unity in Diversity
“What Hath God Wrought?”
Lost Horizons
One Common Faith
World Order
In Muḥammadan countries, the
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Symposiums will be
held on Friday, February 24,
since that is their weekly holiday.
Complete outlines will be found elsewhere in this issue.
As in past years, a special Symposium issue of Bahá’í Youth will be published in February. Please order extra copies at once from Mrs. Frank Dyer, 211 Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Another scrapbook will be compiled for presentation to the Guardian.
Talks will be broadcast by radio, wherever possible.
Each participating community is to have a preliminary session of prayer for the success of the speakers, and all who assist in this united effort.
Important: Please send reports of plans to sub-secretaries and international secretaries as soon as possible.
For Bahá’u’lláh, for the Guardian, and for humanity in its darkest hour, let us, one and all, rise on February 26 to prove ourselves worthy of our high calling.
"O ye friends! This is not the time of rest and tranquillity! This is not the season of silence and stillness.”
“The cup of giving, overflowing with the wine of fulfillment is offered:—blessed are they who drink thereof!”
UNITY IN DIVERSITY
ROBERT KOEHL
(Kenosha, Wis.)
AIM
1. To prove that diversity of characteristics in individuals is essential for the unity of mankind; that uniformity is not, and cannot be, such a requisite.
2. To show how unity in diversity may be brought about.
REFERENCES
“Wisdom of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,” pp. 17, 30, 45, 75, 127.
"Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh,” pp. 187, 196, 215, 218, 260, 286, 315, 331, 333.
"Security for a Failing World,” by Stanwood Cobb, pp. 132-140.
“Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era,” by J. E. Esslemont, pp. 109-110.
“The Promulgation of Universal Peace,” Vol. I, pp. 2, 13, 16, 34, 53-54, 185-186, 202-203, 223-229.
“The Promulgation of Universal Peace,” Vol. II, pp. 291, 315.
"The Modern Social Religion,” Part III, by Horace Holley.
“A World Community,” by J. H. Randall (World Unity Library), pp. 70-76.
“Letter to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace,” by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 10.
"The Oneness of Mankind,” Compilation.
"Unity through Love”—a talk by Howard MacNutt.
“World Order Magazine,” November, 1936, “Unity of Thought.”
“World Order Magazine,” August, 1937, “Unity,” by Benjamin Schreibman.
“World Order Magazine,” October, 1937, "Citizen of the World.”
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE
Show first that although men differ in characteristics they have one Source, one Goal; viz., one Creator. Show how men’s attributes are like the facets of jewels, some polished, some not. By allegories such as those used by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (the army, the garden, the musical chords) strive to point out that diversity of function is necessary and pleasing. Consider a baseball team. Point out as dynamic proofs the amalgamation in the United States, and in the Bahá’í Cause. Finally, show that universal love, made possible by the Manifestation, who brings the power of the Holy Spirit, is the only sure means of bringing about unity in diversity.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. What are the great differences between unity and uniformity?
2. Is unity or uniformity more reasonable
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to consider as a goal for humanity?
Why?
3. What has been the attitude of philosophers towards unity? (Mention plans for unity made by some philosophers.)
4. Can a whole be realized without all its parts? Remembering that a unity is a whole, give some concrete and some abstract proofs for your conclusion.
5. How are opposites complementary?
6. What is universal love?
7. How is universal love to be brought about?
8. How are universal love and justice linked so closely together?
9. Is diversity the cause of warfare, or is misunderstanding?
10. Is not every true religion founded to bring about unity in diversity?
11. Is lack of unity worthy of the station of man?
12. How does prejudice combat unity?
WORLD ORDER
MARGARET KUNZ
(Bryn Mawr, Pa.)
AIM
1. To show that the disorder of our present-day society can be changed into World Order only by accepting the plan of Bahá’u’lláh, which is fundamentally a spiritual plan.
2. To characterize this new World Order as it has been described for us by Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi.
3. To point out the important role of Bahá’í Youth in helping to usher in this new World Order.
REFERENCES
"Goal of a New World Order,” by Shoghi Effendi, pp. 15-25.
“Unfoldment of World Civilization,” by Shoghi Effendi, pp. 42-46.
“World Order Magazine,” "The World Crisis” (in three parts) by Mountfort Mills —February, March, and April, 1938.
"Stepping Stones to a New World Order” (in three parts) by Edna Eastman—June, July, August, 1938.
"Signs of the Times,” by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.
"Security for a Failing World,” by Stanwood Cobb, Chapters 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 17.
“Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era,” by J. E. Esslemont, Chapters 5, 8, 9, and 10.
"Bahá’í Youth Magazine,” "Pioneering Role of Bahá’í Youth,” by Teresita E. Ryan —March, 1937.
“What the Bahá’í Faith Means to the Youth of Today,” by Mae Graves-June, 1937.
“Youth,” by Foad Rushdy—June, 1938.
“World Order—Not Utopia,” by Wilfrid Barton—February, 1938.
Encyclopedia Britannica.
New International Encyclopedia. Americana.
Last three books for articles on Communism, Fascism, etc.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE
The modern world is characterized by disorder in the economic, political, social, and religious realms. This state of disorder is wrecking human lives. Disillusionment, despair, hopelessness, discouragement, disappointment, crime, poverty, sickness, and unemployment are widespread. Everyone is suffering to a greater or lesser degree.
A solution is needed. Somehow we must find a way out. The success of methods being tried at present is negligible.
Bahá’ís turn to Bahá’u’lláh, who has brought us a spiritual solution for the world’s problems. The Bahá’ís believe no other solution will work. The laws of love, of kindness, of forgiveness, of devotion to God and His Prophets, and of the oneness of mankind must again be lived, and woven into the warp and woof of our social, economic, and political patterns. Thus the new World Order will have a spiritual basis. Only on this foundation can a new World Order be built.
Some characteristics of the World Order
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of which Bahá’u’lláh
is the motivating force:
a) Economic justice
b) Universal education
c) World peace
d) A world state
e) An international tribunal
f) Universal language
g) Religious unity
Today we see a tendency in the direction of all these steps. Bahá’u’lláh’s plan is beginning already to take effect in the world. It is not an imaginary, unattainable Utopia.
Bahá’í youth today have a tremendous challenge, for ours is the task of helping to usher in this new World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. We must show courage, faith, zeal, sacrifice, and reverance to accomplish our goal.
POINTS TO STRESS AND DEVELOP
1. Show how and why methods being tried at present have failed to solve the world’s problems.
2. Stress the need for the spiritualization of human relationships. Man needs to find again spiritual values in living. Bahá’u’lláh is the door to this new way of life, which will lead to new social relationships characterized by cooperation, confidence, goodwill, kindness, sympathy, understanding, generosity, and graciousness.
3. Paint a vivid picture of the new World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. Show how it will bring a better and richer life to all mankind.
4. Stress that this is not an imaginary Utopia. We see many signs about us today of the future order.
“WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT”
JOY IVERSON
(Urbana, Illinois)
OBJECTIVE
To show the tremendous influence toward unifying nations this latest Manifestation of God has had upon the world in the past, and will have to an even greater degree in the future.
REFERENCES
“The Bahá’í Proofs,” by Mirza Abul-Fazl, pp. 35-113.
"Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era,” by J. E. Esslemont, pp. 1-85—Chapters I, II, III. IV.
"The Wisdom of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,” pp. 30-34. “The Universal Love.”
"World Order Magazine,” January, 1938, pp. 381-385.
“World Order Magazine,” March, 1938, pp. 461-464.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE
Show the relation of the title to the subject matter by explaining that in 1844, the year of the Báb’s declaration and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s birth, the first message ever sent by telegraph was the words “What hath God wrought?” and at that time there was an answer to the question forming slowly in the far East. There was being brought to mankind a renewal of the Divine Teachings. For while we in the West were marveling at the huge strides civilization was making in a material way, much greater advancement in the way of spiritual rebirth was being felt in the Orient. Review the history of the Movement, touching with especial emphasis on the conditions of the people and the country before the influence of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh was felt and the profound, almost instantaneous effect Their influence had upon individuals, and Their relationship to all mankind. This might be the keynote of the talk: This latest Manifestation of God is creating in the hearts of men a universal love for humanity.
POINTS TO STRESS AND DEVELOP
1. The beauty of the Bahá’í conception of universal love as exemplified by the three Central Figures of the Cause.
2. The actual practicability of this love even in our materialistic Western world.
3. The basis of love is found in understanding.
ONE COMMON FAITH
ROBERTA V. KALEY
(Binghamton, N. Y.)
AIM
To show how the Bahá’í Teachings unify all religions by recognizing existing diversities as man—made differences of form and procedure, and discarding dogma for reality.
REFERENCES
"Goal of the New World Order,” by Shoghi Effendi, p. 19. "Seven Lights of Unity,” p. 22, “The Principle of Oneness.”
"Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era,” by J. E. Esslemont, Chapter VIII.
“Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh,” pp. 315, 50-51, 57.
"Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,” pp. 15-16.
"Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh,” pp. 53-56, 59.
“Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh,” p. 20, No. 68.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE
Illustrate the physical unity of the modern world through science, and stress the need for spiritual understanding and oneness, that mankind may become thoroughly integrated. Point out the necessity for a spiritual approach to the problem of human relations and how the Bahá’í Faith solves this problem.
POINTS TO STRESS AND DEVELOP
1. The necessity for one religion.
2. The common principles of the great religions of the world.
3. The oneness of God, and the consequent oneness of His Manifestations.
LOST HORIZONS
IRENE HANSEN
(Hillsdale, Ill.)
AIM
1. To point out the decline of religions, resulting in moral and social decay.
2. To show what the Bahá’í Faith has to offer.
REFERENCES
"Readers Digest,” July, 1938, pp. 1-3, 28-31.
“Readers Digest,” February, 1938, p. 73.
"Readers Digest,” May, 1938, pp. 120-121, 126-128.
“Security for a Failing World,” by Stanwood Cobb, Chapters VI, XV.
“The Unfoldment of World Civilization,” by Shoghi Effendi, pp. 10, 20-30.
"The Goal of a New World Order,” by Shoghi Effendi, pp. 10-12.
“Bahá’í Youth Magazine”—"Nobility,” by Kenneth Christian—July, 1936.
“World Order Magazine”—“Modern Tendencies in World Relgions,” by Nevin C. Harner—March, 1937.
“World Order Magazine”—“The World Crisis,” by Mountford Mills—February, 1938.
"World Order Magazine”—"Assurance,“ by Dorothy Baker, December, 1936.
“Foundations of World Unity,” by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pp. 28-33.
“Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era,” Chapter IX, by J. E. Esslemont.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE
Problem: Today humanity is immersed in iniquity and waywardness.
Solution: In the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is found that certainty of a future and regeneration of a social order, which alone can come from the power of the Word of God.
POINTS TO STRESS AND DEVELOP
1. Give concrete examples of the breaking down of religious institutions.
2. Give examples of a decadent Society.
3. Using the Bahá’í principles as examples, explain why the Bahá’í has a breadth of vision surpassing all limited horizons.
4. Reveal the privileges of a true Bahá’í.
A NEW CIVILIZATION AT WORK
Mehran R. Jamshedi of Karachi, India, sends us the following article which is reprinted from the Karachi Daily Gazette of June 25, 1938
Sadhu T. L. Vaswani gave an eloquent lecture on Wednesday evening in the Bahá’í Hall on The Bahá’í Faith and the Modern World. His presence as well as his speech created an atmosphere vibrant with love, understanding, sympathy and illumination. Mr. Hatim A. Alavi, Mayor of Karachi, occupied the chair. Bahá’í prayers in the Íránian language were chanted before and after the talk. The hall was filled, and every one listened to the address with rapt attention.
"Why do I feel drawn to the Bahá’í Faith?” asked Sadhu Vaswani. “As a student of modern thought and modern life, I am drawn to this world-wide movement. There are five features of the Bahá’í Faith, the Bahá’í Teachings, which have great fascination for me. I shall very briefly refer to these five and so indicate the relation of the Bahá’í Faith to the modern world.
“The Bahá’í Faith believes, as I believe, that the problem of the modern world is essentially a spiritual problem; purely political solutions are inadequate, inadequate, too, is the economic solution of the problem.
“The second feature of the Bahá’í Faith which fascinates me is the ‘Brotherhood of Religions.’ The true Bahá’í believes that religions are not rivals. The world has suffered much for there has been wrangling in the name of religion.
"The harmony of Science and Religion! Here you have the third fascinating feature of the Bahá’í Faith. We live in a scientific age—an age which is developing more and more its reflective consciousness. And in this age when the power of thinking is growing, it will not do to offer to the world creeds and traditions which will not stand the test of reason. The modern world refuses to accept them.
“The fourth feature of the Bahá’í Faith is: a NEW CIVILIZATION, a BROTHERLY CIVILIZATION. That is what the whole world is crying for. The one piteous, urgent need today is a new brotherly civilization. The world is in ferment. There are processes of break-up in Asia and in the West, and the longing is growing for a new brotherly civilization.
“Emancipation and education of women is the fifth fascinating feature of the Bahá’í Faith. I recall the words of the great German poet, Goethe: ‘The woman-soul will lead us upward, on!’ Man has had this chance and man has bungled. Man has blundered. And look! Civilization lies broken and bleeding. Let women have a chance to remould civilization for woman has intuition, devotion, sacrifice, woman has the spirit of love.”
THE BÁB
(Written by Robert Koehl of Kenosha, Wisconsin for the anniversary of the martyrdom of the Báb)
O thou Morning Star:
- What flaming beauty Thine,
- Intoxicating men like wine,
To draw them from afar!
O Messenger of God:
- How great the need for Thee,
- And yet, Thy worth, how few could see
To walk where Thou has trod!
O Forerunner of the Kingdom:
- What Spirit hath Thine eyes shown forth,
- That twenty thousands saw its worth,
And followed Thee in martyrdom!
O Prophet of the Lord:
- Who for Thy Cause Thyself preserved,
- But finishing, men’s laws observed,
And died for their accord!
O twofold Prince and Guide:
- Who mirrored forth Thy Lord,
- And gazed straight heavenward,
And saw Bahá’u’lláh, ere Thou hadst died.
O Reformer of this Day:
- What fiery accents used!
- What mighty laws infused
In men who sleeping lay!
O Primal Point:
- Thy mightiest Name adored
- In which all Names are stored,
Who did men’s souls anoint;
We ask to learn of Thee
- How power flows to men
- From out God’s mighty Pen
And makes them truly free.
