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Bahá’í News

April 1977

Bahá’í Year 134

Early believers of the West: Kenosha, Wisconsin

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Contents

History of the Faith in Kenosha	1
Around the World	10

Cover photo

Kenosha had either the first or second Spiritual Assembly in the United States. Pictured on the cover is the Spiritual Assembly elected in 1910.

page 1

page 12

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Bahá’í News is published monthly for circulation among Bahá’ís only by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í world community. Manuscripts submitted should be typewritten and double spaced throughout; any footnotes should appear at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Send materials to: Bahá’í News Editorial Office, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A.

Change of address should be reported directly to Office of Membership and Records, National Bahá’í Center, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A. Please attach mailing label.

Subscription rates: one year, US $8: two years, US $15.

Second class postage paid at Wilmette, Illinois 60091.

Copyright © 1977, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

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Kenosha

The history of the second Bahá’í community in the United States

Part I

by William P. Collins

Early in this century, a message from Abdu’l-Bahá, Center of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh and Interpreter of His teachings, arrived in a small Wisconsin city:

“A good fragrance is coming from the rose-garden of Kenosha and a pleasing breeze is blowing from the orchard of the hearts of the friends and maid-servants of the Merciful.

“Praise be to God, that town, by the presence of the beloved ones and the Maid-servants of the Merciful, hath become a veritable paradise and its space, like unto the heavens, is illumined with radiant lamps. If this conflagration and attraction continue for a period, Kenosha will soon attain great provisions, will travel with speed through the degrees of existence and make great progress in the orders of the Kingdom.”¹

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The essential tenets of the Faith were given in a series of twelve lessons.

During the final years of the 1890’s, the introduction of the Bahá’í Faith into the United States took place, with few exceptions, in such large cities as New York and Chicago. One of the exceptions was Kenosha, Wisconsin. It was the second city in America opened to the Faith; it had either the first or second Local Spiritual Assembly in the United States; and it was the only city in Wisconsin ever to be visited by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The history of the Kenosha Bahá’í Community, now in its 80th year, is an important source of knowledge about the early foundations of the entire American Bahá’í Community and the development and diffusion of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States.

Although the first mention of the Bahá’í Faith in the West took place at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, a systematic teaching of the Faith did not begin until 1894 when Dr. Ibráhím Khayru’lláh, a Syrian convert, actively began to promulgate the Bahá’í Cause in Chicago. Shoghi Effendi states in God Passes By,² his history of the first hundred years of the Bahá’í era, that Dr. Khayru’lláh was visiting Kenosha as early as 1895, but it appears that no Kenoshan accepted the Bahá’í teachings until two years later.

Byron S. Lane, a Kenosha engineer, embraced the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in 1897, having learned of the Faith through Paul Kingston Dealy (deceased 1937) of Chicago, one of the first Bahá’ís on the American continent. Mr. Lane wrote of his conversion:

“We were living in Kenosha at the time and on visiting a friend in Chicago, by the name of Paul Kingston Dealy, I heard of a great Wise Man who came from the Holy Land, who had a true Message of God, the Truth. We investigated and found that he (Dealy) surely had the Truth and we got him to come to Kenosha and give the Message to all who were ready to receive it.”³

After satisfying Mr. Lane’s inquiries into the nature of the Cause, Mr. Dealy began making regular visits to Kenosha along with Dr. Khayru’lláh, who seems to have been in charge of the content of the lessons received by the seekers who were studying the Faith.⁴ Meetings to learn about the teachings were held regularly at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lane at 566 West St. (now 6317-11th Ave.) where hundreds investigated the Faith.

The essential Bahá’í tenets were given in a series of twelve separate lessons which began with teachings on the soul and mind, progressing through various stages until the last lesson, at which time those who had accepted all that they had been taught would be given the knowledge of the Greatest Name, that is, they would be told about Bahá’u’lláh. It is this knowledge of Bahá’u’lláh which was the truth referred to in the very first of the Bahá’í lessons:

“It is your desire Mr. Truthseeker, to take these teachings, is it not? What is your object? To know the truth? Well, Mr.————— the truth is and has always been for the truth seeker and for no one else. As Jesus taught. We follow the example of Jesus. He said: ‘Knock and it shall be opened, ask and thou shalt receive, he that seeketh, findeth,’ showing that you have only to ask for it. It costs nothing, only the asking for it.

“But when you get ityou will prize it higher than anything on this earth for it is the greatest thing that man can get in this world.”⁵

Although the knowledge of the teachings and recognition of the station of Bahá’u’lláh was a great prize, one requirement of those taking the Bahá’í lessons was that

“...these teachings are private and you are not to mention them to anyone; they are not secret but private, and we trust to your honor. We do not ask you to take any obligation or oath. These teachings are private for many reasons. You will remember that Jesus talked to the masses in parables. When He was alone with His [apostles] they asked Him why He talked to the masses in parables. He said: ‘To them I talk in parables but to you only is given to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of God....’

“When they attempted to expound the teachings He rebuked them and told them that they must not cast their pearls before swine. This was to show them that the truth was only for truth seekers... So you are not to mention the teachings until you are given permission.”⁶

Since Dr. Khayru’lláh was giving a similar series of lessons in various localities, it is evident in the need to have his permission to speak of the teachings that he exercised a subtle control over the seekers and early American believers, the detrimental effect of which would be belatedly recognized a few years later. In any case, the silence observed by the Bahá’ís was so nearly complete that the public, from 1897-1900, referred to the Bahá’ís as “Truthseekers” or more often “Truth-knowers,” which led to considerable confusion and speculation as to the true nature of Bahá’í beliefs.

The “Truth-knower” lessons in Kenosha were quite successful, resulting in the enrollment of 18 believers in 1897.⁷ In that same year an embossing seal for stamping documents and papers was purchased by those Bahá’ís in Kenosha who had charge of such items. The inscription on the seal read: “The Assembly of Behaists in Kenosha, Wis. * 1897 *”, and in its center was an imprint of the Greatest Name symbol. The Bahá’ís in those early years of the Faith in the United States often referred to themselves as Behaists until about 1900.

At this point, a difficult but important question about Bahá’í history in Kenosha surfaces. The use of the term “assembly” in the first years of the Faith’s development in this country usually referred to the

[Page 3] The first eighteen believers in Kenosha posed for this photograph in 1897. Seated in the center are Mr. and Mrs. Byron S. Lane.

entire Bahá’í membership in a given locality. Thus, “Assembly of Behaists in Kenosha” may refer to the whole Kenosha Bahá’í community and not to an elected body. The question of when Kenosha’s first elected Bahá’í institution came into being is an important one, however, be1 cause establishing a clear date would show whether Kenosha had the first or second Bahá’í Local Spiritual Assembly in America. In God Passes By the Guardian indicates that “as far back as the year 1899 a council board of seven officers, the forerunner of a series of Assemblies which, ere the close of the first Bahá’í century, were to cover the North American Continent from coast to coast, was established in the city of Kenosha.”⁸ The Kenosha records still in existence include a minute book for 1899 showing the election of a “Board of Counsel” on May 26th of that year. However, a treasurer’s record book dated January 1898 is also in the Kenosha archives, indicating the possibility, though not directly documented, of an Assembly in 1898 or 1897. A manuscript “History of the Kenosha Bahá’í Community” compiled in 1933 by Louis J. Voelz, then secretary of the Kenosha Spiritual Assembly, indicates the view of early Kenosha believers that 1897 was the year in which an elected body was formed.⁹ Without direct and clearly documented evidence, however, the issue of whether Kenosha had an elected Local Spiritual Assembly before or after New York City (1898) will continue to remain in doubt.

The year 1898 brought continued successful meetings in the home of Byron Lane, where he witnessed the declarations of belief of many prominent Kenosha businessmen and women. The new Bahá’ís suffered much criticism from relatives and friends, but such opposition did not prevent the Bahá’í Community from growing to 77 believers during that year. Though the exact reasons are unclear, there may be several possible explanations for such ready acceptance of the Bahá’í teachings among Kenoshans. First, acceptance of Spiritualism, Mesmerism, Christian Science and various reform movements may have opened the way for investigation of other unorthodox or non-Christian religious ideas.⁹a Second, many Kenoshans were descendants of immigrants from upper New York State which had a 19th-century tradition of being a center of religious ferment, witness the Millerites and Mormons.⁹b Third, the 1893 World Parliament of Religions had a tremendous effect on the more educated Americans, and Kenoshans may have been more moved by proximity to Chicago. Fourth, Kenosha was a city of tremendously mobile population, being a port on Lake Michigan. It nearly doubled in size, from 6,532 in 1890 to 11,606 in 1900.⁹c Fifth, the “private” nature of “Truth-knower” lessons may have drawn the curious, especially the business and upper classes who might tend to be attracted to such secret movements as Freemasonry.

Dr. Khayru’lláh, whose successes in

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He taught the falsehood that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was Jesus Christ incarnate.

teaching brought great commendation from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and the designation of “Bahá’s Peter” and “The Second Columbus,” embarked in 1898 with the first Western pilgrims to the Holy Land and a visit to the Bahá’í Shrines. Already emboldened by his triumphant successes and the control which he exercised over the American believers, Dr. Khayru’lláh hoped to receive ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s blessing on several doctrines which he had introduced into his promulgation of Bahá’í principles in America. Not content with having taught the falsehood that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was Jesus Christ incarnate, Dr. Khayru’lláh sought the Master’s approval of a book he had written which advocated the doctrine of reincarnation.¹⁰ When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá attempted to correct Dr. Khayru’lláh’s mistaken notions of Bahá’í teachings, he developed a burning antagonism which was to smolder for several more months before bursting forth in the gravest test to be faced by that early band of American Bahá’ís.

As already mentioned, a Board of Counsel was elected by the Kenosha believers on May 26, 1899, with Byron S. Lane as president and Minnie Lane, his wife, as vice-president. The tremendously effective “Truth-knower” lessons resulted in a total enrollment of 212 Bahá’ís by the end of the year, a phenomenally large Bahá’í population for a city of Kenosha’s size (1900 pop.: 11,606), even by present standards.

Such vitality could not long go unchallenged by the established Kenosha churches. Alarmed at the rapid spread of the “Truth-knowers”, the Baptist, Methodist and Congregational churches secured the services of a Bulgarian Christian, Stoyan Krstoff Vatralsky (1860-1935), who took some of the Bahá’í lessons for his future use and then embarked on a lecture campaign against the “Truth-knowers.”

Mr. Vatralsky was educated in Bulgaria by Protestant missionaries. In 1884 he came to the United States to study, taking an A.B. degree from Harvard in 1894. A writer, lecturer and farmer, Mr. Vatralsky’s published works included hymns and eighteen volumes of prose and poetry on philosophical, ethical and religious subjects.¹¹ He spent six years in the United States after his graduation from Harvard, and was in Chicago just as the Kenosha Protestant churches were in need of aid to combat the “Truth-knowers.”

The first hint that Vatralsky’s visit to Kenosha was about to be turned against the Bahá’ís came in an October 19th article in the Kenosha Kicker entitled “Kenosha’s Future Glory.”

“Is it in envy of Milwaukee ‘made famous’ by beer, that our Kenosha town is harboring another, although quite different, ‘spirit,’ which promises to make us even more infamously notorious? I refer to our blooming ‘Truth-knowers.’ Mr. Vatralsky ... has lately been studying this cult by taking their secret lessons. He says that it is an Oriental sect, called Babi, from Bab, its founder, a Mohammedan fanatic. Mr. Vatralsky seems disinclined to talk about them; but in answer to my question he said: ‘Your self-styled Truth-knowers are an esoteric Mohammedan sect, more pantheistic than Christian Science, more absurd that Mormonism and by far the most dangerous cult that has as yet made its appearance on this continent. And your city has the unenviable distinction of being the first to give its doctrine harbor in America.’ ”¹²

The article concluded by urging Mr. Vatralsky to deliver an address upon the subject of the dangers of the “Truth-knowers.”

The week following the appearance of this article brought rebuttals by several believers, including Mrs. Lane and Frederick A. Slack. Several points become clear in view of the first article and the letters from believers addressed to the charges raised by Mr. Vatralsky: First, the secret or “private” nature of the “Truth-knower” lessons only served to arouse suspicion of the Faith. Second, many of the believers themselves were either not completely informed as to the true nature of the Faith and its teachings, or they were unwilling to tell. For instance, note the following reference to the Koran (Qur’án), a Holy Book whose divine origin is recognized by Bahá’ís:

“He says we are teaching Mohammedanism. I will say right here, we are teaching God’s truth and teaching it from the Bible. If this is so how can we be teaching Mohammedanism? Mohammedanism is not taught from the Bible, but from the Koran, which is the most corrupt of all bibles and the most corrupt of all religions.”¹³

This comment is not a surprising one considering that the Bahá’ís had no publications, only a few typed extracts of the Writings, and some short Tablets from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Third, Mr. Vatralsky had taken some, though not all, of the lessons. He had the Bahá’ís in an awkward position and he knew it. Although the believers had in good faith followed Dr. Khayru’lláh’s instructions of silence about the teachings, it ultimately put them in a position of having to defend what appeared to be duplicity on their part.

The blow came in an open letter from Mr. Vatralsky to Byron Lane in the Kenosha Gazette:

“I have often heard you declare your certainty that you teach the truth, and once or twice you personally invited me to prove wherein you are wrong... This I purpose to fulfill next Sunday evening at Park Avenue Church... It is needless to add that I do not intend to denounce you—as you know I have no personal grievance against you—but merely to point out where and why I believe you are awfully mistaken, hence grievously misleading others, and sowing dangerous seeds. Believing

[Page 5] you, however, to be as sincere as you are mistaken, I both invite you and expect you to be present.”¹⁴

Mr. Vatralsky’s talk, to be delivered on October 29th at the Park Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, was entitled “The Kenosha Truth Knowers: the Few Truths They Know and the Many Errors They Teach.” A dramatic account of the event was printed in the Gazette of October 31 under the headline “Was Almost a Riot.” The Congregational, Methodist and Baptist churches had all given up their Sunday evening services so that their congregations might attend. By 6:30, one half hour before the service, the building was packed to the doors. Mr. Vatralsky’s sermon played upon Protestant fears of “Mohammedanism.” There was little indication of the storm brewing in the audience until the talk was finished. At that point, Reverend Naylor of the Park Avenue Church announced that all those who would like to receive the “Truth-knower” lessons could get them from Mr. Vatralsky. This was the trigger for a general uproar as the Bahá’ís took exception to this statement. Thornton Chase, the first American Bahá’í, was in the audience. With great dignity he arose, pointed to Mr. Vatralsky, and in a dramatic voice said: “That man cannot give the teachings to anyone because he does not know them himself. Anyone can get them by applying to those who are qualified to give them, but that man does not know the first principles about them.”¹⁵ This resulted in a general hubbub throughout the church with cries of “impostor” being heard from several parts of the audience, apparently directed at Mr. Vatralsky. It seemed that some trouble was likely to occur unless someone intervened.

“At this point the cries of the ‘Truth Knowers’ reached Mr. Naylor and he appeared at the front of the platform and said that in the light of the statements made by the speaker during the evening it was evident that Dr. Khrella [Khayru’lláh] ... was a

Hundreds of people heard about the Faith in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Byron S. Lane (above) at 6317 11th Avenue (below).

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An apology for using the term “liar” appeared in the newspaper the next day.

liar. This statement on the part of the minister added fuel to the flame and members of the sect in all parts of the house arose and declared their allegiance to the principles of the sect and denounced the speaker... In order to put an end to the disagreeable wrangling Mr. Naylor signaled the organist to go on with the hymn. At this time Mrs. Frank Lane, one of the local leaders in the sect, arose and asked the people to disperse, as they were in the house of God and the wrangling was disrespectful.

“Mr. Vatralsky seems willing and ready to continue the fight... The matter has aroused a great deal of interest and the debate would undoubtedly be the greatest religious event ever held in the city.”¹⁶

The remark directed by the minister toward Dr. Khayru’lláh is indicative of how Mr. Vatralsky and many of the Christian ministers believed that Dr. Khayru’lláh used subterfuge to teach the Faith in Kenosha. Nevertheless, an apology for having used the term liar appeared in the following day’s papers over Reverend Naylor’s signature. He did not, however, apologize directly for having called Dr. Khayru’lláh a liar, but rather for having offended those who were present at the lecture.

The address by Mr. Vatralsky was only the first round in a very tense struggle over a period of several weeks, a struggle which aroused the populace and the newspapers to take sides, many asking why the Christian churches should embark upon such a vendetta.

“Can it be that Kenosha is to go through another religious crusade? Is it possible that the supposed liberal churches of this city are to make war on another supposed religious sect? Has it come to this that the houses of worship are to be made the rendezvous from which assaults are to be made on other religious beliefs?

“It is a fact, old as the world itself, that religion grows by persecution. Nothing so increases religious influence with impressionable people as the notion that its votaries are ready to suffer for their faith. Persecute a religious belief and you attract to it.”¹⁷

Only two days after the lecture in the Park Avenue Church, Mr. Vatralsky issued an open challenge to Thornton Chase and Byron Lane to meet him in public debate in order to prove: “First, that the chief points of my address consisted of falsehoods. Secondly, that, in regards to character, I am an impostor.”¹⁸ The debate between Mr. Chase and Mr. Vatralsky never took place, but Mr. Chase did send a lengthy reply to the major Kenosha newspapers. In this concise apologia for the Faith, Mr. Chase showed the highest respect for Mr. Vatralsky’s learning, while neatly demolishing the charges he had made in his talk, to wit: that the “Truth-knowers” taught that immortality ended in a sort of Nirvana; that the Fatherhood of God was denied, and hence the brotherhood of man also; that the “Truth-knowers” had no use for the Apostle Paul; that they considered Muhammad to be greater than Jesus; that God could not do what He willed; that after the promulgation of the Bábí teachings, the believers propagated them by the sword; and that their teachings were opposed to Jesus Christ.¹⁹ Mr. Chase strongly asserted the falsehood of such statements.

Less than a month later, the Bahá’í community responded to the attacks of Mr. Vatralsky by bringing Dr. Khayru’lláh himself to Kenosha. Some of the local newspapers erroneously called Dr. Khayru’lláh “a native prince from India and leader of the religious sect known as Truth Knowers.” On November 28, 1899, Dr. Khayru’lláh gave a talk at the Rhode Opera House in Kenosha, during which he discussed the search for truth, the unknowableness of God, the reality of the prophets “bearing the same wine in different colored cups,” the sacrifice of Christ, and the spiritual interpretation of Biblical parables. This exposition of “Truth-knower” beliefs was greeted with warm applause by the packed house. The newspapers, hoping for a harangue, announced that “the lecture proved considerable of a disappointment.”²⁰ Dr. Khayru’lláh did not mention Muhammad, the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh or ‘Abdu’l-Bahá throughout the entire lecture, yet he presented the Bahá’í view of Bible teaching quite soundly.

If Dr. Khayru’lláh’s talk was a disappointment for the reporters, it was not so for Mr. Vatralsky. The December 13 Kenosha Evening News carried this announcement:

“On next Monday evening, December 18, 1899.

“In reply to Ibrahim Kheiralla [Khayru’lláh], the speaker will touch on:

“1. The leading and misleading points of his lecture. The difference between ‘secret’ and ‘private,’ ‘Truth-Knowers’ and ‘truth-tellers,’ Persia and America, Constantinople and Kenosha, persecution and discussion, words and swords.

“2. The words used before outsiders to conceal their thoughts.

“3. How the name Christ...has, for the initiated, two meanings, neither of which is a conceivable conception in Christendom.

“4. Why the speaker is against this double-faced Moslem monstrosity...

“5. Why he regards it worse, more pernicious than Mormonism.

“6. Why he calls it a Mohammedan sect, and why no student can call it anything else.”²¹

Vatralsky’s December 18th attack on the “Truth-knowers” turned out to be the flattest failure in the whole controversy. The Kenoshans were becoming tired of the question, as witnessed in several editorial statements in the newspapers. This final round of the “Truth-knower”—Vatralsky encounters was summed up in colorful language in the Kenosha Daily Gazette of

[Page 7] Left: Dr. Ibrahim Khayru’lláh, a Syrian Bahá’í, began to teach the Faith in the Chicago area in 1894. Right: Stoyan Krstoff Vatralsky, with the support of several churches in Kenosha, embarked upon a lecture campaign against the “Truth Knowers.”

December 19th: “Vatralsky Defeated; Goes Down In Defeat Before a Vast Concourse of Fifty-five people.”

“Vatralsky, [sic] the great, the only exposer of the Truth Knowers, gave a lecture at the Rhode Opera House last night and at the end went down to defeat before the debating prowess of an unknown follower of the Báb, a sect akin to the Truth Knowers. And this before a mighty audience of fifty-five persons who crowded and jammed their way into the auditorium, to listen enchanted to the discourse of this noted expounder [sic] of the truth, revealer of the fallacies of the new sect, the “Truth Knowers.”

“...The audience...listened with what patience they could to his potpourri of statements containing neither rhyme nor reason.

“And when he finally concluded and invited questions there arose, in all his glory, from his seat in the parquet, a mighty follower of the faith of the Báb, who proceeded to smite him, hip and thigh. Poor Vatralsky’s specious arguments were dissected, torn assunder [sic], and thrown tauntingly back in his face by this believer of a kindred faith to the Truth Knowers, while the Bulgarian squirmed and expostulated, and at last revolted openly.

“And then pandemonium broke loose—both men talking at once at the highest pitch of their voices, while Vatralsky gestured wildly in impotent wrath at his inability to make himself understood...

“Little more can be said. Vatralsky’s arguments were refuted in toto; but little to enlighten the uninitiated as to the religion of the Truth Knowers, or their brothers, the Babites was offered, and when finally the meeting broke up...we were no wiser than when we first took our seats.”²²

Despite the reporter’s final statement, it was at this meeting that George Khayru’lláh (son of Ibrahim Khayru’lláh), the “Bábí” mentioned in the above excerpt, finally admitted that in America the “Truth-knowers” and “Babists” were one and the same [i.e. Bahá’ís]. He made clear, however, that it was not an Islamic sect, having undergone a tremendous struggle against Islamic orthodoxy.²³

Following this final defeat, Stoyan Krstoff Vatralsky returned to Bulgaria to live out the rest of his days. He did not fail to make one last attempt to discredit the Bahá’ís by writing an essay for the American Journal of Theology entitled “Mohammedan Gnosticism in America: the Origin, History, Character and Esoteric Doctrines of the Truth-Knowers.”²⁴

Ultimately, these impotent attempts to attack the Faith brought only ridicule upon the churches which had instigated them. An illustration of how farcical the whole situation seemed to those observing it from a distance was afforded by an editorial comment from the Chicago Journal:

“The Koran In Kenosha”

“There is disquieting news from Kenosha. According to rumors that thrifty and erstwhile well-behaved suburb is threatened with an epidemic of Mohammedanism. A sect known as Truth Knowers are said to hold the tenets of the prophet.

“What might result if Mohammedanism were to gain a foothold in Kenosha it is awful to contemplate. Kenosha is so close. Possibly we can stand a little of that sort of thing in the Sulu islands, if we have to and we

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The Master sent Persian Bahá’ís to strengthen the faithful American believers.

may even be able to endure a session of congress with a Mormon in it, but the idea of polygamy at our back gate, so to speak, is distressing.

“Who would care to face a large and determined Kenosha juramentado dressed in his white robe de nuit, armed with a case knife, and sworn before a Wisconsin muezzin or cadi or a notary public or something to die killing Christians...?

“Before Mohammedanism gets beyond control, and Kenosha people take to running amuck to show their hatred of the infidel dogs about them, something ought to be done to hold the thing in check. The churches might send missionaries into Wisconsin, and perhaps if the president’s attention were called to the matter he would dispatch a commissioner to make a treaty of peace with the reigning sultan.”²⁵

For the believers of Kenosha, now numbering nearly 300, any humor in their situation was soon to be dissipated before the most challenging test to face the infant American Bahá’í Community. On March 8, 1900, the Board of Counsel [i.e. Spiritual Assembly] of Kenosha arranged a meeting for all the believers at the K. of P. Hall to hear Dr. Khayru’lláh, who had recently returned from the Holy Land and a visit with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Before the assembled believers, Dr. Khayru’lláh renounced his allegiance to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, saying that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was not the One appointed by Bahá’u’lláh nor was He the returned Christ (a gross distortion which Dr. Khayru’lláh himself had promulgated against the Master’s wishes). Dr. Khayru’lláh gave no satisfactory proof that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was not the Interpreter and Exemplar of the Bahá’í teachings. Another meeting was held on March 9th at which many questions were asked of Dr. Khayru’lláh. At the end of the gathering, Byron S. Lane, the first Kenosha believer, “announced that he himself will still continue to teach that Abbas Effendi (‘Abdu’l-Bahá) is the Master as he has found nothing to convince him otherwise.”²⁶

This crisis, spawned by Dr. Khayru’lláh’s boundless ambition,²⁷ caused the Kenosha Bahá’ís and the entire American Bahá’í Community great pain and distress. Unaware of the exact nature of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant with the Bahá’ís, a large number of the believers, bewildered and confused, returned to their old churches or to spiritualism. Perhaps one-third remained steadfast and firm in their loyalty to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and faithfulness to the provisions of Bahá’u’lláh’s Will. A handful followed Dr. Khayru’lláh, forming an incorporated society known as “The Society of Behaists” with Frederick A. Slack, the former corresponding secretary of the Assembly, as its head and “minister.”²⁸

‘Abdu’l-Bahá responded swiftly to this crisis by sending to America Hájí ‘Abdu’l-Karím, the Bahá’í who had taught the Faith to Dr. Khayru’lláh. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent this emissary both to protect the nascent American Bahá’í Community, and to convince Dr. Khayru’lláh of the error of his ways. At the same time Muḥammad-‘Alí, the faithless half-brother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Arch-breaker of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, ‎haveing having‎ obtained Dr. Khayru’lláh’s support, sent his son Shu’áu’lláh to Kenosha to try to spread the violation and dissension.

Word arrived in April 1900 that ‘Abdu’l-Karím was coming to Kenosha. The newspapers, always quick to catch wind of trouble, published confusing stories about “Reports that Truth Seekers were breaking up not true,” “Khreilla [Khayru’lláh] to lead,” “Abdul Karin [‘Abdu’l-Karím] finds failure.” The covenant-breakers, seizing upon local ignorance of the teachings, used the newspapers to spread the falsehood that ‘Abdu’l-Karím had been head of the Faith and was coming to Kenosha to create division among the “Truth-knowers” by deposing their “true leader,” Dr. Khayru’lláh. Chicago Inter-Ocean of October 14, 1900, even carried an article claiming that ‘Abdu’l-Karím, a faithful and dedicated believer, had stolen thousands of dollars from wealthy “Truth-knowers.”²⁹ It is interesting to note that at this time the facts of the history of the Faith were becoming better known; articles in newspapers were more clearly identifying “Truth-knowers,” Bábís and Bahá’ís as being members of the same religion. As a matter of fact, Dr. Khayru’lláh, who had so adamantly desired that the “Truth-knowers” not speak of the teachings without his permission, was now openly speaking of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and their teachings to further his own ends, despite his earlier insistence that these truths could not be given to everyone. Dr. Khayru’lláh’s statements of “Truth-knower” teachings, now being constantly sent to the Kenosha press, always contained attacks on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, distortions of Bahá’í principles, and a surfeit of self-aggrandizing statements about how he had come from a pure Christian background, rather than an Islamic one, which in his view somehow entitled him to leadership of the Bahá’í Faith in America.³⁰

The constant machinations of Dr. Khayru’lláh and his followers caused ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to send two more Persian Bahá’ís, Hájí Mírzá Hasan and Mírzá Asadu’lláh-i-Iṣfahání, to strengthen the faithful American believers. Both of them came for a week in January 1901 to deepen the Kenosha Bahá’ís and to hold public lectures on the Faith. Byron S. Lane, who had moved to Chicago from Kenosha in late 1900, returned for a short time to Kenosha to make arrangements for them. The Daily Gazette of January 16 headlined the preparations as “B.S. Lane comes to Kenosha to unite the factions of the Kenosha Truth-Knowers,” and reported that the advent of Mírzá Hasan and Mírzá Asadu’lláh

“to this country has resulted in the opening of the teachings of their belief

[Page 9] to all who may desire to learn them. The old plans of keeping their teachings secret will be abandoned, and an open book of the teachings will be published.”³¹

The attempt to win some of Dr. Khayru’lláh’s followers back to the fold was unsuccessful, and the above publicity illustrates how difficult it was to rid Kenoshans of the idea that secrecy was a teaching of the Bahá’í Faith, rather than a factor introduced by Dr. Khayru’lláh to maintain control of new Bahá’ís. None of Dr. Khayru’lláh’s group ever returned to the Faith, though many insincere professions of a desire to re-enter the Faith were made; the so-called “Society of Behaists” survived only through the late 1940’s, even inaugurating a publication entitled Behai Quarterly from 7543-26th Avenue, Kenosha. It disappeared leaving no trace.³²

From 1901 through 1911, the approximately 60-100 Bahá’ís in Kenosha labored to teach the Faith through lectures by such prominent Bahá’ís as Isabella Brittingham, Corinne True and Lua Getsinger,³³ and by means of annual interracial picnics. The Kenosha believers had their own center in the Gronquist Hall (616-57th Street), and conducted a Sunday school, weekly services, deepenings, and an Industrial School for Girls organized by Augusta Nelson and Tressa Jacobsen where young women learned domestic skills such as sewing.³⁴ From 1909, Bernard Jacobsen of the Kenosha community was elected to and became secretary of the Bahá’í Temple Unity, forerunner of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States.

From 1909, Bernard Jacobsen of the Kenosha community was elected to the Bahá’í Temple Unity, forerunner of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States.

---

1. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of Abdul Baha Abbas (Chicago: Bahá’í Publishing Society 1909), I. p. 146.

2. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1965), p. 257.

3. Byron S. Lane, quoted by Louis J. Voelz in a letter dated September 5, 1933 to the N.S.A. History Committee, Kenosha papers in the National Bahá’í ‎ Archives, Wilmette, Ill.‎.

4. Emeric Sala, “The Greenleafs, an Eternal Union,” Bahá’í News, no. 510, September 1973, p. 8.

5. “The Soul,” Truth-knower lessons manuscript, p. 1, Kenosha papers in the National Bahá’í Archives, Wilmette, Ill.

6. Ibid., pp. 1-2.

7. Membership book, Kenosha papers in the National Bahá’í Archives, Wilmette, Ill. Wherever specific membership statistics are referred to in this article, the source is this membership book or lists in the Kenosha papers.

8. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 260.

9. Louis J. Voelz, “History of the Kenosha Bahá’í community from 1897 to November 1933” manuscript, p. 1, Kenosha papers in the National Bahá’í Archives, Wilmette, Ill. Further citations from this work will refer to “Manuscript history to 1933.”

9a. Mary Farrell Bednarowski, “Spiritualism in Wisconsin in the Nineteenth Century,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 59 no. 1, Autumn 1975, pp. 3-19.

9b. Whitney R. Cross, The Burned Over District (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1950) and Alice E. Smith, The History of Wisconsin, I, From Exploration to Statehood (Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1973), pp. 611-12, 641.

9c. Blue Book of Wisconsin 1901 (Madison, 1901), p. 469.

10. Louis J. Voelz, “Manuscript History to 1933,” p. 3. For Bahá’ís, Bahá’u’lláh is the fulfillment of the return of Christ. For the station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Bahá’í Faith, see Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá’u’lláh (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1955), pp. 131-9. Reincarnation is not a Bahá’í doctrine; see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1970). pp. 324-32.

11.Samuel Henry Longley, “Stoyan Krstoff Vatralsky,” Forty-fifth Anniversary Class Report of the Class of 1894, pp. 165-7. Photocopy provided by Harvard University Archives.

12. Kenosha Kicker, Oct. 19, 1899.

13. Kicker, Oct. 26, 1899.

14. Kenosha Daily Gazette, Oct. 24, 1899.

The Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man are implicit in the Bahá’í emphasis on the unity of mankind, as well as explicit in Bahá’í Scripture.

Mind, according to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, is the light of the soul powered by the Holy Spirit.

The “Apostle” Paul is not disparaged by Bahá’ís. However, three things must be born in mind. Wherever a statement by Paul contradicts the spirit of a statement by Christ, the words of Jesus are accepted. Paul arrogated to himself the title of “Apostle.” And finally, Peter had primacy among the Apostles, not Paul.

Muḥammad is not considered to be greater than Jesus, but as one of the Manifestations of God along with Moses, Jesus, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.

Bahá’u’lláh states that the true believer in the unity of God is one who accepts that “God doeth whatsoever He willeth.”

The Bábis did not propagate their Faith by the sword. In three localities in Persia where the populace and army arose to exterminate the followers of the Báb, the Bábís defended themselves and their families. Over 20,000 of them were martyred. The number of their attackers harmed by the Bábís was insignificant by comparison.

Bahá’ís do not view their teachings as opposed to Christ, since they believe their Faith to be the fulfillment of the prophecies of all religions, Christianity included. Jesus is more highly revered by Bahá’ís than He is by many of today’s Christians.

15. Louis J. Voelz. manuscript “History of Bahá’í Faith in Kenosha, Wis. from 1897 to 1947 inclusive,” p. 2, Kenosha papers in the National Bahá’í Archives, Wilmette, Ill. Further citations in this article will refer to “Manuscript history to 1947.”

16. Daily Gazette, Oct. 30, 1899.

17. Daily Gazette, Nov. 1, 1899.

18. Kicker, Oct. 31, 1899.

19. Daily Gazette, Nov. 4, 1899.

20. Kenosha Evening News, Nov. 29, 1899.

21. Evening News, Dec. 13, 1899.

22. Daily Gazette, Dec. 22, 1899.

23. Evening News, Dec. 19, 1899.

24. Jan. 1902, vol. 6, Nov. 1, pp. 57-78.

25. Cited in the Kenosha Telegraph Courier, Nov. 9, 1899.

26. Louis J. Voelz, “Manuscript history to 1933,” p. 2.

27. H.M. Balyuzi, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: the Center of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh (London: George Ronald, 1971), pp. 85-89; Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 82-4.

28. Daily Gazette, Dec. 16, 1904. According to the specific injunction of Bahá’u’lláh, the Bahá’í Faith has no ministers or clergy.

29. The absurdity of these charges is evident to anyone knowledgeable of the history of the Faith. Most people, however, were unaware that ‘Abdu’l-Karim could never be called “the high priest of occultism,” nor did they know that Bahá’í teachers came at ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s expense.

30. Daily Gazette, Nov. 17, 1899.

31. Evening News, Jan. 16, 1900.

32. H.M. ‎Galyuzi Balyuzi‎, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 527.

33. Isabella Brittingham (1852-1924) was one of the first American Bahá’ís; she was lovingly referred to by the Master as “our Bahá’í-maker,” because of the number of people she brought into the Faith. Lua Moore Getsinger (d. 1916) was an early Bahá’í designated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the “Herald of the Covenant”; see Amine DeMille, “Lua Getsinger - Herald of the Covenant,” Bahá’í News, no. 489, Dec. 1971, pp. 2-5, and William Sears, The Flame (Oxford: George Ronald, 1972), Corinne Knight True (1861-1961) was a Hand of the Cause of God and one of those most intimately involved with the completion of the Bahá’í Temple in Wilmette; see Bruce Whitmore, “Mother of the Temple,” Bahá’í News, no. 538, Jan. 1976, pp. 1-10; no. 539, Feb. 1976, pp. 13-25.

34. Bahá’í News (Star of the West), vol. 1, no. 1. March 21, 1910, p. 16.

[Page 10]

Around the World

Bangladesh

Lama tribesmen at winter school

The Sixth Bahá’í Winter School of Bangladesh was held during ’Ayyám-i-Há, February 25-27 at the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Dacca. Six members of the Lama tribe were among the 120 friends in attendance. Two members of the Lama tribe attended as observers and became Bahá’ís by the end of the Winter School.

Continental Counsellor Burhán-i’d-Dín Afshín, one of the speakers, addressed the friends on the topic of non-participation in politics by Bahá’ís. Other topics at the school were “Living the Life”, “Bahá’í Administration” and “Bahá’í History”.

Each morning everyone gathered for dawn prayers and study of the Writings before breakfast. In the evenings, ’Ayyám-i-Há celebrations were held.

The National Spiritual Assembly presented plans and proposals, and the friends agreed to fulfill the goals of the Five Year Plan by Riḍván 1978.

Six Lama tribesmen were among the 120 participants at the Sixth Bahá’í Winter School in Dacca, Bangladesh, held February 25-27. Continental Counsellor Burháni’ d-Dí-Afshín is seated in the front row, wearing a suit. Two non-Bahá’í observers declared at the Winter School.

Conference causes teaching trip

Thirty Bahá’í women participated in the First Bahá’í National Women’s Conference held January 28-30 at the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Dacca, Bangladesh. In response to a talk on the urgent need for Bahá’ís to travel to teach the Faith, a trip was organized to visit the Chittagong and Cox’s Bazaar areas.

[Page 11] Belize

Hand of Cause Olinga visits Belize

A satellite conference to the Bahá’í International Teaching Conference in Merida was held in Belize City, Belize, on February 19-20. Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga, Continental Counsellor Hedi Ahmadiyeh, and Gayle Woolson, a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh, were among the speakers.

During the conference, it was announced that in the two weeks following the Merida Conference eleven localities had been opened and 53 believers enrolled. Of the 150 localities to be opened in the Five Year Plan, only 17 remain.

The Saturday afternoon session opened with 30 Bahá’ís, several from remote villages to the south, and several pioneers and visiting Bahá’í teachers. The Bahá’í teachers voiced their amazement to find people so ready to hear about the Faith; Bahá’ís in Belize attributed the willingness to Bahá’í radio programs which have been broadcast on Radio Belize for the past three years.

On Sunday, private transportation to the conference was augmented by a bus which had been chartered by the National Spiritual Assembly of Belize. The majority of communities in the country were represented by the 80 adults and 44 children who attended.

Mr. Olinga called for volunteers to form teaching teams to travel to an area an hour’s drive away, while the conference continued. The teams opened two localities and enrolled 32 believers.

Benin

Youth actively teaching

“The Bahá’í youth have been in the vanguard of teaching projects planned by the National Teaching Committee,” the National Spiritual Assembly of Benin has reported. “They made teaching trips to several provinces during their school holidays, served diligently on various national committees and were of great assistance in the formation of Local Assemblies.”

“The youth in the North have been most active in extension teaching, helping their Local Assemblies and Regional Teaching Committees to form new Local Assemblies.”

Benin

First woman delegate attends National Convention

Delegates from all six Benin provinces were able to attend the National Convention. Continental Counsellor Zekrollah Kazemi is standing in the center back row with arms folded. The first woman delegate, Djihoumet Gondjedo Candjeta, is seated at the right end of the second row.

Bolivia

298 attend National Teaching Conference

The Third National Teaching Conference of Bolivia to be held during the Five Year Plan was attended by 298 friends from 26 provinces on February 12-13 in the city of Cochabamba. Enthusiastic reports of the International Teaching Conference in Bahia, given by 33 Bolivian

[Page 12] Indigenous believers were well-represented at the Third National Teaching Conference held in Bolivia February 12-13.

friends and pioneers who were able to attend generated eager responses on the part of everyone to meet the goals of the Five Year Plan. No less than 20 donations of land and contributions toward the purchase of land for local endowments and future Bahá’í Centers were pledged, most coming from the native Indian believers. Commitments were made by 13 friends to assist in opening localities in 12 of the 19 provinces yet untouched by the Faith (80 of Bolivia’s provinces have been opened). The attendance of women (51), youth (37), and children (45) was in higher proportion than usual for a conference of this size.

Mas’úd Khamsí, member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for South America, presented two new Auxiliary Board members who, along with five other Auxiliary Board members, outlined in Aymara, Quechua, and Spanish how to begin children’s classes, initiate dawn prayers, and gather for Nineteen Day Feasts in each locality.

The Teaching Conference drew press coverage and aroused curiosity among local residents when indigenous believers performed native dances in colorful costumes and played musical instruments.

Brazil

Role of Brazilian women growing

Bahá’í women in Brazil are active in all phases of Bahá’í administration and teaching, reports the National Spiritual Assembly.

The Bahá’í women of Sao Paulo hold monthly deepening sessions and visit individual believers who need deepening or encouragement. They recently spoke about the Faith at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, at the request of that organization. Their teaching efforts resulted in the formation of a Spiritual Assembly at Porto Feliz. They visit the city of Coita monthly to address a group of women about Bahá’í teachings and to conduct classes in cooking, sewing, child care, and arts and crafts. They visit hospitals and other institutions to cheer the patients, and when asked, to present Bahá’í beliefs.

The Bahá’í women of Belo Horizonte are organized for social service work with hospitals and orphanages.

Those in Salvador teach their children, meet for Sunday morning prayers, study the Writings together, and are also very active in the teaching work.

One woman believer in Rio de Janeiro has volunteered to teach English without charge in a school for the blind.

Nylza Taetz of Porto Alegre recently served as the Bahá’í representative to the United Nations non-governmental conference held in Buenos Aires.

Cameroon Republic

Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds acquired

Through the cooperative efforts of a number of believers, many of them newly enrolled, a regional Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds has been acquired in Kumba, a town which is the hub of several Bahá’í communities.

The building is situated in a central part of Kumba and is close to the main road.

Congo Republic

Faith taught to villagers

A four-day teaching trip in the Bouenza area of the Congo Republic was undertaken by Fatanih Maher recently. She began by searching for one of the Bahá’ís in the area. After going to two villages, she encountered his family and explained the purpose of her visit. They opened their home and nearly 15 people listened to the teachings for two hours. Miss Maher then met the village chief and told him and others in the tribe about the Faith.

One man in the gathering asked her to go to his village and tell the people there about her beliefs. A man went throughout the village announcing, “Come, come all to hear the Word of God; come to pray!”

Four meetings were held during that day and the next, and a total of 85 adults and 40 children heard about the Faith. Of that number, 28 declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh.

Falkland Islands

Public meetings a first

The Bahá’ís of Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, off the southeastern coast of South America, have attracted approximately 65 people to three proclamations since December.

The proclamations are by invitation only, the guests being telephoned first then sent an invitation if the response is positive. Held at a local hotel, in a room with a seating capacity of 25, the room has been nearly full on all three occasions.

Two of the proclamations centered around the first part of “The Green Light Expedition.” The third proclamation featured a locally produced slide program about the history and teachings of the Faith, followed by a panel discussion which lasted approximately one hour and 15 minutes.

This is the first time in the 23-year history of the Faith in the Falkland Islands that it has been possible to hold such public meetings.

France

Teaching project launched

The Third National Teaching Conference in France was held in February in Grenoble and attended by 200 believers.

[Page 13] including Hand of the Cause Ugo Giachery and Continental Counsellor Louis Henuzet.

The National Spiritual Assembly launched a year-long teaching project calling on every believer to adopt personal goals. At the end of the conference, 28 friends arose to serve as traveling teachers or pioneers.

The Gambia

Goal set to open 20 villages

A National Teaching Conference was held January 1-2 at the new regional Bahá’í Center in Latrikunda-Sabiji, the Gambia. A highlight of the conference was the dedication of the Center.

For the first time Bahá’í village women participated in a conference. The gathering consisted of 10 women, 48 men, and 15 children. Auxiliary Board member Muhammed Al-Salihi was present as well.

The friends discussed expansion of the Faith in the Foni area, and agreed to open 20 new villages by Riḍván, which in some cases would require teaching in neighboring Casamance, Sénégal.

Bahá’í Centers and children’s classes increased

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Gambia reports that Local Assemblies in 72 villages have appointed teachers for children’s classes, and that over 2,000 children are attending classes regularly. Nine lessons in a 19 lesson series have been published and are in use in the classes.

More than the 20 local ‎Ḥaẓiíratu’l-Quds Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds‎ called for in the Five Year Plan in the Gambia are reported to be in the process of construction. Local centers have been completed and dedicated in Doubouti, Godogo, Moussongo, Moussoumeré, and Tarangara.

Ghana

Divine assistance aids believer

A Bahá’í in Accra, Ghana, recently decided to pioneer to Northern Ghana, and decided to ask his employer for a transfer the following morning. He rose early, said many prayers, and went to work. Before he had an opportunity to request the transfer, his employer called for him and said, “Would you be willing to accept a transfer to Bolgatanga, in the North?”

Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana

Hand of Cause meets with National Assembly

Hand of the Cause Paul Haney met with the National Spiritual Assembly of Guyana, Surinam, and French Guiana while on a visit to Guyana in February. He also met with Auxiliary Board member Edward Widmar and twenty-nine of his assistants in a one-day session in Plaisance.

During the session, the institution of the Hands of the Cause of God was discussed by Mr. Haney, as well as the Covenant and protection of the Faith.

Several of the assistants to Mr. Widmar received their assignments.

Teaching increases

The National Spiritual Assembly of Guyana, Surinam, and French Guiana reports an upsurge in teaching activities in Guyana for the past few months.

Eighty-four people have declared their belief in the Faith after visits from traveling teachers in the Northwest and the Rupununi areas for periods ranging from two to ten weeks. In addition, five localities have been opened and one Local Assembly formed.

Regional Teaching Committee efforts have resulted in the formation of Local Assemblies in Leguan on the Essequibo River, and in Cane Grove and Mahaicony, on the east coast of Demerara.

Haiti

French Bahá’í visits Haiti

A traveling teacher, Andre Brugiroux from France, visited Haiti for a weeklong teaching project in December. The Bahá’ís contacted the French Institute to show a film by Mr. Brugiroux about the Faith. The Institute declined, saying it was their policy not to use films with religious themes, but after meeting Mr. Brugiroux the Institute invited him to show the film twice.

An estimated audience of 670 saw the film. In addition, the Institute arranged newspaper and radio publicity. Interviews were granted by four radio stations, and during two of these, the Faith was discussed in great detail. A television interview was also taped and shown.

Hawaii

Faith proclaimed through civic project

Cleaning a community cemetery was used as a proclamation event by the Hawaiian friends in the Puna district last December. The project was arranged with the local Filipino residents since the cemetery had been donated by a sugar company for use by the Filipino population.

Bahá’ís from Ka’u and South Hilo joined in the project and worked shoulder to shoulder with the Filipinos on the Sunday that the project was carried out.

As a result, the friends of all three communities were invited to the baptismal dinner for the daughter of the caretaker of the cemetery. In return, the Bahá’ís invited their new friends to the open house which will take place when the Puna Bahá’í Center is completed.

The Bahá’ís plan to help maintain the cemetery on periodic work days.

[Page 14]

Youth addresses state senate

Susan Pelle, a youth member of the Koolaupoko Bahá’í Community in Hawaii, gives the opening prayer at the Senate of the State of Hawaii on March 21, 1977. She read the Prayer for Mankind to the assembled Senators after telling the significance March 21 has for Bahá’ís. March 21 is also Miss Pelle’s birthday.

Bahá’ís improve hospital

Seven members of the Wahiawa, Hawaii, community painted the television room and dining room of the Extended Care Unit of Wahiawa Hospital over the weekend of February 19. This is the sixth year the Wahiawa believers have done this as their service project for Intercalary Days.

On March 1, more than one hundred beautifully wrapped oranges were given to the patients, each with a card containing a Healing Prayer by Bahá’u’lláh and an expansion of the meaning of Intercalary Days.

Nineteen children attended a satellite conference to the Merida International Teaching Conference, which was held in La Ceiba, Honduras, on February 12-13. In the back row, left to right, are Elizabeth Olinga, Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga and Auxiliary Board member Bill Stover.

Honduras

Active teaching part of conference

The emphasis at the conference in La Ceiba, Honduras, on February 12-13, a satellite to the International Teaching Conference in Merida, was teaching. Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga and his wife Elizabeth were guest speakers at the gathering, which was attended by 150 Bahá’ís from 12 localities.

The first day of the conference, following a talk on the importance of the individual believer in teaching work, a workshop using an illustrated book for teaching was held. Small groups were formed and each individual was given the opportunity to teach non-Bahá’í members of the group. The session concluded with the formation of teaching teams. Each team was assigned a locality and a specific objective to be accomplished by the following morning.

After dawn prayers and a talk by Mr. Olinga the next day, the teams were ready to spend the morning teaching. After lunch, each group reported the results of their efforts. There were a total of 47 declarations, seven newly opened localities and one endowment.

Iceland

300 see Bahá’í film

The Bahá’ís of Iceland recently welcomed Andre Brugiroux of France on a teaching visit to their country. Mr. Brugiroux was accorded a number of press interviews about the showing of his film about the Faith and his book, Le Terre n’est qu’un seul Pays. Two showings of the film were necessary in Reykjavik, due to the size of the audience, estimated to be 300.

The Bahá’ís of Njardvikur sponsored a private showing of the film, to which they brought their friends.

Italy

Entire nation supports special project

Dawn prayer meetings were held in all Italian Bahá’í communities and local Bahá’í activities were suspended for the weeks of January 29-February 6 and February 19-27. All efforts were directed to intensive teaching in Brescia, Cosenza, and Salerno the first week, and in Lipari, Messina and Trofarello the second week,

[Page 15] Cosenza, in Southern Italy, was one of six goal towns visited by Bahá’ís in January and February during two weeks of intensive teaching efforts.

The National Spiritual Assembly said that a wonderful result of the efforts was the nearly total participation by all members of the Bahá’í Italian community, and expressed its gratitude to The Universal House of Justice for its prayers at the Holy Shrines in support of the activities.

The towns chosen to visit were goal towns. The National Teaching Committee organized the proclamation campaign, making an eight-meter long banner with “Bahá’í” written on it to be hung across the main street of each town visited. Hundreds of posters were placed in store windows and invitations sent informing the public of the conferences and concerts that would be held each night. Local newspapers listed information about the activities on a daily basis, and book displays were set up in the streets of all six towns.

Prayer sessions were held each morning before the day’s activities began. In every town Bahá’ís spoke on two or more radio programs and played songs from the Italian Dawn-Breakers’ album.

The Faith was presented to several religion classes at local high schools. In Salerno a one-hour lesson was held in each of twenty-two classes, reaching five hundred students. Many classes asked to have Bahá’í speakers on a weekly basis.

During the two weeks, six people declared, and more declared in following weeks. Regular firesides in the goal towns are well-attended. A Local Spiritual Assembly was formed in Salerno at the beginning of April. Particular receptivity to the Faith was noted in the South and the National Assembly has called for pioneers or extended teaching trips to the Southern cities.

Proclamation events held

For at least six months the Spiritual Assembly of Trieste, in Italy, has rented a showcase for the display of Bahá’í books and literature at a bus terminal in Muggia, close to the Yugoslavian border.

In other teaching efforts, the Local Assembly awarded two trophies for service to humanity, one of which was presented to the Book Donor’s Association, together with a parchment scroll on which one of Bahá’u’lláh’s Hidden Words was beautifully lettered. The inscription was read in the presence of more than 1,000 people and a photograph of the cup appeared in Piccolo, the local daily newspaper.

An American believer in the city presented The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh, in English, to the United States Vice-Consul in Trieste and a copy in Italian to the Chancellor of the university.

Priest shares prayer for unity with congregation

The Bahá’ís of Cagliari, Sardinia report that on Sunday, January 16 a Roman Catholic priest who is a friend of the Faith read a Bahá’í prayer for unity at all three morning masses and explained to his congregation that Bahá’í communities all over the world celebrate World Religion Day.

Christians invite Bahá’ís to pray at peace rally

Representatives of the Bahá’í community of the Sicilian island of Gela, at the invitation of a group of Roman Catholics, recently read two Bahá’í prayers and a passage from Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh before a silent and respectful crowd of worshippers, at a peace rally held in a city church. The event was followed

[Page 16] by an hour-long interview of the Bahá’ís by a local radio station. Two Bahá’ís explained the principles of the Faith and made particular mention of the Most Great Peace promised by Bahá’u’lláh. The program concluded with a musical selection, Amore e Unita, recorded by the Italian Dawn-Breakers.

Honduras

Children celebrate Ayyám-i-Há

Twenty-four children enjoyed an Intercalary Days party held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on February 27.

Marshall Islands

First National Convention picnic topic

Four Bahá’í communities in the Marshall Islands had a picnic one Sunday in March to discuss the upcoming First National Convention and the importance of Local Spiritual Assembly elections. Thirty-five Bahá’ís and their children were present.

Malawi

Filmstrip showing attended by 500

“The new Spiritual Assembly of Nsurupi is an example to us all”, the National Spiritual Assembly of Malawi has reported. “Alone and unaided, they have already erected a large Bahá’í Center.” It was also reported that recently the Bahá’ís of Thyolo invited people from the surrounding area to see a filmstrip about the Bahá’í Faith. They were surprised and pleased that more than 500 guests came to the program.

Youth enroll in Faith

The Spiritual Assembly of Blantyre, in cooperation with Auxiliary Board member Gary Melendy, hosted a two-day Youth Conference recently, which resulted in six new Bahá’í youth. Two Mankhumba youth walked to Blantyre to attend.

80 attend National Teaching Conference

A second National Teaching Conference was held recently in Malawi as a follow-up to the Nairobi International Conference. The Malawi Conference was held in Amalika with more than 80 believers in attendance. All the participants provided their own transportation, traveling to the site by bus, by bicycle, or on foot. One Local Spiritual Assembly hired a small truck to transport members of its community to the gathering. In addition to studying the message from the House of Justice to the Nairobi Conference, the friends studied the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh. Fred Locke spoke of the need for personal commitment to the Cause,

[Page 17] and Auxiliary Board member Gary Melendy encouraged self-sacrifice in spreading the Message throughout Malawi.

The Conference concluded with the Bahá’í wedding of Montifort Chipala and Efelo Pensulo, who is an assistant to the Auxiliary Board and the sister of the village Chief. The wedding was attended by an estimated 300 people and proved to be not only a means of proclaiming the Faith but of providing a splendid example of the Bahá’í teachings on unity.

New Zealand

Youth spearhead teaching efforts

The Bahá’í youth of New Zealand are spearheading teaching activities in various parts of the country.

Every week the Whangarei youth hold a social evening and fireside, and every fortnight travel 60 kilometers to Kargaville for a teaching project.

The youth of Kairanga County hold regular study classes and a unity feast - a devotional gathering - once each month. They find that the only time they can be together, because of other demands on their time, is early morning, so they gather for prayers at 6 a.m.

The youth of Napier and Hamilton play a large part in running the children’s classes.

In various other centers, the youth serve capably on community committees and play a leading role in the teaching work.

Singapore

“Education for Peace” conference theme

A regional conference with the theme “Education for Peace” is scheduled to be held in ‎Signapore Singapore‎ December 1-4, 1977, the Conference Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of Singapore has announced. A secondary theme of the conference will be the use of audio-visual materials in promulgating the Faith in Southeast Asia.

Portugal

Teaching trip made

Twenty-three friends went to Evora, Portugal, on March 12-13 to proclaim the ‎ ‎

Paraguay

Pioneer teaches children

Fourteen children, all from non-Bahá’í families, attended an ‎Intercally Intercalary‎ Days party on February 28 in P.J. Caballero, Paraguay. Some of the children attend a weekly Bahá’í class taught by pioneer Josephine Johansen, shown here with the Children.