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Pretender to Guardianship dies
CHARLES MASON REMEY wHOSE ARROGANT ATTEMPT USURP GUARDIANSHIP AFTER PASSING SHOGHI EFFENDI LED To HIS EXPULSION FROM RANI<S FAITHFUL HAS DIED IN FLORENCE ITALY IN HUNDREDTH YEAR OF HIS LIFE BURIED wITHOUT RELIGIOUS RITES ABANDONED BY ERSTWHILE FOLLOWERS. HISTORY PITIABLE DEFECTION BY ONE wHo HAD RECEIVED GREAT HONORS FROM BOTH MASTER AND GUARDIAN CONSTITUTES YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE FUTILITY ALL ATTEMPTS UNDERMINE 1MPREGNABI.E COVENANT CAUSE I3AHA‘U‘LLAH.
April 8, 1974
UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
Five Year Plan to be introduced at post—Convention conferences
Each year after the National Bahá’í Convention delegates return to their homes eager to share experiences, plans, and aspirations with all believers in their Districts‘. Post—Convention meetings are the current medium for this sharing.
This year, because of the very important nature of this inaugural year of the Five Year Plan, Post-Convention conferences will be held throughout the country. Not only will the always vital news and plans of the incoming National Assembly be shared, but also a comprehensive introduction to the goals of the Five Year Plan and the strategies we must use for achieving them will be presented. The very nature of these conferences assures that it will remain one of the highlights of this year for every Bahá’í.
Mr. Glenford Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, recently emphasized the wish of the National Assembly that every believer attend a Post-Convention conference in his/her District, as no better preparation can be made for the National Conference to be held in. St. Louis from August 29-September 1. Certainly all those who are planning to attend the conference in St. Louis should consider these Post—Convention conferences an absolutely necessary prelude.
Believers will be especially thrilled to know that, at many of the conferences around the country, Auxiliary Board members will not only attend and add their enthusiam and lo-ve, but will also share with
us all the inspiration and abiding support of that institution.
Plan now to attend at least one of these conferences in your district. Details as to time and place can be found in your District bulletin. Be informed of the goals of the new Five Year Plan; become inspired by your Auxiliary Board member and by fellowship with the friends; beprepared to play your part in this next phase of the unfoldment of Gods divine plan for the redemption of humankind.
Reminder on copyrights
The National Spiritual Assembly would like to remind the friends that it is not permissible to copy Bahá’í books and pamphlets, whether by typewriter, Xerox, or other photographic means. Such personal projects are costly, and they jeopardize copyright protection secured by the National Spiritual Assembly on its works.
The duplicating of Bahá’í tapes is also not permissible. These tapes, like books and pamphlets, are protected by copyright. Moreover, the sale of cassette programs by the Publishing Trust provides capital for the development of new programs.
The National Spiritual Assembly has scheduled meetings in Wilmette for May 17-18, June 21-23, and August 2-4.
Supervisedcommittees will do translations
From time to time the National Spiritual Assembly is urged to make available to the friends certain prayers or extracts from the Sacred Writings that are in the possession of Persian believers but not published in our own Bahá’í literature. The Universal House of Justice has written that, in the future, the Sacred Texts will be translated by international committees under the supervision of The Universal
House of Justice, and that meanwhile it is unwise for '
individuals to circularize their own translations which, in the very nature of things, must be unreliable and unauthenticated.
The National Spiritual Assembly of Iran advises all Persian Bahá’ís coming to the United States that they are not to translate or distribute any of the Sacred Writings which are not authorized by the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. This was an explicit instruction of the beloved Guardian to the Bahá’ís of Iran. I
In light of the Guardian’s statement that the western Bahá’í's have enough literature translated already, The Universal House of Justice has instructed the National Spiritual Assembly to discourage the friends from seeking more unauthorized
I _translations.
Agencies will assist international travel
‘Opportunities abound for teachers wishing to travel outside the United States during spring and winter breaks, mid-term and summer breaks as well as for sabbatical years. g
There are several agencies in the United States which offer such unique opportunities to teachers. Teachers can travel while acting as counsellors to students who are enrolled in travel—study programs abroad. Transportation and room and board expenses are usually paid by the sponsoring agency.
Some agencies even encourage entire families to go together by having the spouse act as co—counsellor with special financial advantages. Children are included at reduced tuition rates.
The International Goals Committee has listings of these organizations to share with you. If you are interested, please write to the International Goals Committee, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091.
APRIL 1974
Campaign activities
are not appropriate
The National Spiritual Assembly takes this opportunity to remind the friends of the principles that should guide their relationship to political campaigns.
1. A Bahá’í may not take out membership in, or associate with, a political party or organization designed to support a political party.
2. It is inappropriate for a Bahá’í to contribute funds or service to political parties or campaigns.
3. However, a Bahá’í is free to exercise his right as an American citizen to vote for political candidates as his conscience dictates.
At the basis of these guidelines is the spirit ofunity which animates our Faith. The Master warned us against partisan political activity several times.
Shoghi Effendi explained to us repeatedly the
dangers of partisan political involvement. He once
wrote to the American believers as follows: “Let them refrain from associating themselves, whether by word or by deed, with the political pursuits of their respective nations, with the policies of their governments and the schemes and programs of parties and factions. In such controversies they should assign no blame, take no side, further no design, and identify themselves with no system prejudicial to the best interests of that worldwide Fellowship which it is their aim to guard and foster." (World Order OfBahci’u’lla’/1, p. 64). The beloved Guardian further asked us to beware lest we become the “tools of unscrupulous politicians."
In this political year, it is imperative that the friends guard against any political ensnarement.
—NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
Radio personnel
The National Information Committee would like to have the names of Bahá’ís currently working in radio broadcasting. The Committee is consulting on the development of radio materials, and knowledge of Bahá’í professionals working in the field will be very helpful. Bahá’ís with writing, production, and talent skills, who might be interested in assisting in
_some aspect of production if called upon, should
write the National Information Office, I12 Linden Ave., Wilmette, Ill., 60091. Please state experience, and if possible, include a sample of work.
‘W .
[Page 3]
REVIEW
Teachings establish burial requirements
Questions continue to come to the National Spiritual Assembly asking for further clarification on Bahá’í laws, specifically cremation, embalmment, and turning the body over to medical science for scientific research. The beloved Guardian’s letter of March 22, 1957 reprinted in the U.S. SUPPLEMENT, No. 103, September 1966, clearly answers the question about donating one’s body to medical science. An earlier letter, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi by his assistant secretary, April 2, 1955, contains the following statements on these same subjects:
At the present time the Guardian is not stressing these matters, as their establishment might divert attention to the supreme tasks we have before us. However the answers are as follows: Under the Bahá’í teachings it seems clear that the body is not to be embalmed. The burial should take place within an hour’s travel time from place of death." “There is nothing in the teachings with regard to turning the body over to scientific institutions for scientific research, and therefore the individual may do as he wishes until such time as the Universal House of Justice may legislate on this matter, if they ever do. The practice in the Orient is to bury the person within 24 hours of the time of death, sometimes even sooner, although there is no provision in the teachings as to the time limit.”
We feel that these two letters from Shoghi Effendi contain all the essential information needed at the present time with regard to the laws of Bahá’u’lláh on the subject of burial.
Definition provided for Assembly quorum
Recently the National Spiritual Assembly asked The Universal House of Justice for clarification of Article VIII, Section 1 of the By-Laws of a Local Spiritual Assembly; i.e., “Five members of the Assembly present at a meeting shall constitute a quorum, and a majority vote of those present and constituting a quorum shall be sufficient fur the conduct of business, except as otherwise provifcd in the By-Laws. . . .” In reply, The Universal “ouse of Justice stated:
“A majority of the members present and constituting a quorum is sufficient to carry a motion. Thus, if
only five members of the Assembly are present at a meeting, a majority of three is sufficient.
“However, Assemblies should take into account the last clause of the first sentence of Section 1 of Article VIII reading as follows: ‘. . . . and with due regard to the principle of unity and cordial fellowship involved in the institution of a Spiritual Assembly.’
“In otherwords, members of a Spiritual Assembly should not take advantage of a quorum as an expedient to pass a motion which would violate the spirit of the above quoted passage.
“As your National Assembly has stated, it is desirable that all nine members of a local Spiritual Assembly be present at every meeting.”
Electrical work in Maine
There are job opportunities in Maine for an electrical engineer in Orono, a vocational education director in Bgucksport, a health center administrator in Washington county and an experienced lab technician. For further information please contact the Maine District Teaching Committee, Mrs. Celeste Hicks, Secretary, 39 Third Street, East Port, Maine 04631.
Directory Changes
Northern Minnesota: I Mrs. Meg Luckinbill, Secretary, 405 Mississippi Avenue, Bemidji 56601
North Dakota Mrs. Jeanne Engle, Secretary, P.O. Box 41, Bismarck 59501
California No. 1: Robert Lewis, Assistant Secretary, 801 Fairfield Road, Apartment 5, Burlingame 94010
California No. 3: Mrs. Lisa Janti, Acting Secretary, 254 28th Street, Del Mar 92014
Eastern North Carolina:
Mrs. Nancy Schear, Secretary, 1713 Crest Road. No. 1, Raleigh 27606
John R. Bowers, Secretary, 1300 Townley Road, Richmond 23229
Central South Carolina: Miss Francis Sadler, Secretary, 503 Denmark Street. Columbia 29203 .
Montana summer school
The Montana Bahá’í summer school will be held from August 11-17 at the Lion’s Youth Camp, near Red Lodge, Montana. The cost for Baha’ is 15 and older will be $33; for Bahá’ is between 8 and 14, $22; for Bahá’ís between 2 and 7 years old $10. The registrar for the school will be Mrs. Betty Ann Entzminger, 710 Agate, Billings, Montana 59101. All inquiries should be directed to Mrs. Entzminger. A deposit of $8 must accompany all requests for reservations. Auxiliary Board member Mrs. Eunice Braun will be present throughout the session.
New York summer school
The New York State Bahá’í School at Oakwood, Poughkeepsie, will be held from July 27 through August 3, at the Oakwood School, Spackenhill Rd., Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The registrar is Miss Julian Smith, 31 Edmund Drive, R.D. 6, Ballston Spa, New York 12020. Phone: (518) 885-7003. All inquiries should be directed to Miss Smith.
Carolinas summer school
The Carolinas Bahá’í Summer School will be held between June 29 and July 5 at Warner Wilson College, Swannanoa, North Carolina. For information and applications please write to Mrs. Anne Respess, Carolinas Bahá’í School Committee, 4310 Romaine St., Greensboro, N.C., 27407. Phone: (914) 294-1253.
Subscription Canadian News
A one-year subscription to the Canadian Bahá’í News may be ordered by sending $4.00 (for 2nd Class handling), $6.00 Airmail to Canadian‘ Bahá’í News Committee, 7290 Leslie St., Thomhill, Ont. CANADA L3T 2A1
APRIL 1974
Kent State conference
A conference on education will be held at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, May 10-12. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Dwight Allen, who will develop the theme, “The Bahá’í Faith and Education.” Registration will begin Friday evening, May l0. A minimal fee will be charged. Some sleeping accommodations will be available from local Bahá’í’s. The Local Assembly will also make reservations for Bahá’í's at the University guest house; the charge will be $5 per night per person. For additional information write the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Kent, Ohio, Box 224, Kent, Ohio, 44240; or call Stephen Stoll, (216) 678-2117.
Travel teachers needed
To assist the South Carolina Regional Teaching Committee and the District Teaching Committees in South’Carolina, a group oftravel teachers is needed. These committees are working very hard in this most fertile area to consolidate the victories won. If anyone has some free time and would desire to visit South Carolina in the very near future and be able to travel in that state for a few weeks, please communicate directly with the South Carolina Regional Teaching Committee, Mrs. Alberta Lansdowne, Secretary, P.O. Box 337, Goose Creek, South Carolina" 29445.
Study ham radio project
The National Teaching Committee is considering an experimental teaching project involving ham radio. Bahá’ís who are currently licensed ham radio operators and who would be interested in participating in such a project should send their radio activities to the National Teaching Committee, ll2 Linden Ave., Wilmette, Illinois, 60091.
Green Acre teaching needs
The Green Acre Bahá’í School needs children’s teachers, a naturalist, and specialists in music, drama, and arts and crafts for the summer session
that will be conducted from 30 June—25 August. 6
Youth Week will be held from 28 July—3 August. No children’s classes will be conducted during that time.
‘Job applications should be sent to the Green Acre_Council, 185 Main St., Eliot, Maine, 03903. Positions offer room and board.
Attend post-Convention reports
[Page 5]
REVIEW
Seek staff for school
Green Acre Bahá’íschool needs applications for a variety of jobs this summer, including kitchen help, housekeeping, registrar, bookkeeper, etc. In many cases experience is not necessary. Young married couples will be considered.
The period of employment will be from June 24 to August 26‘, 1974.
Terms of employment include salary, room and board, and association with your Bahá’í co-workers at one of the most beautiful and historically important Bahá’í' properties in North America, closely associated with the memory of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
Please include a recommendation from your Local Spiritual Assembly, or the Local Spiritual Assembly nearest you when applying to:
Edwin Miller, Manager Green Acre Bahá’í School Eliot, Maine 03903
Doctor needed in Alabama
Physicians are needed in Hayneville and Tuskegee, Alabama. A clinic may have to close in Hayneville because of the lack of a physician. Interested applicants should write for information to Mr. Don Schera, National Health Service Corps, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Region 4, Atlanta, Georgia, Telephone (404) 526-3946. For information on the homefront needs in Southern Alabama, communicate directly with the Southern Alabama District Teaching Committee, Miss Belle Smith, Secretary, 219 National Street, Montgomery, Alabama 36105.
Openings for teachers
There are seven openings for accredited school teachers at the Shonto Boarding School, Shonto, Arizona 86640. Interested teachers can make applications by filling out Standard Form 171 available from any U.S. Government Office and sending it to the school.
Applications for school teachers are received all year at the following schools:
Window Rock School District #8,
Mr. Stanley R. Van Keuren, Personnel Director P.O. Box 559
Fort Defiance, Arizona 86504
Crownpoint School District, Crownpoint, New Mexico 87313
Chinle School District, Chinle, Arizona 86503
For further information on the homefront needs in this area, please communicate directly with the Navajo/Hopi Regional Teaching Committee,
Mr. Benjamin Kahn, P.O. Box 1426, Winslowe, AZ 86047.
Travel teaching teams
If you don‘t like to travel alone, let us help you become part of a team. Travel—teaching teams are needed to spread the healing Message and consolidate new communities around the world. Your participation as a member of a team could prove invaluable to this ongoing work and provide you an opportunity to experience teaching the Cause in other cultures. In addition to the immediate benefits for the Faith, this experience may help you consider and prepare for future pioneering activities.
Families (mothers and/or fathers and children; brothers and sisters, etc.) can go as a team, or be a part of larger groups. Members of avcommunity can get together for travel.
If you are not able to go right away, begin to plan now for participation after Rid_vén when the next global plan is announced. Summer activities are invaluable as so many young people are available to travel with older members of the community offering “unity in diversity” to the teams.
- Contact the International Goals Committee, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091, with information regarding your availability and we’ll try to match you up with others to form a travel-teaching team.
Position open for couple
An elderly Bahá’í' lady or couple is needed as caretaker for The Community House, a non—profit community meeting house in Middlebury, Vermont. Applicants should write to the Board of Directors, Community House, Main V Street, Middlebury, Vermont 05753.
For information on homefront needs, please communicate with the Vermont District Teaching Committee, Mrs. Kathleen Gray, Secretary, 15 Thomas Street, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301.
Also needed in Vermont are a medical secretary and a governess. For further information regarding these opportunities, communicate directly with the National Teaching Committee, 112
, Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091.
[Page 6]
cl
5 Posr1=
REVIEW
CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE OFFICE or rm; TREASURER
Budget breakdowns published in Review
Dear Friends:
I have been waiting for the Treasurer of our Local Spiritual Assembly to receive some sort of annual report on where contributions to the Fund are spent. I understand there is such a detailed breakdown and would appreciate it if you could send me a copy—for my own information as well as to help answer this question put to me by people interested in the Faith.
The detailed breakdown of our annual national budget which you request has been published in both the July and the August issues of the National Bahá’í Review which is inserted in The American Bahá’í. This is probably the report of which you have heard and which was distributed to all delegates to the National Bahá’í Convention last May.
Please note that since it is included in the National Bahá’í’ Review, which is intended for reading “by Bahá’ís only,” we do not feel that it is appropriate for disclosure to non-Baha’ is, no matter how close they are to the Faith. There is, of course, no objection to informing seekers in a general way of the accomplishments of the Bahá’í Faith. This can be done very effectively by giving them such materials as the April, 1973 , issue ofThe American Bahá’í, which is devoted to the victories of the Nine Year Plan or, for that matter, any issue of that newspaper wherein the activities of the National Community are highlighted.
Office seeks ways to improve Fund reports
Dear friends.
As editor of a district bulletin I am looking for ways to bring the Fund down to terms that can be easily understood. Merely knowing the annual budget for each ‘department doesn’ I give me enough
to visualize. It would help to know the cost of specific '
projects. For example, how much does it cost to mail The American Bahá’í' each month to every Bahá’í in the country? To heat the House of Worship for one month? To hold the National Convention? To support a travel teacher for three months? To publish a
new Bahá’í book?
Regarding it another way, what can a $5 contribution do? Can it enable a pioneer to visit a village not reached before? What can $10 do? Or $25, $50, etc. ?
We are often asked to provide detailed information on where our money is spent. The friends frequently wish to know what $5, $50, or $100 will buy so that they may point out a specific remedy to satisfy a tangible need. Charitable organizations have been successful at raising money using this technique.
Such questions have always posed a difficult challenge to the Office of the Treasurer. Charities directed at relieving man’s physical sufferings have no difficulty at all depicting a quantity of blankets, glasses of milk, loaves of bread—all directed to warming and feeding the starving multitudes. Although, as Bahá’ís, we are concerned about the misery of mankind today, our paramount purpose at this time is to bring the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh to the world. In doing this we bring about a spiritual transformation which will, in the longer run, erase the root causes of human suffering in every land. Ours, therefore, is a broader purpose.
Expenses and income figures by themselves do not convey excitement. The challenge of the Office of the Treasurer is to tie these figures together and report them in such a way that the friends will see them in the ‘context of their significance for the progress of the Faith. If we were to report the dollar expenditures behind winning a goal——such as the amount of gasoline used, dollars spent on airplane tickets, stationery and postage used, books published and sold, salaries paid—the friends who do not realize that such expeditures are essential in carrying forward God’s work might find cause to complain. On the other hand, the reporting of a completed goal stirs excitement and feeds our appetites for greater sacrifice and service. In this way, we can help the friends to understand where we are in our total task of building world order.
Nonetheless, mindful of our responsibility to share our national problems and needs with the friends at all times, we are continuing to seek ways to present the expenditures of the National Bahá’í Fund that are both inspiring and informative. In the future we hope to be able to describe projects that are either in progress or completed, thus providing the friends with a picture of the forward movement of the Cause that they can relate directly to their own sacrifices in support of the National. Fund.
Attend Nineteen-Day Feasts
[Page 7]
REVIEW
NATIONAL BAHAI FUND
Additional contributions requested
March 13, 1974
To: All Local Spiritual Assemblies and Bahá’í Groups
Dear Bahá’í Friends:
This Riḍván The Universal House of Justice will announce a five year plan for the worldwide expansion of the Faith. Without a doubt, this plan will require the utmost of service from every Bahá’í, and a strength and maturity previously unknown in our administrative institutions. As always, the ultimate goal is that mankind should achieve, in the beloved Guardian’s words, “a justice, a unity, a peace, a culture such as no age has ever seen.” (The Promised Day Is Come, page 16).
Throughout this year we have directed our energies to preparing for this Plan. Last spring, The Universal House of Justice urged our National Spiritual As Contributions
3 200.000
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3 100.000
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3 50.000
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Month of Mulk Year to Date
Budget Goal $l32.000 $2,112,000 Contributions $l 13.367 $1,528,294 Participation: Assemblies 588
Groups 338
sembly “to place your national finances on a sound and economical basis. Since then, both participation and total contributions to the National Fund from Assemblies, Groups, and individual believers have been consistently higher than for any similar period in the past, allowing us to reduce our actual deficit by two-thirds, to a current level of $56,000.
At last we are within reach of eliminating our deficit entirely! An increase of 30% in contributions from every Bahá’í’, every Local Spiritual Assembly and every Group for the remaining two Bahá’í months will allow us to achieve this goal. What a glorious feat it will be to start the new Plan free ofthis burden!
Yours in loving service,
NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA’I’s or THE UNITED STATES Dorothy W. Nelson, Treasurer
Total Number of Assemblies Contributing
100650GOAL av Rluvtu 1974 E00 3 E E 3 < 450molyf if -5 E-Exq—§| saga‘: tn'2' Mulk Fiscal Year (Dominion) to Date Contributions $l I3 V367 51.523 .544 Budget Goal $132,000 $2. l20,000 Estates $ —-— $ 74.390
Contribute to Fund
Contributions may be addressed to: National Bahá’í Fund, 1 12 Linden Ave., Wilmette, Illinois 60091; Bahá’í International Fund, PO. Box 155, Haifa, lsrael;and Continental Bahai'I'Fund, 418 Forest Ave., Wilmette, Illinois 60091.
‘N
