The American Bahá’í/Volume 12/Issue 12/Text
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[Page 1]
Two members of the Universal House of Justice, Dr. David Ruhe (left) and Hugh Chance, spoke to Chicago area Bahá’ís in October in Foundation Hall at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. Dr. Ruhe spoke mainly of the rapid development and use of communications media in the Faith, especially the use of radio in Latin America, and showed slides of progress in building the permanent Seat of the Universal House of Justice in Haifa, Israel. Mr. Chance, in his wide-ranging talk, touched on the recent persecutions in Iran and the challenge they present to Bahá’ís all over the world. It is up to each of us, he said, to deepen himself in the Writings of the Faith and to teach the Cause with renewed vigor as a tribute to those whose blood is being shed in the path of Bahá’u’lláh.
Mr. Sears enkindles nationwide campaign of prayer, sacrifice[edit]
The Hand of the Cause of God William Sears, stirred by the events taking place in the Bahá’í world, especially in Iran, returned to the U.S. in October from his post in South Africa to propose a special period of prayer and sacrifice by the American believers in the 24-day period from October 20, the anniversary of the Birth of the Báb, through November 12, the anniversary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh.
Mr. Sears’ plan was heartily endorsed by the National Spiritual Assembly, and a series of 24 meetings in 24 U.S. cities was launched October 24 with gatherings in New York City and Los Angeles, with Mr. Sears himself present at the latter and all members of the National Spiritual Assembly attending the former.
THE CAMPAIGN proposed by Mr. Sears included two other elements: first, that 2 1/2-hour prayer vigils be held in every community in this country on the Holy Days beginning and ending the campaign; and second, that during the intervening 22 days of the campaign every believer search his or her own heart to determine what sacrifices could be made to increase his degree of material support for the Cause of God.
The purpose of the prayer vigils, the National Spiritual Assembly said in a letter to every Bahá’í in the U.S. that was read at the anniversary of the Birth of the Báb, was “to seek divine protection for those now in the claws of the oppressors of the Faith, and to supplicate for divine assistance in the accomplishment of our goals.”
In addition to New York City and Los Angeles, special meetings were held in these cities:
Phoenix, Arizona; San Diego
Slight upswing noted in giving to Fund[edit]
The National Fund has recently been helped by an increase in contributions and in participation by individuals giving directly.
Although still slightly below the goal of $316,000 per Bahá’í month, the upswing reflects the community’s growing awareness of the Fund’s critical situation, emphasized in the National Spiritual Assembly’s report to the District Conventions as well as at the 24 area meetings called for by the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears.
IN EARLY November the Fund deficit reached $800,000 for the year. The deficit is an indication of how far income has fallen behind planned expenses.
For a short time, this imbalance between income and expenses was offset by cash on hand, and then, when cash was depleted, by loans from the bank.
In September, however, the National Assembly decided it had reached the limit of the amount of money it was willing to borrow, and determined instead to reduce expenses.
The effect of these cuts was immediately apparent. For example, certain positions at the National Center were eliminated, and further staff cuts were considered.
Ongoing programs also were curtailed, as demonstrated by postponing the spread of the National Education Committee’s programs of child education, Assembly development, and Personal Transformation to other states.
In addition, the annual National Treasurer’s Representative training conference was canceled.
New opportunities that arose for the spread of the Faith could not be exploited. A number of radio stations that broadcast in Chinese offered free time for programs on the Faith. Although it is
| What’s inside
BAHÁ’Í YOUTH make steady progress toward winning goals of the Two Year Youth Plan. Page 7 MORE THAN 50 pioneers are at their posts in overseas goal areas, surpassing the International Goals Committee’s quota for the first year of the second phase of the Seven Year Plan. Page 8 THE ASSOCIATION for Bahá’í Studies holds its first U.S. conference at the Green Acre Bahá’í School. Page 10 A GREATER CHICAGO area Inter-Assembly Conference is held at the Bahá’í National Center in Wilmette. Page 13 |
National Assembly meets in N.Y.C.
During its meeting October 23–25 in New York City, the National Spiritual Assembly met with more than 400 Bahá’ís from that city and surrounding areas on Saturday, October 24, at an elementary school auditorium in Greenwich Village.
In a tape-recorded message to the friends, the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears described plans for a 24-day period of prayer and sacrifice extending from the anniversary of the Birth of the Báb on October 20 to the anniversary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh on November 12.
MR. SEARS called for the gathering of at least 1,000 Bahá’ís in each of 24 American cities, corresponding to the 24 cities in which recent martyrdoms have taken place, to pray for the believers in Iran and to find
The original Louhelen farmhouse (background) is framed by a bulldozer as work begins on the $1.8-million reconstruction of the 50-year-old Bahá’í school near Davison, Michigan. Target date for completion of the initial phase of the project is summer 1982.
Border campaign sees more than 70 Native Americans embrace Faith[edit]
A teaching trip in October to several Indian Reservations in the northwestern U.S. by three Bahá’ís from Canada has resulted in the enrollment of more than 70 people in the Faith.
Members of the teaching team were Rick Belcourt (Cree Indian) from Calgary, Earl Healy (Blood) from Fort MacLeod, and Fari Jalili-Otsali, a Persian Bahá’í who is living in British Columbia.
THEIR VISIT, which began October 3 at the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, was carried out under the auspices of the American Indian Teaching Committee in response to a goal of the second phase of the Seven Year Plan to develop “cross border projects giving special attention to Indian Reservations ...”
Efforts to teach the Arapaho and Shoshone tribes at Wind River date to the 1940s and have continued to the present time.
One year to the day before the arrival of the teaching team, the Bahá’ís of Wyoming circled the Reservation with a day of prayer that the Indian people might respond to the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
[Page 2]
VIEWPOINT
Editorial
Teacher must be ‘parent’ to new believer[edit]
The birth of a child is a long-awaited, happy event. But as any parent knows, that birth is only the beginning.
A new baby requires large amounts of a parent’s time and energy. Even the child’s most basic needs must be taken care of by others.
OBVIOUSLY, no one would expect an infant to walk and talk like an adult, but slowly, as the child grows, the expectations about what he can do change in accordance with his new capacities.
Finally, the child reaches maturity and becomes able to stand alone and be responsible for himself.
Teaching the Faith follows much the same process. All too often we think that when a seeker has declared his belief in Bahá’u’lláh, our job as teacher has ended.
But like new parents, we must continue to nurture the new believer as he grows and matures in his commitment to the Faith.
That may require such time-consuming efforts as offering him hospitality and friendship, giving him transportation to meetings, lending him books, corresponding with him, and helping him to teach the Faith to his friends and family.
This nurturing almost always requires patience, for just as a new baby cannot act and comprehend like an adult, so too it may take the new believer time to shed old beliefs and habits.
IT IS NOT uncommon that the wisdom, tact, patience and warmth we extend to a seeker is withdrawn as soon as he or she possesses a membership card.
The result is often disillusionment, inactivity, and sometimes, God forbid, withdrawal from the Faith.
Let us therefore engrave upon our hearts the advice to the Bahá’í teacher from the beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, as presented in The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 44:
“Let him not be content until he has infused into his spiritual child so deep a longing as to impel him to arise independently, in his turn, and devote his energies to the quickening of other souls, and the upholding of the laws and principles laid down by his newly-adopted Faith.”
Oregon is site of Peace and Unity Fair[edit]
The Bahá’ís of Josephine County, Oregon, played a large role in planning and presenting a Peace and Unity Fair September 19 in Grants Pass.
Spurred by the Bahá’ís, some 20 churches, service clubs and other community organizations formed a Peace and Unity Fair Planning Committee whose weekly meetings were chaired by Kenneth Stephens, chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Grants Pass.
The fair, launched with proclamations by the governor of Oregon and mayor of Grants Pass, included day-long activities for adults and children, as well as booths and exhibits representing some 24 organizations.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Hideo Hashimoto, a Methodist minister and professor emeritus at Lewis and Clark College in Portland. His topic was “Non-violent Action for Peace.”
There were several audio-visual presentations, puppet shows, folk dancing, group singing, arts and crafts, clowns and other entertainment, and the release by the children of 100 helium-filled balloons bearing the message “One Planet, One People ... Please.”
The following day, World Peace Day, the Bahá’ís hosted a devotional service followed by a potluck luncheon social.
These events were so successful, with some 500 people participating in the two days of activities, that the planning committee has become a permanent body to be known as the “Alliance for Peace and Unity.”
Bahá’ís from Josephine County, Oregon, are shown explaining Bahá’í principles of peace and unity to visitors to the Bahá’í booth at the first ‘Peace and Unity Fair’ held September 19 in Grants Pass, Oregon. Booth design and construction was by the county’s Bahá’í youth with quotations from the Writings on each of three sides.
Comment
Short walk leads to memorable lesson in teaching[edit]
| This month’s article, “One Evening in July,” was written by Brooks Garis of Greenwich, Connecticut. |
When I was in New York City in July 1967, I visited George Roth. Ted Claus in New Mexico had asked me to look him up, saying he was an older Bahá’í who had an interesting past.
According to Ted, George had been something of an underworld figure years ago. To me, it was important to meet such a man who had become a Bahá’í.
I CALLED to ask if I could come by, and he gave me directions. George Roth lived off Stuyvesant Street, a couple of blocks from St. Marks Church where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had spoken in 1912.
When I arrived he had a visitor, a young Persian man whose family were dealers in antiques. He had just made George a gift of a Roman coin encased in glass, which George showed me and which he called a Roman “kern” in his characteristic Brooklynese.
George looked well but said he’d had a heart attack and lost a lot of weight. He was giving away all the clothes that no longer fit him.
There were a lot of suits, and I was asked to help his visitor carry them down to a car. They were bound for some charity.
When I returned, George sat me down and offered me some fruit from a mound of grapes and pears and plums in a bowl, also a gift from the family of his Persian friend.
High on a wall was a framed tablet of Arabic calligraphy. I asked what it meant, and George replied, “‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Center of the Covenant.”
I thanked him for the fruit, and he said that these days he was largely dependent on the generosity of his friends.
IT WAS THEN that I asked about his background, his work.
“I was a horse thief,” he said.
I thought he was merely using a figure of speech, but he elaborated. He said he’d once had a number of horses, and that he would sell one and then “retrieve” it later.
I had been told that George was Hungarian; I knew that he had been a youth in the days of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to America, so the whole tale had a swashbuckling ring of old world times and places.
“I had restaurants,” he continued. “Several of them. That’s how I got so big, eating all the time.”
“You look pretty good now,” I said.
“Well, that was a long time ago, years ago. And then I had this heart attack. I lost a lot of weight.”
I remember traveling over a road in Massachusetts some years later and hearing the story of how George Roth met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. It was quite a story.
GEORGE, I was told, was the leader of a gang of street toughs. They heard there was an old man giving coins to poor people in the Bowery.
Perhaps the plan was to steal his money, or possibly to harm him. There were about 14 youths, and George was at the head of the pack as they came up behind ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, hurling sticks and stones.
Suddenly, the story goes, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá turned and riveted the little band with His penetrating eyes. It took all the fight out of the boys, and they were forced to call off the project.
I never heard the details of how, years later, George Roth became a Bahá’í.
But something interesting happened during my visit with him that has greater meaning for me now than it did at the time.
He decided we would take a walk. He was going to show me St. Marks where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had addressed the congregation some 55 years before; it was just down the street.
As I stood to open the door, George, still in his chair, reached for a prayer book and motioned for me to sit.
“I ALWAYS say a prayer for teaching before going out,” he said. I sat, and each of us said a prayer.
It was early evening, and the walk to the church was leisurely. One or two elderly people said hello as we passed them.
It always surprised me that in a city of 10 million people anyone could ever see the same face twice, but New York is also a city of neighborhoods. George seemed neighborly, kind, and yet maintained the slightly urbane air of one who has been around.
St. Marks is surrounded by an iron fence mounted on a waist-high wall of brown stone, the kind popular for building in New York around the turn of the century.
A boy and girl, who couldn’t have been more than about 20, were trying to remove a sign from the fence that told people to curb their dogs.
George asked what they were doing, and they said the city oughtn’t to have put a sign on the church fence and they were taking it down.
George explained that the city was trying to solve a problem for pedestrians and that the sign was a necessary reminder.
WE TALKED some more and then, somehow, the four of us were finishing our conversation while walking back to George’s apartment for a cup of tea.
That evening, we sat while George told about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and His visit to New York City, about the history of the Faith and Bahá’u’lláh.
It all seemed quite natural then, but the specialness of that occasion is only now beginning to reach me.
On an evening in July, in the teeming City of the Covenant, George Roth said a prayer and
[Page 3]
LETTERS
Only universal participation can ‘heal’ body of Fund[edit]
| The American Bahá’í welcomes letters to the editor on any subject of general interest. Letters should be as brief as possible, and are subject to editing for length and style. Please address letters to The Editor, The American Bahá’í, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091. |
To the Editor:
What would you say if a doctor diagnosed your illness as due to a 99 percent dysfunction of the liver caused by poor and/or improper diet, lack of exercise, and the accumulation of excess substances?
Would you feel secure in the knowledge that only one percent of your liver was struggling to keep your body alive?
THERE ARE approximately 100,000 Bahá’ís in the U.S., and like that 99 percent portion of the diseased liver, most are allowing the “body” (i.e., the Fund) to suffer through neglect. One percent cannot sustain all the functions required of the whole organ.
I hope that this simple analogy will convey a clear message. Perhaps the expression, “Physician, heal thyself,” also could be applied in this situation.
After all, how can we offer the Divine remedy for the ills that beset our countrymen when we take on the same infirmities and degenerate and apathetic attitudes?
As Bahá’ís, we must decide to demonstrate by action and sacrifice our sincerity and heal our sluggish and lethargic condition.
If we don’t, death will surely follow. Not a physical death, but a deadness of heart that is unresponsive as the stone.
Universal and consistent participation in giving to the Fund is a tangible indicator of our sincerity.
IF THE REST of society perceives 100,000 as 99 percent insincere, how are they to know the validity of those Teachings that must be translated into the language of everyday living? Are the American Bahá’ís for real—or have they become vaporous breaths dispersed and dissipated by the chance winds and storms of these hours?
The purpose of this letter is not to be rude, but rather to stimulate the spiritual sensibilities and awaken the minds that are dulled, numbed or depressed by the clamor and counterfeit glitter of the events around us ... to evoke a higher level of feeling for the needs of the age in which we live.
Ours is a spiritual battle—as significant a conflict as that which is taking place in the cradle of the Faith. We must demonstrate the feasibility of living sacrifice.
Our “body,” the Fund, needs our focus and our love; it requires wholesome nourishment and constant maintenance.
If we fail to support the Fund, and thereby heal our own illness, the purging process that must necessarily come may purge us along with the rest of humanity.
Wautoma, Wisconsin
To the Editor:
The September issue of The American Bahá’í included a letter expressing deep concern about the “apparent lack of interest and excitement toward the Faith in this country.”
A second article, headlined “Unity among believers only cure for inactivity,” also addressed this issue.
INDEED, this is a serious matter and is significantly related to all aspects of the spiritual and administrative development of the Faith.
“Unity among the believers” is the all-important point here. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: “The great and fundamental teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are the oneness of God and the unity of mankind. There is the bond of union among Bahá’ís all over the world. They become united themselves, then unite others. It is impossible to unite unless united.” (Divine Art of Living, p. 116)
Further, He said, “Until such time, however, as the friends establish perfect unity among themselves, how can they summon others to harmony and peace.” (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 207)
It seems to me that many Bahá’ís think of unity as something that develops automatically among the friends simply because they are Bahá’ís.
Having been in the Faith for 11 years and served on two Spiritual Assemblies and many committees, I know for a fact that unity among Bahá’ís is not something that happens by itself. It is not something we can ever take for granted.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in the spirit of unity at a Bahá’í conference where we are together in large numbers for a relatively short period of time. But living and working day after day with the Bahá’ís in our own community brings us back down to earth.
OUR HUMAN frailties produce a certain amount of friction in our interpersonal relationships that, if left unchecked, can weaken the fabric of community life.
I feel that Bahá’ís often are unable to deal with this friction effectively because they are afraid of the confrontation or conflict that may result from the inevitable clash of personalities and opinions.
As Bahá’ís we tend to view conflict as something that is diametrically opposed to unity, and thus we try to avoid it. But in avoiding conflict we run the risk of avoiding each other. And if we avoid each other, consciously or unconsciously, we cannot be united.
There is a remedy for this problem. Regarding the nature of Bahá’í consultation, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has said: “The shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing opinions.” (Principles of Bahá’í Administration, p. 54)
We need to remember that consultation is not something that is restricted to Assembly meetings. It is a process that all Bahá’ís can use for dealing with personal or community problems.
I urge all Bahá’ís to study again the principles of consultation and to put them into practice whenever possible.
The development of unity in a Bahá’í community is, perhaps, proportional to the extent to which the friends use the process of consultation in breaking down the barriers that separate individuals from one another spiritually and socially. We must strive in this manner to unite our hearts in Bahá’í love, for unity is the spiritual magnet that attracts new souls to our Cause.
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
To the Editor:
As a woman in society as it exists today, I have sympathy for any woman who feels trapped in the home by her children.
My sympathy is for the lack of support and love shown by our Bahá’í communities. As women, we must accept the responsibilities laid before us by the beloved Master as mothers.
Today’s emphasis on the individual and on doing what “you” need to be fulfilled has taken value from the role of mother and educator. The basis of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh starts with the mother.
We must take a brave approach to the issue of staying home with our children, and work together with our communities to nurture our “tender trees” to grow and develop as the world’s new hope for unity.
Bedford, Ohio
To the Editor:
There is so much in Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings that brings people together that disunity among Bahá’ís would seem impossible.
Yet we see disunity everywhere. The most tragic evidence of this is our divorce rate.
PERHAPS the consultation between the man and woman or between the couple and Assembly is limited to day-to-day events, activities or problems on the surface of their lives. This is often necessary, but we must understand the problem at all levels.
The Báb asked, “Is there any Remover of difficulties save God?” How have we answered His question?
Of course, we have turned to God—but on what level? Prayer is important. It is part of the answer.
We have to read the Writings and meditate on them. This is also part of the answer.
But another part is simply abandoning yourself to God and allowing Him to guide you. It is the essence of being on the spiritual path.
Bahá’u’lláh describes the spiritual path in a lovely passage on page 105 of Bahá’í World Faith entitled “The Morn of Divine Guidance.”
Christians believe that the recognition of the prophet or the act of declaration is a light switch that produces salvation. Too many of us carry over this idea to our Bahá’í life.
THE SPIRITUAL path that you start on at birth and that takes a new direction with your Bahá’í declaration is a difficult one.
It is difficult because God makes it that way. That’s what our tests and difficulties are about.
There is a saying in India that “one does not clean the mud from the bottom of the pond without dirtying the water.” We Bahá’ís are at various stages of cleaning the spiritual mud from our spiritual ponds.
It is the nature of the ego to blame nearby objects (often spouses) for tests. We must learn when a thought or emotion is coming from the ego.
This is easy to learn. If it’s not love or unity, it’s the ego.
Another meaning I find in the clouded water is that the person undergoing purification is not able to perceive things clearly. It is important to recognize that perception is distorted by emotion and ego.
If you are a Bahá’í, prayer and meditation are your tools for overcoming these tests, and will then dissolve your ego.
Appleton observes Children’s Day[edit]
The Bahá’í community of Appleton, Wisconsin, observed Universal Children’s Day October 1 with a public meeting and panel discussion entitled “Tomorrow Belongs to the Children.”
The panel, moderated by a Bahá’í, included local county supervisors of various child care services, the Wisconsin coordinator for UNICEF, the assistant director of special education in the Appleton public schools, and a social worker whose work focuses on juvenile delinquency.
A movie produced by UNICEF illustrating the situation of many third world children introduced the panel discussion.
Another film, “Tomorrow Belongs to the Children,” was incorporated into the Bahá’í display at the meeting.
Half of the 22 people who attended the program were non-Bahá’ís.
Personal PROFILE[edit]
Name: Dr. Jack Keller
Community: Logan, Utah
Occupation: Irrigation engineer
Background: Dr. Keller stated in the 61st Faculty Honors Lecture at Utah State University, “To me, irrigation system design is a game like putting a puzzle together. The purpose of system design is to develop assemblages of individual components that will fit together to make a workable and optimized irrigation system for a specific site.”
Dr. Keller has been teaching and practicing irrigation engineering for 26 years. At present, he is the department head of Agricultural and Irrigation Engineering at Utah State University, president of his own consulting engineering company, and project leader of an interdisciplinary irrigation analysis team for the Agency for International Development (AID). He has worked on irrigation projects in more than 30 countries. Through his many publications, books, teaching and consulting, Dr. Keller has become internationally known as one of the world’s foremost irrigation engineers. He loves his work, and considers it a form of worship.
During a sabbatical leave to the Technion in Haifa, Israel, Dr. Keller had an opportunity to meet Hugh Chance, a member of the Universal House of Justice, who, with Dr. Keller’s mother, had a profound influence on his becoming a Bahá’í. After his visit to Haifa, Dr. Keller independently investigated the Faith for two years before declaring himself as a Bahá’í in 1974. He is presently serving on the Spiritual Assembly of Logan.
Jack, with his wife and three children, enjoys backpacking, fishing, bicycling and cross country skiing. He is also an avid gardener and home repairman.
“With optimistic vision,” he says, “I see the Sun is slowly rising, bringing a brighter tomorrow; and though progress is painfully slow, I sense a feeble but relentless momentum toward a universal concern for all mankind—so I truly believe in Irrigating for Rainbows.”
N. Y. meetings focus on crises in Iran, Fund[edit]
Continued From Page 1
suitable means by which to redeem their sacrifice.
Each individual, said Mr. Sears, must decide for himself what part he is to play, for “only Bahá’u’lláh knows what is in our hearts.”
Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh, speaking on behalf of the National Assembly, addressed his remarks to the present crisis in the National Fund, pointing out the inequity between monthly income and the expenditures necessary to serve the growing number of believers in this country.
Of the 100,000 Bahá’ís in the U.S., he said, only about 3,500 individuals contribute directly to the National Fund on a regular basis.
Emphasizing that the National Spiritual Assembly would like to see that number grow to at least 20,000 each month, Dr. Kazemzadeh asked that his audience, and all Bahá’ís, place themselves “in the midst” of the Iranian situation, reiterating that “we are one people, one body.”
Judge James F. Nelson, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly, served as chairman of the meeting and referred in his introductory remarks to the “emergence from obscurity” of the Faith in this country owing to the sacrifices of our brethren in Iran.
THE AFTERNOON program ended with the members of the National Assembly answering written questions from the audience.
Dr. Dwight Allen, responding to a question about how to deal with negative reactions to being approached about giving to the Fund, reminded his audience that “it costs money” to build the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
It was his hope, he said, that when speaking of the Fund, it would be done “in such a way that gives us a quickening of the spirit rather than constant depression.”
Dr. Daniel Jordan, addressing a question about the underlying purpose of teaching and the mystery of unity, said that “Bahá’u’lláh came to stimulate us to undertake the single greatest collective enterprise the species has ever witnessed,” and “as we align our lives with that purpose ... we become like magnets and attract the people around us.”
The evening session with the National Assembly was opened with the second half of the taped message from Mr. Sears.
Following that message, a spontaneous series of prayers was offered for the Bahá’ís in Iran.
Earlier that day, the National Spiritual Assembly met with the two District Teaching Committees in New York State and with representatives of Local Spiritual Assemblies in that area.
Entertainment at the afternoon meeting with the National Assembly was by soprano Janis-Rozena Peri, accompanied by flutist Norman Dee and pianist Angela Manslo.
In the evening, entertainment was provided by guitarist/vocalist Christie Callahan, the percussion and woodwind ensemble Do’a, and the musical duo Swan.
Juana Conrad, chairman of the National Teaching Committee, addresses the friends who were present October 24 in New York City for a meeting with the National Spiritual Assembly.
Among the entertainers at the special meeting October 24 between the National Spiritual Assembly and Bahá’ís in the New York area was the musical duo Swan.
Sacramento believers set to launch second Bahá’í Festival of the Arts[edit]
Building on the success of last year’s initial effort, the Bahá’í community of Sacramento, California, is preparing to launch the 1982 Bahá’í Festival of the Arts.
The first festival, held at the Sacramento Community Center, utilized the talents of many Bahá’ís from the Sacramento area and many other localities.
PEOPLE of other faiths participated as well, thus helping to fulfill the primary purpose of the festival—that of spreading the Word of Bahá’u’lláh.
Artists from all over the U.S. submitted their works, and prizes were given for best two-dimensional and three-dimensional works.
Ron Goldberg and Joan Hoover, Bahá’ís from Nevada City, California, and Denver, Colorado, respectively, won for painting and sculpture.
Singers, dancers, musicians, actors, and Indian story tellers from three Western states performed before enthusiastic audiences.
A few of those who lent their talents to this historic enterprise were the Tablets Repertory Theatre Company from the Wapato Indian Reservation in Washington state; the Eyrie Summit; the Sierra Brass Ensemble; the Sierra Chamber Singers; the Spiritual Vibrations, and Grant Suhm.
The late Harry Thompson of Novato, California, showed his collection of Bahá’í films throughout the festival.
Gary and Barbara Ellison of Atascadero, California, brought sand paintings by David Villaseñor and lectured on the symbolism and significance of this ancient Indian art form.
Meanwhile, teaching teams roamed the shopping mall outside the Center, giving “firesides” and inviting passersby to the festival.
This year, the Bahá’ís of Sacramento are planning an even bigger and better event, and invite all artists, in whatever medium, to join them in making the second Bahá’í Festival of the Arts an even greater success.
Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh, vice-chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly, discusses the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran during the National Assembly’s meeting October 24 with the friends in the New York City area.
[Page 5]
THE FUNDS
Fund crisis calls for widespread spirit of sacrifice[edit]
Continued From Page 1
a specific goal of the Seven Year Plan to reach Chinese-speaking people, there was no money available to produce the programs.
PERHAPS the worst aspect of the present Fund crisis is the fact that the National Spiritual Assembly’s goal of $1 million this year in support of the Bahá’í International Fund is not being met.
Thus far only $160,000 has been sent to the World Centre in Haifa, although $581,000 should have been sent. It is the hope of the National Assembly to meet in full its pledge to the Universal House of Justice by next Riḍván.
The alternative to continued cutbacks or further borrowing lies in increasing revenue. Mr. Sears came to America, in part, to remind us of our sacred responsibility to support the Funds.
His meetings in 24 cities across the country were for the twofold purpose of calling for divine assistance for our brothers and sisters in Iran, and to help our community arise to meet the challenges facing us to teach and support the Faith materially.
The National Spiritual Assembly is confident that increasing individual participation in giving to the National Fund will make it possible to overcome our present obstacles. It has called for 20,000 believers to contribute directly to the National Fund each month.
So far this year we have averaged 3,000 individuals per Bahá’í month, but recent letters addressed to the Treasurer’s Office indicate that the friends are beginning to take up this challenge.
“INCLUDE ME as one of the 20,000!” exclaimed one note from a believer in New York who had just come from the Sears meeting in that area, which was also attended by the National Spiritual Assembly.
A Bahá’í from Los Angeles sent the following message with his contribution: “While the friends in Iran give their lives, this is the very least I can do. As Mr. Sears said—now is the time to arise and do what we can.”
Another letter seemed to summarize the thoughts of all those who wrote, stating:
“Please accept the enclosed token of love ... love for so many things: the gift of Bahá’u’lláh, the Faith, and the believers. Along with this token comes a more meaningful pledge—to serve more, to give more, to pray more, and to be more.”
A beginning has been made, but there is still an urgent need for wider participation and greater sacrifice.
At this point, the goal of 20,000 individuals contributing directly to the National Fund each month seems far off, and the deficit of $800,000 seems staggering.
But as Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, said, quoting from a letter written on behalf of the beloved Guardian in Mr. Mitchell’s message to the District Conventions, “There is no pressure but the pressure of historical circumstances ...The American believers have so far never failed in any mission they undertook ... he feels sure that with the help of Bahá’u’lláh they will arise to the occasion which history has literally thrust upon them.”
A part of the audience at the special meeting of prayer and sacrifice held November 1 for Chicago area Bahá’ís at the National College of Education in Evanston.
WORLD ORDER, a Bahá’í magazine, stimulates, inspires, and serves thinking people in their search to find relationships between contemporary life and contemporary religious teachings and philosophy.
Unity is ‘distinguishing feature’ of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith[edit]
As the American Bahá’í community strives to achieve the goal of 20,000 individual believers giving directly to the National Fund each month, the importance of such unified action should be kept in mind.
Bahá’u’lláh describes unity as the “distinguishing feature” of His Revelation, and urges His followers to be as “the fingers of one hand” and as “one soul in one body.”
THE UNIVERSAL House of Justice described the “accession of power which will result to the whole body, and which will give rise to further growth and the showering of greater blessings” when each individual unites with others to fulfill his sacred responsibilities.
An example of the supreme importance of unity in action, which also demonstrates Bahá’u’lláh’s high regard for this concept, can be found in a story told by the Hand of the Cause of God Hasan Balyúzí in his book, Bahá’u’lláh: The King of Glory (pp. 201–203)
When Bahá’u’lláh and His followers were in Constantinople, news came one day of the possibility of their being transferred to Adrianople. This transfer, it was said, was to be in the form of banishment called for by the Sultan and his advisers and instigated through the intrigues of enemies of the Faith.
Bahá’u’lláh was angered by the news. He had done nothing to deserve such treatment, and had held Himself aloof from the political affairs of the capital.
|
Will you be one of 20,000? |
To one of the conspirators endeavoring to remove the Bahá’ís from Constantinople, Bahá’u’lláh, as attested by one of His followers, sternly stated: “We, few that we are, will stand our ground, until every one of us meets a martyr’s death.”
When this man told Bahá’u’lláh that it was not possible to withstand a government, Bahá’u’lláh strongly rebuked him, saying that all the Manifestations of God had faced oppression and injustice, yet were never hindered, even though
In contributing to Fund, amount is voluntary, but not the act of giving itself[edit]
(This is the second in a seven-part series on important aspects of the Bahá’í Fund. Although man functions in a material world through material expressions, he is called upon to acquire divine attributes and to manifest spiritual behavior. The Fund, as a Divine Institution, provides man with a means to grow spiritually and to demonstrate that growth through action. The purpose of this series is to highlight the spiritual principles that underlie the outwardly material act of giving.)
•
How often have we heard at firesides or deepenings the comments: “Giving to the Fund is voluntary,” or “No one will ask you to contribute,” or perhaps, “You don’t have to give money when you are a Bahá’í.”
In one sense, all of these remarks are true. In the Bahá’í Faith an individual can enjoy all the privileges the Faith offers, from birth to death, without ever having to contribute one cent. This includes marriage, burial, counseling by Assemblies, etc.—all at no cost.
YET THIS IS not quite what is meant by the voluntary nature of the Fund.
Consider first the concept of appeals for money. The beloved Guardian did state that all gifts should be “purely and strictly voluntary” and that no form of “coercion” should be used to force a believer to give.
However, in the same statement he indicated that general appeals—those to all believers—are permitted.
In fact, a letter written on his behalf states: “The Guardian would advise your Assembly (the National Spiritual Assembly of the U.S. and Canada) to continue impressing upon the believers the necessity of their contributing regularly to the National Fund, irrespective of whether there is an emergency to be met or not.”
We can see from this quote, and from others in the same vein, that far from avoiding the subject of money, National Assemblies are encouraged to communicate their needs and to appeal to the friends for their support.
The Guardian described the voluntary aspect of giving to the Fund by stating that the individual is free to determine the nature, the
[Page 6]
YOUTH NEWS
Committee maps plans to double youth enrollments[edit]
At its most recent meeting in October, the National Youth Committee held extensive consultation on the enrollment of young believers in the U.S.
“The committee felt that the goal of doubling the number of youth in this country could be readily won if each and every youth did his part to teach the Faith,” says committee Chairman Walter Heinecke.
“WHEN THE National Youth Plan was designed, goals were established that would affect both the individual youth’s development and the development of the Faith as a whole.”
A goal of increasing the number of youth enrollments was set, he says, so that by the end of the three-year phase of the Seven Year Plan the population of Bahá’í youth in the U.S. would have doubled from 3,000 to 6,000.
“This goal of doubling our numbers is a small challenge,” says Mr. Heinecke, “if every youth will dedicate himself to the task of welcoming at least one friend into the Faith.”
The National Youth Committee has decided to launch a concentrated campaign to achieve this goal, and is asking every Bahá’í youth to focus his or her energies on the completion of this task by Riḍván 1982.
“We are hoping that with universal participation,” says Mr. Heinecke, “every youth will make a supreme effort to bring in one new Bahá’í youth by next April. We are asking every youth to take steps to get this goal won!”
Welcoming a new Bahá’í youth is a relatively simple task if we prepare ourselves for it. The National Youth Committee recommends the following steps:
1. Pick a person—perhaps a friend who has asked about the Faith.
2. Pray for that person every day without fail. Ask for guidance in your teaching work, and pray that the person you have chosen will become a seeker.
3. Be of service to your friend. Call him or her up and offer to be of help ... Can you give him a ride somewhere? Can you help her with a test? Can you feed their fish while they’re out of town? In short, let your deeds show your belief!
4. In your conversations, slip in the word “Bahá’í” from time to time. You might mention that you are going to a Feast or fireside ... or you might tell her that you won’t be in school tomorrow because it’s a Bahá’í Holy Day.
5. Invite him or her to a Bahá’í function ... preferably a function other youth will be attending. And before you go, tell the other youth who will be there that you are bringing a special friend so they’ll make an extra effort to reflect the Teachings of the Faith.
6. Keep praying! Every day without fail! This will not only keep you on your toes, but will send spiritual guidance to your friend. It will also serve as a daily reminder that teaching is the most important service one can offer to the Faith.
7. Be persistent and loving! You are literally loving this person into becoming attracted to the Faith of God.
8. Invite the person to become a Bahá’í. Tell him or her how we are building a Faith that will serve as a shelter for all mankind, and that we will need everyone’s help to unite the world.
9. When your friend embraces the Faith, don’t neglect him or her, but go back to Step 1 and start over again! You’re a successful teacher, and nothing can stop you now!
Notice[edit]
Assembly secretaries and Group correspondents—Please include your telephone numbers at home and at work on all correspondence sent to the Bahá’í National Center.
Bahá’í youth from all of the Northeastern states and from Ohio, Florida and Georgia attended the first of this year’s five Regional Youth Conferences held in mid-September at the Green Acre Bahá’í School in Eliot, Maine.
Illinois youth continues to spread Faith at Iowa college[edit]
An article in the April 1981 issue of The American Bahá’í told of a young Bahá’í, Cindi Chessick, who had decided to serve as a homefront pioneer while attending college.
At that time, Miss Chessick, a student at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, had written to the National Youth Committee to tell of her experience as an isolated believer and of her trials and joys in serving the Faith as a student pioneer.
THE COMMITTEE was so impressed by her dedication and steadfastness that the article was prepared for the Youth Page so that other Bahá’í youth might be inspired by Miss Chessick’s example.
Cindi is now back in school and recently wrote asking for information about forming a Bahá’í Club there.
Since there must be at least two Bahá’ís at a school to form a club, the committee was curious and wrote back, asking how she was doing. We are pleased to share some excerpts from her reply:
“One of my classmates has enrolled in the Faith and now we are forming a College Club ...
“I’m very hopeful that Bahá’u’lláh will assist our efforts. So far we have established a weekly meeting place where we hold firesides ...
“We plan to have the director of our International Students Organization give a talk. This would be a wonderful opportunity for publicity, and there are 90 students associated with that organization alone.
“The school paper did an article on religion and the Faith got a paragraph of friendly explanation on the front page. Our school radio station taped an explanation I gave of the Faith when we submitted the Club constitution to the Student Government, and aired it on the 4 p.m. news!
“WE HAVE decided to hold an Iowa College Club conference at Grinnell, with Bahá’u’lláh’s assistance. This is a big task, but if we succeed much power will be released in Grinnell.
“We feel the campus is ready. Our goals are high, and we hope that if we arise, Bahá’u’lláh will choose to light Grinnell ablaze!”
Miss Chessick closes by saying how happy she is that she is no longer an isolated believer.
The committee is happy too. Cindi’s dedication and courage has paid off not only in tangible ways, but we are sure that her heart and devotion to the Faith have been strengthened by her experience as a homefront pioneer.
If this sounds like the sort of task you’d like to consider, please contact the National Youth Committee. We’ll be happy to help you find a school or locality where you can serve as a homefront pioneer ... and where you can grow and become a Light for Bahá’u’lláh ... just like Cindi.
Unity[edit]
Continued From Page 5
the power of the world was leagued against them.
HE THEN TURNED to His followers and asked if they were now ready to share martyrdom with Him.
“No better time can there be than now to offer your lives in the path of your Lord,” He reportedly stated. “Our innocence is manifestly evident, and they have no alternative but to declare their injustice.”
Those accompanying Bahá’u’lláh were delighted. But then Mírzá Yahyá, Bahá’u’lláh’s half-brother, along with a few others, became alarmed and began to draw up various schemes to try to save their lives.
Finally, perceiving that the Bahá’ís were becoming divided amongst themselves in a way that could harm the Cause, Bahá’u’lláh reluctantly agreed to leave Constantinople, but stated that a golden opportunity that would have greatly added to the glory of the Cause had been lost.
“They called us here as their guests,” He is reported to have said, “and innocent as we are, they turned on us with a vengeance. If we, few as we are, had stood our ground to fall as martyrs in the midmost heart of the world, the effect of that martyrdom would have been felt in all the worlds of God. And possibly nothing would have happened to us.”
Today, although we are not in this country called on to give our lives for the Cause, the National Spiritual Assembly is calling for our united support on behalf of the Fund.
If we work together to achieve 20,000 individual contributions to the National Fund each month, we will be astonished at the spiritual, as well as the material power that will be called forth to accelerate the progress of the Faith.
Comment[edit]
Continued From Page 2
went for a walk among the people.
It was so simple, and now, thinking about fishers of men down through history, I believe that never was it done differently.
That was the only time I ever saw George Roth. He passed away a few years later.
Oregon to be site of Regional Conference[edit]
Oregon has been chosen as a site for the Regional Youth Conference for the Western States for the first year of the three-year phase of the Seven Year Plan.
The National Youth Committee has announced that the conference will be held March 19–21 at Camp Arrah Wanna at Mount Hood.
Details about the conference will be published in future issues of The American Bahá’í. Keep watching the Youth Page for information on all of the Regional Youth Conferences.
[Page 7]
YOUTH NEWS
All U.S. districts assigned Youth Network targets[edit]
At the District Conventions in October, the National Youth Committee announced that all Districts were being assigned numerical goals for the growth of the Youth Network.
These goals called for the formation of a target number of Bahá’í College Clubs as well as for a specific number of local Youth Clubs and High School Clubs in each Bahá’í district.
THE GOALS were to be undertaken by the District Youth Committees, and in areas where no committee has been formed, the District Teaching Committee has been asked to assume responsibility for the goal.
Those areas without District Youth Committees also were asked to work on forming a DYC.
The response to these assignments has been enthusiastic and immediate.
“Youth from all over the country have been contacting the National Youth Committee to express their commitment to the goals, and in some cases, the goals already have been won,” says Tracey Jeter, a member of the National Youth Committee.
“At our meeting in October,” she says, “only three weeks after the goals were assigned, we tallied up those districts that had shown progress and found that 13 had won their goals for college clubs and four had reached the goal number for new local Youth Clubs.”
Miss Jeter also reported that three new District Youth Committees have been established in areas where no DYC had existed: Northern Arizona, Western Colorado and Northern Texas.
“THE NATIONAL Youth Committee is so pleased with this response,” says Miss Jeter, “that we’ve decided to assign supplemental goals to those districts that win their goals early.”
The additional goals will continue to aim at increased numbers of clubs as well as an increase in the number of youth enrollments.
Some districts, however, still have not yet formed any clubs, and the National Youth Committee is eager to have the Youth Network built in those areas.
The following districts have no Bahá’í College Clubs on record with the National Youth Committee:
DelMarVa; Georgia, Southern; Navajo/Hopi; Nevada, Southern; Oklahoma, Western; Rhode Island; South Carolina, Eastern; South Carolina, Southern; South Carolina, Western; Tennessee, Western; Texas, Central No. 2; Texas, Southern; Wisconsin/Michigan.
In addition, 47 districts in the U.S. do not have any recorded local youth or High School clubs.
The National Youth Committee urges all Youth Clubs to contact the National Youth Office to be sure that every club is tabulated.
Each of these clubs counts toward the successful completion of the goals of the National Youth Plan for the three-year phase of the Seven Year Plan.
The National Bahá’í Youth Committee has assigned numerical goals for the formation of Bahá’í College Clubs, local and high school Youth Clubs for the districts listed below. All functioning District Youth Committees are asked to help in the formation of these clubs to enable the American Bahá’í youth to reach that goal.
| Name of District | College Clubs | High School or Local Youth Clubs | ||
| CURRENT | GOAL | CURRENT | GOAL | |
| Alabama, Northern | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Arkansas | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| California, Central No. 1 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 6 |
| California, Central No. 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| California, Northern No. 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| California, Southern No. 1 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 5 |
| California, Southern No. 2A | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| California, Southern No. 2B | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| California, Southern No. 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| Colorado, Eastern | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| Florida, Central | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| Florida, Northern | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Florida, Southern | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Georgia, Northern | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| Georgia, Southern | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Idaho, Northern/Washington, Eastern | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Illinois, Northern No. 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| Indiana | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| Iowa | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Kansas | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Kentucky | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| Maine/New Hampshire | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| Maryland/D.C. | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Massachusetts, Eastern | 5 | 8 | 0 | 3 |
| Michigan, Mainland | 6 | 8 | 3 | 5 |
| Minnesota, Northern | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Minnesota, Southern | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Navajo-Hopi | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Nevada, Southern | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| New Jersey | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| New Mexico, Northern | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| New Mexico, Southern/Texas, Western | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| New York, Southeastern (Greater New York City) | 5 | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| North Carolina (all districts) | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| North Dakota | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Ohio, Northern | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Ohio, Southern | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| Oklahoma, Western | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Oregon | 3 | 6 | 1 | 4 |
| Pennsylvania, Eastern | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Pennsylvania, Western | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Rhode Island | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| South Carolina, Northern | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Tennessee, Western | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Texas, Central No. 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Texas, Eastern No. 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Texas, Eastern No. 2 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| Utah | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Virginia, Northern | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Washington, Northwest | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Wisconsin, Southern | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
The National Bahá’í Youth Committee has assigned numerical goals for the formation of Bahá’í College Clubs, local and high school Youth Clubs for the districts listed below. These districts do not have a functioning District Youth Committee. The establishment of such a committee should be considered a first priority.
| Name of District | College Clubs | High School or Local Youth Clubs | ||
| CURRENT | GOAL | CURRENT | GOAL | |
| Alabama, Southern/Florida, Northwest | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Arizona (all districts) | 7 | 9 | 1 | 3 |
| California, Northern No. 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Colorado, Western | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Connecticut | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| DelMarVa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Idaho, Southern | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Illinois, Northern No. 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Illinois, Southern | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| Louisiana (all districts) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Massachusetts, Western | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Mississippi | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Missouri | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Montana | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Nebraska | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Nevada, Northern | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| New York, Northeastern (Eastern Hudson Valley) | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| New York, Western | 5 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
| Oklahoma, Eastern | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| South Carolina, Central | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| South Carolina, Eastern | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| South Carolina, Southern | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| South Carolina, Western | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| South Dakota | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Tennessee, Eastern | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Texas, Central No. 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Texas, Northern | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Texas, Southern | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Vermont | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Virginia, Southern | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Washington, Southwest | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| West Virginia | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Wisconsin/Michigan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Wyoming | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
ATTENTION, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS AND SENIORS! Before you choose your college or university, why not consider going to a school in a goal area. Write to the National Youth Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091 ... and we’ll do all we can to steer you to a goal area.
Special events are planned for Bahá’í youth[edit]
Mark your calendars ... there are some special events planned for youth that you won’t want to miss!
• The third annual College Club Conference will be held January 30–31 at the Green Acre Bahá’í School in Eliot, Maine. For more information, contact the school at P.O. Box 17, Eliot, ME 03903, or phone 207-439-0256.
• The District Youth Committee of Southern Wisconsin has planned its second annual Bahá’í Youth Institute for January 1–3 at Camp Byron near Fond du Lac.
You may contact the committee for details c/o Katherine Khavari, 910 East Wahner Place, Bayside, WI 53217, or phone 414-351-5859.
• College students in the Washington, D.C., area are invited to a College Club Conference on January 23 at Howard University. Contact Kelly Clark Shanklin, 3000 7th St. N.E., Apt. 224, Washington, DC 20017, or phone 202-269-3190 for more details.
• Regional Youth Conferences will be held as follows: Disney World, Orlando, Florida, December 27–30; Mount Hood, Oregon, March 19–21; Lake Murray, Oklahoma, April 9–11; Green Lake, Wisconsin, April 9–11.
Summer ’82 to see overseas projects[edit]
International teaching projects are being organized for next summer by the International Goals Committee and National Youth Committee.
Projects will be held in Bolivia and France. Other sites also are under consideration.
Youth who are interested in participating in any of these projects should begin making their plans now to serve next summer as an international traveling teacher.
Please contact the International Goals Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091.
[Page 8]
IGC:PIONEERING
World NEWS[edit]
Two Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed and more than 160 people declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh during a teaching campaign last August in Belize that involved 11 traveling teachers from the U.S.
The project was planned and carried out by the National Spiritual Assembly of Belize and the U.S. International Goals Committee ...
A group of seven traveling teachers from Denmark, Norway and the U.S. proclaimed the Faith in Molde, Norway, last July 26–August 10 during a week-long gathering of 3,000 Christians from throughout Scandinavia and a week-long European jazz festival, both of which were held in Molde ...
Thousands of residents of La Paz, Bolivia, visited a Bahá’í literature display last July that was part of a week-long book fair in that city.
Among the visitors to the Bahá’í display was the mayor of La Paz who promised to read the several Bahá’í books he was given ...
A new Bahá’í Center has been built on Christmas Island, Kiribati (formerly the Gilbert Islands) through the efforts of Peter King, a pioneer to Tarawa, Kiribati, and the Bahá’ís on Christmas Island ...
A 15-minute program planned entirely by Bahá’ís was broadcast June 6 on Sweden’s national radio. The program included music, readings from the Bahá’í Writings, and information about the Faith ...
One of the goals given by the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of Papua New Guinea for the second phase of the Seven Year Plan has been accomplished with the opening to the Faith of Goodenough Island in the Dentrecasteaux Group southeast of the mainland in Milne Bay ...
The Faith was proclaimed among academic and government officials in Bangladesh last August during a two-week visit by Dr. Alfred K. Neumann, a Bahá’í from the U.S. who is a member of the International Goals Committee and a consultant to the United Nations Development Program ...
A four-member Bahá’í delegation met last August with the governor of Pakistan’s Sind Province and presented him with a volume of The Bahá’í World. The governor welcomed the believers warmly and asked them questions about the Faith ...
Conferences offer many teaching chances[edit]
“Upon our efforts depends in very large measure the fate of humanity.”—The Universal House of Justice, Wellspring of Guidance, p. 1
•
Next month ushers in 1982 which signals the year of the momentous International Conferences called for by the Universal House of Justice.
Now is the time to arise by deciding to attend what promise to be the largest and most exciting Bahá’í gatherings of the decade.
DO KEEP in mind the significance of the fact that at each of these conferences a Hand of the Cause of God will be present representing the Universal House of Justice.
The success of these conferences can be assured at this very moment by your deciding to partake of this bounteous occasion.
Still there’s more to consider! The Universal House of Justice has alerted the National Spiritual Assemblies to the opportunities that will be presented when many friends attending these conferences undertake teaching assignments in connection with travel to or from the conference.
Once again, the doors to the East and West of the world have been flung open. We need only walk through them and seize the chance to perform the “most great service” by becoming a cause of guidance for innumerable souls.
Once the decision has been made to arise, the spirit is released throughout the planet. Isn’t this our ultimate goal: to spiritualize the whole world?
To assist in the accomplishment of this goal, the International Conference Committees have submitted various alternative teaching routes in both rural and urban areas.
FOR EXAMPLE, in Nigeria the country has been divided into three areas. The north is Muslim, and teaching is restricted. The south is Christian with some Muslims, and teaching/proclamation is wide open. The Middle Belt is reserved for Bahá’ís, Dr. Muhájir said of the potential that exists in that area.
With regard to Australasia, guidance has been given in light of effective teaching for both the countries and islands in that area.
Within the planning minimum, lengths of stays vary from two weeks in Tuvalu to an eight-week period for an extended island-hopping teaching trip.
Should you need help in pricing air travel, selecting routes for teaching, securing hotel accommodations, choosing proper clothing for climate conditions, or with any other aspect of planning for the conferences, information is available through the International Goals Committee.
You may contact the committee at the Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, or by phoning 312-869-9039.
The 36 believers attending a Pioneer Training Institute held October 29–November 1 at the Bahá’í National Center in Wilmette were making plans to pioneer to Gabon, Zaire, Haiti, South Africa, Colombia, Uruguay, the Windward Islands, Paraguay, Hong Kong, Honduras, Liberia, Botswana, Bophuthatswana, Finland, Ecuador, Samoa, Tunisia and Venezuela. Participants included representatives of the Spiritual Assemblies of Madison, Wisconsin, and Denver, Colorado.
57 pioneers arise to fill overseas goals[edit]
Jubilantly, the International Goals Committee has reported to the National Spiritual Assembly that as of the end of October 57 overseas goals of the second phase of the Seven Year Plan were filled.
Of the 279 world-wide goals assigned by the Universal House of Justice, the International Goals Committee had set a minimum of 50 goals for the U.S. community for this year.
IN ADDITION to the 57 goals filled, another 67 pioneers also left this country as pioneers to countries not designated as goals.
Because of the lack of funds in its budget, the Goals Committee has not been able recently to assist pioneers with transportation costs.
Despite this fact, the committee wants to send another 50 pioneers to goal areas this year for a total of 100.
These additional pioneers would help fill the void left because of the inability of Iranians to leave their beleaguered homeland for pioneer posts as they have done so magnificently in the past.
The committee wishes to share some recent letters from three of the 50 who have reached their posts this year.
From Arthur and Fran Del Moro in the Transkei, where they are taking care of the National Center:
“The highlight of our lives is when the National Spiritual Assembly is finished with the day’s business. We all sit down to eat ... and begin to sing and dance after dinner.
“WE ARE so aroused by the great spirit and to see the African believers’ love for Bahá’u’lláh, that we must join in.
“If the Bahá’ís in the U.S. could see and feel the Africans’ spirit and love of God, would you believe that your pioneering goals would not only be fulfilled, but far exceeded? Our brothers and sisters don’t know what they are missing.
“Sure, it gets tough being away from relatives and friends, but Bahá’u’lláh compensates for the void a thousand times over.
“You know, we didn’t really know what the oneness of mankind was before pioneering, but we see it more clearly since we’ve been here.
“A good example is that we told the Bahá’ís here that we have a House of Worship in Wilmette, and that all the Bahá’ís ... visited and prayed there for the Bahá’ís all over the world ... The local believers turn their heads to one side and say, ‘Yes, we have seen our House of Worship (in Uganda) and although we have never visited or prayed there, we still see it in our prayers and meditations,’ and we pray for them as they pray for us.
“Sacrifices are everyday occurrences, but we are repaid and rewarded a million times over, for our love of God grows stronger every day as our growth in this great Faith continues.”
FROM SANDY SPELL, a youth who is pioneering to Denmark
The Philippine International Convention Center in Manila is the site of the first of five International Bahá’í Conferences to be called in 1982 by the Universal House of Justice. The Hand of the Cause of God Ugo Giachery will represent the Supreme Body at the conference, scheduled for May 7–9 as the Bahá’í world approaches the half-way point of the Seven Year Plan. A special feature of this and the other conferences in 1982 will be the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf.
[Page 9]
EDUCATION
KEITH BOEHME
Bahá’í given award for service to disabled children[edit]
Keith Boehme, a Bahá’í from Richmond, Indiana, has received an award from the National Organizations Advisory Council for Children for outstanding service on behalf of children with disabilities.
Mrs. Janice Talamantes, a staff member in the National Education Committee’s office in Wilmette, accepted the award on behalf of Mr. Boehme at the organization’s national conference October 22 in Chicago.
Mr. Boehme, who has been a teacher of children with multiple handicaps in Richmond, is especially interested in curriculum development, and has interrupted his teaching activity to pursue further studies in that area in Washington, D.C.
Assembly plays big role in life’s big events[edit]
This is the eighth in a series of articles on the development of Local Spiritual Assemblies prepared by the National Education Committee. This month’s article is about the Assembly’s responsibilities in connection with births, marriages and burials.
•
1. Why is it necessary for Assemblies to be concerned about births, marriages and burials?
The Universal House of Justice has stated, “Local Spiritual Assemblies, which are embryonic Local Houses of Justice, should develop as rallying centres of the community. They must concern themselves not only with teaching the Faith, with the development of the Bahá’í way of life and with the proper organization of the Bahá’í activities of their communities, but also with those crucial events which profoundly affect the life of all human beings: birth, marriage, and death.” (Letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies dated April 17, 1981)
2. How should the Assembly respond to births in its community?
The Universal House of Justice writes, “When a Bahá’í has a child it is a matter of joy to the whole local community as well as to the couple, and each Local Spiritual Assembly should be encouraged to keep a register of such births, issuing a birth certificate to the parents. Such a practice will foster the consolidation of the community and of the Assembly itself.” (Letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies dated April 17, 1981)
3. Is this guidance still applicable if only one of the parents is a Bahá’í?
The Universal House of Justice states, “Even if only one of the parents is a Bahá’í, the Assembly could register the birth of the child, and upon application of the Bahá’í parent issue the certificate.” (Letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies dated April 17, 1981)
4. What are the responsibilities of the Assembly regarding marriages?
The Universal House of Justice has written, “The carrying out of the Bahá’í marriage laws, as given to the friends throughout the world, is a vital obligation of every believer who wishes to marry, and it is an important duty of every Local Spiritual Assembly to ensure that these laws are known to, and obeyed by, the believers within their jurisdiction ...Each Assembly, therefore, must conscientiously carry out its responsibilities in connection with the holding of Bahá’í marriage ceremonies, the recording of Bahá’í marriages in a register kept for this purpose, and the issuing of Bahá’í marriage certificates.” (Letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies dated April 17, 1981)
5. How should the Assembly help educate its community about the Bahá’í marriage laws?
The National Spiritual Assembly has stated that each Local Assembly should “conduct a deepening on marriage at least once a year for Bahá’í youth and young adults who have not yet been through such a deepening,” and “review the Bahá’í teachings on marriage and divorce with couples who wish to marry.” (Letter to all Local Spiritual Assemblies dated January 24, 1980)
6. What should the Assembly’s role be in matters of Bahá’í burial?
The Universal House of Justice writes, “The burial of the dead is an occasion of great solemnity and importance, and while the conduct of the funeral service and the arrangements for the interment may be left to the relatives of the deceased, the Local Spiritual Assembly has the responsibility for educating the believers in the essential requirements of the Bahá’í law of burial as at present applied, and in courteously and tactfully drawing these requirements to the attention of the relatives if there is any indication that they may fail to observe them.” (Letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies dated April 17, 1981)
7. Specifically, what does the Bahá’í burial law require?
The Universal House of Justice has stated, “These requirements are: that the body not be cremated; that it not be transported more than an hour’s journey from the place of death to the place of burial; that the Prayer for the Dead be recited if the deceased is a Bahá’í of fifteen years of age or more; and that the funeral be carried out in a simple and dignified manner that would be a credit to the community.” (Letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies dated April 17, 1981)
8. Many funeral directors are unfamiliar with the requirements of Bahá’í burial. How should they be informed of these requirements?
The National Spiritual Assembly has written, “Each Local Spiritual Assembly has the responsibility of calling to the attention of the local funeral directors the fact that Bahá’ís are not to be embalmed unless required by state law; nor are their bodies to be cremated; nor should their bodies be transported more than an hour’s journey from the place of death.” (Guidelines for Local Spiritual Assemblies, p. 99)
9. How will the Assembly’s carrying out of its birth, marriage and burial responsibilities help to strengthen the local Bahá’í community?
The Universal House of Justice writes, “ ...when Local Assemblies have arisen to carry out these responsibilities, the believers have acquired a sense of security and solidarity, and have become confident that in such matters they can rely upon the agencies of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.” (Letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies dated April 17, 1981)
(Additional information on Bahá’í marriage and burial laws can be found in Guidelines for Local Spiritual Assemblies. Bahá’í birth and marriage certificates can be obtained from the Office of Membership and Records; Bahá’í funeral kits are available from the Office of Public Affairs.)
Giving[edit]
Continued From Page 5
amount and the purpose of his contribution. This does not imply, however, that voluntary giving means optional giving.
ON THE CONTRARY, Shoghi Effendi said that it is “the spiritual obligation of every conscientious and faithful servant of Bahá’u’lláh who desires to see His Cause advance, to contribute freely and generously for the increase of (the) Fund.”
Giving to support the Faith is therefore not only a privilege (as described in Part I of this series) but is also a spiritual obligation.
Of course, no one will ever approach an individual and ask for his or her gift; no one will ask why a contribution was not given. Contributing to the Fund arises from the individual’s love for Bahá’u’lláh.
Meeting this “spiritual obligation” is the voluntary act of one who wishes to serve. The following statement of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá best summarizes the principle of the voluntary nature of the Fund:
“Man reacheth perfection through good deeds, voluntarily performed, not through good deeds the doing of which was forced upon him ...For the harvest of force is turmoil and the ruin of the social order. On the other hand voluntary sharing, the freely-chosen expending of one’s substance, leadeth to society’s comfort and peace. It lighteth up the world; it bestoweth honor upon humankind.”
Louhelen benefit held in Marietta, Georgia[edit]
An auction to benefit the Louhelen Bahá’í School was held August 23 in Marietta, Georgia.
The auction, sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of Marietta and coordinated by the Marietta Activities Committee, raised $4,000 for the Michigan school.
More than 65 Bahá’ís from the greater Atlanta area attended the event, one of whose highlights was the auction of a string of prayer beads given to an American Bahá’í by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His visit to America in 1912.
Child’s Way magazine shared a table with New Jersey’s National Treasurer’s Representative at the state’s District Convention in October. Janet Richards (seated) offered subscription brochures and back issues of the magazine to Kathy Tomarelli and many others who stopped by. Fund envelopes and other information were given out by NTR Rod Richards.
the Champion builders[edit]
MARTHA ROOT
For the last 20 years of her life, the Hand of the Cause of God Martha L. Root traveled to teach the Faith on all five continents, circling the globe four times.
Born August 10, 1872, in Richwood, Ohio, Martha Root was graduated from Oberlin College and attended the University of Chicago. She taught school before starting her career as a newspaperwoman.
MISS ROOT learned of the Faith during a chance meeting with a Bahá’í in a restaurant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1912 she used her press connections to arrange a speaking engagement for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who addressed an audience of 400 at a Pittsburgh hotel.
In 1919, at the age of 47, she began her world-circling teaching trips in response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets of the Divine Plan. On a ship that was bound for South America, she called her fellow passengers together and told them of the nature of her trip.
This “unique and great-hearted apostle of Bahá’u’lláh,” as the beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, called her, supported herself through journalism and kept the strictest budget by traveling third class, eating little, and dressing simply.
She carried the Message of Bahá’u’lláh to all strata of society, from laborers and dervishes to artists, newspaper editors, and even kings, queens and presidents. She spoke at large meetings and in intimate interviews as well as on radio and at royal receptions.
Miss Root took the Message to Queen Marie of Rumania, who, in 1926, became the first sovereign to accept the Faith.
She described King Haakon of Norway as “this spiritually lovable King ... who will never talk about himself ...” Miss Root also had audiences with King Faisal of Iraq and with Prince Paul and
‘Bahá’í Studies’ group has 1st U.S. meeting[edit]
The Association for Bahá’í Studies held the first U.S. conference in its history over the Labor Day weekend at the Green Acre Bahá’í School in Eliot, Maine.
Seven papers were presented, along with two panel discussions and several musical performances.
THE PAPERS included “Economics and Moral Values,” by William Hatcher, a professor of mathematics at Laval University in Quebec; an analysis of Bahá’u’lláh’s Four Valleys in relation to Islamic mystical thought by John Walbridge, a graduate student in Islamic philosophy at Harvard University; portions of a planned book by Hossain Danesh, a psychiatrist and member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada; a discussion of the life of Thornton Chase, the first American Bahá’í, by Robert Stockman, a student at the Harvard Divinity School; “The Practice of Detachment” by Robert Atkinson of New Hampshire; “Education: Enhancing the Process of Becoming,” by Susan Maranon, an educational consultant from Massachusetts; and a discussion of the history and character of the Master Index of the Bahá’í Writings by Marian Lippitt, who has worked on that project for almost 30 years.
Other weekend highlights included panel discussions on Bahá’í scholarship and on the history and aims of the Association for Bahá’í Studies.
The Association, formerly the Canadian Association for Studies on the Bahá’í Faith, was formed in 1974 to further a Five Year Plan goal to cultivate opportunities for formal university courses and lectures on the Faith in Canada.
Since then it has acquired members in several other countries and grown into a Bahá’í society that sponsors conferences, publishes Bahá’í scholarly works, and brings together Bahá’í scholars and laymen.
Membership in the Association is open to Bahá’ís in any country. Dues are $15 a year for individuals, $25 for couples, and $10 for students, pioneers or senior citizens (over 70). Members receive the Association’s publications and other benefits.
A regional conference is planned for British Columbia in December, with others tentatively scheduled in the next year in New England, the Canadian prairie provinces, Quebec, and the American Midwest.
Those who are interested in joining the Association, or in making scholarly, literary, musical, or artistic presentations should contact the Association at P.O. Box 2577, Station D, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIP 5W6.
Association offers tapes, books at special prices[edit]
The Association for Bahá’í Studies has made available several tapes from its sixth annual Conference held May 29–June 3 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
In addition, the Association now has a selection of its past publications for sale at special prices.
A complete set of these publications including Bahá’í Studies, Volumes 2–8, and Volumes 1 and II of the Bahá’í Studies Notebook, which would sell regularly for $22, is now priced at only $15, plus $1.50 to cover postage and handling.
The cassette tapes, each of which is priced at $6, are:
• Address to the sixth annual Conference by the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum.
• Address to the International Bahá’í Conference on Marriage and the Family by Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum.
• “Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Personal Growth” by Hossein Danesh.
• “Healthy Communication in Marriage” by Hossein Danesh.
• “John the Baptist, the Forgotten Manifestation” by Jack McLean; “Mishkin Qalam—His Calligraphy and Humor” by Gol Aidun.
• “Automatic Document and Passage Retrieval Methods” by Edward Fox; “Myths, Models and Mysticism” by William Hatcher.
• “View of Man in Development Thinking” by Michael Bopp; “Queen Marie” by Robert Postlethwaite.
• “Marriage Breakdown in North American Society: Psychosocial Aspects” by Kerry Mothersill (non-Bahá’í).
• “Applications of Positive Psychotherapy for Marriage and Family Therapy” by N. Peseschkian.
• “Marriage and the Nuclear Family: A Bahá’í Perspective” by Khalil Khavari; “Parental Authority—Its Uses, Misuses and Implications—A Bahá’í Perspective” by Sandra Roberts.
• “Adaptive Response to Stress in Family Life” by A.M. Ghadirian; “The Poetry of Loving-Family Therapy and the Bahá’í Faith” by Michael Bruwer.
• “The Family: A Refuge and a Workshop” by Jane Faily.
• “Relevance of Bahá’í Principles to Contemporary Marital Therapy” by Frank Haendel.
• “Lifelong Integrated Education for the Family” by Yoshiko Nomura (non-Bahá’í).
These materials may be ordered from the Association for Bahá’í Studies, P.O. Box 2577, Station D, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIP 5W6.
Jim LaMacchia (right), a staff member in the Office of Public Affairs at the Bahá’í National Center, participated July 25 in a press conference at the Bloomington, Illinois, Public Library that focused on religious persecution in Iran. Also participating in the conference, which was sponsored by the Bahá’í community of Bloomington-Normal, were (left to right) Connie Donley, a Bahá’í from Bloomington; Rabbi Isaac Neuman of Sinai Temple, Champaign; and the Rev. Richard Bennett of St. Matthews Episcopal Church, Bloomington. Mr. LaMacchia and Rabbi Neuman also participated in a memorial service that followed the press conference.
Children explore the ‘nature lab’ during the first Summit Lake Farm camping weekend August 21–23 in Wisconsin.
More than 70 Bahá’ís gather at Wisconsin camping weekend[edit]
More than 70 Bahá’í adults, youth and children gathered August 21–23 at the first Summit Lake Farm (Wisconsin) camping weekend to study Bahá’í administration and experience a Bahá’í lifestyle.
The camping weekend was followed by a prayer meeting at a wooded lakefront park in Eagle River, Wisconsin.
Speakers at the farm were Auxiliary Board member Stephen Birkland and Dr. Khalil Khavari, an assistant to the Auxiliary Board.
While adults were in class, the children were quite active, with nature walks, non-competitive games, a “virtue trail” (blazing and hiking), nature lab, mud sculpting, and a walk to a natural amphitheatre with Bahá’í musician Jerry Johnson.
The friends also saw a wrought iron latch hook from a watershed at Bahjí, given to Mrs. Agnes Puza of Brookfield, Wisconsin, by the Guardian, and heard a recording of a prayer chanted by the Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
The site in Eagle River, purchased in 1962 by Stanley Puza, has been deeded to the National Spiritual Assembly for use as a Bahá’í school or other such facility.
Mr. Sears’ message relates horror of Iran persecutions[edit]
Continued From Page 1
and San Francisco, California; Denver, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; Gainesville and Miami, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; Detroit, Michigan; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Charlotte, North Carolina; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Portland, Oregon; Memphis, Tennessee; Dallas and Houston, Texas; Seattle, Washington, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Mr. Sears called for at least 1,000 Bahá’ís to be present at each of these meetings.
EACH GATHERING heard two taped messages from Mr. Sears. The first outlined details of the 24-day campaign, while the second related instances of heroism and sacrifice by the beleaguered followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in Iran.
Here is an excerpt from that second taped message from the Hand of the Cause of God:
“Beloved friends, I would like to tell you a story about some of the heroes and heroines in Iran, and about a young 24-year-old mother in particular. Imagine this scene:
“It is Tuesday—a beautiful sunny afternoon. You are doing the lunch dishes, chanting one of the beautiful poems of Ṭáhirih, when you glance out of the window and see your children racing toward the house. Only a moment ago you heard them laughing and playing. Now they are frightened, crying.
“They rush through the door, sweep across the kitchen and hide behind your skirts. You look out the window again and you see men entering the farmyard—the destroyers have come.
“You and the children are shoved roughly out of your own house. You stand helplessly beside the front door, trembling, holding each child by the hand. You watch, outraged and helpless, as the looters carry out your cherished furniture and dump it rudely in a heap in the front yard.
“YOU CRY OUT against the injustice and warn them that when your husband comes home from the village where he has gone with the vegetables he will complain to the authorities.
“Their laughter is vulgar, loud and ugly. They warn you that in this matter they are the authorities. There is no appeal to anyone against what they are doing.
“They can take everything—even your lives, as they did with your sister and her husband in the city. Their business was seized and sold, their bank account confiscated, their home burned, pension stopped, they were arrested, tried and shot to death. So they tell you that you are lucky to get off so easily, and that you had better keep quiet.
“The looters come out of your house a second time, laughing, their arms loaded down with the intimate personal belongings of your family. One of the children cries out as a special and dearly-loved toy is hurled onto the heap. The child tries to break away and rescue it, but you hold tight and restrain him. You are only too well aware of the danger.
“You stand numb to further hate and loss. The thieves seize you roughly and strip away whatever personal jewelry you may have. They take your rings, your bracelet, your watch, enjoying their brutality.
“The two children try to protect you and are kicked away. You shelter them quickly in your arms, proud of their bravery but fearful for their lives, so you hug them tightly to you and put their eyes against you so they cannot see as the arsonist goes forward and sets torches to your dearly-loved home.
“THE WORK of the terrorists is still not at an end. They have not yet taken everything. You look on, dry-eyed and chilled, as they cut down and level your orchard to the ground.
“Your vegetable crop is scattered and destroyed, the melons are trampled and crushed, your pets destroyed, some of your cattle confiscated to be sold for profit and the rest of the poor animals pitilessly slaughtered.
“The terrorists are satisfied at last. They survey the smoking embers of the house and ride off your devastated property joking with each other, enthusiastically slapping each other on the back for a job well done.
“You stand there in the ruins of your whole life, of all you once held dear. Your heart is pounding in fear for your husband’s life. You want to rush to the village to find out about him, but what can you do with the children? Will it be safe for them anywhere? Ever?
“Your arms are embracing them and holding them tight. They are crying. The children are bewildered and terrified by what they have seen. They cannot understand what is happening to their lives. They only know that it is hard to be a Bahá’í.
“This is only one of the moving reports coming out of Iran that I have read.
“TEN THOUSAND beloved friends are homeless, hiding in the mountains and the caves and the deserts. And even the stony hearts of the terrorists and persecutors are touched when in the early hours of dawn from those caves and those deserts and those mountains they hear the sweet voices of the children chanting the prayers, thanking God as the sun makes rosy another dawn, thanking Him for the day ahead and praying that they may be strong and steadfast to the very end and carry out the wishes of their beloved Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.
“My heart weeps for the wives and the sons and daughters of these gallant and heroic men, the martyrs and all the heroes, heroines and children across the face of that land. The enemies can kill them if they want, but they are going ahead with the work of God.
“Do you know what they have done in Iran to support the Fund? Even though they have lost almost all their sources of revenue, the friends have doubled their contributions from the year before!
“Even without great resources, they arose and poured out what they had—sacrificing everything if necessary so that the heroic National Spiritual Assembly (its members later kidnapped and replaced) would have the funds to carry on.
“Beloved friends, tears were running down my cheeks as I read this report from Iran—tears like the rains of spring. I was planning to write to you, my beloved friends in America, to try to express the depth of my feeling. It was then that Marguerite came back from an African conference and said: ‘Don’t write. Go, and tell them now, in person!’
“When I come back next summer, and step before you and say, ‘I have come to tell you about the beloved Guardian,’ I would like to know by looking at your faces that you have already honored him in your heart by pouring out a mighty river of all you own in honor of those who have died and are still dying for you and for me.
“May the Bahá’í world always remember what we did here during these days when it had to be done, and may they forever sing our praises in the Concourse on High!”
The registration desk was the first stop for Bahá’ís attending the 24 regional meetings for prayer and sacrifice inspired by the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears. Here one of the friends registers for the meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.
MRS. GERTRUDE JACOBY
Spiritual Assembly of the
Bahá’ís of Los Angeles
Awareness circumstances forcing Mrs. Gertrude Jacoby retire from membership Los Angeles Assembly impels us to express warm sentiments evoked by our recollections her decades selfless, tireless, incalculable services to American Bahá’í community in variety of capacities.
Her twenty-eight-year tenure Los Angeles Assembly testifies to staunchness her devotion to World Order Bahá’u’lláh. While we are certain she will continue to serve Cause in any way open to her we are happy for this opportunity to pay her loving tribute and to thank her for noble efforts she has already exerted in promoting our glorious Faith.
Assure her and husband our prayers their behalf.
Well-known actors Hans Conried, Carol Bilger and Salome Jens (left to right) rehearse their parts for an episode of ‘Fireside Playhouse,’ a 13-week Bahá’í radio series produced in Hollywood for the National Spiritual Assembly. As of the end of October, 104 stations in the U.S. were broadcasting the series or had already done so. Ninety-five percent of this air time has been offered by the stations at no cost. Listeners in several northeastern states and in California, Illinois, Missouri, Montana and New Mexico have phoned the National Center to ask for more information about the Faith. Five radio stations in Alaska have requested Fireside Playhouse demonstration records, and two others, KFSK in Petersburg and KCAW-FM in Sitka, already have begun broadcasting the series. Other requests for information about Fireside Playhouse have come from as far away as the Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands and Virgin Islands.
[Page 12]
RACE UNITY
‘When the racial elements of the American nation unite in actual fellowship and accord, the lights of the oneness of humanity will shine ...’ (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 54)
Bahá’í wins prize for essay on black woman activist[edit]
The following essay by Leslie Daniels, a 15-year-old Bahá’í youth from New Haven, Connecticut, won first prize last year in a contest co-sponsored by Yale University and WYBC Radio in New Haven.
It is interesting to note that Ida Wells-Barnett, about whom the essay is written, was an acquaintance of the Hand of the Cause of God Louis Gregory. She attended the dedication ceremony in 1953 for the House of Worship in Wilmette.
•
This essay will briefly discuss the life of Ida Wells-Barnett, and attempt to demonstrate the significant role she played in the anti-lynching crusade.
Great courage, brilliance, beauty and determination were only a small portion of the fine characteristics of Ida Wells-Barnett. She was remarkable because only death could deter her in the fight for justice for black people.
THE NUMBER of accomplishments she achieved in her life was staggering. Among the most significant were that she set a wonderful image for blacks—young and old; she encouraged black people to stand up against the oppressing attitudes and cruelties of white racists; she was the key factor in stopping the brutal lynchings of black people.
Even as a child, she was known to be determined and strong-willed. Due to the death of her parents, she gained a tremendous responsibility since she was the eldest of the children.
Even at age 14, she would stand up for what was right. Her life seemed to be a smooth road to success—first as a teacher, then as a journalist and finally as a representative of such groups as the National Women’s Clubs.
Ida Wells-Barnett did not stop with representation for blacks in the United States. In 1893 she first lectured on lynchings in England, Scotland and Wales, informing the people of the heinous treatment of blacks in America.
What impresses me greatly is that a black woman who was born in 1862 during the time of slavery was able to rise up against sexism and racism to defend black Americans at home and abroad. She did not withhold for a moment the truth about the horrible treatment of blacks while she was visiting England.
When one studies the life of Ida Wells-Barnett, he cannot attempt to comprehend all the hard work and challenging obstacles that she managed to overcome. She accomplished this with dignity and grace.
HER FIRST choice of professions was journalism. Her reason is given in the pamphlet “Southern Horrors”:
“The Afro-American papers are the only ones which will print the truth, and they lack the means to employ agents and detectives to get at facts.”
It is ironic that her statement still holds true today with regard to publishing the truth about black people.
She went from writing pamphlets on the horrors of lynchings to publishing her own newspaper and writing articles in a dozen other papers across the country.
Toward the end of her career, Mrs. Wells-Barnett wrote an autobiography. She had the great honor to write and edit for Free Speech, a black newspaper in Memphis, Tennessee, and also held a financial interest in that paper.
Demonstrating great courage, she clearly portrayed the horrors of lynching in her pamphlets such as “Southern Horrors,” “A Red Record,” and “Mob Rule in New Orleans.”
THESE PAMPHLETS marked the beginning of the anti-lynching crusade. Writing them demonstrated courage because they were written during the late 1880s and early 1890s when the number of lynchings was at a peak.
This didn’t stop Ida Wells-Barnett; she continued to write the truth about lynchings, no matter how violent, gruesome or inhumane. Her pamphlets received nationwide attention because the facts were presented clearly and without equivocation.
Mob violence and hatred toward her were so extreme that she lost her paper and nearly lost her life. One white newspaper called her a “black scoundrel.” But Ida Wells-Barnett continued writing.
An accomplishment that best exemplifies her characteristics is that in 1884 she was among the first group of blacks to go to court and charge the railroads with discrimination against blacks. To protest this injustice, she refused to ride on trains.
Mrs. Wells-Barnett had the ability to defeat the problems that she confronted and to accomplish many great tasks. Her most challenging problem, of course, was that she was both black and a woman.
This doubled her difficulties because she had to cope with sexism from black and white males. She gave encouragement to others because she demonstrated that if one wants to succeed in life, he or she can in spite of the problems that hinder individuals along the way.
HER EXPERIENCES make one feel that it would be unfair to oneself, and to other blacks, if he did not strive to become educated and work for advancements in civil rights.
Today’s youth are faced with many dilemmas and problems, but these do not equal those of Ida Wells-Barnett and other blacks during the 19th century.
Ida Wells-Barnett was a woman whom everyone should try to learn more about. Her characteristics and accomplishments should be held in high esteem.
She inspired everyone who met her, and today, long after her death, that inspiration to strive for the best in life and to work for racial harmony in America still lingers on.
On September 6, the Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles sponsored a ‘One Planet, One People ... Please’ Day—at the beach! Hundreds of Bahá’ís wearing their special T-shirts with that Bahá’í motto gathered at various meeting places on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, from Hermosa Beach to Malibu. Once there, the groups of Bahá’ís played volleyball, went roller skating or bicycling ... and proclaimed and taught the Faith, holding innumerable informal discussions and giving away hundreds of pamphlets and more than 1,200 balloons with the ‘One Planet, One People ... Please’ slogan. To promote the event, the Los Angeles Assembly rented an airplane that flew up and down the coast pulling a large banner that read ‘One Planet, One People ... Please. Bahá’í Faith.’
Mayor Diane McKenna (right) of Sunnyvale, California, presents a certificate proclaiming September 20, 1981, ‘World Peace Day’ in that city to Mrs. Marilyn Pain, a member of the Spiritual Assembly of Sunnyvale. The mayor was given a copy of Tokens from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and a reprint of the article on the Faith from the Encyclopedia Britannica. The Bahá’ís sponsored a picnic at a city park after a morning spent inviting neighbors to the observance. A member of the city council was among those who attended.
Sheboygan Bahá’ís’ party honors disabled and handicapped citizens[edit]
On October 24, the Bahá’í communities of Sheboygan and the Town of Wilson, Wisconsin, with help from the Spiritual Assembly of Shorewood, gave a United Nations Day party at the Rehabilitation Center in honor of the handicapped and disabled citizens of Sheboygan.
The UN Committee of Sheboygan co-sponsored the event. Coffee was provided by the mayor of Sheboygan.
About 110 people were present to enjoy songs and dances, in costume, performed by Greek and German children, Japanese and Vietnamese women, a Scottish exchange teacher, a former American Friends Service (AFS) student to Japan, and a Laotian (Hmong).
Personal invitations were sent to many civic organizations, and to present and former AFS exchange students.
Ten years ago...[edit]
Bahá’ís in New York, the City of the Covenant, participate in a three-day proclamation whose focus is the 50th anniversary of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
The proclamation begins November 26 with a public meeting at Columbia University that is followed by a special viewing of a robe and slippers worn by the Master and a showing of photos of His visit to New York City in 1912.
The following day, more than 200 Bahá’ís participate in a motorcade tour of some of the places visited by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Four buses take the friends to the Church of the Ascension where the Master made His first public address in the U.S.; the Bowery Mission; the J.P. Morgan Library where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá revealed a prayer that He autographed in the library’s album, and the Ansonia and Great Northern hotels where He stayed.
The address that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá delivered April 14, 1912, is read from the pulpit of the Church of the Ascension by a Bahá’í woman of Jewish background during the morning church service that is attended by more than 100 members of the congregation and visiting Bahá’ís. Later, the friends present the pastor with Bahá’í books.
Immediate results from the proclamation include coverage in two New York City newspapers and a wire service, and calls from people who see the press coverage ...
Fifty-seven Bahá’ís and their guests attend a weekend deepening conference sponsored by the Bahá’í Group of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, that includes a discussion of prayer and meditation, a talk on freedom and the Bahá’í Faith, and a slide presentation of the Icelandic Oceanic Conference ...
Nearly 500 people from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania attend a one-day conference in Rockland County, New York, that is designed to give new believers, especially youth, an opportunity to learn about Bahá’í laws as they apply to daily living.
The seminar, sponsored by the Bahá’í Group of Rockland County, is preceded by a Saturday night square dance attended by nearly 300 people ...
The attorney general of Minnesota authorizes recognition of Bahá’í Holy Days for employees of school districts and other governmental units ...
First Chicago area Inter-Assembly Conference held[edit]
A greater Chicago area Inter-Assembly Conference was held October 18 at the Bahá’í National Center.
The main purposes of the conference, which was co-hosted by the National Teaching Committee and the Spiritual Assembly of Chicago, were to:
- strengthen the spiritual fabric of the area;
- set common goals that can be achieved by inter-Assembly collaboration;
- and create a system for preventing overlap of major activities.
More than 65 people representing some 23 Spiritual Assemblies in the Chicago area attended the meeting. Every Assembly in the two northern districts of Illinois was invited to send representatives, as were the District Teaching Committees, and the Auxiliary Board and its assistants.
Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, and Auxiliary Board member D. Thelma Jackson were among the speakers.
Following the formal program, the participants formed seven discussion groups for topics ranging from teaching, education, youth and service projects to use of the media, intercommunity gatherings and establishment of a Bahá’í Information Center.
A report from each of these groups was given to the conference as a whole, outlining suggestions of each group concerning intercommunity cooperation and what it would like to see happen in that part of the country.
These suggestions were given to a five-member Coordinating Task Force that will forward them to each Assembly in the districts by mail and will be responsible for creating a systematic method for coordinating the resolutions and decisions made at the conference and devising a method for monitoring the progress of the goals that are undertaken.
Another Inter-Assembly Conference has been scheduled for January 24.
Seven discussion groups considered a number of topics such as teaching, education and use of the media during the greater Chicago area Inter-Assembly Conference held October 18 at the Bahá’í National Center in Wilmette.
This banner, painted by the Bahá’ís of Adrian, Michigan, was carried in that city’s Fourth of July parade. During fair week in August, a tent was raised and Bahá’í literature distributed. Many people who said they hadn’t heard of the Faith asked questions and accepted literature.
Mayor Jack Evans of Dallas, Texas, is presented with the book Call to the Nations by three members of the Spiritual Assembly of Dallas after the mayor proclaimed September 20 ‘World Peace Day’ in that city. Shown (left to right) at the August 31 meeting are Mrs. Elizabeth Washington, Mayor Evans, Mrs. Jean Maddox and Dr. Ali Golestaneh.
The O’Connell Bridge in the heart of Dublin, Ireland, seen here in the foreground, spans the Liffey River that flows eastward through the city into the Irish Sea. Dublin, the charming capital city of the Republic of Ireland, is the site of the second of five International Bahá’í Conferences called for 1982 by the Universal House of Justice. On June 25–27, the conference will take place in one of the halls of the venerable Royal Dublin Society at Ballsbridge. The Hand of the Cause of God H. Collis Featherstone will represent the House of Justice. The gathering will be dedicated to the memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf on the 50th anniversary of her passing.
Poster contest held by Bahá’ís at Fair in Sheboygan County[edit]
The Bahá’í communities of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, carried out a successful proclamation effort at the Sheboygan County Fair in Plymouth over the Labor Day weekend.
A poster contest whose theme was “Love Makes the World Go ’Round” was held for children and youth ages 5 through 17.
The posters were displayed at a booth containing a large heart with the words “In the Garden of Thy Heart Plant Naught but the Rose of Love.”
Prizes awarded in four age categories included the book The Secret in the Garden, a one-year subscription to World Order magazine, and a UNICEF craft book and record album.
The posters were returned to the artists in a “Love That Child” folder.
[Page 14]
PÁGINA HISPANA
David Villaseñor dedicando su vida al arte[edit]
Artistas contemporáneos trabajan principalmente con materiales nuevos—proyectando sus sensibilidades artísticas en proyectos combinados o conceptuales que abarcan la tecnología y vocabulario del siglo veinte.
David Villaseñor se concentra en una forma de arte originado por los indígenas del Suroeste de América del Norte.
SUS MATERIALES son antiguos, formados a través de siglos de ciclos continuos de la naturaleza, nacimiento, vida y muerte—y renacimiento espiritual.
Los “Tapices en Arena” de Villaseñor, reflejan el espíritu de la pintura de arena de los Indígenas en que su uso de símbolos está basado en el conocimiento místico, más bien que en los aspectos físicos ritualistas de la pintura de arena.
Su método de creación es una combinación de imaginación ritual y tecnología moderna—abrillantado por una profunda reverencia por la vida y las humanidades.
Nacido cerca de Guadalajara, Jalisco, su madre de herencia Huichol y Otomí, su padre descendiente de español. Huérfano por la Revolución Mejicana, fue criado y educado en Cruz Galvez, una escuela industrial y de artes gráficas, en Hermosillo, Sonora, México.
Acerca del 80 por ciento de los niños eran indígenas de varias tribus. En adición a los cursos académicos, eran introducidos a los métodos básicos indígenas o lo que es categorizado hoy día como arte.
En 1942, Villaseñor adoptó la ciudadanía estado-unidense y se unió al Ejército de los Estados Unidos—sirviendo como un escultor anatómico en el Cuerpo Médico.
FUE INTRODUCIDO en la pintura de arena cuando dos de sus amigos Navajos le llevaron donde su abuelo, Curandero en Chinle, Arizona en una reservación Navajo. De acuerdo a la costumbre, una pintura de arena fue hecha en su honor para darle la bienvenida en la familia.
La herencia indígena de Villaseñor y su dedicación a los principios de la Fe Bahá’í son centrales en la creación de sus “Tapices en Arena.” La unidad de Dios, la unidad de la religión y la unidad de la humanidad son los principios básicos en las enseñanzas de Bahá’u’lláh.
Significativamente la posición de los indígenas en la Fe Bahá’í es muy alta. Por lo tanto Villaseñor se identifica a sí mismo como un ciudadano del mundo—y su arte un vínculo directo al Gran Espíritu.
La pintura de arena es una forma de arte efímera de los indígenas del Suroeste. La ceremonia refleja un perfecto acuerdo con el conocimiento universal logrado por vivir en estrecho contacto con la Fuente de toda vida.
Porque la ceremonia es considerada sagrada, la pintura de arena son empezadas, terminadas y destruidas en un periodo de doce horas.
Tomó varias décadas para Villaseñor, desarrollar su técnica de pintura de arena permanente.
DESPUÉS de inventar el proceso, pasó tres años en Lockheed Aircraft’s Research Engineering Division, perfeccionándolo.
Villaseñor ha exhibido en el Museo de Los Angeles, el Museo Southwest, el Museo de Historia Natural en Nueva York, la Legión de Honor en San Francisco, el Museo de Historia Natural en Santa Barbara, el Instituto de Tecnología en Pasadena, California, el California Polytechnic Institute en Pomona, y han habido innumerables universidades y escuelas donde se han exhibido sus obras.
David Villaseñor ha aparecido en CBS y NBC y sus trabajos están en exhibición permanente en el Centro Bahá’í en Israel.
(Artículo traducido del Catalogue essay by Betje Howell, Art Critic, Santa Monica (California) Evening Outlook.)
Tomó varias décadas para que el Sr. David Villaseñor desarrolle su técnica de pintura de arena permanente.
Todos los creyentes deben contribuir al Fondo Bahá’í[edit]
En ocasiones anteriores hemos leído sobre la importancia del Fondo, y que contribuir al Fondo es una responsabilidad y privilegio espiritual que sólo los bahá’ís tenemos.
Ahora, vamos a abordar el tema de cómo contribuir al Fondo, pregunta que tiene varias respuestas, según como la veamos.
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Primeramente, cómo contribuir al Fondo es una pregunta espiritual, y ‘Abdu’l-Bahá nos dice al respecto: “Todos los creyentes deben contribuir de acuerdo con sus posibilidades, por pequeña que sea la suma. Dios no pide de alma alguna, excepto, de acuerdo con sus medios.” “El grado de sacrificio del donador, el amor con que hace su ofrenda y la unidad de todos los amigos en este servicio, es lo que produce las confirmaciones espirituales.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá nos asegura que si contribuimos de esta manera, en un espíritu de sacrificio, amor y unidad, atraeremos la aprobación y bendiciones de Dios: “ ...tened seguridad de que en lugar de esta contribución, vuestro comercio, vuestra agricultura e industrias serán bendecidas muchas veces.
“El que hace una buena acción, Dios le recompensará diez veces. No hay duda alguna de que el Señor viviente ayudará y confirmará el alma generosa.”
Los Consejeros Raúl Pavón y Carmen de Burafato durante la grabación de programas para la televisión.
‘Ayunaba en la prisión antes de su ejecución el 17 de Marzo 1981’[edit]
Extractos de la última voluntad y testamento, y últimas cartas, del Sr. Miḥdí Anvarí, de Shiráz, mientras que ayunaba en la prisión antes de su ejecución el 17 de marzo de 1981.
•
... El valor y la personalidad de un individuo están relacionados con su paciencia y firmeza en tiempo de adversidad. Dos hombres miraban hacia afuera entre las barras de su prisión. Uno miraba hacia arriba y exclamó, “¡Qué cielo más claro! ¡Qué estrellas más centelleantes!” El otro, mirando hacia abajo a la tierra, dijo, “Qué suciedad polvorienta.”
Si uno logra el reconocimiento de la verdad, no estará jamás atormentado con preocupaciones ...
Durante nuestro encarcelamiento, aparte de períodos breves cuando nos vimos obligados a descansar, hemos llenado nuestras horas con oraciones. No pasa momento alguno sin que estemos ocupados con el recuerdo de Dios. Por fuera la gente puede llegar a la conclusión que somos indiferentes o estoicos, pero nuestros corazones están fuera de control. Por medio de nuestras oraciones nos hemos esforzado por preparar nuestros corazones para servir como un asiento de lo divino—no sé si somos dignos de que nuestros corazones se conviertan en los recipientes de Su misericordia; sin embargo, deseamos Sus generosidades y favores ...
Los medios que cambian este fuego (de tribulación) en un rosaledal son las lluvias de la confianza en Dios y las dulces brisas de la devoción. “El hace lo que Le place ...” El fuego del amor no puede ser apagado por agua ni extinguido por una brisa ...
Nuestras manos están vacías, pero nuestras aspiraciones y nuestra resolución, son exaltadas. Cuando llegue la prueba, será comprobada la resolución de las personas y será manifiesta su confianza (en Dios) ...
|
Teaching Fever Is |
Oro ardientemente para que mis hechos sean aceptados ante el Umbral de Dios. No tengo nada que ofrecer sino pecados, sin embargo. La mía fue una vida humilde, y la cedo por el bien de la humanidad.
¡Que Dios nos conceda el favor de alcanzar Su beneplácito!
[Page 15]
PUBLICATIONS
Rhythmic pattern important in building Bahá’í library[edit]
The “Rhythm of Growth” is the program adopted by the National Spiritual Assembly to guide the American Bahá’í community during the last five years of the Seven Year Plan.
The “rhythm” is the pattern of expansion and consolidation essential to the growth and health of every Bahá’í community.
TO “KEEP the rhythm going,” a community must have the knowledge required to function properly at whatever stage it finds itself.
To aid in providing that knowledge, the Bahá’í Publishing Trust has designed packages of materials to suit a community of any size, from one to 30 or more.
These packages were presented in the “Rhythm of Growth catalog” that appeared in the June 1981 issue of The American Bahá’í.
In the July issue of The American Bahá’í, we explored the reasons for the selections in “Stage One: Organizing Yourself.”
In the August issue we discussed “Stage Five: Building a Group,” and in the September issue “Stage Nine: Building a Local Spiritual Assembly.”
In this issue we will look at “Stage Fifteen: Building Your Community Library.”
According to the rhythmic pattern of growth set by the National Spiritual Assembly, a community of 15 Bahá’ís has three primary goals: incorporating its Spiritual Assembly, adopting an extension teaching goal, and doubling its number to 30.
THE FIVE packages in Stage Fifteen of the Rhythm of Growth catalog are designed to help the community of 15 build a community library.
Such a library will enable all the friends to have access to a wide variety of books they might not be able to purchase for their personal libraries. It will help them to understand more fully the scope of the Faith they are trying to spread and the institution they are helping to consolidate.
The first package in Stage Fifteen is “15A1: Starting Out” (Catalog No. 515-011-10; $46.50 NET). This core of basic books contains five books by Bahá’u’lláh, one by the Báb, one by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and two by Shoghi Effendi. All are frequently quoted from and often referred to in other Bahá’í literature.
Bahá’u’lláh is represented by Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Prayers and Meditations, The Kitáb-i-Íqán, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, and Synopsis and Codification of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb introduces the Bahá’í to the wealth of writings by the Báb.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá is represented by Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi by The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh and The Promised Day Is Come.
The second package in Stage Fifteen, “Adding On” (Catalog No. 515-012-10; $37 NET), will add three important works by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
PARIS TALKS is a series of informal talks on a variety of Bahá’í teachings. Foundations of World Unity is a compilation of addresses and Tablets on the spiritual foundations of world unity. The Secret of Divine Civilization analyzes unity as the basis of true civilization.
Two historical works describe the birth and growth of the Faith: God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi’s survey of the first century of the Faith, and The Dawn-Breakers, an eyewitness account of the early years of the Bahá’í era.
“Growing in Knowledge” (Catalog No. 515-021-10; $55 NET), the third package in Stage Fifteen, will add biographies of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi to your community library and will personalize their lives for you.
Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era will put on your community library shelf a comprehensive introduction and a handy source for finding answers to seekers’ questions.
“And More Yet” (Catalog No. 515-022-10; $17 NET), the fourth package in Stage Fifteen, will aid your community in other ways. On Becoming a Bahá’í will orient new believers to the Faith.
Four volumes of the Comprehensive Deepening Program (The Meaning of Deepening; Knowledge, Volition and Action; The Supreme Gift of God to Man; and The Dynamic Force of Example) can aid the spiritual development of your community members.
Messages to the Bahá’í World: 1950-1957, Shoghi Effendi’s reports on and guidance for the developing institutions of the Administrative Order, will serve to heighten the world-consciousness of your community.
THE FINAL package in Stage Fifteen, “A World-Embracing Vision” (Catalog No. 515-031-10; $45 NET), will add some works on specific topics, another work by Bahá’u’lláh, messages from the Universal House of Justice, and a survey of the growth of the Cause.
With Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, your community can turn to some of Bahá’u’lláh’s most famous passages and read His reaffirmation of the validity of His Cause.
Two collections of messages from the Universal House of Justice (Wellspring of Guidance: 1963-1968 and Messages from the Universal House of Justice: 1968-1973) convey guidance on a number of important issues and trace the development of the Administrative Order and the systematic spread of the Faith.
Two works on pioneering—a practical, no-nonsense Manual for Pioneers and a multi-faceted compilation entitled Quickeners of Mankind—stress its urgency and importance.
Finally, the most recent volume of The Bahá’í World portrays the growth of the Faith through articles, documents and photographs.
Many elements go into consolidating a community of 15 Bahá’ís as it incorporates its Spiritual Assembly, begins to reach out to another community via its extension teaching goals, and works to double its number to 30.
One element in that process of consolidation is making sure that its community members have access to a variety of the Bahá’í writings.
In a coming issue of The American Bahá’í we will look at “Stage Thirty: Placing Books in Libraries.”
To order the packages available in Stage Fifteen, simply use the coupon on Page 16 of the “Rhythm of Growth” catalog available by mail from the Publishing Trust.
Kalimát offers gripping new Bahá’í adventure, Nine Days to Istanbul[edit]
Nine Days to Istanbul, a true Bahá’í adventure story by Jeanne Frankel de Corrales, is available from Kalimát Press in Los Angeles.
The book recounts a memorable journey across Europe on the Orient Express in the early weeks of 1963 when Jeanne Frankel was en route from Stamford, Connecticut, to a pilgrimage at the Bahá’í World Centre in Israel.
The train became stranded in the snow during one of the worst winters in memory.
While she and the other passengers fought the elements to survive, Jeanne Frankel learned how the barriers to the unity of mankind can crumble in the face of necessity as she organized a team to care for the sick and needy.
Single copies of Nine Days to Istanbul (paper) are $2.50 each from Kalimát Press, 10889 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
Standard discounts are available to Bahá’í librarians and Bahá’í distribution services when books are ordered in certain quantities directly from Kalimát Press: 10-24 books, 10 percent discount; 25-49 books, 15 percent; 50-99 books, 20 percent; 100-199 books, 30 percent.
Larger quantities are available at higher discounts by special arrangement with Kalimát Press.
Three Bahá’í calendars for 1982 are available from Publishing Trust[edit]
The Bahá’í Publishing Trust now has available three calendars for 1982.
The 1982 Wall Calendar (Stock No. 760-042-10; $1) commemorates the 25th anniversary of the passing of Shoghi Effendi.
This lovely Gregorian calendar covers the 15 months from January 1982 through March 1983.
The back of the calendar (designed so that it can be read while the calendar is hanging) is a handy reference list of the Feast days, Holy Days, and days of fasting, all of which are highlighted on the front.
The theme of the 1982 Date Book (Stock No. 769-032-10; $1.50) is the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf.
The cover features a photo of the monument erected in memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf.
The Bahá’í Date Book provides a full calendar for 15 months from January 1982 through March 1983. The Gregorian and Bahá’í days of each month are displayed, with Feasts and Holy Days shaded for easy recognition.
Many quotations from the Bahá’í Writings are included to inspire and guide your activities.
The 1982 Pocket Calendar (Stock No. 769-062-10; $1) is a Gregorian calendar for the 12 months from January to December 1982. It is printed in brown ink on white stock.
All of the Feast days, Holy Days, days of fasting, and days on which work should be suspended are listed on the back and highlighted on the front.
When ordering, please include $1.50 for shipping and handling unless the order is over $15.
For orders over $15, include 10 percent for shipping.
Send the order with a check or money order for the total amount to the Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 415 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
Hawaii publishes ‘history calendar’[edit]
The Bahá’í National Library of Hawaii has published a beautiful and informative Bahá’í history calendar for 1982 (B.E. 138-139) commemorating the 25th anniversary of the passing of the Guardian and the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf.
The calendar contains special Tablets for Shoghi Effendi and the Greatest Holy Leaf and charts on their lives and activities.
The calendar, based on the Gregorian year, has a page for each month and ample space for writing. It may be used as a desk or wall calendar.
It uses color to indicate Bahá’í Feasts, Holy Days, and the period of fasting. Dates of historical significance are scattered throughout the calendar.
The history calendar also includes some previously unpublished photos in a special section on the Hands of the Cause of God Agnes Alexander and Martha Root.
The history calendars are not carried by the Publishing Trust but are easily obtained through the mail from the National Bahá’í Library of Hawaii, 3264 Allan Place, Honolulu, HI 96817.
Prices are as follows: 1-24 copies, $4.25 each; 25-100 copies, $3.75 each (for less than 101 copies you will be billed for shipping); 101 copies or more, $3.50 each with free shipping.
Board member meets with Nebraska friends[edit]
On Sunday, September 13, Mrs. Ronna Santoscoy, the Auxiliary Board member for Nebraska, met with area media representatives at a conference called by the Spiritual Assembly of Grand Island.
Newspaper, radio and television representatives attended the meeting after receiving a letter from the Assembly that described recent events in Iran.
Among the immediate results was a television program on the Faith that was aired on September 26 in Grand Island, the third largest city in Nebraska.
[Page 16]
CLASSIFIEDS
CLASSIFIED notices in The American Bahá’í are printed free of charge as a service to the Bahá’í community. Notices are limited to items relating to the Faith; no commercial or personal messages can be accepted for publication.
•
PERSONNEL are needed at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa in several areas including construction foreman with at least 10 years’ experience to assume responsibilities connected with maintenance and repair of Holy Places and other buildings at the World Centre; executive secretary, a highly responsible position requiring composing and drafting letters, conducting research, high level typing skills, shorthand, and accuracy in organizing and maintaining files; inventory control person with experience in organizing and maintaining stock inventory; painter foreman with at least five years’ experience in supervision and familiarity with various painting techniques and materials; photo lab technician with professional experience in processing and printing black-and-white and color film; structural engineer with experience in building construction and architectural design. In anticipation of the occupancy of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice, the World Centre also is seeking applications for prospective personnel in these areas: maintenance, janitorial and security personnel, bookkeeping, building trades, general office, library assistant, printer assistant, and systems analysts/programmers. If you are interested and qualified for any of these positions, please send the following information to the Department of Organization and Personnel, P.O. Box 155, Haifa 31 001, Israel: Bahá’í background, education and work experience, personal data (age, marital status, health, nationality, language skills, etc.), Bahá’í and professional references, typing speed and other skills, if applicable, and any other relevant information. Please indicate also date available and length of service desired.
HOUSE for sale next to the Louhelen Bahá’í School in Michigan. Brick, 6 bedrooms, 3 full baths, full basement, completely refurbished last year. On two acres of land. For more information, please contact Lewis Eggleston, 313-653-2492.
RESEARCH is being done for a documentary on the life of Sarah Farmer, founder of Green Acre. Any photos, personal letters, or articles would be greatly appreciated. Willing to help with cost of duplication. Please contact Ms. Shay Whitman, research assistant, Spiritual Assembly of Salem, 180A Federal St., Salem, MA 01970, or phone 617-745-9856.
ARE YOU bored? Got that “drab” feeling? Want to “get up and go”? Well, come to beautiful, scenic Orange County in fabulous New York State where homefront pioneers are desperately needed. And what better time to do it than right now! There are about 10 Bahá’ís scattered throughout the county, and more are needed to help consolidate. There are many employment opportunities: computer-related and retail firms are top employers, with many private and state hospitals, resorts and private industries and a large school system. Convenient commuting to New York City—only 60 miles by car, bus or train. Real estate and housing are plentiful, land is cheap and taxes are low. Orange County is a lovely, safe, clean area with excellent schools. Those who are interested are welcome to write for more information to Neil and Patrice Rothfeder, 306 Stratford Lane, Apt. 69, Middletown, NY 10940, or phone 914-342-4250 anytime.
CARETAKER for Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds is sought by the National Spiritual Assembly of New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands. The person may be male or female and should be hospitable, patient and well-deepened in the Faith. A French-speaking Iranian couple would be ideal. Independent accommodation for a small family would be provided. If interested, please contact the International Goals Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, or phone 312-869-9039.
HOMEFRONT pioneers are needed in South Idaho. There are goal areas in scenic small towns near places such as Craters of the Moon, Sun Valley and Yellowstone Park. Jobs are available in social work, psychology, forestry, lumber work, engineering, teaching, and health care. Let us know your needs; we’d love to welcome you to Idaho! Write to the Southern Idaho District Teaching Committee, c/o Seme Newlin, secretary, Massacre Rock State Park, American Falls, ID 83211, or phone 208-548-2677.
THE NATIONAL Bahá’í Archives Committee is seeking to locate, at the request of the Universal House of Justice, original Tablets from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the following individuals: Mrs. Paul K. Dealy, Arthur Pillsbury Dodge, Col. Nathan Ward FitzGerald, Dr. Rachel Halloran, William H. Hoar, Arthur James, Annie L. Palmerton, Margaret B. Peeke and Dr. Rufus H. Bartlett. The originals or photocopies of these Tablets are needed by the Universal House of Justice in its efforts to study and compile the Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Anyone having information regarding the whereabouts of these Tablets is asked to contact the National Bahá’í Archives Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091.
DEEPENED Bahá’ís are needed in Roseville, California, a growing community of 25,000 about 20 miles from Sacramento with a good economy, nearby colleges and recreational facilities. A knowledge of Spanish is helpful in this diverse community in which the Assembly needs help to reach its goal of a fully functioning body of nine. Extension teaching goals offer additional opportunities. For more information or assistance, contact Steve or Patty Shown, 124 Shasta St., Roseville, CA 95678 or phone 916-783-7354.
WANTED: Bahá’í individual or family to open Brightwaters Village, a goal area within the Islip, New York, Bahá’í community—a fine residential area with good local schools, many nearby colleges, and two large hospitals within two miles. Brightwaters is on the Great South Bay, a well-known boating area with nearby beaches, about 50 miles from New York City with good public transit for commuting. The nearby Islip community is quite active. For information write to Deborah Fenigstein, secretary, Spiritual Assembly of Islip, 11 Andrew Avenue, Islip Terrace, NY 11752, or phone 516-581-8593.
BACK ISSUES of The American Bahá’í and Child’s Way magazine are needed at the Bahá’í World Centre. Anyone who is willing to donate the February, March, April and/or November 1970 issues of The American Bahá’í kindly contact the World Centre Library, P.O. Box 155, Haifa 31 001, Israel. The library also is interested in obtaining back issues of Child’s Way and other publications. If you are willing to donate any, please write, sending a list of the items you have to offer.
WANTED—Active, enthusiastic Bahá’í adults and youth to live in Lowell, Massachusetts, for at least two years and help the community reach Assembly status by Riḍván 1982. Lowell, an historic city about eight miles from the New Hampshire border and an hour’s drive from the Green Acre Bahá’í School, offers a full curriculum of studies in engineering science at the local university, city bus transportation, and substantially lower rents compared to surrounding cities in eastern Massachusetts. There are ample employment opportunities in all technical fields, especially electronics and computer technology. More information may be obtained by writing to the Bahá’í community of Lowell, c/o Lorraine Matthews, 49 Robbins St., Lowell, MA 01851, or by phoning 617-459-1604 after 5 p.m. EST.
THE BAHÁ’Í National Center needs a programmer/analyst with a minimum of three years successful experience. The operating environment has a mini-computer system with online and batch processing, using Cincom TOTAL Data Base. Knowledge of COBOL and RPG is required. To apply or obtain more information, please contact the Office of Personnel Affairs, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, or phone 312-869-9039.
MUSICIAN is soliciting Bahá’í music from every country for a compilation to be used as a teaching tool for the friends. Please send lyrics (words), if that is all you have; lyrics and melody line; complete scores; lead lines with chords, or whatever—or if you can sing the tune, send a cassette (returnable with appropriate postage). If you have lyrics only, they will be transcribed. Please include the name and address of the composer(s), if known, for permission to be obtained; if you are the composer, please include permission to use. The music book will not be sold, but is intended solely to help the believers in their teaching and worshiping. Please send materials to Cora Munn Watters, Riḍván Valley, 696 Blacks Run Road, Lynx, OH 45650, or phone 513-544-2264.
ENERGETIC young Bahá’í community in a lovely, tree-covered suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, is looking for Bahá’ís to help save its jeopardized Spiritual Assembly. The community has excellent schools and other facilities and is centrally located for commuting. The Assembly, which was formed in 1980, is comprised mostly of professional people who work outside the home. Nevertheless, last year the Assembly (1) organized and ran a conference for Bahá’ís in a four-state area, (2) assisted with the first Bahá’í Continental Youth Conference, and (3) embarked upon an ambitious direct mail campaign designed to reach every household in the community with the Message of Bahá’u’lláh. For more information or help, please write to the Spiritual Assembly of Prairie Village, P.O. Box 8572, Prairie Village, KS 66208, or phone Bill or Marcia Gitchell, 913-648-3931; Dan or Paula Jolly, 913-831-4288; or Parviz or Manijeh Massarat, 913-341-4748.
PIONEER to Korea and fill an important goal for this phase of the Seven Year Plan. An American firm is seeking a civil engineer for the design of water, sewer and drainage systems, road and pavement design, and site layout and grading. Also sought is a structural engineer to work in the area of design. These jobs come with a number of military personnel benefits. Salary is paid in U.S. currency. For more information please contact the International Goals Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, or phone 312-869-9039.
LOOKING for a motivated Bahá’í interested in working in an outdoor program with the disabled (Bahá’ís and others) in northern Minnesota wilderness area. Knowledge of finance and organizational skills essential. Please contact Donna Mienk, 776 Laurel Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55104, or phone 612-227-4714.
SOUTH DAKOTA will more than double the number of its Local Spiritual Assemblies, from nine to 19, by Riḍván 1982. If you would like to be a part of this audacious plan through prayer, traveling teaching, or homefront pioneering, please contact the District Teaching Committee of South Dakota, c/o Barbara Rudolph, secretary, 202 S. Pine, Vermillion, SD 57069, or phone 605-624-8330.
WOULD YOU like to help deepen more than a thousand new Bahá’ís without leaving your
Three International Conferences scheduled to take place in 1982[edit]
As previously stated, three more International Conferences will take place during 1982: in Quito, Ecuador (August 6–8), Lagos, Nigeria (August 19–22), and Montreal, Canada (September 2–5).
All of these conferences will be dedicated to the memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of her passing.
It is estimated that at least 3,000 believers from more than 40 countries will attend the Conference in Manila, referred to in the Riḍván message from the Universal House of Justice as “taking place at the mid-point of an axis whose poles are Japan and Australia,” a reference to a statement by the Guardian about the development of the Faith in the Pacific Ocean area.
Bahá’ís from many European countries are expected to attend the Conference in Dublin—perhaps 2,000 or more.
Those who wish to offer their services for traveling teaching either before or after any of the Conferences should begin planning now. They should write to the appropriate Continental Pioneer Committee (as listed below), either directly, or if they wish, through their National Spiritual Assembly, to channel efficiently their offers of service.
Africa—Hassan Sabri, secretary, P.O. Box 47934, Nairobi, Kenya.
Americas—Mrs. Shirley Baldwin (CPCA), 1701 Pelican Cove Road, GL 361, Sarasota, FL 33581, United States.
Asia—Freddy Tan, 34 Cowdray Avenue, Serangoon Garden Estate, Singapore 1955, Republic of Singapore.
Australasia—Mrs. Avilda Reid, secretary, 10 Laught Avenue, Black Forest, South Australia 5035, Australia.
Europe—Eruch Munsiff, secretary, 28 Inner Park Road, London SW19 6EG, England.
[Page 17]
NATIVE AMERICANS
Wind River teaching trip by 3 Canadian Bahá’ís kindles Sioux, Arapaho[edit]
Continued From Page 1
The response so far has been most gratifying with more than 50 new believers enrolled in the Faith, one new locality (Fort Washakie) opened, the Bahá’í Group in Riverton restored to Assembly status, and preparations under way for election of the first Spiritual Assembly of the Wind River Reservation.
Among those who have declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh are an Arapaho and a Sioux medicine man.
After the teaching team was interviewed by two reporters from the Wind River Journal, both of the young women were enrolled in the Faith.
To assure adequate follow-up in deepening and consolidating the new believers, and to provide help for the new Assembly on the Reservation, the American Indian Teaching Committee has appointed a six-member Consolidation Task Force.
THE SECOND stop for the Canadian teaching team was the Crow Reservation in Montana whose Assembly was lost at Riḍván when membership slipped to seven.
Earl Healy had friends there from the Powwow Circuit who he felt would be interested in the Faith.
Several of these people were enrolled including Douglas and Janette Adams. Mr. Adams is a medicine man and Tribal Council member.
Mr. Healy also knew Ed Little Light who had attended the “Great Council Fire” near Tucson, Arizona, in 1962, where he met the Hand of the Cause of God Zikrullah Khadem.
Mr. Little Light had accepted the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh at that time and has considered himself a Bahá’í for almost 20 years, but has only now been officially enrolled in the Faith.
In all, there were 14 enrollments at the Crow Reservation, which will enable it to restore its Assembly at Riḍván.
A brief visit was made to the Lame Deer area of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation where the team was met by a recently settled homefront pioneer, Steve Blakely, and several Northern Cheyenne friends.
As a result, five new believers came into the Faith, further strengthening the Bahá’í community and Assembly on that Reservation.
Margaret Kill-Other-Bull (in car) is shown with visiting Bahá’ís Earl Healy and Fari Jalili-Otsali from Canada at the Crow Agency in Montana. Seven members of Mrs. Kill-Other-Bull’s family have enrolled in the Faith.
Joan Willow (left) and Rhonda Headley, reporters for the Wind River (Wyoming) Journal, are shown with Earl Healy, a Bahá’í from Alberta, Canada. After interviewing a three-member teaching team from Canada who were visiting the Reservation, both young reporters enrolled in the Faith.
James Big Lake of the Crow Agency in Montana signs a Bahá’í declaration card as Rick Belcourt, a traveling teacher from Canada, looks on. Mrs. Big Lake (in car) also was enrolled in the Faith during a teaching effort in October by Mr. Belcourt and two other Bahá’ís from Canada, Earl Healy and Fari Jalili-Otsali.
Music conference set in Bogota, Colombia[edit]
Don’t forget that an International Bahá’í Music Conference will be held next February 12 in Bogotá, Colombia.
For information about this important event, please contact the National Radio Committee, Apartado Aereo 042502, Bogota, Colombia, South America.
More than 250 Bahá’ís and their guests gathered September 4-7 in Monteagle, Tennessee, for the second Tennessee Bahá’í Institute.
250-plus at 2nd Tennessee Institute[edit]
More than 250 Bahá’ís and their guests from 13 states gathered September 4-7 in Monteagle, Tennessee, for the second Tennessee Bahá’í Institute.
The conference theme was “Building a Bahá’í Society.” Among the speakers were Dr. Wilma Brady of New York City, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly (“A Pattern for Future Society”); Dr. Jane Faily, a psychologist from Ottawa, Canada (“From Strength to Strength”); and Mary Kay Radpour, editor of Child’s Way magazine (“The Family: Fortress for Well-Being”).
In addition, workshops on several subjects were conducted by well-qualified teachers.
The conference witnessed one declaration. A contribution of $550 from the Bahá’í attendees was sent to the National Bahá’í Fund.
Posters advertising the conference were placed in town, and a public meeting received coverage in three local newspapers.
[Page 18]
PERSIAN PAGE
Personal PROFILE[edit]
Name: Lawrence M. Miller
Community: Roswell, Georgia
Occupation: Management consultant
Background: Developing a syndicated news column on management and a five-part film series on productivity improvement are two of Larry Miller’s current projects.
A native of New York City and an alumnus of Parsons College in Iowa, Mr. Miller is president of Tarkenton & Company, an Atlanta-based management consulting firm that has offered productivity improvement services for such major corporations as Exxon, Honeywell, Pan Am, American Express and United Technologies.
Mr. Miller is widely published in the field of behavior management. The most recent of his three books on the subject, Behavior Management: The New Science of Managing People at Work, was published in 1978.
In addition, he initiated and served as editor of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management.
Mr. Miller’s Bahá’í activities have included service on Local Spiritual Assemblies, on several District Teaching Committees, and as a member of the National Teaching Committee.
He has served as an assistant to the Auxiliary Board, and on the Alabama-Georgia Bahá’í Schools Committee. He has spoken at Bahá’í schools and participated in direct teaching campaigns.
In his spare time, Mr. Miller combines his enthusiasm for sailing with Bahá’í teaching. He and his wife, Carole, and a few other believers have sailed down the Atlantic coast stopping at several places to conduct firesides on Mr. Miller’s sailboat or nearby.
Mr. Miller and other believers in the Atlanta area have sponsored businessmen’s luncheons during which the guest speakers, who are Bahá’ís, discuss some Bahá’í-related topic or some aspect of the Faith itself.
Mr. Miller and his wife have three children, Layli, Natasha and Langdon.
Letters[edit]
Continued From Page 3
THERE ARE, of course, times when the battle of the egos has gone on long enough to turn love into something less than love and unity into something less than that.
It is difficult, but possible, to come back from that stage. A year of separation, spent in earnest prayer and meditation, should find at its end two people who are more spiritually mature and who can live together in harmony.
There are really two “years of patience.” The first you spend alone. The second year, you learn to love again someone God has given you to help you find your way to Him.
In closing, I would like to ask this question: Where would the Bahá’í Faith in America be today if, in 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had merely arrived, enumerated our shortcomings and left in disgust?
Phoenix, Arizona
To the Editor:
There is an issue that I have yet to see addressed in the Bahá’í community.
I feel that it is a disturbing problem affecting all of us and should be discussed frankly.
IT CONCERNS certain attitudes we have in dealing with each other in our community life.
Perhaps we have misplaced the idea of “unity” by concerning ourselves with aspects of each other’s lives that are none of our business.
We Bahá’ís have become, in varying degrees, real busybodies, a thorn in the side of others, with little or no consideration for the feelings or situation of others.
These attitudes seem to have replaced true loving-kindness and compassion.
I’ve found these attitudes so pervasive at Bahá’í gatherings that it seems that inappropriate and offensive questions and critical remarks often take the place of polite conversation and cooperation.
In fact, I think it may well be that occurrences of this kind have alienated some of the friends and kept them from greater involvement in their communities. Must we be a test for each other in this way?
In a world ready for the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, we should be ever mindful of our own conduct.
We must stop being so concerned about how others live their lives, and concentrate on our own shortcomings, having far more respect for each other.
Evanston, Illinois
To the Editor:
In regard to the problem of contributions to the Fund, I would like to share with the members of the Bahá’í community some observations which—while made in former dispensations—are, I feel, timeless in their message and application.
“A liberal man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.” (Proverbs 11:25)
“Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house; and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” (Malachi 3:10)
“Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put in your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” (Luke 6:38)
“The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6)
There is a spiritual law of supply indicated by these statements that I have always found to be true.
The more one gives, the more one receives. Sometimes the return is in spiritual development, sometimes in both spiritual and material increase.
As I’ve heard it said, “You can’t out-give God.”
Put God (or Bahá’u’lláh) “to the test,” as Malachi says, and see if you don’t have an “overflowing blessing” poured down on yourself and your family.
Albany, California
Martha[edit]
Continued From Page 10
Princess Olga of Yugoslavia.
HAVING ALWAYS admired Ṭáhirih, the valiant follower of the Báb who gave her life for the Faith, Miss Root went to Iran and researched Ṭáhirih’s life by interviewing members of her family and others. Later, she published a book entitled Ṭáhirih the Pure, Iran’s Greatest Woman, as well as the only existing collection of Ṭáhirih’s poetry.
Miss Root’s 15-month stay in India was perhaps the crowning point of her efforts. The Bahá’ís there wrote, “Martha Root has opened the whole of India for us.”
The Guardian once wrote to her, “I assure you, that but for your letters I would feel completely broken-down and exhausted ...”
The Guardian’s “dearest Martha” served as his representative at Esperanto and other international congresses. At his request, she had Bahá’í literature translated into several languages.
Miss Root was in Shanghai in 1937 when the Japanese bombarded that Chinese city. She escaped under gunfire to Manila.
From the Philippines, Miss Root traveled by steamer to Bombay, India. In December 1938 she left India for Australia and New Zealand.
Although she was on her way back to the U.S. in the spring of 1939, illness forced her to leave the ship in Hawaii. After months of illness, she passed away there on September 28, 1939.
Upon learning of her passing, Shoghi Effendi cabled: “Martha’s unnumbered admirers throughout Bahá’í world lament with me earthly extinction her heroic life. Concourse on high acclaim her elevation rightful position galaxy Bahá’í immortals. Posterity will establish her as foremost Hand which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will has raised up first Bahá’í century ...”
Mrs. Emma “Jennie” Wilson, a Bahá’í from Kalamazoo, Michigan, died October 10, only two months short of her 103rd birthday. Mrs. Wilson had been Bahá’í for more than 40 years.
In Memoriam[edit]
- Bert Barns Jr.
- San Juan County, N.M.
- June 30, 1981
- William M. Doull Sr.
- Rumford, Rhode Island
- May 25, 1981
- Sandy Dudley
- Moore, Oklahoma
- September 14, 1981
- Frank Gonzales
- Wilton Manors, Fla.
- Date Unknown
- Juan Hernandez
- Clinton, Oklahoma
- Date Unknown
- Fontella Jenkins
- Ruffin, S. Carolina
- January 16, 1979
- Kenneth Jenkins
- Ruffin, S. Carolina
- June 17, 1981
- Melvin McCormick
- Flagstaff, Arizona
- March 7, 1981
- Gertrude Mitchell
- Byron, Georgia
- July 24, 1981
- Maretta Rankin
- Belleville, N.J.
- September 16, 1981
- Annette Reed
- Mansfield, Ohio
- August 6, 1981
- Dawn Shafer
- Lancaster, Pa.
- Date Unknown
- Jane Sires
- Waterloo, Iowa
- April 8, 1981
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KHADÍJIH BAGUM The Wife of the Báb by HASAN BALYUZI The poignant story of Khadíjih Bagum is first told for English readers in this latest essay by the only Afnán Hand of the Cause, and it is now published to mark the first anniversary of his death. Some of the events here recounted are her marriage to the Báb, the birth and death of their son, her early recognition of her Husband’s station, His arrest and exile, the distressful news of His martyrdom, and her sad deprivation of a meeting with Bahá’u’lláh. In a valuable Foreword, the author’s son Robert describes his father’s kinship to Khadíjih Bagum, his love and reverence for her, and his final act of homage. This special edition includes a beautiful colour frontispiece of the interior of the room where the Báb declared His mission, and four additional half-tone illustrations 19.8 x 12.9 cms. 52 pages 332-051-10 $5.95
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Bahá’í delivers keynote address at statewide Arkansas conference[edit]
The Arkansas Medical Society and the Interdenominational Executive Roundtable, aided by a funding grant, co-sponsored a recent statewide conference whose focus was the ways in which the medical profession and religious community might cooperate more meaningfully.
A speaker was chosen by each organization to deliver two keynote addresses on its behalf.
The Roundtable, composed of representatives of all the Christian, Jewish and other religious groups in the state, selected Dr. Allan L. Ward, vice-chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Little Rock, to deliver the addresses for that group.
Dr. Ward’s presentations also will be printed in the medical Society’s publication
DR. ALLAN L. WARD
Bahá’ís in business and professions confer[edit]
More than 70 Bahá’ís gathered in Wilmette, Illinois, September 11-13 for the first national Conference for Bahá’ís in Business and the Professions.
The conference was called by the National Spiritual Assembly to begin a concentrated and coordinated effort to reach unprecedented numbers of business and professional people with the teachings of the Faith.
CONSULTATION focused on the needs to (a) increase the percentage of Bahá’ís from these strata of society, (b) raise the activity level of Bahá’ís from these groups, (c) better utilize their skills and talents in teaching and other community activities, and (d) clearly define and understand the moral and ethical issues faced by Bahá’ís in business and the professions.
Although the participants met only briefly, a wealth of ideas and suggestions was generated. Here is a sampling:
• Increase the number of firesides directed toward leaders of thought and members of the business and professional communities.
• Organize traveling teaching projects in selected cities.
• Sponsor business and professional luncheons/breakfasts to teach the Faith.
• Cooperate with college clubs to provide speakers to reach the university community.
• Design and publish introductory Bahá’í materials aimed at the specific needs and interests of the various business and professional groups, and publish more articles on Bahá’í perspectives on management and business/professional issues.
• Establish a nationwide directory/network of Bahá’ís engaged in business and the professions.
MANY INDIVIDUALS made personal commitments during the weekend to initiate teaching projects and share the spirit and results of the conference with the Bahá’ís in their communities.
A highlight of the conference was a meeting with the members of the National Spiritual Assembly to share results of the consultation.
The conference ended Sunday afternoon, and the friends left refreshed and reinspired to redouble their efforts to teach and live the life. Nearly everyone expressed a desire to hold other such national or regional meetings in the future to continue generating the support and inspiration needed to carry forward the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh in every aspect of their lives.
Ads[edit]
Continued From Page 16
house? We are trying to develop English- and Spanish-language materials to deepen our new Bahá’ís in New Mexico, West Texas and Mexico. You needn’t speak Spanish to help. Black and white drawings that could easily be copied would be most helpful. For information about how you can help by spending only a few hours of your time researching the Writings, please write to Liz Arrambide, P.O. Box 1255, Fabeno, TX 79838.
THE CAROLINE Islands are in great need of pioneers. The Universal House of Justice calls them one of the most crucial areas in the Pacific. There are presently many Peace Corps openings. Opportunities also exist for math and science teachers at the high school and college level, medical personnel, and lawyers. High priority goals include the islands of Yap, Palau and Truk. English is commonly spoken throughout this tropical paradise of coconut palms, rolling hills and friendly people. For more information please contact the International Goals Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, or phone 312-869-9039.
HOMEFRONT pioneers are needed in Ankeny, a central Iowa community of 18,000 with an active Group of six Bahá’ís. Ankeny, located between Des Moines and Ames, has excellent schools and public services, ample housing (apartments or single family units), and shopping centers. Job opportunities exist in health care, technical skills, industry, insurance and education. Contact Bonnie Monaghan, 213 S.W. State St., Ankeny, IA 50021, or phone 515-964-2926.
ARTS FESTIVAL. The second annual Bahá’í Festival of the Arts will be held in May 1982 in Sacramento, California. Painters, sculptors, photographers please contact Doris Klumb for information and entry blanks; performers who wish to lend their talents, contact Bonnie McCarty, both c/o the Spiritual Assembly of Sacramento, P.O. Box 161252, Sacramento, CA 95816.
ATTENTION retirees: You are desperately needed to help maintain the Spiritual Assembly of Fremont County, the climate capital of Colorado. You’ll find the cost of living in this friendly county to your advantage, plus many other benefits. For more information write to Mrs. Ruth Tobey Hampson, secretary, 1228 Grand Avenue, Canon City, CO 81212.
Pioneers[edit]
Continued From Page 8
mark:
“You ask what it is to be a youth pioneer? It’s intense, it’s hard, it’s enriching, rewarding, and enlightening.
“It’s an intense period of growth; one is forced to grow ... in ways that he never could at home. You grow spiritually and practically and much closer to Bahá’u’lláh.
“It’s hard because of the tests, but knowing that each test draws you closer to Bahá’u’lláh, your Best Beloved, makes them endurable and even appreciated ...
“It’s enriching because by giving up the comforts and familiarity of ‘home’ you gain more than you could at any other time. You meet people and have experiences that are unique to the pioneering field.
“It’s rewarding because you know you are doing God’s work and helping to bring about a new World Order. You’re playing your part in God’s Plan.
“By pioneering, you’re being obedient to the Universal House of Justice, which is the same as obedience to God, and that’s a good feeling.
“THERE ARE TIMES when you feel so unworthy and unqualified, but at these times all you have to do is think that you have arisen with a pure heart and turn to the Writings, and then you will be guided.
“Knowing that by pioneering you are making Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi happy gives you a deep sense of satisfaction.
“Even when you’re sad—and there will be times when you are sad—way down deep in your heart, you’re happy.
“The House of Justice says, ‘...we must go forth rejoicing in the knowledge that the work we are privileged to perform is God’s work and will bring to birth a world whose splendour will outshine our brightest visions and surpass our highest hopes.’ ”
From Jill and Gary Spense in Zaire:
“We’ve been spending much more time with each other. In the States we were so busy that we were like ships passing in the night, and pioneering has been very good for our marriage.
“THE DEDICATION and perseverance of the pioneers here has really been an inspiration to us. There is one Iranian Bahá’í woman who walks miles alone on teaching trips ...On Saturdays at noon, when classes were over, she would walk 30 km. (more than 18 miles) to a village to teach, stay through Saturday night, and return Sunday night just in time to teach the following Monday at the government school.
“When we arrived in Kibombo, we introduced the Faith to the Commissioner of the zone ...He insisted that we stay with his family the entire week we were there. It was a wonderful example of African hospitality.
“He also took us to meet the tribal chief of the people of Kibombo who said he welcomed all religions because they worship the same God, and offered us land for a Bahá’í Center ...
“The commissioner’s son is also very interested in the Faith ...They all have such a thirst for knowledge and cannot get enough Bahá’í books to read.”