The American Bahá’í/Volume 5/Issue 10/Text
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Wonderful things happen under this dome[edit]
It’s a geodesic dome, and it belongs to the Bahá’ís of western Colorado.
It is a large portable half-spherical structure made of ten-foot sections of conduit bolted together and covered with orange and white parachute material. The dome is 16 feet high and 32 feet in diameter and has two entrances.
A number of large attractive posters explaining the general principles of the Bahá’í Faith are placed around the center of the dome. A table and chairs, a pamphlet display, and other materials are also set up inside.
The dome can be assembled in two hours and taken down in one hour. It requires a minimum of 3 men, 6 women, or 12 children (or any combination thereof) to assemble, plus one supervisor experienced in its rather complicated assemblage. The dome fits in the back of a Volkswagen bus or a pick-up truck and has been used in various communities in the Southwest from Grand Junction, Colorado, to Lubbock, Texas. During the summer months, it attracted some 400 to 500 people.
National Assembly to launch plan for Illinois Bahá’ís[edit]
A special teaching plan for Illinois will be set in motion by the National Spiritual Assembly at a ceremony at the House of Worship in Wilmette on November 23. The Illinois plan is to be in effect for the remainder of the Five Year Plan.
The Hand of the Cause of God Zikrullah Khadem and the Continental Board of Counsellors have been invited to participate in the inaugural program, and an invitation to attend has been sent to every believer in Illinois.
Illinois is one of three states visited by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which have been selected for intensive teaching and consolidation programs by the National Assembly in response to one of the specific tasks to be accomplished by the Bahá’ís of the United States in the Five Year Plan. The purpose for having the National Assembly develop and design such programs for at least three states visited by the Master, the House of Justice explained in its Riḍván message to the American believers, is “to attract great numbers to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh thereby initiating a process leading to the entry into the Faith by troops alluded to by the Master; ...”
The states which complete this unique triumvirate are California and New York. The District of Columbia, the nation’s capital, was also singled out by the National Assembly for intensive proclamation activities because of the Master’s close association with early believers there.
The ceremony at the House of Worship will be the second held to launch a five-year program in one of these three states. The California plan was launched by the National Assembly in Santa Cruz on July 13. The National Assembly was in Santa Cruz to dedicate the new John and Louise Bosch Bahá’í School, acquired as a replacement for the Geyserville property. A ceremony to launch the teaching plan for New York will be conducted by the National Assembly in January.
Two new Regional Teaching Committees—one in Illinois and the other in New York—have recently been appointed by the National Assembly to provide an adequate administrative system for facilitating the progress and development of teaching work in their respective states. A Regional Teaching Committee has existed in California for several years. Each of the committees will have a full-time office manager to help them launch their operations, and will receive direction from and report regularly to the National Teaching Committee.
The Illinois Regional Teaching Committee’s office is located in Peoria. Its manager is Nancy Allison. Other committee members are Hormoz Hormozi, of Seneca; Harold Javid, of Champaign; Keylur Stoakley, of Glen Ellyn; and Lucille Taylor, of Champaign.
The office manager of the New York Regional Teaching Committee is Kathleen Javid. Members of that committee are Mrs. Javid, of Scarsdale; Alvin Jesse Burley Sr., of New York City; and Nancy Mondschein, of Monsey.
Indian teaching committees named[edit]
A national and regional committee structure to plan and coordinate Bahá’í teaching activities among the American Indians during the Five Year Plan has been organized by the National Teaching Committee. The new committee structure is expected to be fully operative by Riḍván 1975.
At the head of this committee structure is the newly appointed three-member American Indian Teaching Committee. The Committee’s full-time office manager is Mrs. Cathy Cook. The Committee’s office is located at 7863 South Cardinal, Tucson, AZ 85706.
Working under the direction of the American Indian Teaching Committee will be a cluster of auxiliary teaching committees assigned to work in specific geographical areas, among Indian peoples with cultural similarities. The auxiliary committees will be composed of from one to five members.
Two of the auxiliary committees—the Navajo-Hopi Teaching Committee, for the Navajo and Hopi Reservations, and the North-Central Indian Teaching Committee, for North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin—have already been appointed. More auxiliary Indian teaching committees are to be formed.
The new structure will allow the National Teaching Committee to monitor on a day-to-day basis the progress of Indian teaching activities throughout the country, and it will provide a vehicle through which Indians themselves can participate in the planning and execution of teaching plans, said John Berry, Secretary of the National Teaching Committee.
“In this manner, we will be able to plan more effective teaching programs and harness the energies of the friends in a more effective manner,” Mr. Berry said. “It will allow us to achieve more quickly the Five Year Plan goal of establishing 25 functioning Local Spiritual Assemblies on Indian Reservations.”
Work with the American Indians is not a new undertaking for the National Teaching Committee, Mr. Berry said. Teaching activities have been coordinated from the National Center for many years.
“What is new about this structure is that we now
Consolidation under way Turks & Caicos Islands[edit]
Significant headway had been made in consolidating the Bahá’í community on the Turks and Caicos Islands, a U.S. goal of the Five Year Plan, well before most American believers had even had the opportunity to find out where the islands were really located. These islands are under the jurisdiction of the United States National Assembly.
[The Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Crown colony, consist of two groups of small islands in the West Indies, southeast of the Bahamas. The islands are dependencies of Jamaica, located 420 miles to the northeast, but are geographically part of the Bahamas. They are governed by a Commissioner who lives on Grand Turk. The nearly 6,000 inhabitants of these somewhat barren islands are primarily of African descent. Salt raking is their chief industry, and some sisal is grown for export.]
The Universal House of Justice had stated the goal for the islands succinctly in its Riḍván message to the American believers. “Consolidate Turks and Caicos Islands; ...” it said simply.
When the friends gathered in St. Louis, for the First Bahá’í Conference of the Five Year Plan, the National Assembly said at the beginning of its presentation that an American serviceman stationed on Grand Turk island was helping to deepen the resident believers, and that Bahá’ís from Florida had volunteered to travel to the islands periodically to lend a hand with the work.
During that same presentation, Glenford Mitchell, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, paused to read a note that had been handed him on stage. “While we were talking,” he said, “someone was writing me a note. It says, ‘Teaching trip just returned from Turks and Caicos. There are now enough Bahá’ís on Grand Turk island to elect a Local Spiritual Assembly.’ ”
That Assembly, the first in the islands, was elected on September 17. Its initial activities gave an indication of the progress that was being made in the difficult consolidation work.
The first decision of the Assembly was to conduct a regular Feast on Grand Turk, the capital of the island group. And it completed plans for a visit to the islands by a team of Bahá’í teachers from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Eleven adults attended that first Feast. There was even one declaration, a seeker of several weeks. During the business portion the Spiritual Assembly discussed its future teaching plans with the community and announced the forthcoming visit of the Florida team. The social portion of the Feast was quite lengthy. Many of the friends had important questions on the relationship between Christ and Bahá’u’lláh.
The opening of the Turks and Caicos Islands was a goal of the Nine Year Plan. One locality was to be established in the 166-square-mile British Crown colony before Riḍván 1973.
A view of the countryside on Grand Turk island. The building on the right is Turk’s Head Inn, a 100-year-old resort hotel.
In late June 1965, a little more than a year after the start of the Plan, an American traveling teacher, Daniel Conner, arrived in the Turks and Caicos to attempt to introduce the Bahá’í Faith to the approximately 6,000 residents of the territory. Within weeks an elderly gentleman, Joseph Astwood, accepted the Faith, becoming the first resident believer of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
For several years the small Bahá’í community struggled along, receiving infrequent visits from Bahá’í teachers, and some deepening materials and brotherly encouragement from the International Goals Committee in Wilmette.
In September 1973, a young Bahá’í, William Head of Durham, North Carolina, was stationed by the U.S. Air Force on Grand Turk. For almost a year Mr. Head made efforts to locate, visit, and deepen the handful of believers in the islands, making frequent reports on his progress to the International Goals Committee.
In July 1974, three months after the announcement of the new Plan, William Head was joined on Grand Turk by Arthur Zucker of New York, who had come to spend several months at the task of consolidation. Mr. Head’s tour of duty with the Air Force was rapidly coming to a close and his departure would have left the islands with no permanent pioneering assistance. In early September the friends there received the added pioneer assistance of Charles and Sandi Bullock. This small group of pioneer and itinerant teachers were present at the formation of the Local Assembly.
Of that Assembly election Mr. Zucker wrote:
“By the time the balloting began, twenty-two souls had assembled at the place designated.
“Prayers, songs, and a short talk followed, all aimed at stressing the hallowed character of the Bahá’í election, and presenting instructions regarding voting.
“By the time the tellers announced that they were ready with the voting results, a hushed excitement filled the room. When the names of the nine newly-elected Local Spiritual Assembly members were announced, a spirit of awe and surprise became more evident.”
Indian teaching
(Continued from page one)
have a full-time person in the field with the responsibility of coordinating the work of the parent committee and its auxiliary committees,” Mr. Berry said. “This new ingredient should be immensely helpful in achieving the goals of the Five Year Plan.”
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the American Bahá’í THE AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í is published monthly by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091. Material must be received by the 1st of the month prior to publication. Black and white glossy prints should be included with material whenever possible. Articles and news written in a clear and concise manner are welcomed from individuals as well as the various institutions of the Cause. Address all mail to: The American Bahá’í Editorial Office, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091. Copyright © 1974, National Spiritual assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. |
The primary task of the American Indian Teaching Committee is to provide long-range planning for the expansion and consolidation of the Bahá’í Faith among American Indians living on reservations and in urban communities. It will maintain statistical data on the expansion of the Faith in Indian communities; direct auxiliary Indian teaching committees and supervise their expenditure of funds; recommend materials to assist the teaching in Indian areas; organize and conduct orientation classes for Bahá’ís who wish to teach on reservations; and coordinate an annual national or regional Council Fire.
The Committee will also publish a monthly national newsletter on Indian teaching activities, which will carry informative articles on Indian culture and effective teaching methods. It will also develop plans and materials to assist Local Spiritual Assemblies and District Teaching Committees to conduct the proclamation of the Faith to Indian communities in urban areas.
The primary assignment of the auxiliary Indian teaching committees is to put into practice the plans of the American Indian Teaching Committee in their assigned areas. Additional duties will be given to these committees on an individual basis.
The Regional Teaching Committees will also consult with the American Indian Teaching Committee to develop effective teaching plans for their areas.
The members of the American Indian Teaching Committee are its office manager, Mrs. Cathy Cook of Tucson, Arizona; Dr. Jerry Bathke, of Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Mr. Daniel Defender, of Fort Yates, North Dakota.
[Page 3]
University of Wisconsin Chancellor Edward Weidner addressed an audience of nearly 60 people at the UN aday meeting in Green Bay.
U.N. events receive support from Bahá’ís[edit]
Wilma Brady, the United Nations representative for the National Spiritual Assembly, said in New York that more than 50 communities have reported their participation in observances of World Development Information Day, October 24. She estimated that many other communities either sponsored events directly or joined with civic or religious organizations in their area to commemorate the event.
This response from the American Bahá’í community in observing a UN-related event has been one of the most enthusiastic ever experienced, Dr. Brady said. In addition, she reported a marked increase in the number of inquiries and requests for materials and information handled by the Bahá’ís at the United Nations. In recent months the United Nations Bahá’í office has been engaged in energetic correspondence with Bahá’í communities across the country, she said.
The purpose of World Development Information Day is to increase international awareness of the interdependence of all nations, and of the need to develop global solutions to such problems as population, environment, energy, food, and water resources.
“It simply means that people are increasingly aware that one of the Five Year Plan goals calls for strengthening the relationship between the UN and the Bahá’í International Community,” Dr. Brady said. “The Bahá’ís in this country are also increasingly aware of the National Assembly’s involvement with the United Nations.”
Dr. Brady urged the friends to begin planning immediately for Human Rights Day, which will be celebrated December 10, and to send accounts of these activities to the Bahá’í UN office. Press materials for Human Rights Day and a form to use in reporting community participation in the UN event is being mailed to Local Assemblies by the National Bahá’í Information Office, she said.
The observance of UN Development Information Day in Green Bay, Wisconsin, was among the more successful, according to Dr. Brady. The speaker for the event was Dr. Edward Weidner, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, and the only American appointed to the governing council of the newly-established United Nations University.
Dr. Weidner said the United Nations University “signals a new direction in education,” involving “cross-cultural cooperation in facing problems now and in the future.” He said the UN University will “help achieve the goal of one world and world peace.”
The tiny Bahá’í group of Clayton, Missouri, sponsored an event at which 35 people were present. One of the two speakers was the vice-president of the local United Nations Association chapter, the other was a Bahá’í.
The Bahá’í communities of Watertown, Woodbury, and Waterbury, Connecticut, sponsored an international dinner, at which Bahá’í principles and United Nations activities were discussed.
| If you can get there, we can use you |
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Teach minorities in the city; carry the Faith to the suburbs; participate in radio broadcasts; sing in coffee-houses. To volunteer (or for more information) write the National Bahá’í Youth Committee, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091.
San Francisco Youth Proclamation
December 15—January 15
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World Order
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Jefe de Estado de Samoa visita Convención Anual[edit]
Su Alteza Malietoa Tanumafili II, Jefe de Estado de Samoa del Oeste, hizo una visita oficial a una de las sesiones de la Convención Anual de los Bahá’ís de Samoa en el Centro Nacional ubicado en Lelata, Apia, el 28 de abril de 1974. Esta es la primera vez que un monarca reinante de cualquier país ha participado en una función bahá’í.
Exactamente al mediodía, de acuerdo con el programa de la Convención, el auto oficial del Malietoa se estacionó a la entrada de la propiedad Bahá’í, y Su Alteza hizo su llegada donde fue recibido por el Jefe Tolefoa y el Consejero Suhayl ‘Alá’í. Los amigos estaban por reunirse para la fotografía oficial y un espacio ya se había previsto para Su Alteza.
“Pueden ustedes imaginarse la alegría y entusiasmo de los amigos cuando Su Alteza tomó su lugar en la fotografía de la Convención,” el Sr. ‘Alá’í dijo. “Muchas fotos fueron tomadas, después de la cual Su Alteza habló a algunos de los amigos y entonces fué acompañado al edificio del Instituto de Enseñanza, el cual expresó su deseo de ver. El quedó muy impresionado con el edificio y habló en el idioma samoa con unos cuantos de los amigos allí presentes, animandolos a seguir con la tarea asignada a ellos. Otros amigos pidieron para más fotografías y él amablemente les cedió. Entonces acompañamos a Su Alteza a su auto. Al momento de partir, él amorosamente colocó sobre mis hombros el tradicional collar de flores el cual él llevaba,” el Sr. ‘Alá’í continuaba, “expresando su deleite al estar presente en la Convención y deseando a los amigos éxito en sus deliberaciones.”
“La breve visita de Su Alteza intensificó la consulta de los amigos durante las sesiones de la Convención y parecía darles fuerza en su determinación para enseñar como nunca y lograr las metas en el menor tiempo posible,” él concluyó.
El hogar es la fuente primaria para educación[edit]
“La fuente primaria y más importante para la educación de los hijos es el hogar. Por lo tanto, hemos de tener un cuidado especialísimo para que estas primicias educativas que recibe el niño, directamente de sus padres, sean perfectas, sanas y sólidas. Debemos pensar que estas primeras ideas que entran en la mente del niño constituyen las bases sobre las que empieza a construir su personalidad.
Si en el hogar existe la terrible y destructiva costumbre de la crítica y la murmuración, esta idea se forjará en la sensible mente del niño, quien normalmente tomará esta idea como corriente y buena.
Bahá’u’lláh dice:
- ¡Oh hijo del ser! ¿Cómo echas al olvido tus propias faltas y te ocupas de las ajenas? Quien así procede tiene mi maldición.
Debemos pensar que el niño considera que sus padres son lo mejor y más perfecto del mundo, por lo que todo lo que ve y oye de ellos lo toma como bueno y no tiene inconveniente en practicarlo a medida que vaya desarrollándose.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá dice:
- La veracidad es la base fundamental de todas las virtudes de la humanidad. Sin la veracidad, todo el progreso y el éxito en todos los mundos son imposibles para el alma. Cuando este bendito atributo se establezca en el hombre, todas las demás cualidades divinas se realizarán también.
No pensemos que el niño es pequeño y no entiende cuando se le miente. El no tendrá la inteligencia desarrollada, pero ésta la suple por su instinto, por lo que no se le escapa cuando un ambiente de mentira está a su alrededor. En su subconsciente quedará almacenada esta idea que, a medida que se desarrolle su personalidad, lo hará gravemente influída por aquella idea insana.
Por lo tanto, se comprende lo importantísimo que es que los niños se desarrollen en un ambiente sano, sincero, puro, repleto de armonía y amor.
(Sacado del Boletín de información Bahá’í de España, Número 53)
Causa no fue impedida por fallecimiento del Maestro[edit]
“El fallecimiento de ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, tan repentino por las circunstancias que lo produjeron y tan dramático en sus consecuencias, no pudo impedir la acción de una fuerza tan dinámica, ni oscurecer su propósito. Aquellas fervientes súplicas incorporadas en la Voluntad y Testamento del Maestro que había partido, no pudieron sino confirmar su propósito, definir su naturaleza y reforzar la promesa de su éxito final.
“De los dolores y de la angustia sufridos por Sus desconsolados seguidores, en medio del calor y del polvo precipitado por los ataques de un denodado enemigo, nació la Administración de la invencible fe de Bahá’u’lláh. Las potentes energías liberadas por la ascensión del Centro de Su Convenio cristalizaron en este supremo e infalible Órgano, para el cumplimiento de un Propósito Divino. La Voluntad y Testamento de ‘Abdu’l-Bahá puso de manifiesto su naturaleza, reafirmó su base, cumplimentó sus principios, aseveró su indispensabilidad, y enumeró sus más importantes instituciones.”
“Con la ascensión de ‘Abdu’l-Bahá y más concretamente, con el fallecimiento de Su bien amada e ilustre hermana, la Exaltadísima Hoja, última sobreviviente de una edad heroica y gloriosa, se cierra el primero y más conmovedor capítulo de la historia bahá’í, marcando así la terminación de la era Primitiva y Apostólica de la fe de Bahá’u’lláh. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, por medio del contenido de Su importante Voluntad y Testamento, fue quien forjó el vínculo vital que unirá para siempre la era recién expirada con la cual ahora vivimos, que constituye el período de transición y de formación de la fe, etapa que en la plenitud del tiempo llegará a florecer y dará sus frutos en las hazañas y triunfos que anunciarán la Edad de Oro de la revelación de Bahá’u’lláh.
¡Carísimos amigos! las fuerzas impetuosas tan milagrosamente liberadas por acción de dos Manifestaciones independientes e inmediatamente sucesivas están ahora, ante nuestros ojos, agrupándose y disciplinándose gradualmente bajo el cuidado de los elegidos fideicomisarios de una fe de tan vasto alcance. Dichas fuerzas están cristalizándose lentamente en instituciones que llegarán a ser consideradas como el sello distintivo y la gloria de la era que estamos llamados a establecer e inmortalizar por nuestras obras. Pues, de nuestro esfuerzo actual y, sobre todo, al grado hasta el cual tratemos de reformar nuestras vidas, conforme al modelo de sublime heroísmo asociado con aquellos que vinieron antes de nosotros, dependerá la eficiencia de los instrumentos que ahora modelamos, instrumentos que erigirán la estructura de ese bienaventurado Estado que distinguirá la Edad de Oro de nuestra fe....
“ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, quien encarna una institución de la cual no podemos encontrar paralelo alguno en ninguno de los reconocidos sistemas religiosos del mundo, puede decirse que ha cerrado la Edad a la cual El mismo pertenecía y ha abierto aquella en la cual nosotros ahora bregamos. Así, pues, Su Testamento ha de considerarse como el vínculo perpetuo e indisoluble concebido por la mente de Aquel quien es el Misterio de Dios, para asegurar la continuidad de las tres épocas que constituyen las partes componentes de la Dispensación bahá’í. Así el período en el cual la semilla de la fe había germinado lentamente se halla entrelazado tanto con el periodo que presenciará su florecimiento como con el subsiguiente en que la semilla habrá dado finalmente su dorado fruto.
“Las energías creadoras liberadas por la Ley de Bahá’u’lláh, al penetrar y desarrollarse en la mente de ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, han dado lugar, por el propio impacto y estrecha acción mutua, al nacimiento de un instrumento que puede ser considerado como la Carta Magna del Nuevo Orden Mundial, la cual es a la vez la gloria y la promesa de esta sublime Dispensación. Puede así ser aclamado el Testamento como el inevitable resultado de la mística unión entre Aquel que comunicó la influencia generatriz de Su divino Designio y Aquel que fue el vehículo y el recipiente elegido. Siendo el Vástago de la Alianza, el Heredero tanto de Aquel quien originó la Ley de Dios como de Aquel que lo interpretó, el Testamento de ‘Abdu’l-Bahá no puede ser separado de Aquel quien motivó el impulso original; ni tampoco puede ser separado de Aquel quien finalmente lo concibió.
“El Orden Administrativo que desde la ascensión de ‘Abdu’l-Bahá se ha desenvuelto y toma forma a nuestra propia vista en no menos de cuarenta países del mundo, puede considerarse como el armazón del Testamento mismo, como la fortaleza inviolable dentro de la cual ese vástago recién nacido se cría y desarrolla. A medida que este Orden Administrativo se expanda y consolide, pondrá de manifiesto, sin duda alguna, sus potencialidades y revelará todo el significado de este extremadamente importante Documento, de esta nobilísima expresión de la Voluntad de Aquel que es una de las figuras más notables de la Dispensación de Bahá’u’lláh. A medida que sus partes componentes, sus instituciones orgánicas comiencen a funcionar con vigor y eficacia, han de aseverar su derecho y demostrar su capacidad para que se le considere no solamente como el núcleo, sino como el modelo mismo del Nuevo Orden Mundial que con el tiempo está destinado a abarcar el total de la humanidad.”
(Sacado del Boletín Bahá’í, editado por el Cuerpo Continental de Consejeros en la América del Sur, Número 31)
Profesor Canadiense viaja un mes en Chile[edit]
Chile: El Dr. Ishrat H. Naqví, profesor de física y astronomía de la Universidad de Saskatchewan en Regina, Canadá, estuvo recientemente cerca de un mes en Chile en viaje relacionado con su trabajo. Ofreció su tiempo libre a disposición de la Asamblea Nacional. Habiendo recibido la noticia con anticipación, la Asamblea Nacional pudo programar un plan aprovechando extensamente la visita del profesor viajero. Se realizaron varias conferencias públicas con gran asistencia y se prepararon conferencias de prensa.
En Santiago, el Dr. Naqví habló sobre “Religión y ciencia” en el Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds Nacional. “Antes de esta conferencia pública,” declara el informe, “el Dr. Naqví fue entrevistado por el Canal 13 de televisión de la Universidad Católica. Esta fue una proclamación muy importante... Aproximadamente unas 70 personas asistieron... incluyendo al Alcalde de La Cisterna, una figura prominente en Santiago... y miembros de la Asamblea Nacional tuvieron la oportunidad de obsequiarle con el presente de flores bahá’ís.
La comunidad bahá’í de La Cisterna invitó al Dr. Naqví a una reunión a la que asistieron 30 personas, incluyendo el Alcalde de La Cisterna. Fue una ocasión muy espiritual y feliz, durante la que se escuchó música y se cantaron canciones.”
[Page 5]
Special News section:
A report of publicity received during First National Bahá’í Conference of Five Year Plan[edit]
1. Surrounded by fellow Hands of the Cause and by members of the National Spiritual Assembly, Rúḥíyyih Khánum waves to the friends at the St. Louis airport following her arrival August 28.2. A visitor takes notes on a painting by artist David Villaseñor. 3. A view of the auditorium from the rear of the arena. This gathering, attended by more than 10,000 believers, was the largest Bahá’í assemblage in history.
[Page 6]
Articles about the Bahá’í Faith appeared in St. Louis newspapers every day of the conference.
Four articles appeared in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, one of the largest papers in the nation; three appeared in The Globe-Democrat, the city’s second daily; and one in the Argus, a weekly paper serving the black community.
The Post-Dispatch published a total of 90 inches of copy on the Faith, the Globe-Democrat a total of 115 column inches.
A number of the articles from St. Louis are reprinted in this special section, accompanied by a selection of photographs from the conference. Ed.
1. Wilma Brady, Secretary of the Black American Teaching Committee, and Edward Carpenter, Headmaster of New York’s Harlem Prep school, man the committee’s booth at the Career Opportunities Fair. The committee used videotape to record discussions which occurred at the booth. 2. A collection of Native American jewelry was displayed at the conference art exhibit. 3. One of the training sessions for teachers taking part in the experimental children’s school at the conference.
Fri., Aug. 30, 1974 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
religion
SPEAKER: Mrs. Ruhiyyih Rabbani, widow of the “Guardian of the Faith.”
FAITHFUL LISTENERS: A view of the Bahá’í national convention audience at Kiel Auditorium. (Post-Dispatch Photos)
Baha’i Convention Opens[edit]
Reprinted by permission, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff
Prayers were chanted in Persian and spoken in English in Kiel Auditorium last night at the opening of the Baha’i national convention.
But most of the talk before more than 8000 of the faithful was about how the religious body would grow over the next five years.
Dwight Allen, dean of the University of Massachusetts School of Education and a member of the Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly, said there are Bahá’í members in 5400 localities in the United States and 60,000 communities throughout the world.
A five-year plan would increase that total to 7700 in this country and nearly 100,000 worldwide, he said. Bahá’í members have been encouraged to travel to underdeveloped countries to spread the word.
One of the new Baha’i programs is a method of educating children developed by two other University of Massachusetts faculty members. Their Bahá’í children’s school is undergoing a three-day test run at the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel.
Three of the nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly are faculty members at the University of Massachusetts, and two others are in academic life. The chairman is Firuz Kazemzadeh, professor of history at Yale University. Another member is Dorothy Nelson, dean of the law school at the University of Southern California.
But Allen says that this is mostly a coincidence. The Bahá’í Faith is aimed at “the entire spectrum of humanity” and has relatively few Northeastern intellectuals, he said. United States headquarters are in Wilmette, Ill.
Participants in the conference include all ages, races, and income levels. They came from all sections of the United States and from as far away as Iran and North Africa.
Baha’i members recognize all the great religions of the earth as “true and valid.” They worship one God, who they say is a common light that has been reflected to mankind through different mirrors.
The Baha’i Faith is an offshoot of Islam. Its beliefs are founded upon the teachings of Baha’u’llah, who lived in the mid-1800s. Members see Baha’u’llah as one of a series of prophets of God that included Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed.
While the Baha’i Faith, administered worldwide from Haifa, Israel, allows its members to make some mistakes, it has some hard and fast rules—no drinking, no drugs, no gambling.
Smoking is frowned on but not prohibited, and a number of conventiongoers lit cigarettes at Kiel last night.
The press and the public are not allowed in the first four general sessions of the convention, because it is said the uninitiated would not understand the “intimate talk among Baha’is.” A public relations man said Baha’i leaders had ruled that allowing a reporter in would be “impolite to the speakers.”
The public may attend the fifth session at 8 p.m. tomorrow. It will feature a performance by folk-rock stars Jim Seals and Dash Crofts, who are members of the Baha’i Faith. Free tickets must be obtained in advance at the Jefferson Hotel.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Sun., Sept. 1, 1974
Baha’i: ‘A Radiant And Patient People’[edit]
Reprinted by permission, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
of the Post-Dispatch Staff
A typically mixed group of Baha’i faithful was waiting in line at Mullin’s Cafeteria the other day.
Young persons next to old, black with white, an occasional Asian or Indian, business attire, blue denims, beards, crew cuts, pigtails, and home permanents.
The behavior and appearance of the group so impressed a couple at a nearby table that they walked up to Magdalene Carney and asked: “Who are you people? You’re such an attractive bunch, so radiant and patient.”
Miss Carney, who just happens to be one of the nine members of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States (the religion’s governing body in this country), was at first taken aback. “I guess I wasn’t expecting anything like that. But I should have been.”
“We believe that people will see the light through our example, the development of our distinctive characteristics. Our radiant fragrance.”
If Miss Carney’s words seem a little exotic, yet filled with inner peace, so does the Baha’i religion.
More than 10,000 Baha’is are meeting here this week, the largest assembly of the Faith since its founding in Iran in 1863. There may be as many as 12,000 Baha’is here before the convention ends today.
Patience of the Baha’i followers was apparent again Saturday night at a free concert given by two of the best-known members of the religious group, singers James Seals and Dash Crofts.
By the 8 p.m. starting time, the 10,000 seats in Kiel Auditorium were nearly full, but the Baha’i followers were waiting to sit down until members of the public found their seats.
The Baha’i believe in change through quiet example, in the unity and oneness of the human family, the acceptance of cultural diversity, and that one’s work should be raised to the level of worship.
In short, what Miss Carney calls a religion for modern man, not fanatical or tied to old rituals, but ever-changing.
The Baha’is invite nonbelievers to investigate their faith, but they are not missionaries in the strict sense, she says. They do not argue or try to force their beliefs. “Hopefully, we never offend anyone or become abrasive,” she said.
The tenets of the Baha’i Faith are a patchwork of religions, Moslem, Christian, and Eastern beliefs. The Baha’i followers’ central gospel is the eventual p o l i t i c a l, social, and religious unity of mankind. There are no formal rites or distinctions between clergy and laity.
“I believe in and love Christ more now than when I was a Christian,” said Miss Carney, who until her conversion 11 years ago was a Baptist. “I had a longing in my soul for some fulfillment, something that was dynamic.”
She was a public school teacher in Nashville when she was converted to the Baha’i religion. An adviser to one of her student teachers was a Baha’i believer, and she brought Miss Carney into the Faith. Miss Carney is now in the education department of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
“god speaks to man through the ages by divine messengers,” she said.
“Each (messenger) has brought a body of teachings that specify what man is supposed to do to advance unity and oneness,” she says.
The religion (pronounced Ba-HIGH) holds that its principal prophet-founder, Baha’u’llah, is equal to Christ, Moses, Buddha, Mohammed, Zoroaster, and other spiritual founders and leaders as a conveyor of God’s word.
God is defined, by Miss Carney, as “an unknowable essence,” all-knowing, all-powerful, most plentiful, etc.
The Baha’is took the best teachings and traditions of the world’s religions and built on them, she said.
The Baha’is believe that out of the chaos and confusion of the world today will come that eventual day when all people, no matter how diverse, will embrace the concepts of oneness and unity. They seek a universal language and the merger of scientific and religious principles.
The Baha’i Faith itself emerged as an offshoot of the Moslem religion in Iran, led by prophet-founder Baha’u’llah.
But it is now an exotic blend of widely varying beliefs. Some of its rules and ethical ideals are unique.
For example, the Baha’is believe that before members can marry they must have the consent of all living parents, whether they are Baha’is or not, or even if they themselves are divorced.
Divorce is permitted only if the Baha’i couple find it impossible to live together and after attempts at reconciliation fail during a “year of patience” waiting period.
On the subject of death, the law of Aqdas (taken from the Baha’is’ most holy book, the teachings of Baha’u’llah) requires that burial take place within one hour’s journey from the place of death.
If local law permits, the Baha’is request burial without embalming, because the disintegration of the body is more natural. Natural ways, including the avoidance of any rules of celibacy, are important aspects of the Baha’i Faith.
The Aqdas or holy book prohibits the use of alcohol, intoxicants, or narcotics.
Baha’is are required to seek noncombatant positions, such as medics, in any nation’s military force. And they pledge to be faithful, trustful, and truthful to any country or government where they live.
These rules are all part of the unity and oneness theme.
Moreover, other Baha’i tenets say that the faithful may associate with organizations whose ideals are akin to the universal principles of the Faith. These groups may include charitable, educational, cultural, social, and humanitarian organizations.
But the Baha’is may not become a member of any political party. “The friends (Baha’is) may vote, if they can do it without identifying themselves with one party or another.
“To enter the arena of party politics is surely detrimental to the best interest of the Faith and will harm the cause,” wrote Shoghi Effendi, a grandson of prophet-founder Baha’u’llah.
The image that a Baha’i projects to the nonbeliever is important to the growth of the Faith, members believe.
Baha’is believe that gossip and backbiting stand as the most “sinister and destructive evils of any society.”
Miss Carney laughed when it was suggested that this rule seemed to go against one of the most prevalent frailties of man. Baha’is appear to laugh and smile much of the time.
The downfall of governments and corruption are things that the Baha’is believe will hasten the day when mankind finally becomes unified.
“The more society collapses around us,” said Miss Carney, “the more it makes people turn to investigate a Faith like Baha’i. They look for order from disorder.”
The Baha’is claim members in 5400 localities in the United States and 60,000 communities throughout the world. Their numbers are growing, particularly in the underdeveloped areas of the world, Miss Carney said.
Above: The Hand of the Cause of God, Zikrullah Khadem, addresses the friends during an afternoon with the Hands on Sunday, September 1, the last day of the conference. Below: Bransford Watson, second from left, Dean of the Louis G. Gregory Institute, discusses the school’s programs at the conference’s Career Opportunities Fair.
[Page 8]
1. Franklin Kahn, right, a member of the National Assembly, finds a moment to chat with his brother, Chester Kahn. 2. Composer Russell Garcia directing the Bahá’í New World Singers from Southern California. 3. A Bahá’í family from California enjoys a moment of fellowship outside the Jefferson Hotel.
St. Louis Globe-Democrat Fri. Aug. 30, 1974
Reprinted by permission, St. Louis Globe-Democrat
Civilization pales for her after trips spreading faith[edit]
Globe-Democrat Religion Writer
Mrs. Ruhiyyih Rabbani has reached the age when most people retire, but she can hardly wait to get back to the African bush country and her Land Rover.
Illiterate villages are her specialty, she says. Mrs. Rabbani, who is in her mid-60s, has traveled thousands of miles to such villages in Africa, India, South America, Australia, and the Far East spreading the message of the Baha’i Faith, and she says “it spoils you for civilization.”
IN THE meantime, she is in St. Louis for what may be the largest conference of Baha’is since the Faith was founded in 1863.
She is the widow of Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, great-grandson of Baha’u’llah, the prophet-founder of the Baha’i Faith, and is a “Hand of the Cause of God,” one of a small group of Baha’is appointed by her husband to promote the spread of the Faith.
Mrs. Rabbani speaks French, German, Persian, and English and lives in Haifa, Israel, the international Baha’i headquarters. Although she was born a Baha’i, she originally was Mary Maxwell, a native of Montreal, Canada.
Her mother was the first Baha’i in Canada, Mrs. Rabbani says, and she learned as a child how little people understand about the faith.
Mrs. Ruhiyyih Rabbani
“THE NAME itself was against it,” she says. “People immediately thought of Islam, immediately assumed we were Moslems. Now there are so many weird religions—non religions really, but sects, and people may think we’re one of those.”
Actually, Mrs. Rabbani says, “Baha’u’llah’s teachings are extremely sane and logical.”
The teachings of the Baha’i Faith stress the oneness of God and the oneness of religion.
Baha’u’llah claimed that all true religions come from the same divine source, that all prophets of God proclaim the word of God, and that religious truth is continuous and relative.
Baha’is recognize Moses, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad, and Baha’u’llah, among others, as “manifestations of God.” They believe Baha’u’llah is the prophet for this age.
BUT BAHA’U’LLAH is not the final prophet. “The concept of an unbroken chain is hard to get through to people,” Mrs. Rabbani says. “They just cannot see it (religion) as an unbroken process.”
Baha’u’llah’s teachings promote a federated world government, a universal language, a world economy, and equality of races and sexes, but such unity is still elusive.
“There is no doubt there is a degree of unity in the world today unheard of 25 years ago,” Mrs. Rabbani says, but it is an “uneasy unity.”
“We need justice and love to solve problems,” she continued, and while “we have a lot of unity today, there is very little love connected with it.
“My husband used to say that according to his studies (he was world leader of the Faith until his death in 1957), the immediate future is very dark, but the distant future is very bright.”
MEANWHILE, Mrs. Rabbani says, “We’re in a historical crisis” and the Baha’is believe they must “take action while there’s time to take it.”
At this conference, a five-year plan to promote the Faith will be revealed. Although Bahá’ís don’t believe in proselytizing, “pioneers” from the Faith travel throughout the world doing what might be called missionary work in other Faiths.
And apparently, their work is effective, especially in developing countries, America, and Canada, where Mrs. Rabbani says growth of Baha’is is “very rapid.”
The Faith has no paid priests or designated preaching body. It has only one temple per national assembly (the United States one is in Wilmette, Ill.), and appeals to both intellectuals and illiterates.
ALTHOUGH about two-thirds of Baha’is internationally are from rural areas, about 70 percent of the American Baha’is are in cities.
The conference which began at Kiel Auditorium Thursday is a national meeting, but the 9,000 or so in attendance also include representatives from as far away as El Salvador, North Africa and Iceland.
St. Louis Globe-Democrat Mon., Sept. 2, 1974
Baha’is flood downtown during national meeting[edit]
Globe-Democrat Staff Writer
A week ago, many people who work or live in downtown St. Louis probably had never heard of a Baha’i.
By Monday, they had seen them by the thousands.
They still may not understand what Baha’i is all about, but now they do know that Baha’is are not flower children or some strange sect with a leader in flowing saffron robes.
IN FACT, BAHA’IS come in short and tall, fat and thin sizes. Young and old, with golden flowing tresses and short gray burr cuts. In singles and families. In white and black and yellow.
And all friendly.
More than 11,000 Baha’is from at least 16 countries, some as distant as Iceland and North Africa, took part in a national conference here, the largest in Bahá’í history.
They were here to make and renew acquaintances, but primarily to learn about the Faith and about the five-year plan to further spread the Faith around the world.
THE TEACHINIGS of the Baha’i Faith stress the oneness of God and the oneness of religion. Baha’is believe religious truth is continuous and relative.
They recognize Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad as manifestations of God, as well as the latter-day prophet, Baha’u’llah, who founded the Baha’i Faith more than a hundred years ago. Religion, they believe, is a progressive chain, with new prophets for new ages.
It is a unity religion, seeking oneness not only in spiritual things, but in terms of world economics, government, language, and peace.
THE CONFERENCE sessions, which ended Sunday night, were closed to outsiders, but the Baha’is were visible to St. Louisians and willing to talk.
About 3,000 of them gathered under the Arch at daybreak Saturday for prayers. And they invited the public to a free concert Saturday night where famed Baha’is Seals and Crofts performed.
They flooded restaurants, some of which reportedly ran out of food before they could accommodate the huge crowds.
They filled hotels downtown and those as far from downtown as Lambert St. Louis International Airport. At least one hotel reportedly let some sleep in the lobby when no more rooms could be found.
Baha’i is an international Faith, with about one-third of its members concentrated in Asia, another third in Africa, and the remaining third spread throughout the Western Hemisphere. An estimated 40,000 of the two-million members live in the United States.
[Page 9]
Above right, left: Thousands of Bahá’ís took advantage of the well-stocked bookstore operated by the Publishing Trust throughout the conference period to purchase materials for teaching and deepening. Below: The Hand of the Cause A. Q. Faizí made an unexpected visit to the children’s school at St. Louis and inspected several of the classes.
Part VIII—Syn., Sept. 15, 1974 Los Angeles Times
Bahá’í Faith Points to Rapid Growth in U.S.[edit]
Sect Reports Assemblies Have Tripled in Decade to Total 925 in 5,352 Localities[edit]
BY JOHN DART
Times Religion Writer
Los Angeles Times, © copyright 1974.
Reprinted by permission.
The Baha’i Faith, by its own statistics, is spreading like wildfire in the United States.
Analysis of those figures, however, indicates the fires are spread thinly and that followers of the world-unity teachings of Baha’u’llah (1817–1892) still rank among the relatively small religious groups in America.
Nevertheless, American Baha’is are full of optimism following a recent St. Louis gathering where more than 10,000 delegates studied ways to implement a new five-year plan for growth, consolidation, and renewal.
They point out that their spiritual assemblies have nearly tripled in the last decade to 925 in the continental United States.
Baha’is are now in 5,352 U.S. localities—another statistical category—more than three times the number 10 years ago.
So, how many Baha’is are there in this country?
That information is not divulged, either by local leaders or the Faith’s national headquarters in Wilmette, Ill.
“There is a definite policy about not giving out membership figures,” said a spokeswoman at Wilmette. She indicated the quantity of members was not considered as important as having representatives of the Faith as widely dispersed as possible.
Baha’is are considered to be “in a locality” if only one member lives there. Local spiritual assemblies are formed once nine members, age 21 or older, live in a community.
Thus, of the 5,352 localities the Baha’is claimed (as of last April), the overwhelming majority contain between one and eight Baha’i residents.
Of the 925 spiritual assemblies (not called churches), some could be formed from the minimum nine members or from a membership only slightly above that number.
Los Angeles is unofficially estimated to have as many as 1,000 members within its city limits.
The Baha’is claim their prophet-founder, Baha’u’llah, born in Persia as Mirza Husayn ‘Ali, received direct revelations from God on the basic unity of all religions, the equality and oneness of races and sexes, and the establishment of humanitarian goals.
Baha’u’llah, which means the “Glory of God” in Arabic, is considered by Baha’is to have been a successor to Moses, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad, and others as the latest “manifestation” of God.
Adherents dispute the common description of the Baha’i Faith as an offshoot of Islam, saying it has established itself as a distinct independent world religion with followers in 60,000 localities.
Its international headquarters is in the Israeli seaport city of Haifa. Baha’i major shrines and holy places are located for the most part either in Haifa or within a few miles of that city.
Despite 19th-century beginnings, a number of Baha’u’llah’s teachings have a contemporary ring to them: the condemnation of all forms of prejudice... abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty... glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human society... establishment of a permanent and universal peace as the supreme goal of all mankind.
High ethical standards are emphasized with regard to honesty, fidelity, and humility, including a specific stricture against “backbiting, gossip, and slander.”
The Faith calls for daily prayer, an annual fasting period, and abstinence from alcohol and narcotics, other than those prescribed for medicinal purposes.
Idleness is condemned, and work is regarded as a form of worship because it is interpreted as a service to humanity in most cases.
Being a combat soldier does not fall into that category, however. Though Baha’is are instructed to follow the laws of their homelands, draft-age men are urged to serve as conscientious objectors in wartime.
It is the behavior of individual Baha’is—not multiplying numbers of Baha’is—that will make the difference in whether the religion becomes the dominant force for world order, according to Shoghi Effendi, the last world leader of the Faith.
(Effendi, who died in 1957, was succeeded by a nine-member Universal House of Justice whose members are elected by national assemblies around the world.)
Nevertheless, the Haifa World Center has continued to set numerical goals in a series of worldwide plans stretching over given numbers of years.
Baha’is exceeded goals in propagation of the Faith during a nine-year plan that ended in April 1973. After a year’s respite, a five-year plan began last April.
The continental U.S. plan (Alaska and Hawaii have their own “national” assemblies) calls for expansion to at least 7,000 localities and an increase to at least 1,400 local spiritual assemblies by 1979.
In order to claim new localities or establish new assemblies, volunteers, called “pioneers,” are needed to move to those cities or towns lacking the required numbers. Otherwise, Baha’i teachers visit other towns to try to win local residents to the Faith.
California, New York, and Illinois were singled out at the Baha’is’ conference in St. Louis over the Labor Day weekend for special attention.
Mrs. Joan Bulking of Burbank, secretary of the California regional teaching committee, said the Baha’i objectives for California include having at least one Baha’i in six counties without a follower and increasing the local assemblies in the state from 170 to 265.
Each local and national assembly is intended to be a model of justice and administration for the prophesized world order.
As it is now, however, the nine-member local assemblies serve as annually elected authorities for each town and city in which they are located.
All of Los Angeles, for instance, has but one assembly. Baha’is in Hollywood or Van Nuys take their problems to or get married under the authority of the Los Angeles assembly, whereas Baha’is in the incorporated cities of Pasadena or Beverly Hills and in unincorporated areas such as West Hollywood each have their own assemblies.
[Page 10]
Fri., Aug. 30, 1974, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Tobey Exhibit At Steinberg Hall[edit]
Reprinted by permission, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff
Mark Tobey, 25 paintings, lower gallery, Steinberg Hall, Washington University, through Sept. 4.
This is a small but representative show of work by a painter whose position in contemporary art history is as solid as its category is elusive.
The show has been made available by Washington University and the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’i of the United States, of which Tobey has been a member since 1918. The essay in the accompanying brochure was written by Arthur Dahl, a major collector—and lender—of Tobey’s work, and a fellow Baha’i.
Some of these small paintings contain more or less overt references to Baha’i subjects and themes. These are less successful to my mind and eye than that work which appears to give abstract visual form to inner religious or spiritual states, in the broadest sense of the word.
Thus Tobey comes to abstraction, not by the traditional route of cognitive progression but directly, from inside, as spiritual illustration.
In many writings on Tobey, much is made of the influence of Baha’i views on his life and work, and though this is doubtless the spring of the sense of contemplation, shimmering light and all-over unity, the work has solid, independent formal validity.
Tobey, now 84 years old and living in Switzerland since 1960, has lived the major part of his life in the Midwest and Seattle. Except for exhibiting, he never was part of the New York scene.
Jackson Pollock was admittedly influenced by Tobey’s “white writing”—an agitated lacey tracery of lines that covers the surface like a loose and billowing web, emphasising the surface plane while also opening to depths beyond it. The process of the strokings, the energy they contain and give off, and the dynamism of the light are principal parts of this highly individual, private but universal work.
Tobey has had even more recognition in Europe than the United States, perhaps because of the work’s elegance and its unaggressive presence. The lack of aggression in a modern master takes us by surprise, stimulates our curiosity, and draws us nearer, to give as well as take.
Tobey is more similar in spirit to Newman, Rothko, Reinhardt and even Still than to deKooning, Kline or Pollock, even though it was Pollock who adapted aspects of his style. A similarity to the diffused and shimmering light and dense surface of Richard Pousette-Dart is also noticeable.
The intimate scale of the works in this show is germane to their effect. It is not unimaginable for some of these paintings (“New Crescent,” “Clouds at Sunset” or “Tribute to a Persian”) to be mural size and be marvelous, but it would parallel the escalation of a shepherd’s song or priest’s chant to the Hallelujah Chorus.
This show should serve as an excellent introduction to the important large-scale show, “A Tribute to Mark Tobey,” to come to the St. Louis Art Museum Dec. 7 from the National Collection of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C., where it originated and is now hanging.
1. Counsellor Edna True makes a presentation during the conference. 2. A section of the art exhibit. 3. Bahá’í performers Jim Seals and Dash Crofts contributed greatly to the success of the public proclamation program held on the night of August 31. Seals and Crofts have performed for the friends and their guests at many major Baha’i events in recent years. 4. A display for the Hands of the Cause and Continental Counsellors at the Career Opportunities Fair. 5. One of the displays constructed by the office of the Treasurer.
[Page 11]
1. The Hand of the Cause Collis Featherstone, left, was one of six Hands attending the conference. 2. The friends were excited by the presence of Rúḥíyyih Khánum at St. Louis. It was her fourth visit to the United States since the dedication of the House of Worship in 1953. 3. Continental Counsellors and Auxiliary Board members joined the National Spiritual Assembly at a meeting with representatives of hundreds of Local Spiritual Assemblies. 4. A scene from “Yeast,” an original musical production by Mildred McClellan, performed by the New England Bahá’í Players. 5. Composer Russell Garcia conducted “A New World Symphony” at the proclamation meeting. 6. Waiting for the school bus. A lesson in resignation.
The Bahá’í Faith unifies mankind[edit]
“So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.” These words of Bahá’u’lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, were spoken in the last decades of the 19th century. Bahá’ís, those who follow His teachings, have since striven tirelessly to achieve the unification of mankind, feeling as they do that disunity is at the root of the world’s problems. In the more than 300 countries and territories where they now reside, Bahá’ís from every conceivable background and culture (more than 1,500 tribes are represented within the Bahá’í Faith, for example) labor to build communities that will serve as models of harmony and justice to a troubled humanity.
Bahá’ís believe that from the beginning of time and at certain intervals, God has sent a Divine Educator—such as Moses, Jesus Christ, or Muhammad—to establish spiritual and social guidelines for the advancement of civilization and to enable each man and woman to develop nobler qualities. Bahá’u’lláh, Whose name means “The Glory of God,” was one of these Divine Educators. In 1863, in Persia, He announced His world-unifying mission for which He was made to suffer greatly: He was shorn of His possessions, imprisoned, tortured, and exiled again and again. His final destination: the foul prison of ‘Akká, in the Holy Land, at what was then the extremity of the Turkish domain. Bahá’u’lláh died in 1892 at Bahjí, near ‘Akká. The World Centre of the Bahá’í Faith is located in Haifa, Israel, across the bay from ‘Akká.
During His ministry more than a century ago, Bahá’u’lláh discerned the true nature of our human needs and offered a body of teachings as a remedy to society’s growing ills. In addition to calling all men to the worship of their Creator and to the further development of their essentially spiritual nature, Bahá’u’lláh stressed the urgent necessity of social reform; thus Bahá’í principles emphasize the equality of men and women, the harmony of science and religion, the need for elimination of all forms of prejudice, for an international auxiliary language and monetary system, and for universal compulsory education.
Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings fill more than 100 volumes and deserve careful investigation by all people.
Individuals become Bahá’ís through their independent study and acceptance of these teachings. There is no clergy in the Bahá’í Faith. Bahá’u’lláh has established institutions which are elected by democratic processes and which function within the framework of a worldwide administrative order.
For more information about the Bahá’í Faith write Box 746, St. Louis, Missouri 63188, call 652-1880, or visit our information office at 4144 Lindell.
First National Bahá’í Conference
Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 1974 St. Louis, Missouri
BAHÁ’Í BOOKS AND MATERIALS[edit]
BAHÁ’Í LITERATURE[edit]
World Order Editorial Posters
Particularly helpful on college and university campuses, these eye-catching posters discuss topics in a style designed to interest the more sophisticated reader. 8½ x 11 inches. Illustrated by Scott Bivans.
7-40-85 From Alienation to World Peace | 20/$2.00 |
7-40-86 Rebellious Youth: Toeing Their Elders’ Mark | 20/$2.00 |
7-40-87 Disarming for Universal Peace | 20/$2.00 |
7-40-88 The Ecology Within | 20/$2.00 |
7-40-89 Women: Striking the Balance | 20/$2.00 |
7-40-90 Coming to Terms with Death | 20/$2.00 |
7-40-95 Assortment of six | $1.00 |
A Fortress for Well-Being:
Bahá’í Teachings on Marriage
Bound in gold, stamped in pale gold, and containing rich green end sheets, this deluxe cloth edition of A Fortress for Well-Being is a thoughtful gift for both Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís. Each double-page spread is framed by an elegant gold border designed by Terese Blanding. The book’s attractive appearance makes it suitable for use in the marriage ceremony. Its text is identical with that of the paperback edition. 78 pp. 6¼ x 9¼ inches.
7-64-10 cloth | $7.00 |
Bahá’í Heritage Cards
Sending a note to someone special? Try the new “Bahá’í Heritage Cards” produced by the International Bahá’í Audio-Visual Centre. Each card features a quill and dry brush drawing of a Bahá’í holy place or landmark, including Bahjí and Mount Carmel in Assortment “A” and the House of ‘Abbúd and the Land Gate of ‘Akká in Assortment “B.” A quotation on each card explains the significance of the landmark illustrated on the front panel. Eight cards per assortment, two each of four different views. Printed in rich brown ink on buff stock. Illustrated by David S. Ruhe.
2-06-84 Assortment “A” | $3.00 |
2-06-85 Assortment “B” | $3.00 |
Bikoh Filmstrip and Slide Projector
This remarkable filmstrip and slide projector—good for use in both developed and developing areas of the world—operates off everything from house current (120 and 240 volt) to motorcycle and car batteries (6 and 12 volt). Note: if planning to operate unit off 12 or 240 volt power sources, be sure to purchase a 12 volt lamp, listed below; the 6 volt lamp is standard equipment with each projector. Complete instruction sheet accompanies each unit.
6-65-03 filmstrip and slide projector (cash with order) | $35.00 NET |
6-65-06 12 volt lamp (optional) | $3.50 NET |
6-65-07 6 volt lamp (standard) | $3.50 NET |
New Bahá’í Calendars Now on Sale[edit]
Bahá’í Date Book, 1975
The 1975 Bahá’í Date Book provides a full Gregorian calendar for the 13 months from January 1975 through January 1976. Feast days are shaded for easy identification, and Holy Days are marked with nine-sided rosettes. Detailed information about the meaning of the Bahá’í calendar and notes on special observances and days on which work is suspended are included. Attractive red cover, 3⅝ x 6⅜ inches.
6-69-25 | $ .35; 3/$1.00; 10/$3.00 |
Bahá’í Pocket Calendar, 1975
Designed to fit conveniently in purse or billfold, the 1975 Bahá’í pocket calendar indicates all Feast and Holy Days. Printed on rich magenta card stock.
6-69-55 | $ .10; 5/$.25; 25/$1.00 |
SPECIAL MATERIALS[edit]
Bahá’í Wall Calendar, 1975
The 1975 wall calendar features a blue-tinted photograph of the architect’s drawing of the seat of The Universal House of Justice. Bahá’í months are indicated within the Gregorian months by alternating blocks of blue and red numerals. Feast days and Holy Days are indicated by circles and squares around the numerals. Detailed information on special observances is printed on the back of the calendar. Printed on 8½ x 11 inch white card stock, the calendar is a decorative addition to all Bahá’í homes and an effective silent teacher at the office.
6-69-35 | $ .25; 10/$2.00; 25/$4.00 |
Immediate opportunities for youth service outlined[edit]
In its Five Year Plan message to the Bahá’ís of the United States, The Universal House of Justice specified a number of tasks to be accomplished by this Community, one of which is to:
Encourage and offer guidance to Bahá’í youth to plan their lives to be of greatest service to the Faith and provide means whereby their offers of specific periods of teaching and other service beyond normal teaching activities can be organized and used to the best advantage.
One of the most important responsibilities of the National Bahá’í Youth Committee is to help the friends win this goal. Bahá’í youth need assistance in planning their lives to be of utmost service, in offering specific periods of their time to the Cause, and in extending their normal teaching work. This article is designed to help them find and follow different pathways to service during the Five Year Plan.
Future articles will focus on topics ranging from career planning to Bahá’í conduct. This month, we are focusing on three immediate opportunities for greater service: winter projects, teaching circuits, and campus clubs.
Winter Projects: In response to the National Spiritual Assembly’s call for youth to participate in service projects, to reach the minority groups designated in the Five Year Plan, and to devote particular attention to winning the objectives of the plans for California, Illinois, New York, and the District of Columbia, several winter teaching and service projects have been planned: 1) Youth may want to consider volunteer service at the National Bahá’í Center from December 30-January 10. The National Information Committee, for example, would appreciate assistance from Bahá’ís skilled in graphics, photography, and radio and television programming. And there are many other areas at the National Center where volunteer help would be appreciated. During that period, special deepening classes and other activities will be scheduled for the volunteers. 2) From December 15 to January 15, a teaching project, sponsored by the San Francisco Assembly, will take place throughout the Bay area. Youth and other interested Bahá’ís will proclaim the Teachings, seeking to reach all strata of society, to make use of the mass media, and to meet other objectives of the Five Year Plan. 3) The Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute in Hemingway, South Carolina, offers ongoing service opportunities.
Volunteers for all projects will need funds for transportation to and from the project areas and for their own food. Local Spiritual Assemblies may wish to offer financial assistance to individuals who otherwise could not participate; others should be given all the encouragement they may need to participate. Volunteers who cannot participate in an entire project, who wish to arrive early, or who would like to volunteer at another time, should contact the National Youth Committee, which will consider special individual arrangements.
Teaching Circuits: Would you like to follow in the footsteps of Quddús? Or Ṭáhirih? Or Badí? In spirit, the opportunity is yours through participation in teaching circuits named after youthful Bábí and Bahá’í heroes. Throughout the year, you can volunteer to travel one or more of these circuits which require a minimum of 5-7 days. Vacations offer excellent opportunities for such teaching activities. Everyone can contribute: giving firesides or children’s classes, visiting other believers, showing slides or films, or teaching through music. Details are available from the Youth Committee.
There is also the possibility of making international teaching trips—watch for details in The American Bahá’í!
Campus Clubs: One goal of the Two Year Youth Program is to “raise the number of Bahá’í college clubs to 350, and form clubs on high school campuses wherever feasible.” This will require the formation of 150 new clubs. Wherever there are two or more Bahá’í students, staff, or faculty members on a single campus, an application should be made to form a club. The National Youth Committee provides model constitutions and step-by-step instructions for this purpose. At the beginning of every school year, existing college and high school clubs should obtain membership renewal forms from their sponsoring institutions and should file their mailing address and a list of officers with the Youth Committee. Local Spiritual Assemblies and District Teaching Committees should notify the Youth Committee if any of the clubs under their sponsorship will no longer be able to function. If your sponsoring body does not have these forms, please contact the National Bahá’í Youth Committee immediately since it is possible we may not have your club on our mailing list.
Special goals for college clubs have been established and appear in the October issue of National Bahá’í Review.
Remember: Youth between the ages of 15 and 20 should report every goal they fill to the National Bahá’í Youth Committee.
BAHÁ’Í BOOKS AND MATERIALS[edit]
New STAR STUDY PROGRAM Materials[edit]
“It is hoped that these booklets and audio-visual materials will inspire the believers to immerse themselves in the ocean of Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings. For only as individual Bahá’ís grow and become deepened can the goal of developing ‘the distinctive character of Bahá’í life’ be won.”
—The National Spiritual Assembly,
from the Foreword to the Star Study Program booklet Bahá’u’lláh
SPECIAL MATERIALS[edit]
Out of God’s Eternal Ocean
This unusual filmstrip uses a rich variety of photographs and a comprehensive narration to trace the history of the first fifty years of the Bahá’í Era. Written and photographed by David Walker. Color. 149 frames. Star Study Program.
6-01-58 filmstrip with script and cassette $9.50
The Nineteen Day Feast
The Nineteen Day Feast flip chart explains the Feast simply, using both words and pictures. Excellent for teaching small groups of new believers and children about the purpose of the Feast and the way it is celebrated. Illustrated by Dale Martin. 45 pp. 10¾ x 15½ inches.
6-56-50 | $6.00 |
BAHÁ’Í LITERATURE[edit]
Bahá’u’lláh
This short, captivating booklet discusses Bahá’u’lláh’s early life, His acceptance of the Báb, His Declaration and proclamation, His sufferings, His Writings, and His Ascension. Illustrated by Lori Block. Vivid blue cover designed by Scott Bivans. 15 pp. 5½ x 8½ inches. Star Study Program.
7-64-50 paper | $ .40 |
An adventuresome look at the distinctive Bahá’í life[edit]
| BAHÁ’Í COMPREHENSIVE DEEPENING PROGRAM
In the Light of God’s Purpose for Man |
The development of a distinctive Bahá’í community life is a challenging goal of the Five Year Plan, according to Dr. Daniel Jordan, Vice-Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly. In his introduction to a new publication, The Dynamic Force of Example, the most recent addition to the Comprehensive Deepening Program, he urged the friends to use the new volume to help their communities become prepared for the difficult tasks ahead.
The Dynamic Force of Example is a 197-page work that discusses ways in which Bahá’ís can translate their faith into action, further their individual spiritual development, attract new believers to the Cause of God, and promote the advancement of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
Dr. Jordan is the Director of the Comprehensive Deepening Program, which was developed by the National Spiritual Assembly to help the friends gain a “clearer apprehension of the purpose of God for man, and particularly of His immediate purpose, as revealed and directed by Bahá’u’lláh.”
“What would you give to be free from all the strain of not knowing where you are going?” he said during his presentation at the St. Louis Conference. “What would it be worth to be able to work... and to feel that the consequences of your labor were making a great contribution? What would you give to be able to establish a family filled with love, warmth, discipline, and mutual support, where an atmosphere could be created in which those born into it would naturally grow up to know and love God, and to glorify Bahá’u’lláh? How would you like to be able to create a community where everyone can belong, where everyone’s talents and abilities are drawn out and put to use, where there is safety, security, peace, and warmth, and a sense of meaningful destiny, with the kinds of stimulus that cause us to respond in spiritual ways? In short, what would you give to be at the center of a movement designed to create a new race of men? What would it be worth to you to be reborn?”
In the Bahá’í Faith, Dr. Jordan said, we must cause things to happen by our own volition. We cannot sit and wait for things to happen to us.
“If it is worth something to you to be able to achieve all those things, then I have good news for you, because it doesn’t cost you anything,” he said. “It is yours for the taking. But here is what it requires:
“You must make a decision that those things are for you and that you want them now. Bahá’u’lláh has made it clear, and it has been re-emphasized by the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, that what we become is a result of our own determination and is dependent on our own efforts... When you become a Bahá’í, become a party to the Covenant, every resource becomes available to you to become transformed, and there are no more excuses.
“There may be some reasons why you are having a difficult time, but there are no more excuses... all of the energy that may go into finding excuses and complaining must be turned into a search for the means to transform one’s own self.
“Once that decision has been made, you need knowledge, and... once you are armed with that knowledge, you must practice the actions that flow from both the knowledge and the decisions,” Dr. Jordan continued. “We have been good at exposing ourselves to words which represent knowledge, but we have been very slow to take those words off the printed page and to place them in our hearts and minds so that they come out in our behavior. That is the challenge of changing ‘satanic weakness into heavenly strength.’ It is the function of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation and His institutions to release whatever it takes in order for that job to be done.
“The individual believer applying this to his own life will find ‘that a miraculous new dimension comes into being’ as a result,” Dr. Jordan said. “The new dimension is the dynamic force of example,” he added. “Through this dynamic force, our own community will be consolidated and preserved. Through this dynamic force of example, the outside world is irresistibly attracted to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.”
The National Education Committee, which is responsible for guiding the use of the Comprehensive Deepening Program materials, has urged communities to begin to use this new volume in their deepening efforts. The friends should view The Dynamic Force of Example as “an exploration of new ways of applying the teachings to our daily lives,” said Mrs. Eileen Norman, Secretary of the committee.
“The Dynamic Force of Example is a bold thrust into the unknown,” Dr. Jordan told The American Bahá’í. “If the Bahá’í community is to win the goal of acquiring distinctive characteristics of Bahá’í life, it will have to explore enthusiastically and with an adventuresome spirit new ways of behaving that are consistent with the Teachings,” he continued. “This depends on developing a new system of values that honors virtue and abhors anything that falls short of the standards of the Faith. Acquiring a new system of values is a long and sometimes painful process because it means acquiring a new identity and shedding long-standing habits. It also means daring to be different by virtue of spiritual distinction in a society that values mediocrity, godlessness, and permissiveness. It is hoped that The Dynamic Force of Example will help launch the American Bahá’í community on a new course that will hasten the construction of world order,” Dr. Jordan added.
Weekend campout held in Decatur[edit]
Promoting unity and consolidation among the friends in central Illinois and Indiana was the purpose of a weekend camp-out, July 20-21, sponsored by the Bahá’ís of Decatur, Illinois. The Youth Camp area of Fox Ridge State Park near Charleston, Illinois, was the site of the event where Richard Wright and Lucille Taylor of the Southern Illinois District Teaching Committee led sessions on teaching, obedience, and the quality of Bahá’í life. Some 24 adults and 10 youth, representing eight communities from as far away as Indianapolis and Wilmette attended.
News Briefs[edit]
Distinguished visitor[edit]
After attending the St. Louis Conference, the Hand of the Cause of God Collis Featherstone visited the Los Angeles Bahá’í Community from September 6-8 before returning to his home in Australia. He is shown in these photographs talking with the Bahá’ís from Southern California who attended meetings scheduled during his visit.
Reports needed on progress youth goals[edit]
The National Bahá’í Youth Committee needs to know what progress is being made on the Two Year Youth Program, especially with the goals for circuit teaching, pioneering, the formation of Bahá’í college clubs, and the organization of service projects. If you are between the ages of 15 and 20, and think you have helped with one of the goals, let us know right away. Drop us a line, send us a postcard, or give us a call. Tell us who you are and what you have done. Do not worry if you feel that your particular service is unimportant! It is important, and we need to know what is happening. Send the information to the National Bahá’í Youth Committee, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
List being compiled on courses on Faith[edit]
The National Youth Committee is compiling for the National Spiritual Assembly a list of colleges and universities that have offered courses on the Bahá’í Faith for credit, and of comparative religion courses that have incorporated presentations on the Faith. Information about the institutions that have offered these courses, as well as a description of the courses themselves, would be appreciated.
The Youth Committee would also find useful for its work and planning a report on theses on Bahá’í themes that have been accepted toward fulfillment of academic degree requirements. The reports should include the name of the author, the title, the college or university that accepted the thesis, the type of degree and its date of issue. A reference number for the degree would also be helpful.
This information should be addressed to the National Bahá’í Youth Committee, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
Southern New Jersey gets more attention[edit]
The District Teaching Committee of New Jersey, in cooperation with the Glassboro Bahá’í Group, early in June initiated a series of conferences to explore ways of opening the entire southern tip of New Jersey—all of which lies below the Mason-Dixon line.
A plan of action was developed with the assistance of Auxiliary Board member Albert James. The first conference, held in Glassboro, focused on providing information about teaching methods used extensively in the South, in Africa, and in South America.
With the assistance of Maryland and Pennsylvania Bahá’ís, the friends in New Jersey opened five new areas to the Faith. In the process, they accomplished a goal of having at least one Bahá’í residing in every county of New Jersey.
During the afternoons, teams were sent out to specific communities to teach the Faith. In the evenings, public meetings were held on the Glassboro State College Campus. Some of these meetings were conducted in both Spanish and English.
In all, three conferences were held. Each of them was begun with prayers and readings from the Writings on the importance of teaching. The booklet Teaching the Masses was used extensively during the sessions.
The September 28-29 conference focused on methods of consolidation. Teams were trained and later sent to invite the newly-declared Bahá’ís to evening meetings to be held at four different locations: in the Black community, in the Spanish-speaking community, in a rural area, and on the college campus. The consolidation methods learned in the morning classes were put into practice by the team members at these meetings. In this way, each member who participated completed the cycle of learning the methods, participating in mass teaching, and conducting follow-up and consolidation meetings. Those new believers who were not able to attend the meetings at night received on-the-spot instructions from the teams.
Institutes are now being planned for the winter months to help prepare the New Jersey Bahá’ís for teaching the masses in South Jersey in the spring.
Artists respond to St. Louis exhibition[edit]
A singular feature of the St. Louis Conference was an exhibition of works contributed by Bahá’í artists across the country.
Of the more than three hundred entries received by the panel of judges appointed by the National Spiritual Assembly, more than 100 were selected for the St. Louis exhibition. Sixty-seven works of art were ultimately displayed.
The works shown included paintings, drawings, batik, photography, collage, prints in various media, sculpture, pottery, macramé, stitchery, appliqué, and weaving.
The work selected covered a wide spectrum of styles, ranging from realism to abstract, and representing Eastern, Western, and African cultures. This variety was considered one of the striking characteristics of the show.
The exhibition was enhanced by the inclusion of sand paintings by David Villaseñor, and handcrafted Indian jewelry by Franklin and Mary Jane Kahn. Mr. Villaseñor and Mr. and Mrs. Kahn were present to discuss their work with the thousands of Bahá’ís who visited the exhibition.
A number of photographs of the exhibition appear in this issue of The American Bahá’í.
|
Bahá’í Winter School schedule Many Winter Schools are being planned this year, and you are encouraged to attend one near you. Exciting speakers and Bahá’í fellowship will make your winter holiday an inspiring one for all the family! BOSCH
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
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New Bahá’í World to be distributed[edit]
The Department of Publishing at the Bahá’í World Center has announced that volume XIV of The Bahá’í World, prepared under the supervision of The House of Justice, is now in the final stages of production. The volume is expected to go on sale in early 1975. The Publishing Trust will inform librarians of its availability.
Volume XIV of the international record covers the five years from Riḍván 1963 to Riḍván 1968, a period that witnessed the Centenary of the proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh to the Kings and Rulers of the world, the holding of the great World Jubilee Congress in London in 1963, the election of the first Universal House of Justice, and the launching of the Nine Year Plan. The volume, which takes the proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh as its theme, is profusely illustrated and contains approximately 700 pages; it is bound in ivory cloth with the title blocked in royal blue and gold on the front and spine. The frontispiece is a full-color reproduction of an illuminated Tablet in the handwriting of Bahá’u’lláh.
“The successive volumes of The Bahá’í World,” the preface to volume XIV states, “have come to be anticipated by Bahá’ís as the record of their own collective endeavors on behalf of their Faith, of the establishment and development of its administrative order throughout the world and as the source of data, both historical and statistical, relating to the rise of that Faith during the twentieth century.” The Bahá’í World is becoming increasingly known as a source of authentic information about the aims, tenets, history, activities, organization, and growth of the Bahá’í Faith, the preface said.
Preparations are now being made by The Universal House of Justice to expedite publication of volume XV, covering the period Riḍván 1968-1973, and an appeal is being made for reports and photographs of outstanding events during this period for possible inclusion in the volume.
Television proclamation held in Little Rock[edit]
The Bahá’ís of Little Rock, Arkansas, recently produced a half-hour television program about the Faith that reached most of the communities in their state. These photographs were taken during the taping of the program at the local CBS station. 1) The cast of Bahá’ís who participated in the production. 2) The program in progress. Television station personnel commended the Bahá’ís for the excellence and professionalism of the material and were impressed by the variety of participants. 3) Portia Porter, a high school youth, presented some of the Teachings. 4) Several songs performed by this Bahá’í quartet were included in the program.
New enthusiasm apparent at annual Green Lake Institute[edit]
“Think not of your limitations. No capacity is limited when led by the Spirit of God.”
With these words of the Master, the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears concluded the memorable 14th annual Green Lake Bahá’í Institute. More than 600 Bahá’ís had attended the October 18–20 gathering at Green Lake, Wisconsin, the theme of which was, “Be On Fire With the Love of God,” an exhortation made by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His visit to America in 1912.
The memory of St. Louis still strong in their minds, the friends had come with the determination to rededicate themselves to the work of the Cause. The goals of the Five Year Plan were foremost among their concerns.
The speakers concentrated on these great goals, particularly those urging the strengthening of Local Spiritual Assemblies and the development of distinctive Bahá’í characteristics within our communities.
Other speakers were Douglas Martin, Secretary of the Canadian National Assembly; Auxiliary Board members Eunice Braun, of Illinois, and Jack McCants, of Hawaii; Stanwood Cobb, of Maryland; Margaret Danner, poet-in-residence at LeMoyne-Owen College, in Memphis, Tennessee; Rouhieh McComb, of New York; and Nura Ioas, of California.
Below are some highlights from the many presentations at the conference:
The Hand of the Cause William Sears: In a program celebrating the 155th anniversary of the birth of the Báb, Mr. Sears called the attention of the friends to the universality of the Faith from its inception.
“You know that the Five Year Plan, this great Plan in which we are now involved, had its beginnings with the blessed Báb, for it was He who mentioned on the first night of the Faith that the peoples of the West were to issue forth from their cities and carry these glad tidings to the peoples of the earth. It was the Báb Who sent out the first traveling teachers and the first pioneers, the Letters of the Living. He even asked that records be kept of all new believers, so the beginning of our statistics springs from that. He said that from this list of believers, in the days to come when the One Whom God was to make manifest would appear, His followers would be chosen ...
“These times are so precious and so wonderful. If the obstacles seem to be too many, the Guardian suggests that you pray about it. If it is in your heart [to do something for the Cause], if you are determined that you want to do it, and if you go forward as if you will be able to do it, he says that Bahá’u’lláh will begin to take off the chains and remove the obstacles. He said that all of the obstacles facing the heroes and heroines of God in the past are the same that we now face—health, death, wealth, hunger and children. You can pioneer, and you can acquire the distinctive Bahá’í characteristics while you are there. It is far easier, actually, because whenever you do that, Bahá’u’lláh says that He sends a company of His chosen angels to help you ...
“Perhaps you didn’t plan to do anything like this before you came here tonight, but there is no reason why you cannot eclipse even Martha Root, Keith Ransom-Kehler, and Lua Getsinger, yourself becoming such a hero or heroine of Almighty God in this day. We could win all of the new locality goals in the first year of the Plan, raising the number to 7,000 ...
“At that blessed pilgrim table, seated across from the beloved Guardian, he said that if only the friends in America would work as hard the first year of the Plan to launch it, as they do during the last year to rescue and save it, we would have such victories as would electrify and astonish the whole Bahá’í world.”
Speaking of the goals lost when the heat of the Plan ended and a period of respite was reached, Mr. Sears called for sustained teaching that was ardent in the beginning of the Plan and more ardent at the conclusion of it, with no periods of apathy to slow the victories of the Cause. He recalled that the beloved Guardian had once said that sometimes, without falling away from the Faith, we fall away from the work of the Faith.
Auxiliary Board member Eunice Braun.
Over 600 people attended the institute from all parts of the Midwest. Several sessions were recorded on tape by the National Information Office.
On Sunday morning, Stanwood Cobb, the renowned Bahá’í author and educator, spoke about the Bahá’í viewpoint on progressive education.
Tracing the history of the teaching plans from His Holiness the Báb, through the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and now the messages from the Universal House of Justice, he urged that those present rededicate their lives to the Faith and arise to surpass their previous efforts.
Eunice Braun, Auxiliary Board Member: “Those of us who are members of the Bahá’í Faith and those who are close friends and observers are keenly aware that we are living in a time of great change, when dual processes are at work in the world, changing and reforming the shape of human society.
These are evolutionary processes of break-up and renewal, of death and life, of decay and growth, which are symbolized in nature by the seed which casts aside the old husk to make way for the new growth. It is through the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, fulfilling the promise of all the Dispensations of the past, that we are aware and able to discern the fact that we are living in the time of such change and upheaval, a time when the old order seems to have reached its prime and is passing away, giving place to the birth of a new one.
“As Bahá’ís, we believe that we are part of that process ourselves—the planting of the new seed, its nourishment and growth. We know that in the fullness of time it will bear harvest, and the kingdom of God on earth will be apparent. What we may not always be so aware of is that there are times (as in the life of a new young plant) when the Cause of God grows suddenly, swiftly, and vigorously, as if all the energy of the sun, wind, and rain had converged for this burgeoning.
“With the inception of the Five Year Plan, the Bahá’í world community has entered such a period of vigorous growth. We who are the children of the Formative Age are being called upon to acquire, to a far greater degree than we ever have before, those distinctive qualities and characteristics that foreshadow the coming of the Golden Age itself.
“We have all come to anticipate that the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh will continue to surge forward and encompass the planet, according to the carefully-charted plans given to us by the infallible authority of our Faith. Some of you have no doubt already committed yourselves to pioneering in another land, performing what Bahá’u’lláh calls ‘the prince of goodly deeds.’ Some of you have no doubt committed yourselves to pioneering on the homefront, to opening new centers, to augmenting those already opened, to building new Local Spiritual Assemblies, to strengthening those already formed, and to reaching people of varying cultures among whom the Bahá’í Faith is little known.
“As we survey the prospect for achieving these new goals, we need to begin by assessing our own inner resources. We must consider those attributes of God which have their sign in us ... for this is the spiritual substance of what we truly are and can be.
“Unity is the sum total of all the attributes of God. Justice itself serves the cause of unity. Bahá’u’lláh says that the purpose of justice is to establish unity. Nor can there be unity without truthfulness, that foundation of all virtues, nor unity without trustworthiness, not only in large matters but also in small.
“Everyone with whom we come in contact should know they can depend on our honesty, integrity, and fidelity in all things. Steadfastness is like a charged battery, for without it there is no light and there is no result. Along with cordiality and friendliness, Bahá’u’lláh enjoins courtesy and good manners upon us, for together these are the keys which open the door to attracting people to the Faith and to establishing harmony.
“Unity serves and is served by all of these spiritual attributes, and it is only as we individually exemplify these distinctive characteristics more in our daily life that unity itself will permeate and radiate from our communities into the whole world.”
Douglas Martin: “It’s a great honor to be here,
Dates to remember[edit]
November 15-January 15 Ongoing teaching circuits sponsored by the National Bahá’í Youth Committee.
November 16-17 Proclamation conference, sponsored by the District Teaching Committee of Western Tennessee. Focus will be on techniques for publicizing the Faith through newspaper and radio.
November 17 Areawide Pioneer Program. To provide interested friends with information about ways to serve internationally. Sponsored by Campbell Spiritual Assembly, California.
November 22-24 National Spiritual Assembly Meeting.
November 23 Feast of Qawl (Speech).
November 23 Seminar on Proclamation and Teaching, Florissant Valley Community College, St. Louis, Missouri. Sponsored by the Arkansas/Missouri Bahá’í Information Service.
November 23 Five Year Plan program for Illinois to be launched. Foundation Hall, Wilmette, Illinois.
November 26 Day of the Covenant.
November 28 Anniversary of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
November 28-December 1 Youth conference, Frogmore, South Carolina. Sponsored by the National Bahá’í Youth Committee and South Carolina Regional Teaching Committee.
November 29-December 1 Youth Conference-Career Guidance Institute. Sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Anoka, Minnesota.
November 29-December 1 Thanksgiving Weekend session, Green Acre Bahá’í School.*
November 29-December 1 Three-day conference, Thanksgiving Weekend, Columbus, Ohio. Theme: Developing a Distinctive Bahá’í Community. Speakers: Auxiliary Board Member Javidukht Khadem, Dr. Stanwood Cobb, and others.
November 29-December 1 Second Annual Thanksgiving Weekend Conference, Louisville, Kentucky. Theme: Developing the Distinguishing Characteristics of Bahá’í Life.
November 30-December 1 Seminar for youth. Sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South Dade, Florida.
December 1 Deadline for receipt of materials for January issue of The American Bahá’í.
December 10 United Nations Human Rights Day.
December 12 Feast of Masá’il (Questions).
December 15-January 15 San Francisco Winter Teaching Project (article on page 14).
December 20-January 1 Winter Session, John and Louise Bosch Bahá’í School.*
December 25-29 Winter Session, Georgia/Alabama Bahá’í School.*
December 26-29 Winter Session, Oklahoma/Texas Bahá’í School.*
December 26-31 Winter Session, Green Acre Bahá’í School.*
December 26-January 1 Winter Session, Florida West Bahá’í School.*
December 27-29 Pioneer Training Institute, Wilmette, Illinois.
December 27-30 Winter Session, Southern California Bahá’í School.*
December 27-30 Winter Session, Washington West Bahá’í School.*
December 28-January 1 Winter Session, Carolinas Bahá’í School.*
December 31 Feast of Sharaf (Honor).
January 1 Deadline for receipt of materials for February issue of The American Bahá’í.
January 19 World Religion Day.
- Five Year Plan program for New York to be launched sometime in January.
*For location of Winter School sessions see page 17.
Green Lake Institute: believers show new enthusiasm[edit]
(Continued from preceding page)
because of who you are! I suspect that probably people do not say this to you frequently enough, for in these days it is very popular to criticize the people of the United States. But in the Bahá’í Cause, everything is quite different. You are the Chief Executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá chose you to be the Chief Executors and bestowed on the people of this country the capacity to accomplish it. He saw in the people of this country capacities which are now coming into expression in the work of the American Bahá’í community.
“If you have an opportunity, and I hope all of you will have, to go to an international convention or conference in some other part of the world, where you can see Bahá’ís from the whole planet, then you begin to appreciate the nature of this tremendous heritage. You appreciate how this community has shed light on the whole world. You suddenly realize that members of National Spiritual Assemblies in every part of the world probably sat in those chairs, at one time or another, where you are seated now. They have gone from this country to pioneer and serve all over the world. It is in this way, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself promised, that the people of North America, and particularly the members of this American Bahá’í community, demonstrate the heritage with which He has endowed them ...”
He called the attention of his listeners to the words of Bahá’u’lláh: “He cherishes the desire in His heart to behold all mankind as one soul in one body,” pointing out that “... the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh is designed to help humanity emerge as one human race, through the operation of its teachings and institutions. Physically mankind exists; we are all distinct from the animal world, but we do not yet identify ourselves with the whole; we think of ourselves as black, white, Muslim, Jewish, or some other fragment of the whole.
“Bahá’u’lláh wants us to come to the realization of our universal reality. This puts the Faith at odds with the whole trend of popular thinking, for in the western world it is believed that our immediate job is to solve certain social, economic, or political problems, and that unity will ultimately come, whereas Bahá’u’lláh and The Universal House of Justice assure us that the problems man faces are from the disease of disunity.
“Not until the unity of mankind is firmly established will the peace and prosperity of mankind be possible. The primary purpose of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh is to bring about the unification of mankind; indeed, that is the purpose of the individual’s life, to promote the oneness of mankind.”
Margaret Danner: “The world is searching for a manner in which to demonstrate the great good that is here,” she said. “We are here to express outgoing concern for our fellowmen, we are here to reach out to people. The Bahá’í Faith wants me to broaden my horizons, to put down the sword, to drop the militant kind of stance, and to express outgoing concern for all mankind. In doing this, I have been able to attract youth on college campuses who are not interested in any personalities but who are interested in the powers the Bahá’í Faith can give as a force for unity ...
“There is so much we can do to cause people to respect the Bahá’í Faith. When we develop our artistic ability and turn it to the expression of love and outgoing concern for mankind, we affect people.... If the artist can lift the thinking of the person next to him through a beautiful poem, or beautiful painting, or even through the illustrations in choreography, I feel that this person is doing what Bahá’u’lláh wants him to do, drawing on his talent for the enriching of all mankind.”
Art objects, such as a Senufo darkwood mask, were used by Mrs. Danner to demonstrate the beauty created by the people of Africa. To this, she added Eskimo art from Alaska and art from South America, demonstrating the creative strength of other peoples around the world.
She also shared with the friends one of her poems, “Through the Varied Patterned Lace”:
- As I look into each different face
- I am exalted.
- I am exalted to recognize His Grace,
- Shining through the varied, patterned lace.
- There’s a God’s good in every man,
- Russian, French, Italian, or American
- And glowing so in you,
- Ibo, Yoruba, Zulu, Congolese, Fan.
- I look at you and feel IT flooding me.
- Divinity must win the race. It will not be halted.
- We are all sons of one clan.
- I am exalted.
She urged all present to feel able to share in the joy of personal creativity. “I hope each of you realize that you too, from your own individual talent, from the development of your own artistic creativity, can accomplish something for Bahá’u’lláh. We can demonstrate a right way of living and let others know that true freedom can be obtained only through obeying the teachings of God. This Faith releases us from all the burdens which harass mankind. They are not our primary concern, but the building of the kingdom of God on earth is. Each person has his own way of working at this. Mine is through poetry.”
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The Hand of the Cause William Sears and Rouhieh McComb, a believer who met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His visit to this country, found time to chat amidst the beautiful Fall foliage of Green Lake, Wisconsin. |
Indian teaching committees appointed
Hundreds attend Green Lake
Special report on St. Louis publicity
