The American Bahá’í/Volume 9/Issue 3/Text
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Messages From the Guardian (EDITOR’S NOTE: We begin this month a new feature in The American Bahá’í: Messages from the beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, reprinted from the pages of Bahá’í News.) •
Dear and valued co-workers: The Divine Plan conceived by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the American Bahá’í community, in the midst of one of the darkest periods in human history, and with which the destinies of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the North American continent must for generations to come remain inextricably interwoven, has, during the concluding years of the first Bahá’í Century, triumphantly emerged from the first stage of its evolution. Its initiation, officially and on a vast scale, had, for well-nigh 20 years, been held in abeyance, while the processes of a slowly emerging Administrative Order were, under the unerring guidance of Providence, creating and perfecting the agencies for its efficient and systematic prosecution... The tasks confronting those who have so valiantly and brilliantly inaugurated the first stage in the execution of the Great Design unfolded by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the promulgation of the Faith of His Father, during this transitional period, are manifold, exacting, urgent, and sacred. The local administrative units, so laboriously constituted throughout the Americas, must needs, as already pointed out and repeatedly stressed, be maintained, reinforced, closely integrated and their number steadily multiplied. THE SPIRIT that has inflamed the pioneers who have set the seal of triumph on the Seven Year Plan must, under the vigilant care of the national representatives of the American Bahá’í community, be constantly watched, kept alive and nourished. The literature of the Faith, particularly in Spanish and Portuguese, must be widely disseminated in both Central and South America, as a necessary adjunct to the systematic consolidation of the work that has been undertaken. Above all, the healing Message of Bahá’u’lláh must, during the opening years of the second Bahá’í Century, and through the instrumentality of an already properly functioning Administrative Order, whose ramifications have been extended to the four corners of the Western Hemisphere, be vividly, systematically brought to the attention of the masses, in their hour of grief, misery and confusion. A more audacious assertion of the challenging verities of the Faith; a more convincing presentation of its distinguishing truths; a fuller exposition of the character, the aims and the achievements of its rising Administrative system as the nucleus and pattern of its future world-embracing order; a more direct and intimate contact and association with the leaders of public thought, whose activities and aims are akin to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, for the purpose of demonstrating the universality, the comprehensiveness, the liberality and the dynamic power of His Divine Message; a closer scrutiny of the ways and means whereby its claims can be vindicated, its defamers and detractors silenced, and its institutions safeguarded; a more determined effort to exploit, to the fullest extent possible, the talents See GUARDIAN, Page 2
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REJOICE ANNOUNCE INITIATION FULL-TIME BROADCASTING FIRST RADIO STATION BAHÁ’Í WORLD DECEMBER 12 IN OTAVALO, ECUADOR. HAIL VISION LABORS ASSEMBLY COMMUNITY ECUADOR IN ACHIEVING THIS MILESTONE BAHÁ’Í PROCLAMATION TEACHING DEEPENING. OFFERING PRAYERS SACRED THRESHOLD BAHÁ’Í RADIO ECUADOR WILL FULFILL ITS PROMISE AS LANDMARK CAUSE AND SERVICE PROGRESS PEOPLES LATIN AMERICA. THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
December 15, 1977 |
Lapsed Assemblies May Re-form Before Riḍván[edit]
The Universal House of Justice, in a letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies dated November 20, 1977, has disclosed that “during the last year of the Five Year Plan, i.e., from April 21, 1978, until April 20, 1979, inclusive, Local Spiritual Assemblies being established for the first time, as well as lapsed Assemblies which achieve adequate strength to regain their Assembly status, may be formed at any time during the year.
“This means that Local Assemblies formed at Riḍván 1979 will not be counted towards the fulfillment of the goals of the Five Year Plan.” (Emphasis added.)
This marks the first time that the reformation of lapsed Local Assemblies has been permitted prior to Riḍván, and is a special dispensation from the Universal House of Justice only for the final year of the Plan.
THE U.S. has a goal of forming 1,400 Local Spiritual Assemblies before Riḍván 1979. The total at the end of 1977 was 996.
“It is the hope of the Universal House of Justice,” its letter goes on to say, “that this information will enable you (the National Assemblies) to plan your teaching activities intelligently and realistically over the period of time separating us from the end of the Plan, and to intensify your efforts in order to achieve maximum results.”
The National Spiritual Assembly of the U.S., responding to the directive and aiming to assure the formation of the requisite number of Assemblies, has instructed the National Teaching Committee, through consultation with Regional and District Teaching Committees, to establish specific dates for the formation as Assemblies of every Group of five or more adults in the country that is targeted to become a Local Assembly before Riḍván 1979.
This includes Assemblies lost at Riḍván 1977; and should any Assembly be lost at Riḍván 1978, it too would be included.
TO ASSURE each Group’s readiness for
Dorothy W. Nelson (second from right) who presented the ninth annual Human Rights Awards on behalf of the Bahá’í communities in Los Angeles County at the National Conference on Human Rights hosted by the Pacific chapter of the United Nations Association in December, is shown with recipients of the awards (left to right) Dr. Yung-huo Liu, Roosevelt Grier and Jerry DeLaunay. Dr. Nelson is dean and professor of law at the University of Southern California Law Center and treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. (Story on Page 4)
Conference Inspires Persians[edit]
When the Guardian announced in 1944 that Persian believers would be allowed to settle in the U.S., seven Bahá’í students made their way thousands of miles through a war-torn world to make America their new home.
Since then, the Persian Bahá’í population in this country has grown to more than 1,400, with large concentrations in California, New York, Texas and Utah.
Recognizing the untapped talent and ability in the Persian friends living in the U.S., the National Spiritual Assembly called its first conference for Persian believers in 1976, and again December 23–25, 1977.
Both conferences were held in Farsi, the Persian language, for the benefit of the friends who have not become familiar enough with English to speak it well as yet.
MORE THAN 500 of the friends attended the second Persian Conference, held at the House of Worship in Wilmette and at the Hilton Hotel in nearby Skokie, Illinois.
Much time was spent on discussing cultural adjustment and discussing ways in which the soldiers of Bahá’u’lláh in America — no matter what their nationality — can work together to win the goals of the Five Year Plan.
The conference began in Foundation Hall at the House of Worship on Friday evening with the friends enjoying the rare privilege of hearing a tape recording of the Master chanting three prayers.
During the same session they were greeted on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly by its secretary, Glenford E. Mitchell, and on behalf of the Continental Board of Counsellors by Counsellor Edna True.
IT WAS announced Friday evening that the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran has appealed to the National Spiritual Assembly of the U.S. to assist Persian students in this country to become administrators of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, so that on their return to Irán they can help in building the administration there.
In response to a request made during last year’s Persian conference for literature in Persian to be made available in this country, the National Spiritual Assembly of the U.S. has gained permission from the National Spiritual Assembly of Irán to publish a collection of the Master’s prayers in Persian. The book was shown for the first time at the conference and is available from the Bahá’í Publishing Trust for $4 (hardback) and $2.25 (paperback).
Hearty applause accompanied an announcement that the Persian conference will be an annual event held at a different...
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Conference at Austin ‘Something Special’[edit]
“If you missed this one, you really missed something special.”
That’s how the Austin, Texas, Bahá’í Newsletter summarized the conference held November 5–6 in Austin sponsored by the Continental Board of Counsellors for North America.
More than 400 Bahá’ís from throughout the state gathered for this exciting Auxiliary Board team conference in Texas’ capital city.
The host Assembly of Austin did an outstanding job in securing the ballroom of the historic Texas Driskill Hotel, in planning classes for children, and in sending invitations to every believer in the state. The conference chairman even went so far as to credit the Austin Assembly for the superb sunny weather that brightened each conference day.
THE EXCITEMENT and anticipation, building for weeks before the event, overflowed when news came that the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears would attend — his first visit to the city of Austin. Mr. Sears’ loving exhortations, his infectious humor, and his challenge to Texas Bahá’ís to vie with the specially chosen states in winning the goals of the Five Year Plan touched the hearts deeply.
Counsellor Velma Sherrill, speaking on “The Foundation of Our Faith,” brought increased knowledge and gratitude for the deep, powerful roots of the Faith.
A cable from the International Teaching Centre, read by Mrs. Sherrill, assured the friends of its interest and “ardent prayers for the success” of the conference that was planned by Auxiliary Board members Eunice Braun and Hormoz Bastani.
Mrs. Braun spoke on the development of the interrelated institutions of the Hands of the Cause, International Teaching Centre, and Boards of Counsellors, and particularly on the functioning of the Auxiliary Board members and their assistants with respect to the “grassroots” of the Bahá’í community.
SEVEN assistants to Auxiliary Board members were introduced. This was followed by a spirited discussion period.
A most moving feature of the conference was a presentation on the Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá by Auxiliary Board member D. Thelma Jackson.
After she had traced the origin and development of the Divine Plan, those present saw the Bahá’í history of Texas come to life before their eyes in a portrayal called “The Rise of the Stars of Texas.”
The “stars,” the Local Spiritual Assemblies formed during the first and second Seven Year Plans and the Ten Year World Crusade, began to come out one by one: Houston (1943), San Antonio (1948), and Dallas (1948).
Believers who had helped form the Assemblies, some now well into their 80’s, came forward to share their memories, moving everyone present to give them a standing ovation.
AMONG THE believers who appeared were Mary Rublee and Mary Ellyn Crocker (San Antonio), Edward Gray (Houston), and Oscar Nygren (Dallas).
Thelma Jackson, herself a member of the first Spiritual Assembly of San Antonio, and a member of the Area Teaching Committee in Texas for more than 10 years, drew from her own rich store of Texas Bahá’í memories as she lovingly presented each of the special guests.
Others honored for their work in earlier days in Texas were Cliff and Marjorie Heath and Pat Sheppard (San Antonio); Leo and Allene Squires and Robert and Betty Hopkins (Dallas); and Gordon and Nancy Dobbins, pioneers to Texas during the World Crusade who helped form the first Texas Assembly of the Ten Year Plan, Ft. Worth.
They were joined onstage by Raul Walls, the second Mexican-American believer in the state, and Catherine Gent (now of Austin) who represented the first Spiritual Assembly of Galveston, also formed during the Crusade. Two Knights of Bahá’u’lláh also were present at the conference.
SPECIAL attention was focused on Austin where the first Texas Bahá’í, Anna Reinke, resided. The Hand of the Cause Louis Gregory, an early traveling teacher in Texas, was one of those who taught her the Faith.
Those early days in Texas were vividly highlighted by the reading of a letter written by the Hand of the Cause Martha Root and mailed from Austin on November 21, 1921, after she had spent six days in the city on her way to Mexico.
With Anna Reinke’s help, Martha spoke to hundreds of people about the Faith — in churches, schools, university classes. She also wrote two feature articles for the Sunday paper that drew crowds to a Sunday evening public meeting.
Martha and Anna crowned their brief days together by making a long and difficult journey into the Texas hill country, Anna’s former ranch home, to attend a cowboy dance. Here Martha spoke on the Faith to more than a hundred cowboys.
REFERRING to Anna, the cowboys said: “She has more friends than anybody else in Texas. She is always going around happy, rain or shine.”
Replied Anna: “It’s my religion, boys.”
Concerning the cowboys, Martha Root wrote: “Texas cowboys ought to get the Bahá’í Message, for nothing would scare them in going around the roughest western trails!”
On Sunday morning, John Conkling, secretary of the National Teaching Committee, shared current victories and plans for the country in his talk, “Today and Tomorrow in America.”
The District Teaching Committees of East 1, East 2, Central and South Texas then shared the same in more detail for each of their districts. Bahá’ís from other Texas districts not included in the above areas served by the two Auxiliary Board members at the conference had been invited to join in what became a grand homecoming for the entire state.
Top left: The Hand of the Cause William Sears greets the more than 400 Bahá’ís at the Texas Conference in Austin. Top right: Auxiliary Board members Hormoz Bastani and Mrs. Eunice Braun with Counsellor Velma Sherrill (right) during an audience discussion. Lower right: A few of the 67 children who were present at the conference. Above: Bahá’ís who helped form Local Spiritual Assemblies in Texas during the first and second Seven Year Plans and Ten Year Crusade are introduced. In the front row (left to right) are Cliff Heath, Marjorie Heath, Leo Squires, Mary Ellyn Crocker, Mary Rublee, Allene Squires, Auxiliary Board member D. Thelma Jackson, Edward Gray, Howard Menking (Knight of Bahá’u’lláh to the Cape Verde Islands). Back row (left to right) are Gordon Dobbins, Nancy Dobbins, Robert Hopkins, Raul Walls, Oscar Nygren.
MR. BASTANI, Auxiliary Board member for propagation, spoke on “Raising the Divine Call,” emphasizing that the need for every Bahá’í to teach is inherent in the Faith itself. Audience participation followed these presentations on teaching.
There were lovely musical interludes throughout the conference, and a long Saturday night supper recess to allow time for renewing old friendships.
The close of the conference came all too quickly, and with it a stirring call to each believer from Mr. Sears to “arise” and win his share of victories in the Five Year Plan.
In opening the conference, Mrs. Braun had reminded the friends that it was being convened only 20 years and one day after the passing of the beloved Guardian in the midst of the World Crusade, and suggested that the conference be dedicated to the memory of Shoghi Effendi.
Now, at the close, it seemed that there had indeed been a special spirit pervading the gathering. “It began on a high level,” as one Bahá’í put it, “and ended on a higher one.”
In a letter to the Counsellors after the conference, another Texas believer summed up what was felt by many:
“It is my firm belief that the energies released from this conference, unprecedented in the history of the Faith in Texas, will enable and empower the friends to arise with renewed fervor and dedication to win the victory for Bahá’u’lláh here in Texas ... the Lions of the Covenant in Texas have been aroused, and the sound of their roaring will be heard across the nation!”
Shown here are believers who attended the Pioneer Training Institute January 5–8 at the Bahá’í National Center in Wilmette, Illinois. The 18 believers who attended the Institute are bound for pioneer posts in Africa, Bolivia, Brazil, Denmark, the Falkland Islands, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Peru and Samoa.
Guardian[edit]
Continued From Page 1
and abilities of the rank and file of the believers for the purpose of achieving these ends—these stand out as the paramount tasks summoning to a challenge, during these years of transition and turmoil, the entire body of the American believers.
The facilities which the radio and press furnish must be utilized to a degree unprecedented in American Bahá’í history. The combined resources of the much-envied, exemplary American Bahá’í community must be harnessed for the effectual promotion of these meritorious purposes. Blessings undreamt of in their scope and plenteousness are bound to be vouchsafed to those who will, in these dark yet pregnant times, arise to further these noble ends and to hasten through their acts the hour at which a still more momentous stage in the evolution of a Divine and worldwide Plan can be launched.
There is no time to lose. The hour is ripe for the proclamation, without fear, without reserve, and without hesitation, and on a scale never as yet undertaken, of the one Message that can alone extricate humanity from the morass into which it is steadily sinking, and from which they who claim to be the followers of the Most Great Name can and will eventually rescue it. The sooner they who labor for the recognition and triumph of His Faith in the new world arise to carry out these inescapable duties, the sooner will the hopes, the aims and objectives of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as enshrined in His own Plan, be translated from the realm of vision to the plane of actuality and manifest the full force of the potentialities with which they have been endued.
Haifa, Palestine
March 29, 1945
Receipt to Speed Work In Treasurer’s Office[edit]
The Office of the Treasurer has started issuing new receipts for contributions to the National Fund. The decision to develop a new receipt was made to save money, according to accountant Tom Duffy.
He explained that the Treasurer’s Office receives more than 3,000 separate contributions every Bahá’í month. These contributions come from individuals, Assemblies, and Groups. Nearly half of the contributions come in without a “return receipt” — that part of the receipt which gives the contributor’s name and identification number.
“Without the return receipt, we cannot be sure that the contributor is a Bahá’í. Even if it is mailed in a Fund envelope, we cannot assume that it came from a Bahá’í,” Mr. Duffy said.
MORE THAN 500 contributions must be hand-checked every week.
“That takes a lot of time,” he indicated. “It is a very slow process. First, we have to sort and alphabetize every contribution. After that, we must look up each name in the records to verify that the contributor is a Bahá’í in good standing.”
He added that handling a contribution in this way takes three times as long as handling a contribution that comes with a return receipt.
Last fall, a new receipt “packet” was developed. The receipts are very similar to the old receipts, but they are now in a self-contained form.
One new feature is that the information necessary to process a contribution will now be printed on the Fund envelope as well as the return receipt. This way, if an individual forgets to include the return portion, the Treasurer’s Office will still know that it is a Bahá’í contribution.
ANOTHER cost-reducing feature of the new receipt is that it is easier to mail. Under the old system, it took about four hours a week to get the receipts ready for mailing.
Now, the packets are ready to be mailed as soon as they are printed.
Steve Brisley sorts some of the contributions to the National Bahá’í Fund received daily at the Office of the Treasurer in Evanston, Illinois.
“The Universal House of Justice is constantly encouraging the National Assemblies to use care and economy,” Mr. Duffy stated. “The new receipt system will greatly reduce the time spent sorting, alphabetizing, verifying, and mailing.”
He estimated that the National Spiritual Assembly will be saving the equivalent of one full-time staff position.
“Nothing makes us happier than saving money for the Fund,” he added, “and individual contributors can help save money by making certain to send in a return receipt with every contribution.”
Material Wealth, Spiritual Growth Are Related[edit]
(Remarks of Mrs. Mamie Seto, taken from the Bahá’í National Convention Record, 1949.)
You may be surprised to know that money and finances are connected with spiritual growth. In the past, we associated poverty with spirituality and we still cling to this idea. But Bahá’u’lláh has come to free the world of poverty, and help us to understand the true value of material things.
Bahá’u’lláh said man has two powers. One power is connected with the material world; with it comes material advancement. The other power is spiritual; through its development our inner nature is awakened. These powers are also like two wings of a bird. Both wings must be developed, for flight is impossible with one alone.
Shoghi Effendi restated this great truth when he first became our Guardian. He told us why we must have financial assistance when he said, “...the progress and extension of spiritual activities is dependent and conditioned upon material means...”
That is a tremendous statement. It is a fundamental truth regarding life. There is no separation of material things from spiritual things because oneness is the order of creation. Our spirit cannot function on this plane without a material body; it is the only way that our spiritual qualities are known.
THERE ARE few talents that can be expressed without the medium of material things. For example, you would not believe a man if he said, “I am an artist,” but could offer no proof. Through the medium of crayons and oils and paints, he demonstrates his spiritual talent. Through his control of material things, he expresses spiritual realities; the unseen is made known by the seen.
In the Bahá’í Faith, the progress of spiritual activities is also dependent upon material means.
The moment we form an Assembly, the first thing we do is establish a Local Fund. The Guardian said, “...it becomes the sacred obligation of every conscientious faithful servant of Bahá’u’lláh who desires to see His Cause advance to contribute freely and generously for the increase of that Fund.”
He further stated, “The National Fund is the foundation on which all other institutions must necessarily rest and be established.”
According to the Guardian, the supply of funds in support of the National Treasury constitutes the “lifeblood” of those national institutions which we are laboring to erect.
HIS ANALOGY is perfect. Can any man live who is anemic? What does pernicious anemia do to us? Death. A lack of funds is death to our Cause.
The Guardian promised that he would pray for us at the three Holy Shrines. What for? That the Bahá’ís should attend the Nineteen Day Feasts? That they should say their obligatory prayers?
No. He prayed for our prosperity, so that we would have money to support the Cause of God. I think this will help us to eliminate our notion of the glory of poverty. There is no glory in it; it is a limitation. We cannot move without financial organization.
In His Will and Testament, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said that the greatest gift of God is the gift of teaching. It draws unto us the Grace of God and is our first obligation. Of such a gift, how can we deprive ourselves? Our lives, our goods, our comforts, our rest, we offer them all as a sacrifice for the duty and privilege of teaching the Cause of God.
WHEN WE entered into the Covenant, we agreed to support the religion of God. Will that harm us? No, because the law of life is the law of giving.
Bahá’u’lláh says He will doubly repay the generous one. Are we to doubt the words of God? It is our duty to proceed upon the promises of God.
The last phase of any enterprise or any endeavor is the determining phase, not the beginning. Every one of us starts fresh, strong and enthusiastic in the beginning, but it is the last lap of a race that determines the winner.
We are coming now to the final work of our Plan. We naturally get tired. But there is a saying, “A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits.” So, here we are, on the last phase, and we are apt to be tired. But with the help of God, can we doubt that we can go forward?
The Bahá’í community of San Luis Obispo, California, Judicial District No. 4 observed World Religion Day January 15 with a public meeting at the Filipino Community Center. Among the 50 people who attended were 18 non-Bahá’ís. Here the Prayer for Mankind is read by Dr. Anneliese Mayer-Harnisch as her husband, Dr. Guenther Mayer-Harnisch, who chaired the meeting, waits to introduce the speaker, Dr. Alfred Neumann, an associate professor at UCLA. The meeting was enhanced by lovely guitar renditions of folk songs from around the world by Chris Scarbrough.
Letters to Treasurer
‘Service Contributions’ Boost Community’s Fund Donations[edit]
Dear Bahá’í Friends:
In response to a call for consultation on the Fund, our community came up with the idea of “service contributions.” Whenever a member of the community needs a service another friend can provide, the two consult and agree on an arrangement. When the work is done, part (or all) of the fee is contributed to the Fund in the name of the one who provides the service.
This has been done in our community for auto repairs, plant watering while on vacation, baby-sitting, rides to the airport, typing and other favors.
Our community has earned over $150 in this manner since the plan was implemented. We thought we would like to share this idea with other communities.
Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís
of Bergenfield, New Jersey
Dear Bahá’í Friends:
Happy Ayyám-i-Há! In this time of hospitality and the giving of presents, I have decided to cease procrastinating and contribute to the National Fund.
I suppose that for many of us it is “inconvenience” which prevents the first step. Contributing regularly to the Fund is not an easy habit to acquire, but at the same time, it has given me satisfaction in fulfilling this privilege and responsibility.
The increased number of individuals giving to the National Fund is encouraging, but it represents only a small part of the potential of the American Bahá’í community. The situation reminds me of our current energy shortage. We receive huge amounts of energy every day from the sun, but only an infinitesimal portion is harnessed for use.
Were the full potential of the American believers to be realized, there would be sufficient energy to win all of our Five Year Plan goals. We must, however, take the first step. It is not hard!
East Lansing, Michigan
Dear Bahá’í Friends:
Last year we sent an extra contribution to the National Fund. It represented the money we saved during the Fast because we didn’t eat lunch. One thing we have learned is that we fast because of our love for Bahá’u’lláh. Other reasons, whether related to physical health or to abstinence from worldly desire, are secondary to this love and arise from our all-consuming love for the Beloved.
We hope that the friends will all realize that giving to the Fund is also done out of love for Bahá’u’lláh, not simply because we need money for buildings or projects. The edifices are simply the visual embodiment of our love, a love that motivates our contributions.
Madison, Wisconsin
Panama Conference Mirrors Radio, TV Advances[edit]
One hundred twenty-five delegates representing 24 National Spiritual Assemblies gathered in Panama City, Panama, December 22–27 for the second Hemispheric Bahá’í Radio and Television Conference.
Delegates from the U.S. were Auxiliary Board member Nathan Rutstein, a former U.S. television news producer; Michael Stokes, director of the Audio-Visual Department at the Bahá’í National Center; and Dr. James Theroux of the School of International Education at the University of Massachusetts.
The conferees exchanged ideas about program design, production techniques, scriptwriting, the use of music in broadcasting, and other aspects of radio and television usage.
AMONG THE U.S. contributions at the conference was a talk by Mr. Stokes on the Management by Objective (MBO) system of planning that focuses on desired results rather than production mechanics.
Some U.S. pioneers to Latin America said they had left the country fully intending to use MBO planning, but had become wrapped up in the enthusiasm of producing, letting the effectiveness of their programs lapse into a secondary consideration.
After hearing the ideas of Latin American delegates, and seeing samples of their productions, Mr. Stokes observed, “It was important for North Americans to see how the media is used in Latin America. Their programs have an empathy and a warmth, reflective of their culture, that are a lesson for us all.”
Mr. Rutstein said “the use of media in Latin America is so active and so widespread that it will set the pace for the rest of the Bahá’í world.”
THE “PACE” referred to was exemplified by reports at the conference that:
- A television station in Peru broadcast The Green Light Expedition, complete with promotions, in a prime time slot on a Sunday.
- Costa Rican Bahá’ís own a studio where weekly Bahá’í radio programs are produced.
- Bolivians consider their 15-minute daily radio broadcast a necessary adjunct to itinerant teaching. In fact, traveling teachers recently met a man who was ready to become a Bahá’í, having been taught the Faith via radio. Bolivians have a 240-hour backlog of programs.
- The Bahá’ís of Paraguay estimate that less than one percent of the population knew about the Faith prior to radio programs that are now broadcast in six cities.
- In Colombia, pioneer Anne Miller coached indigenous believers to announce radio spots in their own languages.
- Colombia, Jamaica and Peru have regular Bahá’í programs.
MR. STOKES reported to the conference that many U.S. communities cooperate with local radio and television stations for interviews and spot announcements. Mr. Stokes played a sample of the Jeff Reynolds radio program for the delegates.
With a solid base of activities to work from, the delegates were able to formulate media plans.
Perhaps the most far-reaching involve CIRBAL (Center for Bahá’í Radio Interchange of Latin America), a media collection center for the Americas in El Salvador.
CIRBAL collects mostly Spanish-language radio and television programs—but also some in French and English—as they are produced by individual National Spiritual Assemblies, and makes them available to other countries. The U.S. has contributed several scripts to CIRBAL.
THE DELEGATES felt the time has come for three-year-old CIRBAL to take on program production. They plan to ask the Universal House of Justice to consider expanding the support and staff of CIRBAL.
CIRBAL also is involved in a second media plan that sprang from the conference. Barbara Joyce, an American pioneer to St. Martin in the Leeward Islands, volunteered to make a series of Spanish-language television programs, the topics and coordination of which will be handled by CIRBAL.
Mrs. Joyce also was the recipient of an award at the conference for her production of 15-minute television programs that are seen as far away as Samoa.
Another plan of the delegates is to send information to CIRBAL about television production in their home countries.
A SYSTEM will be devised to allow media professionals and educators to assist Bahá’í Radio in Ecuador to develop its listening center/tutorial schools.
The Continental Board of Counsellors will arrange a series of regional conferences, to be held during the coming year, on the use of music in media.
The delegates, meanwhile, plan to produce and share with one another prepackaged opening and closing themes and musical bridges (connecting themes) for programs.
A highlight of the conference was a documentary film about the first Bahá’í radio station in the world, Bahá’í Radio in Otavalo, Ecuador (see Bahá’í News, March 1978). The delegates were so moved as the film ended that they broke into a spontaneous refrain of “Alláh-u-Abhá.”
It was announced that the next Hemispheric Bahá’í Radio and Television Conference will be longer to devote more time to television production, but not less to radio programming. The time and place of the conference will be announced later.
Members of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina are shown following the Assembly’s Recognition Ceremony in December. Left to right are Charles Lossiah, Mrs. Sarah Martin, Mrs. Minnie Feather, Lloyd Wolfe, Mrs. Linda Wolfe, Melvin Abercrombie, Mrs. Ida Abercrombie, Mrs. Willa Snyder, Peter Snyder.
Bahamas Teaching Quickens[edit]
A new spirit of enthusiasm and cohesiveness is reported in the Bahamas, scheduled to form their first National Spiritual Assembly in May.
In November, the fifth Local Spiritual Assembly in the islands was formed at West New Providence. The islands of Eleuthera and Andros, neither of which was opened at the outset of the Five Year Plan, now have active Groups of seven and five members respectively, and each expects soon to have a Local Assembly.
The first National Teaching Institute was held the weekend of January 14–15 at the national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds. Auxiliary Board member William Tucker of North Carolina participated in the meeting which was attended by two of the new believers from the island of Abaco and another from Andros.
The institute was sponsored by the Bahá’í Teaching Committee for the Bahamas.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahamas, one of six to be formed this year, will be elected at the first National Convention of the Bahamas May 19–21.
Other National Spiritual Assemblies to form this year are Burundi and Mauritania in Africa, Oman and Qatar in Asia, and the Mariana Islands in the Pacific.
L.A. Bahá’ís Present Human Rights Awards[edit]
The Bahá’í communities in Los Angeles County presented their ninth annual Human Rights Awards December 10 at the National Conference on Human Rights hosted by the Pacific chapter of the United Nations Association.
The Bahá’í awards for 1977 went to Roosevelt Grier, former all-pro tackle for the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams, for his work with inner-city youth; to Dr. Yung-huo Liu for her work with the Older Persons’ Information and Counseling Association (OPICA); and to Jerry DeLaunay for his broadcasting school for the handicapped.
Among those present at the awards luncheon were Tom Bradley, mayor of Los Angeles; Mark L. Schneider, deputy assistant secretary for human rights at the U.S. State Department; Harlan Cleveland, director of the Aspen Institute Program in International Affairs and former U.S. ambassador to NATO; and hundreds of other dignitaries, United Nations Association members, Bahá’ís and their friends.
THE BAHÁ’ÍS were invited by the Pacific chapter of the United Nations Association to present the awards at its conference.
The awards luncheon began with an address by Mayor Bradley, who mentioned the Bahá’í Faith favorably, and addresses by Mr. Schneider and Ambassador Cleveland. Afterward, the program was turned over to the Bahá’í representatives.
The awards were presented by Dorothy W. Nelson, dean and professor of law at the University of Southern California Law Center and treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the U.S.
Before the presentations, Dean Nelson addressed the group of around 250, explaining the Bahá’í position on human rights as proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh.
The Bahá’í presence was felt during the entire conference, as several Bahá’ís participated. The United Nations Liaison Committee of the Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles helped organize the conference and was deeply involved in every aspect of conference planning.
THE OFFICIAL conference brochure mentioned the Faith in several places including a full-page ad taken out by Twin Trumpets Productions, a Bahá’í-owned company. Bahá’í entertainers Jim Seals and Dash Crofts donated their musical talents to the United Nations Association for its annual dinner.
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Secretariat Seeks Administrator The Bahá’í National Center is seeking a qualified personnel administrator to work fulltime at the Center. The position requires considerable experience and strong managerial skills. If you are qualified for such a position and are willing and able to serve at the Bahá’í National Center, please send a resumé to the National Spiritual Assembly, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091. |
The Pacific chapter of the UN Association was so taken by the idea of a Human Rights Award that its members decided to give one of their own. The first annual Eleanor Roosevelt Award went to Sen. Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota who died of cancer nearly a month after the award ceremony. Congratulations to Sen. Humphrey on winning the award were sent by Bahá’í communities in the Los Angeles area and by the National Spiritual Assembly.
The Eleanor Roosevelt Award was presented at the conference dinner banquet in which Bahá’ís also played a prominent role.
Mrs. Lisa Janti, chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles, acted as the special representative of Mayor Bradley and presented the award to Sen. Humphrey’s sister, who accepted on his behalf. The senator’s illness prevented his attending.
Western North Carolina
Local Assembly at Cherokee Holds Recognition Ceremony[edit]
More than 80 people including 35 non-Bahá’ís were present at the Qualla Civic Center in western North Carolina on Sunday, December 11, for the Recognition Ceremony of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Cherokee Indian Reservation.
The formation last November 10 of the Assembly at Cherokee was the 25th on Indian Reservations in the U.S., thus winning the first homefront victory of the Five Year Plan.
The ceremony included tributes from Auxiliary Board member William Tucker of Asheville, N.C., and Charles Lossiah, chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Cherokee, to Ethel Murray who pioneered to the Reservation in 1954 at the age of 68 and remained for more than 17 years before she was hurt in a fall and forced to leave Cherokee in 1970. Mrs. Murray died in 1972.
DAN REIMER of Asheville presented the new Assembly with a gift on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly. Other gifts were presented by representatives of the Western North Carolina District Teaching Committee and the Local Spiritual Assemblies of Boone, Watauga County and Asheville.
Mr. Lossiah spoke for the Assembly in expressing gratitude for the gifts.
The ceremony was opened with the serving of traditional Indian fare consisting of fry bread topped with pinto beans, on which was heaped lettuce and tomatoes, cheese and onions.
Following the formal ceremonies, the film, “The Sands of Time”, about the presentation by the Bahá’ís of a towering statue of the great Chief Sequoyah to the Cherokee Indian Nation, was shown.
A WEEK later, the same film was shown to the entire student body at Cherokee High School. In addition, a member of the Assembly at Cherokee was asked to present morning devotions via an intercom system to the students for the week in which the film was shown. Paris Talks and Foundations of World Unity were used as sources for the devotional material, and the week was ended with Bahá’u’lláh’s prayer for all mankind.
The response was quite favorable, and the Bahá’ís have been asked to present classes at the school on other religions as well.
Youth Co-Host Rights Day Concert[edit]
About 400 people, more than half of whom were seekers, attended a concert December 10 sponsored by the Chabot College Bahá’í Club and the Hayward, California, Bahá’í community. The event celebrated United Nations Human Rights Day. Mrs. Hanson, the U.S. official for human rights, was invited.
The event was well-publicized on the Chabot College campus and in many cities in the Bay Area. As an added bonus, the mayor of Hayward was having a Christmas party in a building behind the concert hall, so many Hayward city officials saw signs for the Bahá’í Faith.
Two members of the Hedzoleh Sounds, the band that played for the concert, showed interest in joining the Faith. Several visitors also inquired about the Bahá’í Faith, so Kenton Allen, assistant to the Auxiliary Board, gave a 10-minute talk.
Meanwhile, in western New York state, another group of youths was busy with projects for Human Rights Day. The Local Youth Club of Western New York designed and built a display that was placed in the lobby of the student union at Cornell University on December 10. Hundreds of people saw the display, many stopping to take pamphlets.
The club also arranged for Robert J. Wagner, commissioner of social services for Tompkins County, to be interviewed by a Bahá’í on the subject of economic prejudice.
This 15-minute talk was aired with no cost on public access television on December 8. The interview made the public aware of Human Rights Day and the fact that “prejudice is not just a black-and-white issue.”
The club contemplates more such television discussions in the future.
Top photo: Bahá’í youth in western New York state work on United Nations Human Rights Day display Bottom photo: The completed display stands in the lobby of the student union building at Cornell University, Ithaca.
VANGUARD[edit]
Youth Corner[edit]
The Bahá’ís are looking to the youth to be the vanguard of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Through their distinctive qualities youth can, in the words of the Universal House of Justice, “become the spearhead of any enterprise and the driving force of any undertaking in which they participate.”
This section of The American Bahá’í is devoted to the particular concerns, questions, and activities of Bahá’í youth in the United States. Each month we will highlight projects, make suggestions, try to answer questions, and provide up-to-date reports on the progress of the Two Year Youth Program.
We hope that you will respond by keeping us informed and giving the National Youth Committee your personal feedback. This column will replace The Ubiquitist (the college club newsletter) and Youth Express (the youth club newsletter) which have been discontinued.
So let us hear from you, who are to become the “saints, heroes, martyrs and administrators of future years”!
Ten Youth at National Center For Winter Work-Study Tour[edit]
Ten youth from seven states participated in the annual winter Youth Work/Study Project December 25–January 6 at the Bahá’í National Center.
They assisted National Center staff in many departments: Membership and Records, International Goals Committee Office, Archives, the Secretariat, National Information Committee Office, the Treasurer’s Office, the Publishing Trust and others.
They met with National Spiritual Assembly Secretary Glenford Mitchell and Assistant Secretary Soo Fouts, and with Auxiliary Board members Javidukht Khadem and D. Thelma Jackson.
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What is happening in Wilmette? How do things work at the National Center? What is it like to work in the shadow of the Mother Temple of the West? Find out! Work and study at the Bahá’í National Center and enjoy an experience you will never forget. If you are a youth interested in participating in this project, scheduled for July 9 to July 21, write or call the Bahá’í National Youth Committee now. Letters may be addressed to 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091. There are also plans for a summer grounds and gardens project to begin July 24, 1978. Contact the Youth Committee for further details. |
The youth also attended the opening of the Pioneer Training Institute, where Dr. Daniel Jordan, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly, was the guest speaker.
Douglas Ruhe, former director of the Audio-Visual Department at the National Center, spoke to the youth about “A Complete Education.”
The youth projecteers attended the Feast of Sharaf on December 30 in Prospect Heights, where a new Local Spiritual Assembly recently was formed.
Dr. David Clayborne, secretary of the National Youth Committee, told the youth in their orientation session that the widespread apathy in the country “provides an ideal time for Bahá’ís to take the leadership reins of various organizations and fill the vacuum of inactivity.”
The youth projecteers were: Pirooz Aghssa (Illinois); Ken Bowers (Georgia); Ben Chi (New York); Robin Kelly (Wisconsin); Sohaila and Saeed Nekueey (Virginia); Reiko and Naomi Power (Ohio); Laura Randolph (Michigan); and Lori Vahid-Tehrani (Illinois).
Coast Youth Eye Goals[edit]
Some 250 youth from several West Coast states met December 27–29 at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California, for the Western States Bahá’í Youth Conference sponsored by the California Regional Teaching Committee.
The main topics for consideration at the conference were the goals of the Five Year Plan and Two Year Youth Program and ways in which youth can be mobilized to help achieve them.
Conference participants included National Spiritual Assembly member Richard Betts, National Bahá’í Youth Committee members Farid Ghalili and Wendy Suhm, and entertainer John Ford Coley.
During the final conference session Mr. Betts answered questions about the National Assembly and Administrative Order, and gave a brief talk on the role of Bahá’í youth.
In addition to lectures, the conference featured group discussions, workshops, a “Goals Fair” with booths ranging from traveling teaching and jeopardized Assemblies to youth teams and summer projects, and entertainment by the musical group “Talisman” and other talented Bahá’ís from the West Coast area.
Group discussions centered on the role of youth in the Cause, the goals of the Five Year Plan and Youth Program, and ways in which youth can strive on a day-to-day basis to help win them.
The youth also discussed who they are, how they believe others perceive them, what they like about being a Bahá’í, what is most difficult about being a Bahá’í, dating, chastity, and other subjects.
New Cassette Highlights 4th Youth Conference[edit]
The Time Is Now cassette program captures the highlights of the 4th Bahá’í National Youth Conference held June 29–July 3 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
The message to the youth from the Universal House of Justice is featured on the tape, as are talks by the Hands of the Cause of God ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan, Zikrullah Khadem and William Sears.
The Time Is Now contains excerpts from talks on marriage, family life and career planning, and challenges Bahá’í youth to follow the highest standards as they prepare for lives of service to humanity.
Order the cassette for $4.25 through your community librarian or from the Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 415 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
Don’t let your youthful opinion get lost in the crowd.
S.C. Believers Map ‘1,000 Plus 80’ Campaign[edit]
Nearly 300 believers from throughout South Carolina gathered Sunday, January 15, at the YWCA in Columbia to plan the state’s teaching strategy for the remaining months of the Five Year Plan.
The goal in South Carolina is “1,000 plus 80” — 1,000 active believers plus 80 Local Spiritual Assemblies — before Riḍván 1979.
A statewide plan geared toward reaching that goal was outlined by Trudy White, secretary of the South Carolina Regional Teaching Committee.
ALSO PRESENT at the conference were Auxiliary Board member Elizabeth Martin of Winnsboro and her assistants; National Teaching Committee members Fereydoun Jalali and Larry Miller, and members of District Teaching Committees and Local Assemblies in every area of the state.
Nearly 100 youth attended the conference along with many native South Carolina Bahá’ís.
They heard Mrs. White present a plan in which a minimum of four teaching activities are to be held every other week in each of the state’s eight districts. These programs will be coordinated and implemented by the District Teaching Committees.
The plan was launched January 29 with teaching events scheduled to continue on a regular basis through April 1, 1979.
SOUTH CAROLINA presently has 43 Local Spiritual Assemblies.
Mr. Jalali and Mr. Miller read the Universal House of Justice’s message of November 20 in which it says lapsed Assemblies may be formed at any time during the final year of the Plan, and explained the National Spiritual Assembly’s decision to implement the directive by having formation dates assigned to each Group that is targeted for Assembly status during that year.
The National Teaching Committee representatives stressed the urgency of increasing the teaching efforts, and reported the National Spiritual Assembly’s decision to devote a part of its meeting time to teaching, and its directive that every committee under its aegis do the same.
They urged District Teaching Committees to set aside some time for teaching during their meetings. The administrators of the Cause, they said, must set a teaching example for the friends to follow.
Also discussed were the criteria for Assembly formation as outlined in Guidelines for the Local Spiritual Assembly, and they pointed out that while it is not mandatory that a pre-formation seminar be held, it certainly is desirable and helpful to do so.
Mr. Jalali and Mr. Miller also covered the twin processes of declaration and enrollment, clarifying for the friends the use of the new Seeker Interest Cards in teaching, and conveyed on behalf of the National Assembly its re-emphasis of the importance of direct “one-to-one” teaching, whether this be in the streets, parks, or elsewhere, in conjunction with a strong program of firesides, proclamations, etc.
Mrs. White said she was greatly pleased by the large attendance at the conference, especially by the presence of so many indigenous believers.
Training Institute Outlines Procedures for Archivists[edit]
Five Bahá’ís attended an archives training institute in Wilmette on December 22–26. They were Don Ewalt (Missouri); Robert Hart Sr. (California); Charleen Maghzi (California); Ed Rousculp (Ohio), and Linda Wahid (Idaho).
National Center archivist Roger Dahl said the archives training institute, which will probably be held annually, has two purposes: to provide training for part-time local community archivists, and to train Bahá’ís who may work in the National Archives in the future.
This particular workshop focused on manuscript collections. The participants each processed a collection, first recording where it is stored, then arranging the papers in a way conducive to research, and managing a card catalog and inventory list.
Mr. Hart, who is the archivist of the Riverside, California, Bahá’í community, said, “The archivist doesn’t know what is going to be historically important, so he collects everything. The Local Assembly will usually determine the research limits on a collection.”
Mr. Rousculp, who will work with the Bahá’í archives of Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, thinks the archives “will be great resources of information for university students of the future who want to do papers on the Faith.”
The training institute touched briefly on the restoration of damaged documents and the use of God Passes By, Bahá’í World, and “In Memoriam” articles as reference tools.
Mr. Dahl said a set of national criteria for local Bahá’í archivists will soon be published.
Traveling Teachers Needed[edit]
With little more than a year remaining in the Five Year Plan, several countries haven’t yet had traveling teachers from the U.S. visit them during the Plan. These include:
Africa—Ethiopia (English-speaking).
Asia—Khmer Republic (Cambodia) (French-speaking).
Australasia—South West Pacific Ocean (English-speaking).
Several other countries have had traveling teachers, but need more to fill the U.S. goals:
Africa—Cameroon Republic (French- and English-speaking), Ghana (English-speaking), Lesotho (English-speaking), Liberia (English-speaking), Zaire.
America—Chile (Spanish-speaking), Paraguay (Spanish-speaking), Uruguay (Spanish-speaking).
If you are able to undertake a traveling teaching trip, or can deputize a traveling teacher, please write to the International Goals Committee, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
The Bahá’ís of Boca Raton, Florida, had a display booth September 8–10 at a business and industrial fair in that city. An estimated 20,000 people visited the three-day fair.
Danny Deardorff, a Bahá’í from San Fernando, California, who is a professional singer and songwriter, meets First Lady Rosalynn Carter during last year’s Conference for Equal Rights for the Handicapped in Washington, D.C. Danny and his partner, Marc Joseph, performed at the conference. Their performance began with a Bahá’í prayer and brief introduction to the Faith, with their remarks repeated in sign language for the deaf.
National Assemblies May Consult at Convention[edit]
The Universal House of Justice has arranged the program at the fourth International Bahá’í Convention to provide free time for consultations between National Spiritual Assemblies when topics of mutual interest, such as having inter-Assembly collaborative projects, could be discussed.
Already, the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly has accepted a request for consultation from the National Spiritual Assembly of Belgium. The U.S. National Assembly also has asked for meetings with the National Assemblies of Irán, Hawaii and Mexico.
A meeting of the Persian and U.S. National Assemblies would offer a unique opportunity for consultation between the administrative bodies in the cradle of the Faith and the cradle of its Administrative Order.
In addition to conferences involving National Assemblies, the Universal House of Justice will arrange, on the evening of the second day of the Convention, April 30, for National Spiritual Assemblies to meet for consultation in separate continental groups with the Hands of the Cause and Counsellors for their respective continents.
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Spend the summer in lovely Scandinavia. A youth project is scheduled there from mid-July through mid-August. Volunteers will be split into groups, and each group will be sent to one of the Scandinavian countries (i.e., Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland). Groups will be coordinated by an adult believer.
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Green Acre School Offers Scholarship Aid A chance to come to Green Acre Bahá’í School at Eliot, Maine, for three weeks on full scholarship! You are able to attend special classes and deepening activities for half a day, in return for which you work for half a day. The programs: July 2–22; July 23–August 12; August 13–September 3. For more information, write:
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On the way home, everyone will stop in London for a few days and take the special opportunity to visit the resting place of the Guardian. Youth 18 and over are being sought to participate in this exciting teaching experience.
If you are interested in taking part in the Scandinavian project, contact the International Goals Committee as soon as possible so that the necessary arrangements can be made. The address is 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
Teaching Briefs[edit]
In November 1976 the Spiritual Assembly of Greenbelt, Maryland, co-sponsored with the city’s Bicentennial Committee an area Arts Fair. It proved to be such an excellent medium for proclaiming the Faith that it was repeated on November 18–19, 1977, with the Bahá’ís as the sole sponsor.
Thousands of shoppers and browsers at the Beltway Plaza Shopping Mall viewed works with Bahá’í themes entered by many Bahá’í artists. Several inquiries about the Faith came as a result of posters featuring quotations from the Bahá’í Writings and programs explaining that the Arts Fair was a celebration of community spirit.
The Fair was a non-competitive event with each participating artist receiving a Bahá’í poster as a gift. More than 70 posters were given out and several hundred programs were taken. Three news articles about the Arts Fair appeared in the local paper...
Dorothy W. Nelson, dean of the University of Southern California Law School and treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the U.S., was one of six panelists in a discussion January 5 of “The 1980’s: New Visions of Community” sponsored by the Bahá’í community of Evanston, Illinois. More than 100 persons attended the event.
The other panelists were U.S. Congressman Abner Mikva; Roy Larsen, religion editor of the Chicago Sun-Times; Ira Golan, director of United Community Services of Evanston; Edna Summers, president of the Evanston NAACP and a city alderman; and Neal Ball, vice president of public affairs, American Hospital Supply Corporation...
Bahá’í Week was observed October 9–15 in Inglewood, California, Judicial District with a number of teaching and proclamation events.
At least one event was held each day during the week, and each was attended by at least one different non-Bahá’í.
Since the Inglewood Judicial District is in an unincorporated area and has no mayor, the Spiritual Assembly had decided to request that the county supervisor for its area sign a Bahá’í Week proclamation. Not only did the supervisor sign the proclamation, the entire board of county supervisors did so too.
The week’s events included five firesides, a potluck dinner, a film, presentation of Bahá’í books to Los Angeles Southwest Junior College and the Lennox Public Library, a tree-planting at Lennox Park in honor of the oneness of mankind, and a public observance of Universal Children’s Day.
The shorter of the three Bahá’í noonday obligatory prayers, translated into the Cherokee language, appeared in a recent issue of the Cherokee Chronicle, the monthly news publication of the Cherokee Indian Nation.
For the second year in a row, a Bahá’í in Sudbury, Massachusetts, Dr. William Smith, has spoken about the Faith to senior Comparative Religion classes at Westwood High School. On October 20, the anniversary of the Birth of the Báb, Dr. Smith addressed two classes of about 20 students each. Two copies of Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era were given to the teacher for placement in the school library.
The first full-scale Bahá’í proclamation event held in the Community Center at the Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, Indian Reservation attracted between 100 and 150 Native Americans. The second event, commemorating the anniversary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh on November 12, was attended by about 100 persons. The Unity Bluegrass Band provided music for listening and square dancing, and singer-guitarist Red Grammer also performed...
The Bahá’í community of Wilmette, Illinois, hosted a World Religion Day observance January 15 in Foundation Hall of the Bahá’í House of Worship. The speaker was Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly. Music was provided by pianist Andy Marks of the Wilmette community who was married earlier the same day to Miss Jean White of Wisconsin...
The Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, is sponsoring the Jeff Reynolds Show on WNAV Radio in Annapolis. This is one of the largest teaching activities ever undertaken by the Assembly.
To commemorate the anniversary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh, the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Iowa City, Iowa, sponsored a public class in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The class was taught by a member of the Iowa City Bahá’í community who is a nurse and is certified by the American Heart Association to teach CPR. Twelve persons including nine non-Bahá’ís were certified in the technique through the class.
Howard Jacobs (left) and Ethel Ellis (right), representing the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Inglewood Judicial District, California, present Bahá’í books to Minnie L. Shaw, acting library coordinator at Los Angeles Southwest Junior College, during Bahá’í Week in Inglewood JD, October 9–15.
UN Human Rights Day Observances...[edit]
The Spiritual Assembly of Peterborough, New Hampshire, observed Human Rights Day in October with a public meeting at the Peterborough Bahá’í Center. The guest speaker was Mrs. Mabel Garis. Seventeen adults and five children attended; eight of the adults were non-Bahá’ís. Personal invitations were mailed, a radio interview was taped the day before the meeting, and there was both newspaper and radio publicity...
In San Angelo, Texas, the Spiritual Assembly cooperated with Bahá’ís from three neighboring cities to present a Human Rights Day program. Attendance was 28 including six non-Bahá’ís. The meeting was announced on one TV station and six radio stations including a Spanish-language station. Ten posters were placed at a bank, university and high school.
Twenty-seven persons including eight non-Bahá’ís attended a Human Rights Day program in Baytown, Texas, co-hosted by the Spiritual Assembly of LaPorte and the goal Group of Baytown. There were two speakers, a Bahá’í and a non-Bahá’í. Two articles about the meeting appeared in local papers, invitations were sent, and posters placed at Lee College.
The Bahá’ís of Victorville and Victor Judicial District, California, observed Human Rights Day in December by presenting Human Rights Awards to a man, a woman and an educational organization. The presentations were made on radio station KAVR’s popular morning Coffee Break program.
A brief history of Human Rights Day and the United Nations Association was given on the air as an introduction to the awards ceremony, along with a report of the international Year for Human Rights in 1968 and the North American Bahá’í Office of Human Rights conferences and awards banquet that were held that year...
The Bahá’í community of Boca Raton, Florida, observed United Nations Human Rights Day with a public meeting December 10 at Florida Atlantic University. About 45 people including 15 non-Bahá’ís heard a talk on “The Oneness of Mankind.”
The Bahá’ís of Manatee County, Florida, commemorated Universal Children’s Day in October and Human Rights Day in December with displays at the Manatee Federal Savings and Loan building, and at the Palmetto Public Library. Two Bahá’ís also were interviewed on radio for one-half hour in connection with Human Rights Day...
In New Berlin, Wisconsin, Human Rights Day was observed with a public meeting at which were five non-Bahá’ís among the 30 or so people present including a reporter from the New Berlin Citizen who wrote a lengthy follow-up article in that paper.
Classified Ads[edit]
THE NORTH FLORIDA District Teaching Committee is requesting homefront pioneers to settle in north Florida, especially in St. Augustine and Pensacola, which are goal areas to be raised to Assembly status. The north Florida area should be of interest to Bahá’ís of retirement age, since for persons on a fixed income, it is cheaper to live in north Florida than in south Florida. For further information, contact the North Florida District Teaching Committee, 3509 Sunnyside Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32304.
JEOPARDIZED Spiritual Assembly of College Park, Maryland, needs four adults to save it. The College Park Assembly was first formed in 1973 and has maintained itself so far mainly through the efforts of a mobile student population. College Park is the home of the University of Maryland and is within easy commuting distance of numerous other colleges and universities in the Washington–Baltimore area. It is 10 miles from the heart of Washington, D.C., with all its educational and cultural advantages and employment opportunities in almost every field. It’s also minutes away from the Goddard Space Flight Center, home of NASA, that employs hundreds in the field of computers and sciences. Housing is generally expensive, but all kinds are available. A great opportunity exists here for couples or families who are willing to relocate. Write P.O. Box 42, College Park, MD 20740, or phone 301-474-5608.
BAHÁ’Í WOMAN in Takoma Park, Maryland, a Washington suburb, is seeking a female roommate by April to help bring Takoma Park community membership to 15. Contact Sandra Eyre at 7710 Maple Avenue, Apt. 1007, Takoma Park, MD 20012, or phone 301-270-6295.
SOUTH TUCSON, Arizona, provides pioneer opportunities for teaching Mexican-Americans and Native Americans. We need help in preserving the Local Spiritual Assembly. For information, phone 602-622-0587, or write to P.O. Box 7183, South Tucson, AZ 85725.
HELP! The Bahá’í Group of Richmond, Kentucky, asks for believers to come and live in Richmond and to assist in the formation of its Local Spiritual Assembly. There are presently six Bahá’ís in the Group. Eastern Kentucky University, offering a wide variety of academic programs, is in Richmond. If you can assist in any way, please write to the Bahá’í Group of Richmond, c/o Patricia Harmsen, 240 Brockton, Richmond, KY 40475.
Jill Jackson and her husband, Leon Jackson, of the San Jose, California, Bahá’í community, accompanied by harpist Glenna Rodgers, a Bahá’í from Berkeley, read from The Hidden Words during a “Thanksgiving for All Faiths” program November 23 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. More than 1,500 people attended the service that ended with Bahá’í readings, music and slides, and the singing of Mrs. Jackson’s composition, “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” by audience and participants. Bahá’ís of various racial and national backgrounds read from The Hidden Words and concluded with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Prayer for America. Following the program, refreshments were served by a committee composed entirely of Bahá’ís. This photo appeared in the San Jose Mercury-News.
Bruce Fox: An Unlikely Pioneer Succeeds[edit]
Some people may think that Bruce Fox sometimes does things a trifle backward. But as long as they keep turning out the way they have for him, he’s perfectly happy with the arrangement.
In January, for example, Bruce finally made it to a Pioneer Training Institute at the Bahá’í National Center in Wilmette, Illinois. His introduction to pioneer training followed two and one-half years as a pioneer to Bolivia.
“I went to Bolivia for six weeks as a traveling teacher in 1975,” says Bruce. “When the teaching trip was over, I couldn’t think of any good reason to return home, so I stayed.”
He hadn’t really planned on attending a Pioneer Training Institute either, but happened to be visiting the National Center when it began and was encouraged to stay for the three-day event.
BRUCE’S introduction to the Faith was no less topsy-turvy. Working as a trainee in handling emergency calls on a community hotline telephone in Pueblo, Colorado, in 1973, he was invited by a fellow trainee who was a Bahá’í to attend the First Bahá’í National Youth Conference at Oklahoma City.
“I knew absolutely nothing about the Faith,” Bruce confesses. “I’d been given some pamphlets, which I hadn’t bothered to read. So when I was asked if I’d like to go to the conference, I said thanks, but I couldn’t afford it.”
Some time later, however, Bruce received an unexpected check, and decided to attend the conference after all.
“I was given Gloria Faizi’s introductory book,” Bruce recalls. “I didn’t read that either. On the way to the conference, one of the Bahá’ís tried to tell me a little about the Faith, but I wasn’t really listening.”
AFTER arriving at the conference, Bruce was told by the friend who had invited him that “he was sorry, but he’d found that in order for me to get into the conference, I would have to sign a card.”
Thinking the card was merely a formality that would allow him to attend the conference, Bruce readily signed it.
“I got almost nothing from the conference,” he recalls. “While I was impressed by the spirit I found there, I didn’t know what was going on. I couldn’t even pronounce ‘Bahá’u’lláh.’ About the only thing I remembered afterward was the play, ‘The Education of Henry Halifax.’ I thought that was quite good.”
Returning to Pueblo, Bruce decided that if he were to become involved in the Bahá’í Faith, he’d better learn something about it. So he started reading.
Soon afterward, he was invited by the Spiritual Assembly of Pueblo to come for an interview. The Assembly decided to accept the application for membership he’d thought was an admission ticket to the youth conference.
“I TOLD them I’d like to be a Bahá’í,” says Bruce, “but I explained that I was living in a den of iniquity, and would need someplace else to stay if I were to remain in Pueblo. When I said I was a non-smoker, they suggested that I move into the Pueblo Bahá’í Center as its caretaker.”
Bruce did exactly that, and soon was busy holding firesides, deepenings, and other events at the Center.
“The community had been more or less inactive,” he recalls, “but I was too new in the Faith to know about those things. I did what I thought Bahá’ís were supposed to do. It wasn’t long before the whole community was involved, and things became pretty active in Pueblo.”
Later, some Bahá’í pioneers to Ecuador and Guatemala who were visiting Pueblo suggested that Bruce consider pioneering abroad.
“I WROTE to the International Goals Committee,” he says, “and asked if there were anything in which I could participate. They suggested that I make a traveling teaching trip to Bolivia in the summer of 1975.”
Bruce went to Bolivia, and has been there ever since; in fact, he could hardly wait to return there after the Pioneer Training Institute.
Thanks to a small yearly income he receives from a non-Bahá’í trust fund, the 33-year-old native of Boston is able to teach and consolidate full-time in Bolivia, spending roughly half the time at his home base of Sucre, a city of some 77,000 in the Andes mountains, and the other half traveling to villages in the “campo,” or countryside.
“Shortly after I decided to remain in Bolivia in ’75,” says Bruce, “I was in Cuzco where the Green Light Expedition ended. It was there that I met (the Hand of the Cause Amatu’l-Bahá) Rúḥíyyih Khánum.
“SHE SAID to me, ‘I hope you’re not one of those who says he’s going to pioneer and then leaves.’ If I’d ever had any thought of leaving, that was enough to keep me at my post.”
Each month, for a period of from two days to more than two weeks, Bruce accompanies a member of the Regional Teaching Committee into the rural villages to teach and consolidate. Although Bruce speaks some Spanish, he knows neither Quechua nor Guaraní, the languages common to the area, so his companion acts as interpreter.
“The two of us communicate in Spanish,” says Bruce. “Actually he does most of the teaching in the villages. I’m there to act more or less as a catalyst, to give him encouragement and stimulation.”
In the villages, Bruce and his companion say prayers, conduct deepenings and visit the Bahá’ís who live there.
“WE TEACH other things besides the Faith,” he says. “For instance, they’re interested in the stars, because that’s something they can see, but they have no real understanding of the universe, so we try to give them some knowledge in a very simple, straightforward way.”
Much wisdom and courtesy must be exercised because the teachers live, eat and sleep with the villagers: “We’re treated like special people. They’ll give me the only bed in a house, things like that.”
Bruce says another reason he is “looked up to” by the Bolivians is that he stands 6-feet-4 while their own height rarely approaches six feet, with many only slightly taller than five feet.
In Sucre, Bruce has a daily routine that includes early prayers, breakfast at 7:30 a.m., a trip to the market (“we have no refrigeration”), visits with the friends, letter-writing, washing dishes and clothes, and cooking (“I cook all my meals myself”).
SUCRE HAS a Spiritual Assembly that has elected its officers and held one other meeting since Riḍván. There is one other American Bahá’í in Sucre, Californian Susie Millard, a student at the university there.
For someone who backed into pioneering almost by chance, Bruce speaks quite fondly of the experience.
Top left: Women in a Bolivian village show the way in which babies are protected from the elements in a heavy covering. Lower left: The house in which U.S. pioneer Bruce Fox stayed for a week after arriving in Bolivia in 1975. Above right: A Bolivian family in the village of Poca Pampa. A Bahá’í traveling teacher is in the back row at the left. Below: A Bolivian family in the Tarabuco region of the country. Bahá’í pioneer Bruce Fox is kneeling at the right.
“To be with these people (the Bolivians) is an indescribable blessing,” he says. “They’re so warm and loving. I wouldn’t trade these years in Bolivia for anything.
“Pioneering is a constant challenge—like anything, it has its ups and downs—but it forces you to face reality, to confront yourself with all your strengths and weaknesses, and to strive to reach your full potential as a Bahá’í.
“Above all, the pioneer has to learn to know himself. He must be creative, constantly finding new things to do and new ways to do them. I find that helping in my own small way to shape the new World Order is a challenge to every facet of my being. It’s also the greatest and most rewarding experience of my life.”
Youth Conference Set[edit]
A Bahá’í Youth Conference for North and South Carolina will be held April 7–8 on the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. The conference is being sponsored and hosted by the Spiritual Assembly of Greenville.
The theme of the conference is built around understanding oneself and his relationship to the Faith. Although it is focused toward youth in the two Carolinas, everyone is welcome including non-Bahá’í youth. There will be a small registration fee.
A special talent program is planned for Saturday evening, April 8, and youth attending the conference are urged to bring their talent with them and perform.
Teaching Fever Is
CONTAGIOUS!—
Have YOU
Caught the Fever Yet?
Remaining Overseas Goals of Five Year Plan[edit]
| AFRICA | FILLED | OPEN | |
| (E) | British Indian Ocean Territory (Seychelles) | 2 | |
| (F) | Central African Empire | 2 | |
| (E) | Ghana | 4 | |
| (E) | Lesotho | 1 | |
| (F) | Madagascar | 2 | |
| (E) | Malawi | 1 | |
| (E) | Nigeria | 3 | 1 |
| (E) | Sierra Leone | 2 | |
| (E) | South Africa (Transkei) | 4 | |
| (E) | St. Helena | 1 | |
| (P) | Upper West Africa (Cape Verde Islands) | 2 | |
| (F) | Zaire | 1 | |
| AUSTRALASIA | FILLED | OPEN | |
| (E) | Marshall Islands | 1 | |
| Marshall Islands | 1 | ||
| (E) | Tonga | 2 | |
| AMERICAS | FILLED | OPEN | |
| (S) | Argentina | 3 | |
| (E) | Barbados/Windward Islands | 2 | |
| (S) | Bolivia | 3 | |
| (P) | Brazil | 2 | 3 |
| (S) | Chile | 3 | 1 |
| (F) | French Antilles | 2 | |
| (E) | Guyana | 1 | 1 |
| (E) | Jamaica/Cayman Is. | 2 | |
| (E) | Leeward/Virgin Is. | 5 | 1 |
| (S) | Mexico | 6 | 4 |
| (S) | Paraguay | 1 | 4 |
| (S) | Uruguay | 2 | |
| ASIA | FILLED | OPEN | |
| (E) | Bangladesh | 2 | |
| (J) | Japan | 9 | 11 |
| (K) | Korea | 6 | |
| (E) | Sri Lanka (Ceylon) | 1 | |
| (E) | Thailand | 1 | 1 |
| EUROPE | FILLED | OPEN | |
| (F) | Belgium | 1 | 3 |
| (D) | Denmark | 4 | |
| (I) | Iceland | 2 | |
| (Sw) | Sweden | 2 | |
| (F) | (G)(It) Switzerland | 2 | |
| FIVE YEAR PLAN TO DATE | |||
| Total assigned goals | 438 | ||
| Previous unfilled goals reassigned | 24 | ||
| Total remaining assignments | 414 | ||
| Total filled | 328 | ||
| Total open | 86 | ||
- LANGUAGE KEY
- Dn—Danish
- E—English
- F—French
- G—German
- I—Icelandic
- It—Italian
- J—Japanese
- K—Korean
- P—Portuguese
- S—Spanish
- Sw—Swedish
[Page 9]
Community Profile
In Marshalltown, Iowa, the Word Is ‘Active’[edit]
If there is one word that best describes the Marshalltown, Iowa, Bahá’í community, that word is active.
There isn’t anyone in the growing community of 14 adults, one youth and 12 children who isn’t busy in some way teaching or proclaiming the Faith in Marshalltown. The result of this activity has been nine declarations and seven enrollments since last Riḍván, compared to previous average yearly enrollments of one.
The Spiritual Assembly of Marshalltown has been busy too, arranging deepenings for new believers, coordinating children’s classes, using the media to publicize the Faith, devising ways in which to reach minority groups in the central Iowa city of nearly 30,000, developing plans for teaching in goal areas, and arranging social functions designed to foster a sense of community togetherness.
LOOKING AT Marshalltown, with its active and thriving Bahá’í community, it is hard to believe that as recently as nine years ago there were no believers there.
But as 1968 dawned, Marshalltown had no Bahá’ís. Fortunately, it did have a public library, and the library did have books about the Faith that had been placed there by the friends.
Marshalltown also had a resident named Barbara McEntire who was looking for answers to her questions about God and the nature of life.
At the Marshalltown library, Barbara McEntire came across a Bahá’í book, began reading it, and her mind was made up. She went straight to the Bahá’í booth at the Iowa State Fair, which she remembered seeing from a previous year, and declared her belief in Bahá’u’lláh.
THAT WAS in August 1968. Today Barbara McEntire remains an active and inspiring member of the Marshalltown community, sharing her enthusiasm with the friends as an assistant to Auxiliary Board member Mrs. Javidukht Khadem.
The Spiritual Assembly of Marshalltown was first formed on May 25, 1974, thanks largely to the sacrificial efforts of five homefront pioneers—two families with children and an older believer in her 70’s who left the relative security of a nursing home to live in an apartment. Each of them came for the specific purpose of forming an Assembly in Marshalltown.
The Marshalltown Assembly attributes the community’s recent teaching successes to prayer, direct contact with seekers, firesides, and the spirit of unity within the community.
The two most recent declarants in Marshalltown were introduced to the Faith and taught by relatively new believers. The most recent enrollee came from the Mormon faith.
New believers’ deepenings begin immediately after declaration in group meetings consisting of the new believers, their teachers, and an Assembly-designated deepener. Sessions focus especially on the Covenant, Bahá’í Administration, and obedience.
ONCE ONE has become a member of the Marshalltown Bahá’í community, his activity is encouraged and stimulated through participation on committees, the community bulletin, and a number of social functions whose purpose is simply to have fun together and whose result, says the Assembly, has been to “knit the fabric” of the community’s social life.
Children’s classes are a regular part of Marshalltown community life, with several of the children belonging to families whose parents have only recently become Bahá’ís. There are even some children attending whose parents are not Bahá’ís.
Marshalltown’s only Bahá’í youth, 18-year-old Robyn Kinley, a new believer, has taken the responsibility of deepening a 12-year-old boy, the only child in his age group, through “rap sessions,” learning contracts, and social activities to learn Bahá’í concepts.
Members of the Marshalltown, Iowa, Bahá’í community proclaim the Faith through participation in one of the city’s parades.
The community actively seeks to contact and teach minority groups, and by contacting businesses, has learned that there are recent emigrants from some 20–30 countries living in Marshalltown including Greeks and Chinese. There also are people of Hispanic and Native American backgrounds as well as blacks.
THE LOCAL community college has several students from Africa and some from Persia and Armenia. The Marshalltown Bahá’ís have hosted an International Dinner and United Nations Day potluck to which acquaintances of various backgrounds were invited to share native dishes.
The Bahá’ís have established contact with one local church whose congregation is predominantly black, and one couple has Native American friends who live in a nearby goal area.
Marshalltown’s extension teaching goals are to open three localities to the Faith: Hardin County, Fort Dodge, and the Tama Indian Settlement.
Hardin County now has two families who have moved there from out of state and formed an active Group; an area youth has been encouraged by the Assembly to pioneer to Fort Dodge, a locality some 60 miles from the nearest Bahá’í.
IN THE FEW weeks this youth has been in Fort Dodge, she has, with Assembly guidance, contacted the news media, held a public meeting, placed a book in a library, put up a Bahá’í poster there, run ads in the paper, and may soon appear on a television talk show.
A Marshalltown Bahá’í couple is solidifying its relationship with friends at the Tama Indian Settlement. One Indian couple feels comfortable at Bahá’í gatherings.
In Marshalltown itself, good relations have been established with radio and newspaper (there is no TV station there).
The Assembly has a public information representative who places articles in the paper as often as possible. Community events are reported to the paper, and ads have been run for special events.
THE JEFF Reynolds Show was purchased and time bought on radio for the entire 13-week series. The Assembly reports that the local station was impressed by the program, and says that thanks to its continuing use of the media, few people in Marshalltown have “never heard of the Bahá’í Faith.”
The community also has an excellent relationship with the public library. It has had two recent displays there, each lasting for a couple of months, has given many books, and has had one of its members give a talk—at the head librarian’s request—at a noon luncheon program.
The community recently gave the library a subscription to World Order magazine, has given the book, The Gift, and accompanying tape to the children’s section, and has used Bahá’í puppeteers to perform for children at the library.
A history of Bahá’í activities in Marshalltown has been carefully kept, as Barbara McEntire was encouraged after her declaration in 1968 by an older believer, Ruth Moffett of Des Moines, to establish an archives, which she did.
One scrapbook already has been filled with news clippings, photos, and other records, and the Bahá’í library is maintaining back issues of Bahá’í magazines and newsletters.
If the Marshalltown Bahá’ís keep going at their present fast clip, it shouldn’t be too much longer before another scrapbook is bulging.
Glendale Bahá’í Week Follows Month of Intensive Activity[edit]
Bahá’í Week in Glendale, California, came at the end of a month of teaching and proclamation activity that included 40 firesides, four deepenings, a public meeting, two meetings with the City Council, and many inquiries about the Faith by phone and mail.
From October 11 through November 2, Bahá’ís in Glendale hand-addressed 10,500 mailers to residents of the city.
On October 11, the City Council of nearby Duarte, California, was presented a framed copy of the Glendale community’s Universal Children’s Day poster and a sycamore tree that was planted in Duarte Park on October 18.
On October 20, a full-page ad with the heading, “Christ Has Returned and His Name Is Bahá’u’lláh” in large red print and including quotations from the Bahá’í Writings and the Bible appeared in the Glendale paper.
On October 30, an intercommunity picnic was held in Duarte Park as a further observance of Universal Children’s Day. Children and adults came in international dress and gave away balloons imprinted with the words “Ask a Bahá’í” and a smiling face.
Bahá’í Week was begun November 4 with firesides. On November 8, the mayor of Glendale was presented a copy of the book, Tokens of Bahá’u’lláh, at a City Council meeting at which about 50 persons heard about the Faith.
The Bahá’í Week and month was closed on November 11 with an article in the Glendale paper about the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh and a public meeting commemorating the event that was attended by many non-Bahá’ís.
Call to the Nations[edit]
The book is arranged in five chapters. With clarity and potency, Shoghi Effendi discloses the reasons for the present worldwide moral and social chaos, explains the principle of the oneness of mankind, sets forth a pattern for future society, and foretells a World Commonwealth that is even now unfolding. The concluding passages, which deal with the destiny of mankind, paint a picture of both adversity — “prolonged, world-wide, afflictive” — and a world civilization — “a civilization with a fullness of life such as the world has never seen nor can as yet conceive.”
The Universal House of Justice has stated that Call to the Nations “is intended for proclamation and presentation, as well as for study by the friends.” Your Local Spiritual Assembly or group can present the book to local dignitaries and opinion leaders. You can use Call to the Nations for your personal deepening and as a gift.
Call to the Nations includes a Foreword by The Universal House of Justice and an Introduction drawn from a statement prepared by Shoghi Effendi for a Special Committee of the United Nations. 66 pp., references.
7-08-30 cloth $3.50 NET
7-08-31 paper $1.75 NET
To order: Order through Community Librarians if possible. Personal orders: enclose full payment plus $.75 handling charge for orders under $5.00.
Counsellors, National Assembly Set Meetings[edit]
The Continental Counsellors for North America and the National Spiritual Assembly, recognizing the seriousness of the moment and determined to dedicate their energy and resources to the vital work of teaching the Cause, have decided to meet together at least on a quarterly basis from now until Riḍván 1979 to assess the progress of the Five Year Plan.
The first of these meetings was held in January, with a second scheduled in March.
As a result of the first meeting, it was decided that Auxiliary Board members will confer with District Teaching Committees in their respective districts within the next few weeks.
The months ahead, the Counsellors and National Assembly members agreed, will witness an intensification of the activities of Auxiliary Board members and their assistants so that the goals of the Plan might be speedily accomplished.
Another purpose of the quarterly meetings between Counsellors and the National Assembly, both parties agreed, is to coordinate strategies to be pursued in the few months remaining in the Five Year Plan.
Special Visit Program Set[edit]
Another in a series of exciting and informative special visit programs to the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, will be held April 27–30. Enrollment is limited to 30 believers on a first-come-first-served basis. Complete the registration form and mail it soon.
The special visit program is an ongoing project of the Bahá’í House of Worship Activities Committee and is designed primarily to refresh and gladden the spirit as well as provide an insight into the functioning of the various departments at the Bahá’í National Center.
Among the speakers who will share those precious moments in the development of the American Bahá’í community and the raising of the “Mother Temple of the West” will be Continental Counsellor Edna True whose mother, the Hand of the Cause of God Corinne True, devoted her life to making the House of Worship a reality. Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, will host a gathering of the participants at the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, the meeting place of the National Spiritual Assembly, and share many aspects of how the National Spiritual Assembly conducts its business. All of the offices at the National Center, including the Bahá’í Publishing Trust and the Bahá’í Home, will be visited and a special display of the National Archives will be presented.
Housing has been arranged at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge in nearby Skokie, Illinois. Transportation from the motel to the National Center will be provided. Each participant will be responsible for his own meals.
Mayor Richard Stone Proclaims November 24–30 ‘Bahá’í Week’ in Beverly Hills, California, as members of that city’s Bahá’í community (left to right) Rob Sennett, chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly; Eulalia Bobo, Linda Blank and Aram Vahdat look on.
Classes for Non-Bahá’ís Begun at House of Worship[edit]
The House of Worship Activities Committee has begun an ongoing series of introductory classes, designed for individuals interested in gaining a clearer insight into the Bahá’í Faith, at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois.
The Saturday afternoon classes are based on the deepening packet prepared for the Victory Campaign by the National Education Committee. The first class, on “God and His Messengers,” was held January 14.
The classes, limited in attendance to non-Bahá’ís, are not intended to take the place of community or individual firesides. Rather, they are designed to provide an opportunity for interested persons who might not feel comfortable in a fireside setting to obtain information about the Faith.
Each weekly class is a self-contained unit, lasts roughly two and one-half hours, and is limited to 20 students. A one-hour presentation on the Faith is followed by class discussion.
In addition to materials from the deepening packet, class instructors will utilize audio-visual aids and materials from the House of Worship Reference Library in making their presentations.
Tent Could Be Ideal for Campus Teaching[edit]
Are you looking for a different kind of teaching technique? If it’s okay with the proper authorities, pitch a tent on campus where everyone can see it. Have punch and cookies for passers-by. Have Bahá’í literature on the side for those interested. The Bahá’í Club at the University of Illinois, Chicago Campus, did this and it was very successful.
How Sacrifice Helped to Form an Assembly[edit]
The Mail Bag[edit]
Dear Friends:
What a delight to hear at the Feast of Mashíyyat the decision taken by the National Spiritual Assembly to assist homefront pioneers moving to form Assemblies where there are now active Groups of seven or eight Bahá’ís.
I recalled while listening to this communication the most exciting and wonderful experience my husband (Isiah Mays) and I had, and how we decided at the 1974 St. Louis Conference that we wanted to participate in forming an Assembly for the Five Year Plan.
My husband (who is a real estate broker/salesman) and I chose the Southfield, Michigan, community for our venture. For many years only one isolated believer lived in Southfield, until a Persian Bahá’í family (consisting of three adults) bought a home, which brought the number of believers there to four.
In October 1974, we bought a home in Southfield, raising the number in the community to six. Needing three more to reach Assembly status, we decided to open our home to a female Bahá’í.
We succeeded in doing this, raising the number of believers in Southfield to seven. Still not quite enough, and we were trying ceaselessly to form the Assembly by Riḍván 1975.
Riḍván was drawing near when, lo and behold, a Bahá’í couple wanted to move from a large and well-established Bahá’í community to the Southfield area. My husband helped them find a home, which brought the number to nine adult believers. We were not only blessed with an Assembly by Riḍván 1975, we also had a racially diverse community that included Black, white and Persian Bahá’ís.
In August 1976, we moved to East Lansing to attend graduate school at Michigan State University, and sold our home to Bahá’ís so that the Assembly status could be maintained. The number of believers in Southfield has since risen to 12, and they are strong and viable.
We have completed our schooling in East Lansing and plan now to move to another community where an Assembly has yet to be formed. Hopefully, by the grace of Bahá’u’lláh, we will be able to participate in forming another Assembly before the Five Year Plan is completed.
Just thought I’d share our experiences with you, and how Bahá’u’lláh rewards and blesses those who arise and serve in His Name. Our blessings and rewards were helping to form an Assembly during the Five Year Plan.
East Lansing, Michigan
Dear Friends:
As the first Bahá’í to work at the Northeast Michigan Community Service Agency, I approached my supervisor with a great deal of apprehension when I requested my first day off for a Bahá’í Holy Day.
To my great surprise he asked how many days I would need that year, and when I told him six, he said I could take them off against my vacation time.
Then as Christmas approached I began to hear complaints from the secretarial staff because everyone in the office got days off during the holidays while they didn’t because someone had to cover the telephones.
Encouraged by my first experience with the executive director, I approached him again and suggested that I be allowed to work during Christmas vacation in place of my six Bahá’í Holy Days (those that fell on working days).
To my dismay, he appeared to misunderstand the offer, although reaffirming that I could take the Bahá’í Holy Days off.
A short time later I had to see him again regarding some emergency leave. I could hardly believe it when, during our discussion, he proposed the exact arrangement I had earlier suggested.
Now not only do I not have to take my Holy Days as vacation time, the secretaries are very happy that they do not have to remain in the office while others are off, and it makes a really good “advertisement” for the Faith. Now lots of people ask me about the Faith and why I don’t mind working during Christmas.
I would really encourage every Bahá’í to make a concerted effort to educate and inform the people with whom and for whom they work about the Bahá’í Holy Days. As my experience indicates, it could be one of the more effective teaching strategies we have.
Alpena, Michigan
Dear Friends:
Alláh’u’Abhá! The Victory Weekend and month of firesides is over, but it has lit a fire in me that refuses to be quenched!
I have fallen in love with teaching all over again, and the bounties of the Holy Spirit are with me when I’m giving the Message.
I attribute my spiritual regeneration to the wonderfully inspirational sessions held during the Victory Weekend. It was a time of realization and growth for me.
One realization I would like to share with you that has revolutionized my daily life: Previously, when I made a new friend, and there was no initial interest in the Faith, I unconsciously “wrote her off” from ever becoming a Bahá’í. This, of course, affected my teaching.
Now, with my new understanding of a nurturing relationship that will yield fruit in time, I approach my friendships with an entirely different attitude. There is a new life and spirit in my relationships; I know that my every action is important, and I can help draw my friends to Bahá’u’lláh.
I am deeply grateful for your sharing this plan with us, and as a small token of my gratitude, I have enclosed some babysitting money, as I pledged to do during the Victory Weekend (one day’s babysitting each week). Ya Bahá’ul-Abhá! We shall not fail!
Minot, North Dakota
Preparation Can Make Job Hunting Easier[edit]
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in a series of articles on career development for youth by Dorothy Há’í and Maxine Rossman of Tempe, Arizona. This month’s article focuses on the important subject of finding the right job.)
Let’s assume that you have made a career choice, and have prepared for that career with the best training or education available; how do you find a job? Where do you look?
- The training institution (college, university, high school, etc.) often has counselors who respond to requests for people it has trained.
- OTHERS you’ve met who are working in that field.
- The newspaper.
- A friend who already is working.
- Job services.
- Employment security offices.
- Placement offices through the university or technical school.
- Trade magazines or newspapers.
A resumé, sometimes called a personal data sheet, often is helpful as you seek a job. This is a record of your personal information, education and work experience, as well as your avocational interests.
HOW DO you fill out a job application form? It’s helpful to take along your personal data sheet that should have your Social Security number, where you were born, schools attended and other such information that is asked for on an application form.
Now let’s talk about methods of job-hunting.
First, most people have heard about the Employment Security Division (and its related Job Service) that provides free job leads. It lists only a small percentage of the jobs available, so other sources should be investigated.
Private employment agencies can be helpful, but they usually charge for their services. People using them should be aware of the contract they must sign and the professional service that will be rendered for the fee.
If you are job-hunting, consider the employment ads. They are found in the classified section of most newspapers. They’ll offer you increased coverage, but still amount to less than 30 per cent of the available jobs.
A CAUTION is necessary here for those who answer “blind” ads (those having only a box number for identification), and “come-on” ads (those offering large sums of money for little or no work) that often seem so intriguing. Many times they are without substance and can only lead down a blind alley.
Word of mouth is another good job source, whether it be from parents, relatives, friends, friends of friends, or other interested persons. Word of mouth can supply many good leads if you are inquisitive, listen well and follow up.
Knock on doors. The method of knocking on doors is unique in that it puts you in the driver’s seat when it comes to knowing where you are going to work. You are deciding from all companies available where you wish to apply, instead of limiting yourself to those who advertise jobs in a newspaper or at an employment service. This means that you can build your list of places you wish to apply and go as your preference dictates from one to the next until you secure employment.
Some schools or colleges have a placement service. If your school offers one, check and see what is available. Fill out an application and have it put on file. Let them know what you are looking for, what your qualifications are, what training you’ve had, what experience you have, etc. Use the service, usually free, that is right there on the premises.
IF YOUR school has a cooperative education program, seek out and discuss your employment desires with its coordinator. He or she can be a source of many contacts with local business and industry.
A letter of application should be neatly drafted, typed, and mailed when applying for a job that has been advertised in a newspaper, or if you wish to send an application and/or résumé to a company that has not advertised. Help in preparing such a letter usually can be obtained from English teachers, members of the business education department, others who are knowledgeable about business communications, or literature on correct letter writing.
Keep in mind that all this information can help you plan and obtain your job/career, which is one important way of serving the Faith.
Next: Goal Setting in Career Development.
Rights Day Successful in Southern Wisconsin[edit]
Several southern Wisconsin communities have reported successful observances December 10 of United Nations Human Rights Day.
In New Berlin, a panel discussion on human rights was held. The New Berlin Citizen devoted nearly 27 column inches to the meeting in its December 14 issue.
The Bahá’ís in Monroe sponsored a week-long display in a storefront window that centered around the color poster-picture of the Bahá’í House of Worship. To publicize the exhibit, an article appeared in the local paper, and was accompanied by a picture of the House of Worship.
The Town of Farmington had this report:
“On Saturday evening, December 10, a United Nations Human Rights Day program was held at the Farmington Elementary School.
“The focal point was a speech contest for sixth-graders. Nine youngsters gave talks on human rights, and the attitudes they displayed were right in tune with Bahá’í ideals, thus giving their parents an opportunity to hear this from their children instead of from us.
“A pleasant surprise was speaker No. 9, a Native American girl wearing Winnebago finery and her lovely long hair Indian style. We had been unaware of the existence of this friendly family because she attends another school in the district. Needless to say, further contact will take place.
“Although the meeting was held the same night as another important social event, and came at the end of a snowstorm during which virtually all schools in the area were closed for the previous two days and which caused the audience to have to wade through waist-high snow to get into the building, 44 people were present. Thirty-six of these were not Bahá’ís!
“UN displays were set up as well as a table of Bahá’í literature to be viewed. Everyone was in fine spirits, and many expressed their enjoyment of the event.
“Letters to the sixth-grade teachers, articles in the Kewaskum and West Bend newspapers, and posters had announced the meeting, and news articles will announce the winners.
“Bahá’ís from the town of West Bend and from Jackson collaborated with us on the program. Several Bahá’í children were enthusiastic participants.”
Mrs. Patricia Shown of the Spiritual Assembly of Glendale, Arizona, discusses the Faith with an inquirer from Ecuador at the Bahá’í exhibit that was a part of Interfaith Day on October 26 at the American Graduate School of International Management in Glendale.
In Memoriam[edit]
- Ḥusayn Bulurchlyan
- Los Angeles, California
- December 2, 1977
- Mrs. Emma Dabney
- Montgomery, Alabama
- March 1977
- Joe L. King
- Kinston, North Carolina
- 1975
- Mrs. Vivienne Nixon
- Port Perry, Ontario, Canada
- November 4, 1977
- Miss Sarale A. Owens
- Washington, D.C.
- December 8, 1977
- Henry Peterson
- Fruitport, Michigan
- June 30, 1977
- Mrs. Erma J. Reitan
- Los Angeles, California
- October 14, 1977
- Talmadge D. Rice, Jr.
- Urbana, Ohio
- September 7, 1977
- Sayfullah Sobhani
- Van Nuys, California
- December 1, 1977
- Mrs. Clara F. Tresch
- Berkeley, California
- September 12, 1976
- John Truitt
- Waco, Texas
- Unknown
- Mrs. Grace Vollmer
- Santa Barbara, California
- November 24, 1977
- Mrs. Sharia Van Zandt
- Los Angeles, California
- November 7, 1977
- Mrs. Florence Watkins
- North Kingstown, Rhode Island
- November 23, 1977
- Coleman H. Weaver
- Kokomo, Indiana
- December 22, 1977
Green Acre Seeks Summer Staff[edit]
The Green Acre Bahá’í School needs summer staff for July and/or August to fill the following positions:
Innkeeping
- Innkeeper
- First and Second Cooks
- Two Kitchen Helpers
- Dining Room Supervisor
- Assistant Dining Room Supervisor
- Snack Bar Supervisor
- Registrar
- Assistant Registrar
- Housekeeper
Program
- Adult School Director (preferably a couple)
- Children’s School Director
- Youth Director
- Senior Youth Counselors: Work Coordinator, Study Coordinator
- Junior Youth Counselor
- Librarian
- Assistant Librarian
- Resource Person: Bookstore, A-V, music, etc.
- Activities Director
Some of these positions could be filled by volunteers or by work/study people who are at the school for the entire summer. The school provides room and board for all staff. Some positions pay a small salary, based on your needs. You work a six-day week and are welcome to attend all school activities in your free time.
For information, write:
- Green Acre Bahá’í School
- Eliot, ME 03903
Conference[edit]
Continued From Page 1
site each year. Tentatively it is to be held in California in 1978.
Mrs. Soo Fouts, assistant secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, said the Persian Conference Committee had the words of the Riḍván message from the Universal House of Justice in mind — “particularly call upon Bahá’í women” — when it appointed Homa Mahmoudi Snibbe to chair the conference. Mrs. Snibbe is a clinical psychologist from Los Angeles, and director of the Transcultural Communications Center.
DURING THE remaining two days of the conference the friends were inspired by several speakers and workshop sessions.
Auxiliary Board member Javidukht Khadem said the friends must not divide themselves into Persian and American camps. “We are all soldiers of Bahá’u’lláh who happen to be living in America,” she said. “We must work together.”
Dr. Jalil Mahmoudi, Auxiliary Board member from Utah, presented two topics. The first dealt with the process of acculturation and the education of Bahá’í children; the second focused on the goals of the Five Year Plan. Dr. Mahmoudi said mankind has a two-fold responsibility in this day and age: the Bahá’ís are to teach the Faith, and the non-Bahá’ís are to listen and accept it.
HE RECALLED the meeting in which the Master discussed the power of the atom with the Japanese ambassador, and warned of its potential misuse. “It is up to us to head off the impending atomic disaster,” said Dr. Mahmoudi. “If we don’t teach, the annihilation of the world will be on our heads.”
Dr. Holakouee, a highly respected professor at the University of Ṭihrán who is visiting the U.S., traced the seven steps of Bahá’í community development as outlined by the Master and the Guardian. “The triumph of the Faith is inevitable,” he assured the believers. “We don’t know how fast it will happen but it will happen.”
He said there is not time for involvement in old world politics: “We are soldiers of the Cause, and all of our time must be devoted to the development of the Faith.”
Two of the friends at the Persian Conference examine the new Bahá’í Prayer Book printed in Persian and available for the first time through the Bahá’í Publishing Trust.
The Ḥuqúqu’lláh, a tax on income established in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, was the topic of a talk by Kazem Kazemzadeh, trustee of the Ḥuqúqu’lláh in North America. He reminded the Persian believers that they are bound to pay the tax to the Universal House of Justice no matter what country they live in. The American friends are not yet required to abide by this law.
IN A 15-MINUTE presentation, the National Treasurer’s Office told the friends they can best help the Fund by teaching, because new enrollments mean increased contributions for the growth of the Faith.
The friends had a choice of four workshops on Saturday afternoon.
Persian youth talked about family life, marriage and careers in a workshop led by Dr. Flor Geola, Vahid Hedayati, Kambuziya Rouhani and Shidan Taslimi.
Under the guidance of Saeid Khadivian and Ismail Siahpoosh, other friends talked about respect for and obedience to civil and divine laws.
The concern Persian parents have for the education of their children was demonstrated by the large attendance at the workshop on rearing children in America. Javidukht Khadem, Fereshteh Bethel, and Samihehe Banani from Canada led the discussion.
A fourth workshop surveyed Persian culture and related it to American culture. It was led by Husayn Ahdieh, Dr. Nosratollah Rassekh and Dr. Heshmat Moayyad.
To help the Persian friends become assimilated into the mainstream of the American Bahá’í community, the National Teaching Committee asked them to fill out cards offering a variety of ways they would be able or would like to serve the Faith.
Between the national Persian Conference and the regional Persian Conference in California in November, the National Teaching Committee received 400 responses.
A letter in Farsi will be sent to each person who handed in a card, reinforcing his interest and accepting the offers of service. Each believer will receive a personal telephone call as well, inviting him to homefront pioneer, give firesides or teach in some other way.
On Saturday evening the friends enjoyed the music of Houshmand Aghili, a noted Persian entertainer. They formed a large circle and danced in the traditional Persian style.
The 45 children at the conference attended classes of their own on Saturday.
Assemblies[edit]
Continued From Page 1
Assembly status, individuals will be assigned to work closely with the Groups, visiting them at least once every Bahá’í month. Assignments will be made by Regional or District Teaching Committees after consultation with the National Teaching Committee.
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Youth Club Membership Youth should be required to apply for membership in a local youth club. In other words, they should demonstrate an interest in the club rather than being automatically included on its membership list simply because they are eligible. Membership should be granted automatically, however, to any interested Bahá’í youth who applies and meets the eligibility requirements (age and location) established by the Local Spiritual Assembly. |
To make certain that Regional and District Teaching Committees are able to function without interruption during the final year of the Plan, their members are to be appointed by Naw-Rúz, March 21.
The Universal House of Justice concludes its letter of November 20 with these words:
“The Universal House of Justice will offer prayers at the Holy Shrines that the process of forming firmly-grounded Local Spiritual Assemblies, which is one of the vital goals of the Five Year Plan, will be pursued with outstanding success through the dedicated efforts of the friends in every land.”
(From the Southern Wisconsin Bahá’í Newsletter)
When GOD PASSES BY, THE PROMISED ONE OF ALL AGES appears like a THIEF IN THE NIGHT, bringing a new PRESCRIPTION FOR LIVING to insure THE RENEWAL OF CIVILIZATION.
His followers, finding A NEW WAY OF LIFE, and learning THE DIVINE ART OF LIVING, become THE DAWN-BREAKERS of a NEW ERA.
Having discovered THE SECRET OF DIVINE CIVILIZATION, they follow THE CHOSEN HIGHWAY through THE SEVEN VALLEYS AND THE FOUR VALLEYS.
In this Day, there is a NEW LIGHT ON THE SPIRIT PATH because of THE PROCLAMATION OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH. THE PROMISED DAY IS COME, THE BOOKS OF GOD ARE OPEN and THE HIDDEN WORDS are revealed, laying THE FOUNDATIONS OF WORLD UNITY in ONE UNIVERSAL FAITH.
