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Baha’i Faith could be the world’s next message
Dr. Chris Gilbert
On Faith
Published: 04:15PM February 18th, 2010

I have been asked by readers who follow this column to explain the Baha’i faith. More specifically, some have wondered why the world needs a new religion when those of the past are at the center of many global troubles.
In that good question is a good answer! We receive the teachings of a new Faith precisely when past faiths stop serving God’s heavenly purpose and begin to serve the more earthly purpose of man.
In effect, religion is renewed by a God promise to return through the message of His Teachers.
That is not to say that the universal truths inside of all the great religions are not as important to our spiritual growth today as they were in the past.
Quite the contrary: Each Faith, be it Hinduism, Buddhism, the Jewish faith, Christianity, Muslimism or the Baha’i faith, provides a clear path to creating Heaven on Earth. It is just that mankind tends to take these heavenly messages down to a more self-serving path as they spread over time.
The creation of multiple sects of a first pure faith is one example of this earthly bending of the heavenly rules.
So, as the rules begin to bend, a loving Father sends the next messenger with reminders of the universal truths of the past common to all faiths. And, these manifestations endowed with innate knowledge, bring us new rules to assist our social and spiritual development into new ages.
With more than 6 million adherents worldwide, the Baha’i Faith is this next message. It is an independent, world religion that’s founded on the principles of the Oneness of God, the Oneness of Religion and Oneness of mankind.
Baha’is respect all the past manifestations of God by knowing that all religions come from one Source, a God who sends messengers in a progression that’s designed to help our social and spiritual growth.
That is perhaps the most unique spiritual truth followers of the Baha’i Faith understand. Rather than looking at religion as based on one Divine teacher who appeared to one people at one time, Baha’is recognize a progress of these holy figures.
Each one brings teachings that are common to all the great religions of the past. They also are imbued with new rules for each age, designed to push society to new, spiritual limits.
All of mankind’s spiritual and material advances have been sparked across different ages by the progression of these Great Teachers.
The latest Messenger, Baha’u’llah (in Persian, the “Glory of God”, fulfilled the prophecies of every great Faith that another Teacher would return in this age.
So, why does the world need a new religion? One of the major sources of disunity in the world are the divisions among and between the great faiths of our world. The conflicts in which the United States is engaged in the Middle East have their roots in religious disunity and social disparity.
The messages of love and unity inside all the original teachings of the great faiths have become lost in internal and external struggles for power, material resources and human identity.
The Baha’i Revelation, the newest Faith in this long chain, is meant as a spiritual renewal for all faiths.
The new Covenant specifically advocates the equality of men and women, the elimination of all prejudice, the creation of global education systems, the need for a universal language, the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty, and the protection of cultural, ethnic and gender diversity through unity.
Those issues, now so vital to our world, were prophesied by Baha’u’llah in 1864, a time when they were considered revolutionary and heretical.
But is there anything in this list we don’t want to see come to pass?
The Baha’i Faith encourages an individual’s search for truth and spirituality and promotes the harmony of science and religion.
What does that mean to our daily lives? Baha’u’llah said, “Unless and until unity is firmly established upon the Earth, there shall never be peace.”
Baha’is see that as the primary mission of all religions. To become unified under one faith for one great purpose — world peace.
Divisions and a sense of powerlessness are at the heart of our current social, economic, political and spiritual ills. Baha’is focus their lives on creating and supporting community, locally and globally. They understand that inclusiveness, practiced by all faiths, by all peoples and in all nations, is the only answer for healing divisions and eliminating unjust disparities.
Toward that end, there are many spiritual paths to one God, and the Baha’i Faith offers the latest education for the journey.
There are remarkable elements of this Faith that daily herald a new view and spiritual purpose for our planet.
The Baha’i Faith has no clergy and advocates no ritual. We meet regularly every 19 days for a Feast of Prayer and Community. The Baha’i community is built through consultation rather than traditional models of leadership.
Spiritual Assemblies made up of nine who are annually elected community members serve administratively at the local, regional, national and international levels to assist the affairs of the Faith.
Only members of the Faith can contribute economically to it, and only those older than 15 are allowed to formally and individually declare as Baha’is. This new Faith is a wonderful resource that’s available to all and inclusive of all.
On Faith columnist Dr. Chris Gilbert of Baha’i Faith can be reached by e-mail at ckgilbert9@netscape.net. For more information, visit www.bahai.org.


He is not to be numbered with the people of Baha who followeth his mundane desires, or fixeth his heart on the things of the earth. He is My true follower who, if he come to a valley of pure gold, will pass straight through it aloof as a cloud, and will neither turn back, nor pause. Such a man is, assuredly, of Me… And if he met the fairest and most comely of women, he would not feel his heart seduced by the least shadow of desire for her beauty. Such a one, indeed is the creation of spotless chastity.

Baha’u’llah
Gleanings, no. LX, pp. 117-8

Five Baha'i followers arrested in Iran
TEHRAN
Sun Feb 14, 2010 4:38am EST

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Five members of the outlawed Baha'i faith, which has been a target in a security crackdown sparked by post-election violence in Iran, have been arrested on unspecified charges, an Iranian newspaper said on Sunday.
WORLD
"Iran's security forces have arrested five members of the outlawed Baha'i faith in Tehran," the pro-government Javan newspaper said, without giving a source.
It identified the fives detainees as Niki Khanjani, Ashkan Basari, Maria Jafari, Houman Sisani and Romina Zabihian.
"Some of the Baha'i leaders have escaped to Dubai and Turkey while others went to border cities to find human smugglers to get them out of Iran illegally," Javan said.
Supporters of candidates who lost to hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the presidential election last June have clashes with police in a series of protests that have plunged the Islamic republic into its most serious crisis since the 1979 revolution.
Government supporters turned out en masse on February 11 for rallies marking the 31st anniversary of the revolution. Opposition websites reported efforts by security forces to stop reformists using the occasion to stage more protests.
Seven Baha'is went on trial last month on charges of spying and collaborating with Israel. One Baha'i is among 16 being tried on connection with opposition protests that turned violent on December 27.
Exiled Baha'i leaders say hundreds of followers have been jailed and executed since 1979. The government denies it has detained or executed people for their religion.
The Baha'i faith was founded by Shi'ite Muslim clergymen in Iran in the 19th century and more than 300,000 live in the Islamic state. Iran's Shi'ite religious establishment considers the faith a heretical offshoot of Islam.
(Editing by Andrew Dobbie)

These are the counsels of Abdu'l-Bah. It is my hope that out of the bestowals of the Lord of Hosts ye will become the spiritual essence and the very radiance of humankind, binding the hearts of all with bonds of love; that through the power of the Word of God ye will bring to life the dead now buried in the graves of their sensual desires; that ye will, with the rays of the Sun of Truth, restore the sight of those whose inner eye is blind; that ye will bring spiritual healing to the spiritually sick. These things do I hope for, out of the bounties and the bestowals of the Beloved.

Abdu'l-Baha
Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 36

Family opens its home to spiritual unity
By NIYAZ PIRANI
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Story Highlights
The Yazdi family, of Mission Viejo, hosts devotional gatherings as part of its Baha'i faith.

MISSION VIEJO - Heads down and eyes closed, the people gathered in the Yazdi family living room are listening intently.
"These minds and spirits are exhilarated by the message of thy glad-tidings," a woman reads from a small prayer book. "Oh, God! Let this American democracy become glorious in spiritual degrees, even as it has aspired to material degrees, and render this just government victorious."

Shiva Yazdi, left, hugs Seena Taravati, 14, and makes his mom Sasha cry when Yazdi tells the youngster he'll be successful at anything he does. Yazdi holds a monthly devotional in her Mission Viejo. The Bah' followers are accepting of all religions.

Baha'i prayer
Blessed is the spot, and the house
And the place, and the city
And the heart, and the mountain
And the refuge, and the cave
And the valley, and the land
And the sea, and the island
And the meadow where mention
Of God hath been made,
And His praise glorified.
-Baha'u'llah
They've come together to pray – to Jesus, to Allah, to Vishnu – and regardless of the doctrine of their personal faiths, all are connected by the unity taught in Baha'i – a 160-year-old Persian religion that focuses on the acceptance of all beliefs.
The Baha'i faith, Badi Yazdi explained, is built on the idea that religion is progressive. The messengers of other religions are manifestations of God, according to Baha'i beliefs, that were meant to bring spirituality to the people of their time.
The Baha'i message was revealed, Badi Yazdi said, because religions that are thousands of years old are difficult to adapt to modern life.
In that vein, the Baha'i message, brought by founder Baha'u'llah, teaches spiritual unity because that is what the world needs now, Badi Yazdi said. Baha'is see their religion as an extension of other faiths, he said, and believe that new religions may come after theirs.
With unity in mind, the Yazdi family – mother Shiva, father Badi, daughter Jenny and son Kevin – have welcomed friends and acquaintances into their Stoneridge home to foster an environment where religions coexist instead of clash.
"We see on the news how much hatred there is between all the different sects and religions and nationalities," Badi Yazdi said. "We thought, if we leave it like that, it's going to get worse."
"There are going to be some people that should take action," he added. "If I don't do it, if 10 of us, 15 of us, don't do it – who's going to do it?"
The Yazdi family took action, inviting Baha'is, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Jews and nonbelievers into a prayer group in their home.
Travis Williams, a Las Flores resident who was raised Baha'i, started attending the monthly gathering six months ago.
"Regardless of your faith, I think just coming together to pray, there's a spirit that's created and uplifts anybody," he said. "You can be at home and pray on your own, but in a group environment there is greater energy. You give something, and you get something at the same time."
On a recent Saturday, Mission Viejo resident Steve Montour – a neighbor of the Yazdis – attended the gathering with his wife, Sheryl, and their 1-year-old daughter, Megan.
Montour, whose father was Christian and mother Buddhist, said experiences in his life have made him inactive in organized religion.
He chose to attend the meeting because of the Yazdis' hospitality, and a desire to expose his daughter to all walks of life.
"I don't want her to go through life without realizing there are different faiths and spiritualities," he said. "I want her to develop her own opinions; I don't want to force her into anything."
Montour said the invitation came at a good time, allowing him and his wife to reconnect with their personal beliefs in an open environment.
"It wasn't uncomfortable in any way," he said. "The format – where you can just sit and listen if you want – I thought it was very inviting and welcoming. I didn't feel like I was an outsider."
Montour's feelings are what Shiva Yazdi hoped for.
"My goal is to bring people together ... not to bring people to the Baha'i faith," she said. "They can investigate on their own, but I want to turn on the light in people's hearts so they can see the beauty in other people's cultures and religions."

Today nothing but the power of the Word of God which encompasses the realities of things can bring the thoughts, minds, hearts and spirits under the shade of one Tree. He is the potent in all things, the vivifier of souls, the preserver and the controller of the world of mankind. Praise be to God, in this day the light of the Word of God has shone forth upon all regions; and from all sects, communities, nations, tribes, peoples, religions and denominations, souls have gathered together under the shadow of the Word of Oneness, and have in the utmost fellowship united and harmonized!

Abdu'l-Baha
Foundations of World Unity, p. 10

Praise, thanks in wake of Baha’i Center fire
Posted by britta on December 31, 2009 at 2:06 am
The American Baha’i for January and February had an article inside of it about the Orlando Baha’i Center and I wanted to post it sort of as a ‘follow up’ to my earlier posts about the fire:
“With prayer, drumming and song, Baha’is in Orlando, Florida, celebrated the Anniversary of the Birth of Baha’u'llah the evening of Nov. 11.
But where their beloved Baha’i Center once stood was a tent erected by the Orlando Spiritual Assembly.
The Center, a community fixture since 1974, was destroyed in a series of fires that began early Oct. 25.
A homeless man had been arrested on three counts of second-degree arson in connection with the fires.
Praise and thanks were uppermost in mind, however, as about 60 people gathered Nov. 11 to observe the Holy Day.
Praise to God for giving humanity Baha’u'llah. Thanks for the firefighters’ efforts to save the Center.
Thanks, too, for the even greater unity enjoyed by area Baha’is since the Center burned.
“it’s brought people together,” an Orlando Sentinel article on the celebration quoted Kelsey Vargas, the Assembly’s corresponding secretary, as saying. “You become stronger.”
Two people made immediate inquiries about the Faith after viewing news coverage of the fires, according to the National Teaching Office.
One seeker said she was “so impressed by how the Baha’i responded in the news about this terrible event. She seemed so calm and grateful.” The woman said she and her husband went online to learn more about the Faith and she immediately identified with it’s teachings. “I have believed these things all my life, and I had no idea there were others who believed like I do,” she related. “I want to attend some activities in my area.”
The Assembly’s main goal in response to the fire, Vargas told The Assembly’s main goal in response to the fire, Vargas told The American Baha’i, was to “just help the friends feel comforted and united.”
Just as important, she said, the Assembly wants the friends to know “that the physical structure burning down is in no way going to impede our teaching. It can only help us feel more engaged and charged up.”"

Consort with all men ... in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship ... A kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men.

Baha'u'llah
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 289