Editor’s note: Following is the next in a series on the Inter-Faith Bridging Project, launched last fall by Vernon and District Immigrant Services Society, with funding by Embrace B.C.
The Bahá’i faith is the newest of the world’s independent religions. It was founded in Persia (Iran) in 1844. The founder, Bahá’u’lláh, is regarded as the most recent of the line of messengers of God, the founders of all great religions, that stretches back beyond recorded time. It is the second most widely geographically spread independent religion in the world, after Christianity, with Bahá’is in 188 countries and 45 territories.
The basic themes are oneness of God, oneness of humanity and the ultimate oneness of religion, with the teachings of the abandonment of all forms of prejudice, equal opportunity and education for all and the responsibility of each person to independently search for truth. There is no clergy, with the organization run by elected boards at local, national and international levels. The early Bahá’is wrote many books which have been translated into more then 800 languages.
There are houses of worship that are gathering places for prayer and meditation, with no sermons or rituals, a centre for the community’s spiritual life and an expression of humanitarian concern. There have been seven large houses of worship built, one on each continent, with the first one built in 1908 in Russia. The newest one was completed in 1986 in New Delhi, India. All Bahá’i houses of worship have nine sides and a central dome and are open to people of all faiths. The World Centre is in Haifa, Israel.
The Bahá’i calendar dates from 1844 with 19 months of 19 days each with some intercalary days before the new year on March 21. This, and other special days, are community events marked by prayers and eating together.
Bahá’is meet throughout the year for devotions and study circles and promote children’s and youth groups, as well as community service projects like planting trees and helping neighbouring students with reading and visiting people with physical and mental challenges.
The Bahá’i way of life, with prayer and meditation, regarding spiritual growth as a life-long process, and service to others, appeals to people of many different backgrounds.
Alysia Lor, 19, is a fourth-generation Bahá’i and UBC-O sciences student.
“We believe that each faith came at a certain period of time that was right for that time, and in the individual investigation of truth,” she said. “At the age of 15, people can declare themselves as a Bahá’i. This is not something formal. It is between you and God. We believe in moral virtues, like treating others with kindness and respect. It seemed like a logical lifestyle because there has to be something greater. There is so much diversity in the Bahá’i community because it is in so many different cultures and countries.”
Eva Strom became a Bahá’i 27 years ago as a young adult.
“I was searching for a different lifestyle and one of my friends invited me to hear a short talk. I was attracted to the teachings of peace and understanding, social action and development and that Bahá’is participate in the UN as a non-governmental organization working toward a better world,” she said.
She was pleased to be able to visit the North American house of worship near Chicago last year.
“It was really wonderful. It has a special energy. You go into it and people are sitting quietly meditating and praying. It was amazing. I was there when they had a devotional with prayers in different languages and an a cappella choir. It was a wonderful experience,” she said.
Lor, who teaches children’s classes, thinks the Bahá’i faith will be a good one in which to raise any children she has.
“We teach truthfulness, kindness, unity, moral and spiritual development. I think a lot of people, especially the younger generation, say that organized religion causes so many different problems. The Bahá’i faith brings humanity together. I was happy to see the Inter-Faith Bridging Project help the community to understand better all the religions we have in our community.”
The Bahá’i faith continues to take an active part in the UN.
Bani Dugal, principal representative of the Bahá’i International Community to the United Nations, said that persistent religious intolerance requires “a fundamental change in the way that believers relate to one another…and frank deliberations on that which we hold in common rather than that which sets us apart.
“It is this essential unity of religion, across the tremendous diversity of history, culture, tradition, philosophy, and practice, that should now become the operating principle of religious discourse.”
