{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-archive-page-jsx","path":"/archive/60/","result":{"pageContext":{"strings":{"about":"About","additional_articles":"Additional Articles","administration":"Administration","africa":"Africa","all_bahaiorg_sites":"All Bahai.org Sites","all_sites":"All sites","all_sites_arising_serve":"Arising to Serve","all_sites_arising_serve_caption":"A film recounting highlights of the 41 regional Bahá’í conferences called by the Universal House of Justice in 2008","all_sites_bahai_org":"The official website of the worldwide Bahá’í community","all_sites_bahai_org_library":"Bahá’í Reference Library","all_sites_bahai_org_library_caption":"The authoritative online source of Bahá’í writings","all_sites_bahaullah_org":"The Life of Bahá’u’lláh","all_sites_bahaullah_org_caption":"A photographic narrative of the life of Bahá’u’lláh","all_sites_bic":"Bahá’í International Community Representative Offices","all_sites_bic_caption":"The official website of the Bahá’í International Community’s Representative Offices. The site contains news and information about recent activity and provides access to BIC statements, reports, and other publications","all_sites_bicentenary":"Bicentenary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh","all_sites_bicentenary_bab":"Bicentenary of the Birth of The Báb","all_sites_bicentenary_caption":"The official international website for the bicentenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh","all_sites_frontiers_learning":"Frontiers of Learning","all_sites_frontiers_learning_caption":"This film captures the insights and experiences of people from four communities across the world whose efforts to build vibrant communities are at the frontiers of learning","all_sites_light_to_the_world":"Light to the World","all_sites_light_to_the_world_caption":"A feature film about the life and teachings of Bahá’u’lláh","all_sites_media_bank":"Bahá’í Media Bank","all_sites_media_bank_caption":"Photographs available for downloading","all_sites_national_communities":"National Bahá’í Communities","all_sites_national_communities_caption":"A page containing links to the websites of many national Bahá’í communities from around the world","all_sites_news_bahai_org_caption":"The official news website of the worldwide Bahá’í community","all_sites_title":"Official Bahá’í Sites","all_sites_universalhouseofjustice_org":"The Universal House of Justice","all_sites_universalhouseofjustice_org_caption":"Information about the Universal House of Justice and selected statements and letters","all_sites_widening_embrace":"A Widening Embrace","all_sites_widening_embrace_caption":"A documentary film about the community-building efforts of the Bahá’í world","americas":"Americas","android":"Android","archive_results_to_of_a":"Results","archive_results_to_of_b":"to","archive_results_to_of_c":"of","asia":"Asia","back_to_story":"Back to Story","bahai_international_community":"Bahá'í International Community","bahai_media_bank":"Bahá’í Media Bank","bahai_reference_library":"Bahá’í Reference Library","bahai_world_centre":"Bahá’í World Centre","bahai_world_news_service":"Bahá’í World News Service","bahai_world_news_service_bwns":"Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS)","bahaiorg_home":"Bahai.org Home","bahais_semnan":"The Bahá’ís of Semnan","battambang_cambodia_house_worship":"House of Worship in Battambang, Cambodia","battambang_cambodia_temple":"Battambang, Cambodia Temple Inauguration","before_downloading_terms":"Before downloading please refer to the [Terms of use](/legal/).","bic_un_office":"Bahá’í International Community\nUN Office","brief_history":"Brief history","bwns_noTranslation":"BWNS","cdn_documentlibrary_path":"http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/","cdn_images_path":"//bwns.imgix.net/","chile_house_worship":"Chile House of Worship","chile_temple":"Chile Temple Inauguration","close":"Close","closed_doors_denial_education_iran":"Closed Doors: Denial of Education in Iran","comma":",","comprehensive_report":"Comprehensive report","contact":"Contact","contact_h1":"Contacting the Bahá’í World News Service","contact_h2":"Contacting Bahá’í institutions","contact_h3":"Reporting technical problems","contact_information":"Contact Information","contact_p1":"General inquiries about BWNS can be directed to [news@bahai.org](mailto:news@bahai.org). Information regarding news and media contacts is available in the [Media Information](/media-information/) section.","contact_p2":"The Bahá’í Faith is established in more than 100,000 localities in virtually every country and territory around the world. At the national level, the affairs of the Bahá’í community are guided by National Spiritual Assemblies, and a list of websites for many national Bahá’í communities can be found at the [National Communities page](https://www.bahai.org/national-communities/) on Bahai.org.","contact_p3":"To report a technical problem with this site, please send a detailed description and screenshot of the issue, along with the address of the page where it occurred, to [webmaster@bahai.org](mailto:webmaster@bahai.org). Please note that this email address exists to receive reports of technical problems with the site and it is not possible to respond to other queries through this facility.","copy_link":"Copy Link","did_not_match_any_documents_showing_results_for":"did not match any documents. Showing results for","did_you_mean":"Did you mean:","download":"Download","download_highest_resolution":"Download highest resolution","email":"Email","email_address":"Email Address","enlarge":"Enlarge","error_page":"Error Occurred","error_page_p1":"Sorry. An error has occurred with your request. It would help us if you let us know what you were trying to do when this error occurred by using our [contact form](https://www.bahai.org/contact/).","europe":"Europe","featured_stories":"Featured stories","featured_videos":"Featured videos","follow_updates_via_instagram_twitter":"Follow the Bahá’í World News Service on Twitter and Instagram for regular updates and stories","from_bwns_archive":"From the Bahá’í World News Service archive","get_notified_stories":"Get notified of stories","highest_resolution":"Highest resolution","historical_photographs":"Historical photographs","homepage_feature_audio_h2":"Recent podcast episodes","homepage_feature_audio_h3":"Audio versions of stories","homepage_feature_audio_p1":"Selected audio content from around the globe","homepage_feature_h1":"Subscribe to BWNS Updates","houses_worship":"Houses of Worship","human_rights_iran":"Human Rights in Iran","images":"images","ios":"iOS","iran_news_stories":"Iran News Stories","key_terms_facts":"Key terms and facts","latest_headlines":"Latest headlines","latest_video_category":"Latest","legal":"Legal","legal_h1":"Privacy","legal_h2":"Terms of Use","legal_information":"Legal Information","legal_li_1":"They must at all times be attributed to the Bahá’í World News Service.","legal_li_2":"Photographs and stories cannot be used in any way (including, without limitation, suggesting an association with or endorsement of any product, service, opinion or cause) that conflicts with the intent and premise of the original source.","legal_li_3":"Photographs may be edited for size only. Captions must remain with the photographs at all times.","legal_li_4":"The Bahá’í World News Service will not be responsible to any person or organization for any liability for any direct, incidental,  consequential, indirect, or punitive damages that may result from any access to or use of the stories and/or photographs on our site.","legal_li_5":"Although this blanket permission to reproduce BWNS material is given freely such that no special permission is required, the Bahá’í World News Service retains full copyright protection for its stories and photographs under all applicable national and international laws.","legal_p1_1":"On this Web site we try to ensure your privacy. We collect only personal information provided by you on a voluntary basis, in order to respond to your queries and to send you any additional information and material that you request.","legal_p1_2":"Visitors to this Web site are not tracked, except to produce aggregate statistical data that does not identify individual users. Where we must use cookies to provide essential functionality, these are not used to track your use of the site or to store personally-identifiable information. Steps have been taken to ensure that all information collected from you will remain secure, free from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. Please keep in mind that if you leave this site via a link, the other site may have a different policy regarding privacy.","legal_p1_3a":"We occasionally update this privacy policy and encourage you to review it periodically. If you wish to correct your personal information, or have questions regarding this policy, please send an email message to","legal_p1_3b":"or call the Bahá’í World News Service at +972 (4) 835-8412, between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. GMT +2, Sunday through Thursday.","legal_p2_1":"All stories and photographs produced by the Bahá’í World News Service may be freely reprinted, e-mailed, posted to the World Wide Web and otherwise reproduced by any individual or organization, subject to the following restrictions:","legal_p2_2":"The Bahá’í World News Service is an agency of the Bahá’í International Community, a nongovernmental organization that represents and encompasses the five million members of the Bahá’í Faith.","links_other_websites":"Links to other Web sites","listen":"Listen","listen_bwns":"Listen to BWNS","load_more_results":"Load more results","media_bank":"Media Bank","media_information":"Media Information","media_information_about_bwns":"About BWNS","media_information_administration_h2":"International","media_information_administration_h3":"National","media_information_administration_h4":"Local","media_information_administration_p1":"The Bahá’í Faith is administered by a series of elected bodies at the local, national, and international levels. There is no class of ecclesiastics or clergy.","media_information_administration_p2":"The Universal House of Justice is the international governing council of the Bahá’í Faith. It is the supreme administrative body ordained by Bahá’u’lláh in His book of laws. The Universal House of Justice is elected every five years at the International Bahá’í Convention, where members of the National Spiritual Assemblies (see below) around the world serve as delegates. The Universal House of Justice was first elected in 1963. Its permanent seat is on Mount Carmel in Haifa.","media_information_administration_p3":"At the national level, the affairs of the Bahá’í community are administered by the National Spiritual Assembly, a nine-member elected council responsible for guiding, co-ordinating, and stimulating the activities of Local Spiritual Assemblies and individual members of the Bahá’í community within a given country. The responsibilities of a National Spiritual Assembly include channelling the community’s financial resources, fostering the growth and vibrancy of the national Bahá’í community, supervising the affairs of the community including its social and economic development activities and its properties, overseeing relations with government, resolving questions from individuals and Local Spiritual Assemblies, and strengthening the participation of the Bahá’í community in the life of society at the national level.","media_information_administration_p4":"At the local level, the affairs of the Bahá’í community are administered by the Local Spiritual Assembly. Each Local Assembly consists of nine members who are chosen in annual elections. As with all other elected Bahá’í institutions, the Assembly functions as a body and makes decisions through consultation. The responsibilities of the Local Spiritual Assembly include promoting the spiritual education of children and young people, strengthening the spiritual and social fabric of Bahá’í community life, assessing and utilizing the community’s resources, and ensuring that the energies and talents of community members contribute towards progress.","media_information_administration_p5":"In addition, the Bahá’í Faith has **counsellors**, appointed to five-year terms by the Universal House of Justice, who serve as advisers in countries and regions around the world. Currently there are 90 such counsellors assigned to specific countries or regions, and an additional nine counsellors who constitute the membership of the International Teaching Centre at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa.","media_information_administration_p6":"The Bahá’í International Community is a non-governmental organization that represents the worldwide Bahá’í community. It has been registered with the United Nations (UN) as a non-governmental organization since 1948. It currently has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social council (ECOSOC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), as well as accreditation with the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI). The Bahá’í International Community collaborates with the UN and its specialized agencies, as well as member states, inter- and non-governmental organizations, academia, and practitioners. It has Representative Offices in Addis Ababa, Brussels, Cairo, Geneva, Jakarta, and New York.","media_information_bahai_world_centre_li_4_a":"the Seat of the Universal House of Justice,","media_information_bahai_world_centre_li_4_b":"the International Teaching Centre,","media_information_bahai_world_centre_li_4_c":"the Centre for the Study of the Texts,","media_information_bahai_world_centre_li_4_d":"the International Archives Building.","media_information_bahai_world_centre_p1":"The spiritual and administrative center of the Bahá’í Faith is permanently established in the Acre-Haifa area of northern Israel, following the explicit instructions of Bahá’u’lláh.","media_information_bahai_world_centre_p2":"The burial place, or shrine, of Bahá’u’lláh near Acre and that of the Báb on Mount Carmel in Haifa are the holiest spots on earth for Bahá’ís. Other sites associated with the life of Bahá’u’lláh as well as the burial site of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are revered by Bahá’ís as holy places.","media_information_bahai_world_centre_p3":"The shrines are the object of pilgrimage for thousands of Bahá’ís each year.","media_information_bahai_world_centre_p4":"The administrative offices are positioned in an Arc across Mount Carmel in Haifa and include:","media_information_bahai_world_centre_p5":"Also in Haifa are the Bahá’í International Community’s Secretariat and Office of Public Information.","media_information_bahai_world_centre_p6":"The Bahá’í World Centre is known for the gardens surrounding the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh near Acre, and also for the gardens and terraces surrounding the golden-domed Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel in Haifa.","media_information_bahai_world_centre_p7":"At this time the Shrine of the Báb is open to the public.","media_information_brief_history_p1":"The Bahá’í Faith traces its origin to 1844 and the announcement by a young man, Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad, in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran), that He had been sent by God to prepare humanity for a new age and the imminent appearance of another Messenger even greater than Himself.","media_information_brief_history_p10":"During the 40 years of His exile, Bahá’u’lláh revealed a series of books, tablets, and letters that today form the core of the **holy writings of the Bahá’í Faith**. Comprising the equivalent of some 100 volumes, the writings of Bahá’u’lláh describe the nature of God and the purpose of human existence, give new religious laws, and outline a vision for creating a peaceful and prosperous global society.","media_information_brief_history_p11":"In His will, Bahá’u’lláh named His eldest son, ‘Abbás Effendi (1844-1921), as the head of the Bahá’í Faith and authorized interpreter of His teachings. ‘Abbás Effendi, known to Bahá’ís as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (“Servant of Bahá”), became well-known in the Haifa/Acre area for his charitable works, and he also traveled through Europe and North America to encourage nascent Bahá’í communities and to proclaim Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings to the general public. The writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are considered part of the sacred scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith.","media_information_brief_history_p12":"‘Abdu’l-Bahá passed away in 1921. In his will he had designated his grandson **Shoghi Effendi** (1897-1957) as his successor, with the title of **Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith**. During the ministry of Shoghi Effendi, the religion spread around the world, and its local and national administrative institutions were established. With the passing of Shoghi Effendi in 1957, the line of hereditary leaders of the Bahá’í Faith came to an end.","media_information_brief_history_p13":"Following provisions established by Bahá’u’lláh, in 1963 the **Universal House of Justice** was elected to direct the affairs of the worldwide Bahá’í community. The nine members of the Universal House of Justice are elected every five years by the members of the Bahá’í national administrative bodies around the world.","media_information_brief_history_p2":"Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad took the title of the **Báb** (meaning “Gate” in Arabic) and said the one whose coming He foretold would be the universal Manifestation of God sent to inaugurate an age of peace and enlightenment as promised in all the world’s religions.","media_information_brief_history_p3":"The Báb’s teachings, which spread rapidly, were viewed as heretical by the clergy and government of Persia. More than 20,000 of His followers, known as Bábís, perished in a series of massacres throughout the country.","media_information_brief_history_p4":"The Báb Himself was publicly executed in the city of Tabriz on 9 July 1850.","media_information_brief_history_p5":"Bahá’ís consider the Báb to be both an independent Messenger of God and the forerunner of **Bahá’u’lláh** (“the Glory of God” in Arabic), who is the founder of the Bahá’í Faith.","media_information_brief_history_p6":"Bahá’u’lláh, whose name was Mírzá Husayn ‘Alí, was born into a noble family in Tehran on 12 November 1817. In His mid-20s, He declined a life of privilege and became one of the leading disciples of the Báb.","media_information_brief_history_p7":"In 1852, in the course of the persecution of the Bábís, He was arrested, beaten, and thrown into an infamous dungeon in Tehran. After four months, He was released and banished from His native land – the beginning of 40 years of exile and imprisonment.","media_information_brief_history_p8":"He was first sent to Baghdad, where He and His companions stayed for 10 years. In 1863, on the eve of His further banishment to what is now Turkey and then to the Holy Land, Bahá’u’lláh announced that He was the Universal Messenger of God foretold by the Báb.","media_information_brief_history_p9":"In 1868, Bahá’u’lláh arrived in the Holy Land with about 70 family members and followers, sentenced by the Ottoman authorities to perpetual confinement in the penal colony of Acre. The order of confinement was never lifted, but because of the growing recognition of His outstanding character, He eventually was able to move outside the walls of the prison city. He lived His final years at a country home called Bahjí, where He passed away in 1892. He was interred there, and His shrine is the holiest place on earth for Bahá’ís.","media_information_description":"Contacts, facts, style guide,\ngeneral information, and photos","media_information_h1":"National and local","media_information_h2":"International","media_information_h2_a":"Bahá’í World News Service","media_information_h2_b":"Bahá’í International Community","media_information_h2_c":"Bahá’í International Community - United Nations Offices:","media_information_h2_e":"For languages other than English:","media_information_houses_worship_li_1":"Wilmette, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1953.","media_information_houses_worship_li_2":"Kampala, Uganda. Opened in 1961.","media_information_houses_worship_li_3":"Sydney, Australia. Opened in 1961.","media_information_houses_worship_li_4":"Frankfurt, Germany. Opened in 1964.","media_information_houses_worship_li_5":"Panama City, Panama. Opened in 1972.","media_information_houses_worship_li_6":"Apia, Samoa. Opened in 1984.","media_information_houses_worship_li_7":"New Delhi, India. Opened in 1986.","media_information_houses_worship_li_8":"Santiago, Chile. Opened in 2016.","media_information_houses_worship_li_9":"Battambang, Cambodia. Opened in 2017.","media_information_houses_worship_li_10":"Norte del Cauca, Colombia. Opened in 2018.","media_information_houses_worship_li_11":"Matunda Soy, Kenya. Opened in 2021.","media_information_houses_worship_li_12":"Tanna, Vanuatu. Opened in 2021.","media_information_houses_worship_li_13":"Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Opened in 2023.","media_information_houses_worship_li_14":"Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Opened in 2024.","media_information_houses_worship_p1":"Bahá’u’lláh designated Bahá’í Houses of Worship as spiritual gathering places for prayer and meditation around which will cluster social, humanitarian, educational, and scientific institutions. Eight continental, two national, and four local Bahá’í Houses of Worship have been built.","media_information_houses_worship_p2":"The physical structure of a House of Worship comprises a central building—a House of Worship—along with several dependencies. While the House of Worship forms the focal point of worship in a geographical area, its purpose is not solely to provide a place for prayer. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained that, through the provision of education, healthcare and other services it is also to support the social and economic progress of the community and afford shelter, relief and assistance to those in need. In this connection, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá anticipated that subsidiary branches—such as a hospital, school, university, dispensary, and hospice—would gradually be added to a House of Worship. Bahá’u’lláh refers to the House of Worship as a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, Arabic for “dawning place of the mention of God.”","media_information_houses_worship_p3":"Bahá’í Houses of Worship are located in:","media_information_houses_worship_p4":"Plans are underway to build a national House of Worship in Brazil, Canada, and Malawi. A local House of Worship is also being constructed in Batouri, Cameroon; Bihar Sharif, India; Kanchanpur, Nepal; and Mwinilunga, Zambia. At the local level, meetings for worship are held regularly in Bahá’í centers and in the homes of believers all over the world.","media_information_key_terms_facts_h1":"Name of the religion and of the organization – the Bahá’í Faith","media_information_key_terms_facts_h2":"Founder of the Bahá’í Faith – Bahá’u’lláh","media_information_key_terms_facts_h3":"Year of founding – 1844","media_information_key_terms_facts_h4":"Head of the religion – the Universal House of Justice","media_information_key_terms_facts_h5":"Number of Bahá’ís – more than 5 million","media_information_key_terms_facts_h6":"Description of the religion and key beliefs","media_information_key_terms_facts_li_6_a":"the unity of the races and elimination of prejudice,","media_information_key_terms_facts_li_6_b":"the equality of women and men,","media_information_key_terms_facts_li_6_c":"universal education,","media_information_key_terms_facts_li_6_d":"the elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty,","media_information_key_terms_facts_li_6_e":"a spiritual solution to economic problems,","media_information_key_terms_facts_li_6_f":"establishment of a universal auxiliary language,","media_information_key_terms_facts_li_6_g":"the harmony of science and religion,","media_information_key_terms_facts_li_6_h":"the independent investigation of truth,","media_information_key_terms_facts_li_6_i":"the creation of a world commonwealth of nations that will keep the peace through collective security.","media_information_key_terms_facts_p1_a":"The Bahá’í Faith is an independent world religion.","media_information_key_terms_facts_p1_b":"A member is called a Bahá’í (plural: Bahá’ís). It is also correct to say that someone is a “member of the Bahá’í Faith,” a “follower of the Bahá’í Faith,” a “follower of Bahá’u’lláh,” or a member of the Bahá’í community of a given locality.","media_information_key_terms_facts_p1_c":"The term “Bahá’í International Community” refers to the non-governmental organization that represents the worldwide Bahá’í community. It has been registered with the United Nations (UN) as a non-governmental organization since 1948. It currently has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social council (ECOSOC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as well as accreditation with the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI). The Bahá’í International Community collaborates with the UN and its specialized agencies, as well as member states, inter- and non-governmental organizations, academia, and practitioners. It has Representative Offices in Addis Ababa, Brussels, Cairo, Geneva, Jakarta, and New York.","media_information_key_terms_facts_p2":"Bahá’ís consider Bahá’u’lláh to be the most recent in a line of great religious teachers, or Messengers of God, that includes Abraham, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Krishna, Muhammad, Moses, Zoroaster, and others. Bahá’u’lláh—the name is Arabic for “Glory of God”—was born in 1817 in Tehran, Iran, and passed away in 1892 in Acre, Israel. The coming of Bahá’u’lláh was announced by the Báb (Arabic for “Gate”), also considered by Bahá’ís to be a divine Messenger.","media_information_key_terms_facts_p3":"There are a number of important dates in the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith, but the first announcement by the Báb of the new religion came in 1844.","media_information_key_terms_facts_p4":"The Universal House of Justice is the international governing council of the Bahá’í community, an elected body of nine men. Its seat is at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa, Israel. Around the world, in almost all countries, a National Spiritual Assembly oversees the affairs of the Bahá’í Faith in that country, and Local Spiritual Assemblies oversee local affairs.","media_information_key_terms_facts_p6_a":"The Bahá’í Faith is an independent, monotheistic religion established in virtually every country of the world. Bahá’ís believe that the world’s major religions represent unfolding chapters in God’s teachings for humankind, and that the writings of Bahá’u’lláh represent God’s guidance for this age.","media_information_key_terms_facts_p6_b":"Bahá’u’lláh’s central teaching is the unity of humanity under one God.","media_information_key_terms_facts_p6_c":"Among the many Bahá’í principles are the following:","media_information_key_terms_facts_p7":"For more information, see [Bahai.org](https://www.bahai.org).","media_information_li_a_1":"Phone (office): +972 (4) 835-8412","media_information_li_a_2":"E-mail, for news inquiries: [news@bahai.org](mailto:news@bahai.org)","media_information_li_b_1":"Mr. Saleem Vaillaincourt (London)","media_information_li_b_2":"Senior information officer","media_information_li_b_3":"Phone (office): +1 (212) 803-2544","media_information_li_b_4":"E-mail: [media@bic.org](mailto:media@bic.org)","media_information_li_c_1":"Ms. Bani Dugal (New York)","media_information_li_c_2":"Principal Representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations","media_information_li_c_3":"Bahá’í International Community","media_information_li_c_4":"Phone: +1 (212) 803-2500","media_information_li_c_5":"After-hours phone: +1 (914) 329-3020","media_information_li_c_6":"E-mail: [uno-nyc@bic.org](mailto:uno-nyc@bic.org)","media_information_li_d_1":"Ms. Simin Fahandej (Geneva)","media_information_li_d_2":"Representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations","media_information_li_d_3":"Bahá’í International Community","media_information_li_d_4":"Phone: +41 (27) 798-5400","media_information_li_d_5":"After-hours phone: +41 (78) 880-0759","media_information_li_d_6":"E-mail: [geneva@bic.org](mailto:geneva@bic.org)","media_information_li_e_1":"Persian – Simin Fahandej, +41 (27) 798-5400","media_information_li_e_2":"French – Rachel Bayani, +32 (475) 750394","media_information_li_e_3":"To arrange other languages +972 (4) 835-8412","media_information_media_contacts":"Media Contacts","media_information_p1":"Editors, journalists, and other media professionals are encouraged to contact the National Office of the Bahá’ís of their own country. See [National Communities](https://www.bahai.org/national-communities/).","media_information_p2":"BWNS reports on major developments and endeavors of the global Bahá’í community.","media_information_p3":"Information about the Bahá’í Faith is available at [Bahai.org](https://www.bahai.org/)","media_information_p_native":"The website for BWNS is located at [news.bahai.org](https://news.bahai.org/)","media_information_photographs_p1":"To arrange for photographs, you are encouraged to contact the office of the National Spiritual Assembly of the  Bahá’ís of your country. See [National Communities](https://www.bahai.org/national-communities/).","media_information_photographs_p2":"For more information, or for international photographs, contact the Bahá’í World Centre:","media_information_photographs_p3":"Phone: +972 (4) 835-8412  \n            E-mail: [news@bahai.org](mailto:news@bahai.org)","media_information_photographs_p4":"Photographs here may be downloaded and published, with photo credit given to the Bahá’í World Centre. [Terms of use](https://news.bahai.org/legal/).","media_information_photographs_p5":"Additional photos are available through the [Bahá’í Media Bank](https://media.bahai.org/). Images attached to articles in the [Bahá’í World News Service](https://news.bahai.org/) main site may also be downloaded.","media_information_photographs_p6":"Photographs of Bahá’ís imprisoned in Iran are available in the [Iran Update](/human-rights/iran/iran-update/photos.html) section of this Web site.","media_information_sidecontent_h1":"Bahá’ís in Iran","media_information_sidecontent_li":"Updates, background, photos","media_information_statistics_p1":"There are more than 5 million Bahá’ís in the world.","media_information_statistics_p2":"The Bahá’í Faith is established in virtually every country and in many dependent territories and overseas departments of countries. Bahá’ís reside in well over 100,000 localities. About 2,100 indigenous tribes, races, and ethnic groups are represented in the Bahá’í community.","media_information_statistics_p3":"There are currently 188 councils at the national level that oversee the work of communities. A network of over 300 training institutes, offering formal programs of Bahá’í education, span the globe.","media_information_statistics_p4":"Of the several thousand Bahá’í efforts in social and economic development, more than 900 are large-scale, sustained projects, including more than 600 schools and over 70 development agencies.","media_information_statistics_p5":"There are currently 14 Bahá’í Houses of Worship – in Australia, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Germany, India, Kenya, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Uganda, the United States, and Vanuatu. Plans are underway to build a national House of Worship in Brazil, Canada, and Malawi. Local Houses of Worship are also being constructed in Batouri, Cameroon; Bihar Sharif, India; Kanchanpur, Nepal; and Mwinilunga, Zambia. At the local level, meetings for worship are held regularly in Bahá’í centers and in the homes of believers all over the world.","media_information_statistics_p6":"The Bahá’í International Community has been registered with the United Nations as a non-governmental organization since 1948. It currently has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social council (ECOSOC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as well as accreditation with the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI). The Bahá’í International Community collaborates with the UN and its specialized agencies, as well as member states, inter- and non-governmental organizations, academia, and practitioners. It has Representative Offices in Addis Ababa, Brussels, Cairo, Geneva, Jakarta, and New York.","media_information_statistics_p7":"Bahá’í writings and other literature have been translated into more than 800 languages.","media_information_statistics_p8":"Each year, around one million people visit the Bahá’í Shrine, terraces, and gardens on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel.","media_information_statistics_p9":"In Iran, where the Bahá’í Faith originated, there are now about 300,000 Bahá’ís, constituting the largest religious minority in that country.","media_information_style_guide_h1":"Pronunciation guide","media_information_style_guide_h2":"Style guide and glossary","media_information_style_guide_p1":"**Bahá’í:**   Ba-HIGH  \n            **Bahá’u’lláh:**   Ba-ha-ul-LAH  \n            **Báb:**   Bahb (Bob)  \n            **‘Abdu’l-Bahá:**   Abdul ba-HAH  \n            **Naw-Rúz:**   Naw Rooz  \n            **Ridván:**   REZ-vahn","media_information_style_guide_p2_1":"**‘Abdu’l-Bahá** (1844-1921) – The son of Bahá’u’lláh who was the head of the Bahá’í Faith from 1892 to 1921. Bahá’u’lláh in His will had designated ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as His successor. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá occupies a special station as the authoritative interpreter of the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and as the perfect example of how a Bahá’í should live. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá traveled widely through Europe and North America from 1911-1913, explaining his Father’s teachings in talks, interviews, and addresses at universities, churches, temples, synagogues, and missions for the poor. (Bahá’ís capitalize pronouns—for example, “He”—that refers to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá out of respect for his special station. Such pronouns are not capitalized in this guide in deference to international journalistic style and also to avoid confusion with Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, who are considered to be divine Prophets.) For more information, see [Bahai.org](https://www.bahai.org).","media_information_style_guide_p2_10":"**Bahá’í Faith** – The correct term for the religion is the Bahá’í Faith. It is an independent, monotheistic religion established in virtually every country of the world. It is not a sect of another religion. In a list of major religions, it would look like this: Hinduism, Zoroastrianism,  Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the Bahá’í Faith.","media_information_style_guide_p2_11":"**Bahá’í International Community** – The Bahá’í International Community is a non-governmental organization that represents the worldwide Bahá’í community. It has been registered with the United Nations as a non-governmental organization since 1948. It currently has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social council (ECOSOC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as well as accreditation with the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI). The Bahá’í International Community collaborates with the UN and its specialized agencies, as well as member states, inter- and non-governmental organizations, academia, and practitioners. It has Representative Offices in Addis Ababa, Brussels, Cairo, Geneva, Jakarta, and New York. For more information, see [bic.org](https://www.bic.org).","media_information_style_guide_p2_12":"**Bahá’í World Centre** – The spiritual and administrative center of the Bahá’í Faith, comprising the holy places in the Haifa/Acre area in northern Israel and the Arc of administrative buildings on Mount Carmel in Haifa. The Bahá’í World Centre itself uses the spelling “Centre”; elsewhere both “Centre” and “Center” are used, depending on the custom of the country.","media_information_style_guide_p2_13":"**Bahá’u’lláh** – The founder of the Bahá’í Faith, who lived from 1817 to 1892, considered by Bahá’ís to be the most recent divine Messenger, or Manifestation of God, in a line of great religious figures that includes Abraham, Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Moses, Muhammad, Zoroaster, the Báb, and others. Bahá’u’lláh was born in Tehran in present-day Iran, and passed away near Acre, in what is now Israel. “Bahá’u’lláh” is a title that means the “Glory of God” in Arabic; His name was Mírzá Husayn-‘Alí. His writings, which would equal about a hundred volumes, form the basis of the Bahá’í teachings. For more information, see [Bahai.org](http://www.bahai.org).","media_information_style_guide_p2_14":"**Bahjí** – The place near Acre where the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh (His burial place) is located, as well as the mansion that was His last residence and surrounding gardens. It is a place of pilgrimage for Bahá’ís. The word “Bahjí” is Arabic for “delight.”","media_information_style_guide_p2_15":"**children’s classes** – Classes in moral education, open to all, that are provided for children, operated at the community level by the Bahá’í training institute.","media_information_style_guide_p2_16":"**Convention** – See [International Bahá’í Convention](#internationalbahaiconvention) and [National Bahá’í Convention](#nationalbahaicconvention).","media_information_style_guide_p2_18":"**counsellor** – An adviser appointed by the Universal House of Justice who serves in a particular geographic area or at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa. At present, there are 90 counsellors assigned to specific countries or regions, and nine counsellors who form the membership of the International Teaching Centre at the  Bahá’í World Centre. Appointments are for five years.","media_information_style_guide_p2_19":"**devotional meetings** – Gatherings, often in people’s homes, for prayers and to read the sacred writings of the Bahá’í Faith and other religions. Usually undertaken as an individual initiative.","media_information_style_guide_p2_2":"**accent marks** – Bahá’í, Bahá’u’lláh, and other names are written with accent marks, but many publications and websites do not have the facility for using such marks.","media_information_style_guide_p2_20":"**fast, the** – A period during which Bahá’ís abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sundown during the Bahá’í month of ‘Alá’, from 2 March to 20 March. Bahá’u’lláh enjoined His followers to pray and fast during this period. The sick, the traveler, and pregnant women, among others, are exempt.","media_information_style_guide_p2_21":"**feast** – See [Nineteen Day Feast](#nineteendayfeast).","media_information_style_guide_p2_22":"**Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith** – See [Shoghi Effendi](#shoghieffendi).","media_information_style_guide_p2_23":"**Haifa** – The city in northern Israel that, along with nearby Acre, is the location of the Bahá’í World Centre. The international administrative buildings of the Bahá’í Faith (including the Seat of the Universal House of Justice), the Shrine of the Báb, and surrounding terraces and gardens are all located on Mount Carmel in the heart of Haifa.","media_information_style_guide_p2_24":"**Holy days** – Eleven days that commemorate significant Bahá’í anniversaries. The nine holy days on which work is suspended are the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh, the Birth of the Báb, Declaration of the Báb, Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, Martyrdom of the Báb, Naw-Rúz, Ridván (a 12-day festival, of which the first, ninth and 12th days are holy days). The other two holy days are the Day of the Covenant and the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. *See names of individual holy days.*","media_information_style_guide_p2_25":"**Holy Land** – The area associated with present-day Israel, which is holy to a number of religions, including to Bahá’ís. The resting places of Bahá’u’lláh near Acre and of the Báb in Haifa are, to Bahá’ís, the holiest spots on earth.","media_information_style_guide_p2_26":"**International Archives Building** – One of the buildings at the Bahá’í World Centre on Mount Carmel in Haifa. The repository of many sacred relics of the Bahá’í Faith, it is visited by thousands of Bahá’í pilgrims each year.","media_information_style_guide_p2_27":"**International Bahá’í Convention** – A gathering every five years of delegates from around the world to consult on the affairs of the Bahá’í Faith and elect the members of the Universal House of Justice. Members of the National Spiritual Assemblies serve as delegates.","media_information_style_guide_p2_28":"**International Teaching Centre** – One of the institutions at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa. The International Teaching Centre has nine members, all counsellors appointed by the Universal House of Justice. Appointments are for five years.","media_information_style_guide_p2_29":"**Local Spiritual Assembly** – At the local level, the affairs of the Bahá’í community are administered by the Local Spiritual Assembly. Each Local Assembly consists of nine members who are chosen in annual elections. As with all other elected Bahá’í institutions, the Assembly functions as a body and makes decisions through consultation. The responsibilities of the Local Spiritual Assembly include promoting the spiritual education of children and young people, strengthening the spiritual and social fabric of Bahá’í community life, assessing and utilizing the community’s resources, and ensuring that the energies and talents of community members contribute towards progress.","media_information_style_guide_p2_3":"**Acre**– English rendering of the name of the city north of Haifa where Bahá’u’lláh was exiled in 1868. He lived in or near the city until His passing in 1892. Bahá’ís often use the Arabic name, ‘Akká, which was the name in general use during the time of Bahá’u’lláh. In Hebrew the name is Akko.","media_information_style_guide_p2_30":"**Mount Carmel** – In Haifa, Israel, site of the Bahá’í World Centre, including several Bahá’í holy places, the most important of which is the Shrine of the Báb, and the buildings housing the administrative offices of the Bahá’í World Centre.","media_information_style_guide_p2_31":"**National Bahá’í Convention** – In each country, the annual gathering of elected delegates to discuss the affairs of the Bahá’í Faith in their jurisdiction and to elect the members of the National Spiritual Assembly.","media_information_style_guide_p2_32":"**National Spiritual Assembly** – At the national level, the affairs of the Bahá’í community are administered by the National Spiritual Assembly, a nine-member elected council responsible for guiding, co-ordinating, and stimulating the activities of Local Spiritual Assemblies and individual members of the Bahá’í community within a given country. The responsibilities of a National Spiritual Assembly include channelling the community’s financial resources, fostering the growth and vibrancy of the national Bahá’í community, supervising the affairs of the community including its social and economic development activities and its properties, overseeing relations with government, resolving questions from individuals and Local Spiritual Assemblies, and strengthening the participation of the Bahá’í community in the life of society at the national level.","media_information_style_guide_p2_33":"**Nineteen Day Feast** – An administrative gathering at the local level. The term refers to a spiritual “feast” of prayers,  consultation and fellowship. It is held every 19 days, on the first day of each Bahá’í month.","media_information_style_guide_p2_34":"**pilgrimage** – Each year thousands of Bahá’ís undertake pilgrimage, during which they forge a profound and lasting connection with the spiritual and administrative centre of their Faith, located in the Haifa-Acre area of what is now northern Israel. Bahá’í pilgrims pray and meditate at the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh and the Shrine of the Báb, as well as in the beautiful gardens that surround them. They also draw inspiration from the time spent at various historical sites associated with the lives of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi, as well as from visits to the edifices dedicated to the worldwide administration of the Bahá’í Faith.","media_information_style_guide_p2_35":"**progressive revelation** – The central belief that Manifestations of God have successively provided the guidance necessary for humanity’s social and spiritual evolution.","media_information_style_guide_p2_36":"**Regional Bahá’í Council** – In some countries, the National Spiritual Assembly assigns certain of its functions to Regional Bahá’í Councils, which serve a designated geographical area within the land in question. The responsibilities of a Regional Council may include carrying out policies of the National Spiritual Assembly, supervising progress of particular plans and projects, and taking steps to stimulate and coordinate the growth of the Bahá’í community within the region.","media_information_style_guide_p2_37":"**Shoghi Effendi** (1897-1957) – The head of the Bahá’í Faith from 1921 to 1957. His title is Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith. He is the grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the great-grandson of Bahá’u’lláh. For more information, see [Bahai.org](https://www.bahai.org).","media_information_style_guide_p2_38":"**Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh** – The resting place of the mortal remains of Bahá’u’lláh, located near the city of Acre in what is now Israel. The shrine is the holiest spot on earth to Bahá’ís and a place of pilgrimage.","media_information_style_guide_p2_39":"**Shrine of the Báb** – The resting place of the mortal remains of the Báb, located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. It is a sacred site to Bahá’ís and a place of pilgrimage.","media_information_style_guide_p2_4":"**‘Akká, Akko** – See entry above for “[Acre](#acre)”.","media_information_style_guide_p2_40":"**study circles** – A study circle is one of the principal elements of the process of distance education offered by the [Bahá’í training institute](https://www.bahai.org/action/response-call-bahaullah/training-institute). It is a small group that meets regularly to study the institute course materials.","media_information_style_guide_p2_41":"**Universal House of Justice** – The international governing council of the Bahá’í Faith. It is the supreme administrative body ordained by Bahá’u’lláh in His book of laws. The Universal House of Justice is elected every five years at the International Bahá’í Convention, where members of the National Spiritual Assemblies around the world serve as delegates. The Universal House of Justice was first elected in 1963. Its permanent seat is on Mount Carmel in Haifa.","media_information_style_guide_p2_5":"**Arc** – An area on Mount Carmel in Haifa, shaped like an arc, where the major international administrative buildings of the Bahá’í Faith, including the Seat of the Universal House of Justice, are situated.","media_information_style_guide_p2_6":"**Báb** – The title, meaning “Gate,” assumed by Siyyid ‘Ali-Muhammad, the Founder of the Bábí Faith and the Forerunner of Bahá’u’lláh. Considered by Bahá’ís to be one of the twin Manifestations of God associated with the Bahá’í Faith. Born on 20 October 1819, the Báb proclaimed Himself to be the Promised One of Islam and said His mission was to announce the imminent coming of another Messenger even greater than Himself, namely Bahá’u’lláh. Because of these claims, the Báb was executed by firing squad in the public square in Tabriz on 9 July 1850. His remains were hidden in Iran for many years before being taken to Haifa/Acre in 1899 and buried on Mount Carmel in 1909. For more information, see [Bahai.org](http://www.bahai.org).","media_information_style_guide_p2_7":"**Bábí Faith** – The religion founded by the Báb. After 1863 and the announcement by Bahá’u’lláh that He was the Messenger whose coming had been foretold by the Báb, the Bahá’í Faith gradually became established and most followers of the Báb began to call themselves Bahá’ís.","media_information_style_guide_p2_8":"**Badí‘ calendar** – The Bahá’í calendar, consisting of 19 months of 19 days each, with the addition of intercalary days known as Ayyám-i-Há. The number of these intercalary days varies according to the timing of the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere in successive years. The first day of the year corresponds to the spring equinox. The Bahá’í era (B.E.) begins with 1844, the year of the Báb’s declaration. For more information, see [Bahai.org](https://www.bahai.org/action/devotional-life/calendar).","media_information_style_guide_p2_9":"**Bahá’í** – (1) A noun referring to a member of the Bahá’í Faith. The plural is Bahá’ís. (2) An adjective describing a person, place, or thing related to the Bahá’í Faith. Examples: a Bahá’í book, the Bahá’í community, a Bahá’í holy day, a Bahá’í holy place.","media_reports":"Media Reports","menu":"Menu","meta_description_bwns":"The Bahá’í World News Service - BWNS - The official news source of the worldwide Bahá’í community, reports on major developments and endeavors of the global Bahá’í community.","minutes_short":"min","mobile_app":"Mobile app","national_bahai_communities":"National Bahá’í Communities","news_email":"news@bahai.org","news_service_home":"BWNS Home","no_matches_for":"No matches for","no_results_for":"No results for","number_of":"of","oceania":"Oceania","official_news_site":"Official news source of the worldwide Bahá’í community","one_country":"One Country","other_bahai_sites":"Other Bahá’í Sites","other_sites":"Other sites","other_stories":"Other Stories","overview_section":"Overview of this Section","page_link":"Page link","photographs":"Photographs","photographs_download":"Photographs for download","podcast":"Podcast","podcast_available":"Podcast available","podcast_description_bwns":"Reporting on major developments and endeavors of the global Bahá’í community.","podcast_p1":"The Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS) podcast reports on major developments and endeavors of the global Bahá’í community.","podcast_subscribe":"Subscribe to the BWNS podcast for additional audio content.","print":"Print","privacy":"Privacy","recent_articles":"Recent Articles","recent_headlines":"Recent headlines","recent_media_reports":"Recent media reports","recieve_stories_email":"Receive stories via email","related_stories":"Related Stories","results":"Results","return_top":"Return to top","rss":"RSS","search":"Search","search_bahai_reference_library":"Search the Bahá’í Reference Library","search_bahaiorg":"Search Bahai.org","search_news_service":"Search the News Service","section_shrine_of_abdulbaha_description":"Read reports on the progress","section_shrine_of_abdulbaha_title":"Coverage of Construction Work of the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá","see_all":"See All","seven_bahais_leaders":"The Seven Bahá’í Leaders","share":"Share","share_this_article":"Share this article","share_this_page":"Share this page","show_more":"Show more","sign_up":"Sign Up","slideshow":"Slideshow","social_media_name_instagram":"Instagram","social_media_name_instagram_account":"bahaiworldnewsservice","social_media_name_twitter":"Twitter","social_media_name_twitter_account":"bahainews","special_reports":"SPECIAL REPORTS","special_reports_shrine_construction":"Coverage of construction work for the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá","statistics":"Statistics","story_archive":"Story Archive","style_glossary_pronunciation_guide":"Style guide, glossary and pronunciation guide","subscribe":"Subscribe","subscribe-confirmation-message":"Thank you for your interest in Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS)","subscribe-souble-optin-email":"You will receive an email shortly, asking you to confirm your subscription.","subscribe_bot_submission":"This doesn't look like a human submission.","subscribe_check_email":"Please check your email to confirm your subscription!","subscribe_email_exists":"This email already exists! 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If this problem persists, please use our [contact form](https://www.bahai.org/contact/).","subscribe_h1":"Stories via email","subscribe_h2":"Mobile app","subscribe_h3":"Updates via Twitter","subscribe_h4":"Podcast","subscribe_label_email":"Email","subscribe_label_email_fill":"Please enter a valid email address.","subscribe_label_first_name":"First name","subscribe_label_first_name_fill":"Please enter your first name.","subscribe_label_last_name":"Last name","subscribe_label_last_name_fill":"Please enter your last name.","subscribe_missing_fields":"Please fill in all required fields!","subscribe_p1":"Receive emails from the Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS) when new articles are published.","subscribe_p2":"Receive updates and notifications from the BWNS app.","subscribe_p3":"Follow the Bahá’í World News Service on Twitter for regular updates and stories.","subscribe_p4":"Subscribe to the BWNS podcast for additional audio content.","subscribe_success_h1":"You have been subscribed to Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS)","subscribe_success_p1":"Your email address has been added to our mailing list.","subscribe_success_p2":"Thanks for becoming a subscriber.","subscribe_to_bwns":"Subscribe to BWNS","subscribe_unknown_error":"Sorry, an unknown error has occurred. Please try again later.","subscribe_unsubscribe_bwns":"Unsubscribe from BWNS","subscribe_unsubscribe_error_client":"Something went wrong, please try again.","subscribe_unsubscribe_error_no_email":"We do not have this email in our database, please try again.","subscribe_unsubscribe_error_server":"Something went wrong on our server, please try again.","subscribe_unsubscribe_h1":"Unsubscribe - Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS)","subscribe_unsubscribe_success_h1":"You have been unsubscribed from the Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS)","subscribe_unsubscribe_success_p1":"Your email address has been removed from the mailing list.","subscribe_unsubscribe_success_p2":"Thanks for having been a subscriber.","subscribe_unsubscribe_success_p3":"(If you unsubscribed by accident and prefer to continue receiving emails from the Bahá’í World News Service, please [click here](./).)","tenth_international_bahai_convention":"Tenth International Bahá’í Convention","the_bahai_faith":"The Bahá’í Faith","thirteenth_international_bahai_convention":"Thirteenth International Bahá’í Convention","twelfth_international_bahai_convention":"Twelfth International Bahá’í Convention","united_nations":"United Nations","unsubscribe":"Unsubscribe","updated_content":"UPDATED CONTENT","updates_via_social_media":"Updates via social media","url_copied_to_clipboard":"URL copied to clipboard","video":"Video","view_all":"View all","view_all_articles":"View all articles","visit_page":"Visit page","watch_next":"Watch next","watch_video":"Watch video","what_bahais_believe":"What Bahá’ís Believe","what_bahais_do":"What Bahá’ís Do","texterify_timestamp":"2023-09-10T10:15:38Z"},"archivePageNumber":60,"archiveTotalPages":80,"totalStories":1596,"archiveList":[{"storyNumber":584,"evergreenUrl":"arctic-warming-is-one-focus-conference","title":"Arctic warming is one focus of conference","description":"Some of the notable effects of global warming are being felt by people who don't contribute much to the problem - those who live in the Arctic....","date":"2007-10-28","customDateline":null,"city":"OTTAWA","country":"CANADA","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481561-bwns8068-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481561-bwns8068-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"John Stone and John Crump answer questions at the 11th annual conference of the International Environment Forum in Ottawa.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Some of the notable effects of global warming are being felt by people who don't contribute much to the problem - those who live in the Arctic.\n\nSo says John Stone, who for 10 years has worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a key international group that directs assessments of global warming. The IPCC is the winner, along with Al Gore, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.\n\nScientists announced last summer that the Arctic ice pack retreated more this past year than in any year since satellites began tracking the ice sheet.\n\n\"This is happening in a part of the world whose contribution to climate change has been small,\" Dr. Stone said at the 11th annual conference of the International Environment Forum, a Baha'i-inspired group.\n\nPeople living in the Arctic, he said, \"have bonds to the earth (that) are extremely close ... and (their) coping capacity is strained and commuity infrastructure and ecosystems becoming far more vulnerable.\"\n\nJohn Crump, Polar Issues coordinator of the United Nations' Environment Programme's GRID-Arendal, said that while the Inuit people have a long history of resilience and adaptation, \"the question is how much adaptation is possible and how much adaptation can the world expect.\"\n\nThe problem will not be solved by simply relocating communities at risk, he said.\n\n\"It will take concerted, collective, and coordinated action at the international level\" to meet the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol and much more \"to work our way out of climate change,\" said Mr. Crump.\n\n\"The cost of inaction is much higher, and the most vulnerable regions will pay the most, first. But in the end we will all pay,\" he said, suggesting that there is a high moral and cultural cost for displacing an entire people.\n\nThe Arctic was only one focus of the conference, held in mid-October in Ottawa. For a longer report about issues discussed at the gathering, go to the Web site of the [Canadian Baha'i News Service](http://bahainews.ca/en/071026iefreport).\n\nReported by the Canadian Baha'i News Service"}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":583,"evergreenUrl":"young-zambian-teens-pull-together-service-program","title":"Young Zambian teens pull together in service program","description":"The Tonga tribe has lived in southern Zambia for hundreds of years, and members are proud of their longstanding traditions and strong social...","date":"2007-10-25","customDateline":null,"city":"SINAZONGWE DISTRICT","country":"ZAMBIA","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481538-bwns8063-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481538-bwns8063-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Young teens join to recite a poem at the launch on 6 October of 38 new \"junior youth\" groups in Sinazongwe District in southern Zambia.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"The Tonga tribe has lived in southern Zambia for hundreds of years, and members are proud of their longstanding traditions and strong social codes. But leaders say some of the customs are eroding - young people, for example, no longer seem to respect the elderly.\n\nA new program involving hundreds of young teens working in small groups may help change that - and simultaneously help the youngsters get along better with each other.\n\n\"The groups have started with helping old people in the community,\" said Siankuku Sabantu, a local fisherman.\n\n\"This is something that sometime back was normal but in recent years has stopped. Now the youth have again started helping old people by drawing water for them, gathering firewood and cleaning their homes,\" he said.\n\nThe groups are part of what is known in the Baha'i Faith as the Junior Youth Program, a worldwide effort to help young people aged 12 to 15 - \"junior youth\" - make good moral choices in their daily lives.\n\nThirty-eight groups have formed in the Sinazongwe District, and they had their official launch earlier this month. They join another 130 groups in other parts of Zambia that comprise as many as 2,000 participants across the nation. Some are members of the Baha'i Faith, but as many as three-fourths are not.\n\nChief Sinazongwe, a Tonga tribal leader and also a Baha'i, believes the program - where youth offer service to others as well as studying a text - helps give the young teens a \"sense of nobility.\"\n\n\"The youth are better behaved,\" he said, \"and a lot of people are noticing it.\"\n\n\"This program,\" he continued, \"is helping them to see what values are important. They are finding a sense of self worth, and realizing that they are important.\"\n\nChuungu Malitonga, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Zambia, has been monitoring the development of the Junior Youth Program for the last two years. What's happening in Sinazongwe is not unusual, he said.\n\n\"From the beginning the program asks the junior youth to look at themselves in the context of their societies,\" he said. \"It encourages them to take ownership for the conditions of those societies.... It doesn't take too long for the program to produce the type of results we are seeing in Sinazongwe.\"\n\n"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_InlineImageRecord","slideshowImageNumber":2},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"In Zambia, the youth groups meet at least once a week, often on the weekend.\n\n\"The two major activities at the moment are study of a text and a service project,\" said Mr. Malitonga. \"They have also undertaken some outings but this is not a strong component yet.\"\n\nThe groups - most have about a dozen members - usually meet in their village, under a tree or in a small hut, for study sessions of two hours or so, using a text specifically developed for the program.\n\nThe first book they use tells the story of a young girl and her older cousin who comes to visit for the school holidays. Together the girls discuss their hopes and possibilities for the future. The story is designed to help youngsters develop moral foundations to guide their decisions and direct their actions.\n\nFor the service component, some of the activities are planned and some are spontaneous.\n\n\"Recently there was a funeral in the village and the members of the group gathered all the firewood and drew all the water for the bereaved family,\" said Mr. Sabantu. \"Another good service they are offering is to maintain a clean environment around the borehole which is the only source of water in the village.\"\n\nIn some villages, the youngsters go to rural hospitals, visit patients and help clean.\n\nThe entire Sinazongwe District is rural, with most villagers making a living by fishing - the area abuts Lake Kariba, the largest manmade lake in Africa - as well as farming and herding.\n\nOlivia Hamoonga, 15, a Christian, is one of the participants in the Junior Youth Program in the Sinazongwe District.\n\n\"I feel that my reading and comprehension skills have improved since I joined the group,\" she said. \"Also, in our group, we pay a lot of attention to respecting yourself and respecting adults, and to offering service to society.\"\n\nEach group is helped by a trained animator, or facilitator, many of whom are themselves young, only a few years older than the members.\n\nIn their training, animators learn techniques to help the young teens develop their spiritual and intellectual capacities and prepare them to perform acts of service in their communities.\n\nTobias Siavwapa, 21, a goat trader in the Sinazongwe District, is one of the animators. A Christian, he said he joined the program because he sees the world changing rapidly and worries about the youth.\n\n\"I see many youth doing things that are not beneficial to them such as smoking and drinking. I heard about the junior youth idea, and I knew that it is at this age that a difference can be made,\" he said.\n\n\"Being part of the group helps the youth learn to do things that are good for their lives and learn to serve the community. I see this when they help people, fetching water and wood for old people.\"\n\nIn only a few months, he said, he has seen some of the youngsters change.\n\n\"At first some of the youth were very naughty and a little disruptive. Others had serious reading and writing difficulties,\" he said. \"But even after a month of work, I can see behavior improving and their reading and writing becoming better.\"\n\nChief Sinazongwe says the program helps the young people develop a sense of responsibility.\n\n\"This is their land, their country, their environment,\" he said. \"They are now learning to take care of these things. They are the future leaders. If they do not learn to do these things, who will do them when we are gone?\"\n\nMr. Malitonga says one reason the program is successful is that the groups promote interaction between members on one side, and the older youth who often serve as animators on the other side. The younger ones look up to their older helpers, he said.\n\nThe careful balance between the two components - study and social action - also is a key to success, he said.\n\n\"It is not enough to just give the participants the theory,\" Mr. Malitonga said. \"The program really encourages them to put this theory into practice and be of service to their community.\"\n\nMr. Sabantu - who is a Baha'i and has lived in southern Zambia his whole life - said since the program started he is noticing more harmony among the youngsters. Boys in the area, he said, spend most of their time in small groups tending cattle - groups that sometimes behave like small gangs and get into fights with each other.\n\n\"An immediate change that came from these classes has been the cessation of the fights among the herder boys who have joined the groups,\" he said. \"There is also more interaction among them, more harmony. The boys and the girls are also working together in the community, not just in school.\""}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481539-bwns8066-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"African drums added to the festivities at the launch of the Junior Youth Program in the Sinazongwe District of Zambia."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481538-bwns8065-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"The Sinazongwe District in Zambia abuts Lake Kariba, the largest man-made lake in Africa."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481538-bwns8064-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Young people perform a traditional dance at a gathering in southern Zambia celebrating a new program organized by Baha'is for youngsters aged 12 to 15."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481539-bwns8067-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"A trained facilitator, or animator, works with each of the youth groups."}],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":582,"evergreenUrl":"bahais-celebrate-birth-bab","title":"Baha'is celebrate Birth of the Bab","description":"On 20 October, Baha'is of the world celebrate the Birth of the Bab, the first of the two divine teachers central to the founding of the Baha'i...","date":"2007-10-19","customDateline":null,"city":"HAIFA","country":"ISRAEL","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481529-bwns8062-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481529-bwns8062-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Baha'is this year mark the 188th anniversary of the Birth of the Bab. The photo shows gardens at His burial site in Haifa, Israel.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"On 20 October, Baha'is of the world celebrate the Birth of the Bab, the first of the two divine teachers central to the founding of the Baha'i Faith.\n\n\"Bab,\" which means \"gate\" in Arabic, is the title assumed by Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad, born on 20 October 1819 in Shiraz, Iran, then called Persia.\n\nIn 1844, He proclaimed that He was a messenger of God sent to announce the imminent coming of an even greater prophet who would bring teachings for an age of universal peace. Nineteen years later, one of the Bab's followers, who took the title Baha'u'llah, announced that He was that new prophet.\n\nThe Bab, whose teachings attracted tens of thousands of followers, was executed in 1850 in the public square in Tabriz, Iran, on the order of the government.\n\nMuch later, His remains were entombed on Mount Carmel in Haifa, and His shrine is now a place of pilgrimage for followers of the Baha'i Faith."}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":581,"evergreenUrl":"new-bahai-representative-open-office-brussels","title":"New Baha'i representative to open office in Brussels","description":"Sarah Vader has joined the Baha'i International Community as a representative to the United Nations. In addition to working at U.N. offices in...","date":"2007-10-12","customDateline":null,"city":"GENEVA","country":"SWITZERLAND","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481517-bwns8061-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481517-bwns8061-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Sarah Vader is a new representative of the Baha'i International Community for work with the U.N. in Geneva and the European Union in Brussels.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Sarah Vader has joined the Baha'i International Community as a representative to the United Nations.\n\nIn addition to working at U.N. offices in Geneva, Ms. Vader will establish an office in Brussels aimed at strengthening the BIC's ties with the European Union. In that role, Ms. Vader will work closely with national-level Baha'i affiliates in the 27 countries that are members of the EU.\n\n\"With the integration of Europe moving forward at a fast pace, the Baha'i International Community decided it was time to open an office closer to the institutions of the European Union,\" said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.\n\n\"In this endeavor, we are pleased to have on board Ms. Vader, who brings a high degree of expertise in dealing at the international level with businesses, civil society, and governments, as well as a comprehensive understanding of European culture and institutions.\"\n\nIn her work in Geneva, Ms. Vader's portfolio of issues will include human rights and the advancement of women. In Brussels, her portfolio will include all areas of concern to the Baha'i International Community and its affiliates in Europe.\n\nBefore assuming this position, Ms. Vader was associate director for the Open Forum and Special Projects at the World Economic Forum, where she had worked since 2000.\n\nIn that role, she managed the Open Forum, a series of sessions held outside the congress center during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. It brought together global business leaders and representatives of civil society to discuss globalization, poverty, and other international issues.\n\nHer work included developing the global governance portfolio for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in 2004 and 2005 and managing civil society input to the Forum before that.\n\nA native of Switzerland, Ms. Vader, 31, has a degree in international law from the University of Paris 1, Pantheon-Sorbonne. As part of her education, she did internships at the International Committee of the Red Cross and at the Paris branch of the BIC's Office of Public Information.\n\nShe has served on the national governing body of the Baha'is of Switzerland since April 2002. She is fluent in English and French and conversant in German, Italian, and Persian.\n\n\"I am pleased with this change in my professional path, and look forward to taking on the challenges of working for the Baha'i International Community, a nongovernmental organization that is active across such a wide range of issues at the United Nations and in other international organizations,\" said Ms. Vader.\n\n\"Through my work at the World Economic Forum, I saw the importance of bringing together governments, businesses, and civil society in a multi-stakeholder approach, so it will be of great interest to apply this experience here.\n\n\"I look forward, also, to working closely with the 27 national affiliates of the Baha'i International Community in Europe as we seek to bring our concerns to the attention of the European Union,\" she said."}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":580,"evergreenUrl":"bahai-testifies-u-n-about-understanding-among-religions","title":"Baha'i testifies at U.N. about understanding among religions","description":"A Baha'i from Tanzania - where different religious communities live peacefully together - testified yesterday before the United Nations General...","date":"2007-10-05","customDateline":null,"city":"UNITED NATIONS","country":"UNITED STATES","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481504-bwns8060-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481504-bwns8060-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Mitra Deliri testified at the United Nations that Tanzania, where she lives, is \"a living example of religious pluralism.\"","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"A Baha'i from Tanzania - where different religious communities live peacefully together - testified yesterday before the United Nations General Assembly on how to promote religious understanding.\n\nAddressing an informal hearing on \"Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace,\" Mitra Deliri said that in her country, \"large Christian and Muslim populations live side by side, intermarry and celebrate each other's religious festivals.\"\n\n\"It is a living example of religious pluralism,\" she said. \"This coexistence did not come about by accident but rather as a result of the vision and deliberate action of Tanzanian leaders, dating back to the country's first president...,\" she said.\n\nMs. Deliri, who represented the Baha'i International Community at the two-day hearing, also said it was important for governments to create a climate where freedom of religion or belief is clearly upheld in law and in practice.\n\n\"Such a climate must be free from incitements to violence or hostility in the name of religion,\" she said. \"Where contentious opinions about religions are expressed, it is the responsibility of the state to provide for right of reply.\n\n\"As a minimum standard, both sides must be afforded the right to respond in a peaceful and legal manner so as to allow the public to arrive at their own conclusion. It is in this climate that understanding and cooperation can take root,\" she said.\n\nShe recommended a number of strategies for promoting interreligious and intercultural understanding. They included establishing a universal, mandatory educational policy and curriculum on religion and education and using the news media to promote respect, prevent conflict and achieve increased social cohesion.\n\nMs. Deliri was among approximately two dozen representatives of nongovernmental and religious organizations from around the world who addressed the General Assembly yesterday.\n\nOther speakers, for example, included Paul Knitter of the Union Theological Seminary in the USA, Gamal I. Serour of the International Islamic Center for Population Studies and Research at the Al Azhar Centre in Egypt, Sohan Lal Gandhi of the Anuvrat Global Organization in India, Fatima Ahmed of Zenab for Women in Development in Sudan, and Steven Rockefeller of Earth Charter International in the United States.\n\nThe hearing on interreligious and intercultural understanding was scheduled to continue today with a high-level dialogue among governments.\n\nThe Baha'i Faith, with its belief in the oneness of humanity and the oneness of religion, has long promoted religious harmony and supported interfaith dialogue and activity."}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":579,"evergreenUrl":"bahai-world-loses-most-distinguished-member","title":"Baha'i world loses most distinguished member","description":"The worldwide Baha'i community has lost its most distinguished member with the death of Dr. Ali-Muhammad Varqa. He passed away on the evening...","date":"2007-09-24","customDateline":null,"city":"HAIFA","country":"ISRAEL","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481487-bwns8059-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481487-bwns8059-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Dr. Varqa is shown with friends in Nkwen, Cameroon, in 1972.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"The worldwide Baha'i community has lost its most distinguished member with the death of Dr. Ali-Muhammad Varqa.\n\nHe passed away on the evening of 22 September 2007 at his home in Haifa.\n\nIn 1955, Dr. Varqa was appointed to the high rank of \"Hand of the Cause\" by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. Dr. Varqa served in that capacity, on the international level, for 52 years until his passing. He was the last survivor of the 27 Hands of the Cause who were alive when Shoghi Effendi passed away in 1957.\n\nDr. Varqa came from a well-known Iranian family that has served the Baha'i Faith with distinction for generations. After obtaining a doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1950, he taught in Iran at the universities of Tabriz and Tehran and served the Baha'i community there in various administrative capacities. In 1979 he moved to Canada, and later established his residence in Haifa to serve at the Baha'i World Center.\n\nHe was born in 1911 in Tehran, Iran, and received his name from 'Abdu'l-Baha in memory of his grandfather, who had been killed for being a follower of Baha'u'llah.\n\nDr. Varqa traveled to many countries as a representative first of Shoghi Effendi, then of the Universal House of Justice, the international governing council of the Baha'i Faith. In that capacity, Dr. Varqa attended the first national conventions held in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Congo, Mauritania, Central African Republic, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Czechoslovakia and Greenland.\n\nDr. Varqa is survived by three daughters and six siblings. His funeral took place the morning of 24 September, with burial in the Baha'i cemetery in Haifa."},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_InlineImageRecord","slideshowImageNumber":2}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481486-bwns8056-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Dr. Ali-Muhammad Varqa served the Baha'i Faith as a Hand of the Cause for 52 years."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481487-bwns8057-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Dr. Varqa is at the front in this photograph taken at the Counsellors' conference in Haifa on 28 December 2005. Also pictured are the members of the Universal House of Justice and the members of the Continental Boards of Counsellors and the International Teaching Center."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481487-bwns8058-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Dr. Varqa came from a distinguished Baha'i family in Iran and received his name from 'Abdu'l-Baha."}],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":578,"evergreenUrl":"iranian-government-campaign-against-bahais-shows-new-facets","title":"Iranian government campaign against Baha'is shows new facets","description":"The bulldozing of a Baha'i cemetery in Iran last week is the latest in a series of incidents in a government-led campaign of hatred against Baha'is....","date":"2007-09-21","customDateline":false,"city":"NEW YORK","country":"UNITED STATES","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481472-bwns8052-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481472-bwns8052-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Gravestones in the Baha'i cemetery near Najafabad, Iran, were left in a heap by a bulldozer that destroyed the burial ground some time between 9 September and 10 September 2007.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"The bulldozing of a Baha'i cemetery in Iran last week is the latest in a series of incidents in a government-led campaign of hatred against Baha'is.\n\nThe destruction of the cemetery by individuals using heavy equipment occurred between 9 September and 10 September near Najafabad, on the outskirts of Isfahan. What happened there is nearly identical to what happened in July in Yazd, where another Baha'i cemetery was extensively damaged by earth-moving equipment.\n\nThe list of anti-Baha'i incidents is growing, as are human rights violations against other groups in Iran.\n\nIn Najafabad, a few days before the destruction of more than 100 Baha'i graves, threatening letters were delivered to some 30 Baha'i families. In May, in Mazandaran province, the unoccupied homes of six Iranian Baha'is were set on fire. In June, in Abadeh, vandals wrote hateful graffiti on Baha'i houses and shops.\n\nSince May, Baha'is in at least 17 towns have been detained for interrogation. Six new arrests have been reported. In Kermanshah, a 70-year-old man was sentenced to 70 lashes and a year in prison for \"propagating and spreading Bahaism and the defamation of the pure Imams.\" In Mazandaran, a court has once again ruled against three women and a man who are charged with \"propagation on behalf of an organization which is anti-Islamic.\"\n\nAll these events are results of the Iranian government's long campaign to incite hatred against Baha'is, a spokeswoman for the Baha'i International Community said today.\n\n\"This should be a cause for concern among human rights activists everywhere,\" said Diane Ala'i, the representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.\n\nShe appealed to the world to hold the Iranian government accountable for its actions and to help prevent the situation from deteriorating into further violence. Baha'is in Iran number about 300,000 and represent the largest religious minority in the country.\n\n"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_InlineImageRecord","slideshowImageNumber":2},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"\"Put in a historical context, these kinds of attacks too often have been a prelude to campaigns of oppression and violence that are far worse.\n\n\"While some of these incidents may seem to be minor, the fact that such events are increasingly commonplace and reported as occurring in virtually every region of Iran shows that the persecution of Baha'is remains official government policy, and therefore is something for which Iran must be held accountable,\" she said.\n\n\"The graffiti in Abadeh included slogans such as 'Death to Baha'is, the mercenaries of America and England,' 'Hezbollah despises the Baha'is,' 'Baha'is - mercenaries of Israel' and 'Baha'is are unclean' - phrases that relate directly to government propaganda that has been disseminated in Iranian news media in recent years,\" Ms. Ala'i said.\n\nShe noted that other groups in Iran are also suffering human-rights violations.\n\n\"In recent months, the Iranian authorities have been carrying out a widespread crackdown on civil society, targeting academics, women's rights activists, students, and journalists,\" said Ms. Ala'i.\n\nAmong the anti-Baha'i incidents reported in recent months are the following:\n\n-- On 19 June 2007, a report was received that a 70-year-old man of limited means had been arrested in April 2007 in Kermanshah. Authorities charged him with the possession of three Baha'i CDs. He was tried on 23 April 2007 and charged with \"propagating and spreading Bahaism and the defamation of the pure Imams.\" His lawyer was given only 10 minutes to prepare a defense. Although the verdict has not been published, the judge orally sentenced him to one year in prison, which he is currently serving, and 70 lashes. The latter part of the sentence has not yet been carried out.\n\n-- On 18 June 2007, a 34-year-old man was arrested at a hardware store in Tabriz where he worked and taken to an unknown location. Two days later, he succeeded in phoning his family to let them know he was alive. A police security agent contacted Baha'is in Tabriz and said some of the man's neighbors who are members of the Basiji morality squads had alleged that he had insulted Islam. His family managed to visit him and reported that he had been subjected to a two-day interrogation. He remains in custody.\n\n-- On 28 May 2007, a husband and wife in Abadeh, near Shiraz, were arrested in their home by agents of the Information Ministry. The agents seized books, family videos, photographs, CDs, telephone directories, documents, a cellular phone, a computer, and minutes of the meetings of the small group of Baha'is that coordinates the affairs of the local community on an ad hoc basis. The couple were interrogated about the activities of the Baha'is. The wife was released after eight hours; the husband was transferred to Shiraz, where he was held in prison until 29 June 2007 and released on bail. He is charged with teaching the Baha'i Faith.\n\n-- On 8 May 2007, the provincial court of appeal of Mazandaran denied the appeal of three women and one man who were arrested in 2005 in Ghaem Shahr and charged with \"propagation on behalf of an organization which is anti-Islamic.\" The case has been referred to the Supreme Court. All are out on bail. [(Original court document](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/578/CourtDocumentDenyingBahaiAppeal_fa.pdf) in Persian; [English](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/578/CourtDocumentDenyingBahaiAppeal_en.pdf) translation.)\n\n-- On 25 April 2007, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sari sentenced a Baha'i to a year in prison and four years of exile to the town of Bijar. The individual was charged with \"teaching activities against the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the benefit of groups and various organizations opposing the system.\"\n\n-- During April and May 2007, a number of Baha'is were summoned for interrogation or were questioned by telephone by officials of the Ministry of Information or the police in various localities, including in Babolsar, Bandar Abbas, Bandar Torkman, Bojourd, Gilavand, Damavand, Hamedan, Karaj, Lahijan, Shahinshar, Tehran, and Yaftabad. The questioning focused on seeking information about Baha'i activities and about the Baha'is themselves. A report has been received that a bank in central Jiruft in the province of Fars had been ordered to produce a printout of all accounts held by Baha'is.\n\n-- The Baha'i International Community received a copy of a letter from the government agency responsible for providing veteran's benefits stating that an individual Baha'i, who suffered extensive disability following his incarceration as a prisoner of war in the Iran-Iraq conflict, was not eligible to pension benefits because he belongs \"to the Bahaist sect.\" [(Original government letter](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/578/GovernmentLetterDenyingVeteransBenefit_fa.pdf) in Persian; [English](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/578/GovernmentLetterDenyingVeteransBenefit_en.pdf) translation.)\n\n-- Attacks on the Baha'i Faith continue in the mass media, including on the Internet. Newspapers in Khorasan and Mazandaran have recently published items maligning Baha'is, while anti-Baha'i pamphlets and tracts have been distributed in Shiraz and in the schools in Shahinshar, Ahvazk, and Babol Sar.\n\n-- Reports have been received of banks refusing to grant loans and officials refusing to issue or renew business licenses solely on the grounds that the applicants were Baha'is. In Sanandaj, a bank official stated that the bank had received 14 loan applications from Baha'is, all of which will be rejected. Bank staff in Sari informed Baha'is who had applied for a loan, \"It has been asked of us not to provide loans and other services to Baha'is.\"\n\n-- In Hamadan, the owner of a grocery store that had been operated by his family for 48 years tried to have the business license transferred to his name after the death of his father. He was told by a government official that business licenses for grocery stores would not be issued to Baha'is. He was told: \"Wherever you go, even to the United Nations, you will end up here, where you will get the same clear answer.\""}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481472-bwns8054-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"\"Hezbollah is awake and despises the Baha'is\" reads this piece of graffiti on a building in the city of Abadeh. Dozens of hateful anti-Baha'i slogans have been painted on homes, offices and cemetery buildings in various locations in Iran."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481472-bwns8053-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"The Baha'i cemetery in Yazd, Iran, was destroyed in July. The tracks left behind and the severity of the damage show that heavy equipment was used."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481472-bwns8055-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Desecration of graves is part of a government-led hate campaign against Baha'is in Iran. This grave is in a cemetery in Yazd that was bulldozed in July 2007."}],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Original documents"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Court document denying Baha'i appeal"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Persian original](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/578/CourtDocumentDenyingBahaiAppeal_fa.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 315KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[English translation](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/578/CourtDocumentDenyingBahaiAppeal_en.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 57KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Government letter denying veteran's benefit"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Persian original](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/578/GovernmentLetterDenyingVeteransBenefit_fa.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 100KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[English translation](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/578/GovernmentLetterDenyingVeteransBenefit_en.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 70KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Background"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[History of persecution of Baha'is in Iran – 1844 to present: A short summary](http://www.bahai.org/dir/worldwide/persecution)","relatedLinkDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[Recent attacks against Baha'is in Iran: June 2007 update](http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran/update)","relatedLinkDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[Other BWNS articles about Iran](http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran)","relatedLinkDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Persian"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[Read this story in Persian](http://www.bahai.org/persian/persecution/newsreleases/21-09-07)","relatedLinkDescription":""}],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[{"tagName":"defence"}],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":577,"evergreenUrl":"universal-house-justice-addresses-iranian-bahai-students","title":"Universal House of Justice addresses Iranian Baha'i students","description":"In the wake of new evidence that Iran has lied about its intention to allow Baha'i students into universities, the Universal House of Justice...","date":"2007-09-14","customDateline":null,"city":"HAIFA","country":"ISRAEL","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481461-bwns8047-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481461-bwns8047-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"From its Seat at the Baha'i World Center in Haifa, the Universal House of Justice has addressed Iranian Baha'i students being shut out of universities. The message said, in part, \"This action of the government in obstructing youth, Baha'i or otherwise, from access to higher education stands in contrast to the noble history of Iran's past attainments.\"","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"In the wake of new evidence that Iran has lied about its intention to allow Baha'i students into universities, the Universal House of Justice has sent a letter to Iranian Baha'i youth encouraging them to respond with composure, perseverance, and a redoubled commitment to work towards the common good in Iran.\n\n\"With an illumined conscience, with a world-embracing vision, with no partisan political agenda, and with due regard for law and order, strive for the regeneration of your country. By your deeds and services, attract the hearts of those around you, even win the esteem of your avowed enemies,\" wrote the Baha'i international governing council in a letter dated 9 September 2007.\n\nThe letter comes after disclosures that indisputably reveal the double game being played by the Iranian government in the execution of its long-term plan to block the development of the Iranian Baha'i community.\n\nA major element of that plan has been to prevent Baha'i youth from obtaining higher education. More than half of the Baha'i students in university last year have been expelled for no reason other than their religion.\n\nRecently, the Baha'i International Community disclosed the existence of a confidential government memorandum instructing Iranian universities to expel any student who is discovered to be a Baha'i, refuting statements by Iranian officials who say Baha'i students face no discrimination.\n\nSo far this year, more than 800 of the 1,050 Baha'is who sat for entrance examinations have not received their test results, allegedly because their files are \"incomplete,\" even though Baha'is made every effort to comply with the application process. No explanation has been given to them as to how their applications were incomplete. Without the test results, the students have been unable to apply to university for the coming academic year.\n\n\"These official acts are disappointing and shameful,\" wrote the Universal House of Justice. \"This action of the government in obstructing youth, Baha'i or otherwise, from access to higher education stands in contrast to the noble history of Iran's past attainments.\"\n\nThe letter recounts the long history of official government efforts to deprive Baha'is of access to higher education, noting that Baha'i students were initially banned from universities in Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution.\n\n\"Then, consequent to a concerted worldwide effort - involving governments, educational institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and individuals - that raised questions about this situation, your government's representatives responded by averring that the reference to religion on the forms was not to identify university applicants by belief but only to specify the religion on which they wished to be examined.\"\n\nAccordingly, \"as a gesture of good will and so as to find a solution to an issue that adversely affects the good name of Iran, the Baha'i community accepted this apparent clarification. At long last, you were able to feel hopeful that the way would now be clear for you to continue your education,\" wrote the Universal House of Justice.\n\nRecent events, however, \"call to mind heart-rending episodes in the history of the Faith, of cruel deceptions wrought against your forebears,\" the letter continued. \"It is only appropriate that you strive to transcend the opposition against you with that same constructive resilience that characterized their response to the duplicity of their detractors.\"\n\nIn that regard, the Universal House of Justice urged Iranian Baha'i youth to avoid any impulse to \"rise against their oppressors,\" \"flee for refuge,\" or \"capitulate to their fate.\"\n\nRather, the Universal House of Justice wrote:  \"Service to others is the way. ...  Strive to work hand-in-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder, with your fellow citizens in your efforts to promote the common good.\"\n\n[ Letter of the Universal House of Justice in English.](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/577/LetterFromUniversalHouseOfJusticeToIranianStudents_en.pdf)\n\n[ Letter of the Universal House of Justice in Persian ](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/577/LetterFromUniversalHouseOfJusticeToIranianStudents_fa.pdf)\n\n[ Timeline of events in the Iranian government's effort to deny Baha'i youth access to higher education](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/577/TimelineIranianBahaisBlockedFromUniversities_en.pdf )"}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Letter from Universal House of Justice to Iranian students"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[English](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/577/LetterFromUniversalHouseOfJusticeToIranianStudents_en.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 220KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Persian](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/577/LetterFromUniversalHouseOfJusticeToIranianStudents_fa.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 170KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Timeline: Iranian Baha'is blocked from universities"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[English](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/577/TimelineIranianBahaisBlockedFromUniversities_en.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 21KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Background"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[History of persecution of Baha'is in Iran – 1844 to present: A short summary](http://www.bahai.org/dir/worldwide/persecution)","relatedLinkDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[Recent attacks against Baha'is in Iran: June 2007 update](http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran/update)","relatedLinkDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[Other BWNS articles about Iran](http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran)","relatedLinkDescription":""}],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[{"tagName":"defence"}],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":576,"evergreenUrl":"rebirth-can-follow-breakdown-says-best-selling-author","title":"Rebirth can follow breakdown, says best-selling author","description":"Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of the Canadian best seller \"The Upside of Down,\" says he has spent a lot of time working out a diagnosis of what...","date":"2007-08-29","customDateline":null,"city":"MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO","country":"CANADA","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481454-bwns8045-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481454-bwns8045-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"\"It is time for us to stop expecting others to take care of us,\" Thomas Homer-Dixon said in talk to a Baha'i audience.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of the Canadian best seller \"The Upside of Down,\" says he has spent a lot of time working out a diagnosis of what is wrong in the world today. His conclusion, he says, is scary.\n\n\"We are in real trouble,\" he said in a talk at the 31st annual conference of the Association for Baha'i Studies in North America, held in mid-August near Toronto. More than 1,200 people from 16 countries attended the four-day conference.\n\nHe said five enormous pressures - demographic change, energy scarcity, environmental damage, climate change, and the widening gap between rich and poor - are bearing down on humanity. These problems are magnified by the interconnectedness of people today and the increased capacity for destruction, he said.\n\nPeople want to turn for leadership to supposed experts - in finance, in science - thinking that someone at the top should know the answers, he said.\n\n\"But something tells us that the experts really don't know what is going on,\" said Professor Homer-Dixon, who is the director of the Trudeau Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto.\n\nAlthough not a member of the Baha'i Faith, Professor Homer-Dixon said he agrees with Baha'is that individuals must become knowledgeable about problems and solutions rather than waiting for leaders to provide top-down strategies.\n\n\"It is time for us to stop expecting others to take care of us - those knights on white horses,\" he said. \"As power has moved down the hierarchy, responsibility has moved down that social hierarchy, too.\"\n\nKnowledge is key, he told his audience, many of whom were academics, scholars, or highly trained professionals.\n\nSurveys have shown, he said, that a significant number of Americans of college age do not know that the earth revolves around the sun in one year.\n\n\"How can you have a conversation about climate change if you are talking to someone who does not know this?\" he said.\n\nAlthough Professor Homer-Dixon gives a pessimistic assessment of the crises in the world, he looks for hope in what he dubs \"catagenesis\" - rebirth through breakdown.\n\n\"This is the opportunity for you Baha'is,\" he said, proceeding to quote from the writings of Baha'u'llah on the subject of knowledge and hope: \"Knowledge is as wings to man's life, and a ladder for his ascent. The knowledge of such sciences, however, should be acquired as can profit the peoples of the earth, and not those which begin with words and end with words. ...\"\n\n(Sandra Bean contributed to this article.)\n\n(For reports from the Canadian Baha'i News Service on the recent conference of the Association for Baha'i Studies, go on the Web to [www.bahainews.ca](http://www.bahainews.ca). For information about the association itself, go to [www.bahai-studies.ca](http://www.bahai-studies.ca).)"}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":575,"evergreenUrl":"confidential-iran-memo-exposes-policy-deny-bahai-students-university-education","title":"Confidential Iran memo exposes policy to deny Baha'i students university education","description":"The Baha'i International Community has received a copy of a confidential 2006 letter from Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology...","date":"2007-08-27","customDateline":false,"city":"NEW YORK","country":"UNITED STATES","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481442-bwns8044-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543481442-bwns8044-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"This letter from a government ministry to 81 Iranian universities instructs them to expel Baha'i students.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"The Baha'i International Community has received a copy of a confidential 2006 letter from Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology instructing Iranian universities to expel any student who is discovered to be a Baha'i.\n\nThe letter refutes recent statements by Iranian officials, who say Baha'i students in Iran face no discrimination - despite the fact that more than half of the Baha'i university students enrolled last autumn were gradually expelled over the course of the 2006-2007 academic year.\n\n\"This latest document, which flatly states that Baha'i students should be expelled from universities once they are discovered, proves unequivocally that Iranian authorities remain intent on utterly blocking the development of Iranian Baha'is, despite what they say to the outside world,\" said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.\n\n\"Along with other recently received reports and documents, the letter exposes a duplicitous campaign by Iran to pretend that it does not violate the internationally recognized right to education while, in fact, the government is actually continuing to implement its secret, long-term plan  to prevent Baha'i students from obtaining a university education.\n\n\"Coupled with ongoing reports of physical and economic harassment directed against Baha'is of all ages and in all regions of the country, this latest development should serve to remind those who care about human rights that Iran's 300,000-member Baha'i community remains gravely threatened,\" she said.\n\n\"Not only Baha'is, but also others - students expelled under directives that target them on absolutely baseless grounds; women whose human rights are grossly violated through the enactment or perpetuation of discriminatory laws; and other victims of injustice in that land - need international defense,\" she added.\n\nThe 2006 letter is from the Central Security Office of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (MSRT) and was issued by its director general, Asghar Zarei, to 81 universities around the country. Stamped \"confidential,\" the exact date of the letter is undecipherable, although its contents are legible. [(Document 1 in the list of original documents.](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/1_LetterFromMinistriesToUniversities_en.pdf))\n\n\"(I)f the identity of Baha'i individuals becomes known at the time of enrollment or during the course of their studies, they must be expelled from university,\" states the letter, which was signed by Mr. Zarei. The Ministry of Science, Research and Technology oversees all state-run universities.\n\nThe directive flatly contradicts public and private statements of Iranian government officials over the last several years. They have sought to portray their educational system as open to Baha'is and free of discriminatory practices.\n\nIn early March, for example, newspapers carried a story by the Reuters news agency reporting that some 70 Baha'i students had been expelled from universities in Iran since autumn 2006.\n\nIn the Reuters story, however, an anonymous spokesperson for the Iranian Mission to the United Nations was quoted as saying in reply: \"No one in Iran because of their religion has been expelled from studying.\"\n\nThe number of 70 students expelled as of March 2007 as reported by Reuters has since risen to more than 128, out of approximately 200 who were enrolled last autumn after more than 25 years during which Baha'i students were banned from universities in Iran.\n\nLast year, as well, deceitful statements by Iranian officials came to light when Clare Short, a member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, received a communication from Hamid Reza Arefi, the charge d'affaires of the Iranian Embassy in London, who likewise denied that Baha'is are discriminated against in their access to higher education in Iran.\n\n\"Although Bahaism (sic) is not recognized as an official religion but by law Baha'is are entitled to equal rights,\" wrote Mr. Arefi in an 8 June 2006 letter to Ms. Short, adding: \"In Iran, no individual is excluded from higher education solely because of his/her ideology.\"\n\nSimilar statements have been made by Iranian diplomats and officials in other venues.\n\nThe 2006 letter from the MSRT's Central Security Office also makes a clear reference to the secret 1991 Golpaygani memorandum about Baha'is, which was released to the public in 1993 by a United Nations official. [(Document 5.](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/5_TheISRCCdocument_en.pdf))\n\nDespite Mr. Arefi's assurances that Iranian Baha'is are legally entitled to equal rights, other voices state that the Golpaygani memorandum takes precedence.\n\nThat 1991 memorandum outlined a comprehensive plan to \"block\" the development and progress of the Iranian Baha'i community. The 1991 memorandum states for example that Baha'is shall be denied \"any position of influence\" and that \"employment shall be refused to persons identifying themselves as Baha'is.\"\n\nThe 1991 memorandum states clearly that Baha'is \"must be expelled from universities, either in the admission process or during the course of their studies, once it becomes known that they are Baha'is.\"\n\nSigned by Hujjatu'l Islam Seyyed Mohammad Golpaygani, secretary of the Iran Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council, the 1991 memorandum was approved by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. As such, it reflects the highest policy of the government.\n\nA number of fair-minded Iranian individuals have offered sympathy and a measure of support for the plight of the Baha'is; however, they are largely powerless in the face of the official policy of the government to oppress the Baha'is, Ms. Dugal said.\n\n\"The Baha'i International Community asserts that unless and until the Iranian government revokes this pernicious document, there is little hope of any justice for the Baha'is of Iran,\" she said.\n\nThe Baha'i International Community has also recently received several other documents and letters that clearly indicate the policy outlined in the 2006 letter is being actively implemented.\n\nThese documents include:\n\n-- A second, follow-up letter from the MSRT's Central Security Office to officials at Payame Noor University, dated 17 March 2007, which instructs them to \"prevent the enrollment of the Baha'i applicants.\" [(Document 2.](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/2_LetterToPayam-i-NurUniversity_en.pdf))\n\n-- An 18 May 2007 letter from the academic counseling and higher education office at Guilan University to the director of university academic affairs, asking for the immediate discharge of a Baha'i student. [(Document 4.](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/4_GuilanUniversityDirective_en.pdf))\n\n-- A 27 May 2007 letter, also from the academic counseling and higher education office at Guilan University, to the above-mentioned  Baha'i student, notifying the student that she has  been \"disqualified\" from studying at Guilan, as required by the 1991 Golpaygani memorandum. [(Document 3.](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/3_GuilanUniversityLetterToBahaiStudent_en.pdf))"}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Original documents"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Letter from Ministry to universities"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Document 1: Persian original](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/1_LetterFromMinistriesToUniversities.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 597KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Document 1: English translation](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/1_LetterFromMinistriesToUniversities_en.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 46KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Letter to Payam-i-Nur University"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Document 2: Persian original](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/2_LetterToPayam-i-NurUniversity.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 374KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Document 2: English translation](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/2_LetterToPayam-i-NurUniversity_en.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 19KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Guilan University letter to Baha'i student"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Document 3: Persian original](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/3_GuilanUniversityLetterToBahaiStudent.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 49KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Document 3: English translation](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/3_GuilanUniversityLetterToBahaiStudent_en.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 14KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Guilan University directive"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Document 4: Persian original](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/4_GuilanUniversityDirective.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 56KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Document 4: English translation](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/4_GuilanUniversityDirective_en.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 17KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"1991 Golpaygani memorandum"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Document 5: Persian original](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/5_TheISRCCdocument.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 58KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedPdfRecord","relatedPdfText":"[Document 5: English translation](http://dl.bahai.org/bwns/assets/documentlibrary/575/5_TheISRCCdocument_en.pdf) (Adobe Acrobat 21KB)","relatedPdfDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Background"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[History of persecution of Baha'is in Iran – 1844 to present: A short summary](http://www.bahai.org/dir/worldwide/persecution)","relatedLinkDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[Recent attacks against Baha'is in Iran: June 2007 update](http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran/update)","relatedLinkDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[Archive of previous stories](http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran)","relatedLinkDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Persian"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedLinkRecord","relatedLinkText":"[Other BWNS articles about Iran](http://www.bahai.org/persian/persecution/newsreleases/27-08-07)","relatedLinkDescription":""},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_RelatedFieldHeaderRecord","relatedHeaderText":"Contact information"}],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[{"tagName":"defence"}],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":573,"evergreenUrl":"south-african-film-shows-faith-action","title":"South African film shows faith in action","description":"Two professional filmmakers have finished an hourlong documentary about three Baha'is and how they practice their faith, and the film is being...","date":"2007-08-19","customDateline":false,"city":"CAPE TOWN","country":"SOUTH AFRICA","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477901-bwns8036-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_VideoRecord","videoUrl":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/199819031","videoStyle":"large-right","videoDescription":"Video: The film \"Baha'i Faith: A Way Forward\" is being aired on television in South Africa and neighboring countries."}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Two professional filmmakers have finished an hourlong documentary about three Baha'is and how they practice their faith, and the film is being aired on television in South Africa and neighboring countries.\n\n\"Baha'i Faith: A Way Forward\" was produced by Ryan and Leyla Haidarian at the request of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which has licensed rights to the documentary for two years.\n\n\"We created this film to show what the Baha'i Faith has to offer on a practical level for the world,\" Mrs. Haidarian said.\n\nThe film gives an introduction to the Baha'i Faith and focuses on three individuals in South Africa and how their faith is reflected in service to others:\n\n"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_InlineImageRecord","slideshowImageNumber":1},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"-- Eunice Mabaso turned her home into an orphanage after her brother and his wife died and she took in their four children. Over the years, hundreds of other orphans - many of them living in poverty in the streets - came to her home for shelter, love, and protection. \"We can change the poverty and crime of this earth,\" she says. \"The future of South Africa will become brighter.\"\n\n-- Iraj Abedian, an economist and policy adviser to the government, tries to address problems resulting from extremes of wealth and poverty. One of his projects is a collective home-financing program that helps low-income working people save money and invest, but he is careful to emphasize that his work is based on principles from what he believes is a divine plan. He says you can look at the world as a construction site, \"full of dust and mud and rubbish, and yet see in it the (new) edifice that is rising. ... To be at work on the construction site - it's exciting.\"\n\n-- Tahirih Matthee helps provide training programs for people with no experience using computers and the Internet. Her course includes education about gender equality - she points out that equality of women and men is an explicit teaching of the Baha'i Faith - and also information about HIV/AIDS prevention. \"For something to be successful, you need vision,\" she says. \"Every person can be happy when things are ideal, but our true nobility lies in the journey of being happy precisely when things are not ideal.\"\n\nThe new film includes historical photos of the Baha'i community of South Africa, including its founding during the time of apartheid.\n\n\"In those days, the Baha'is stuck to the letter of the law, but they didn't really stick to the spirit of the law,\" says the film. A fundamental principle of the Baha'i Faith is the unity of the races and the elimination of prejudice.\n\nGreat precaution was taken for the first election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of South Africa. It was held in a farmhouse, and whites entered through the front door, black Africans through the back door.\n\n\"If the security police approached, the African Baha'is began cleaning and cooking. The white Baha'is played cards and socialized,\" the narrator relates.\n\nThe Haidarians produced and financed the documentary through their company, Race Productions, in South Africa. The film can be seen on the Web at www.doubletake.tv/cms/way-forward-english. The Web site also gives information for ordering a DVD.\n\nRyan Haidarian heads up development and production at the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa, the organization that produced the Academy Award-winning film \"Tsotsi.\" A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin in the United States, Mr. Haidarian won several awards for a documentary about famed American football coach Darrell Royal.\n\nLeyla Haidarian has worked as a journalist, actress, and filmmaker in Europe, North America and Africa, and can currently be seen playing a supporting role in a South African drama series."}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477901-bwns8036-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Leyla and Ryan Haidarian made the documentary for the South African Broadcasting Corporation."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477900-bwns8037-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"\"We created this film to show what the Baha'i Faith has to offer on a practical level for the world,\" said Leyla Haidarian."}],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":572,"evergreenUrl":"hip-hop-hits-spiritual-chords","title":"Hip-hop hits spiritual chords","description":"Be cool. Be religious. Yes, you can watch MTV and still have morals. Some music professionals in Los Angeles - all of them Baha'is and all knee-deep...","date":"2007-08-12","customDateline":false,"city":"LOS ANGELES","country":"UNITED STATES","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1547988506-8031-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_VideoRecord","videoUrl":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/199818876","videoStyle":"large-right","videoDescription":"Video: Benny Cassette, Jason Greene and Robert Sinclair perform \"Army of Light\" at a concert by the Dawnbreaker Collective in Los Angeles."}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Be cool. Be religious. Yes, you can watch MTV and still have morals.\n\nSome music professionals in Los Angeles - all of them Baha'is and all knee-deep or more in the entertainment industry - have come out with what one recording artist terms a \"straight-up Baha'i album.\"\n\nThe group calls itself the Dawnbreaker Collective, the album is named \"Arise,\" and the music is, well, cool.\n\nRap, rock, funk, R&B, spoken-word - all are represented.\n\n\"Come talk with Me, speak heavenly, remember Me, O son of Spirit,\" sings Tara Ellis on one of the hip-hop tracks. She has recorded with rap star Eve and with Will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas fame, and is unapologetic about her current contribution to a religious record.\n\n\"This was an incredible project to part of,\" she says. \"It's different to the stuff that most of us do because this is a straight-up Baha'i album. It's us being Baha'is and doing what we love. ...\n\n\"It's the sound of our times but in a good way.\"\n\n"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_InlineImageRecord","slideshowImageNumber":1},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Benny Cassette - he's a hip-hopper and producer who has worked with Mos Def, Willie Nelson, Eve, and Akon, and is slated to release a solo album on Universal Records - says the idea is to talk religion with young people in a language they understand.\n\nHe and the other artists - 17 of them altogether - wanted to \"create something that Baha'i kids can listen to as easily as they listen to some of the other popular music out there.\"\n\n\"You know,\" he says, \"they look up to the people they see on MTV and things. So what we are trying to do with this album is show them that there are people who work with the MTVs of the world but still hold to our values - which they can do, too.\"\n\nHundreds of Web messages from the U.S. and around the world suggest that Benny and company are on the right track.\n\n\"I just discovered your music,\" writes a woman named Sandra from Cameroon. \"Really, I didn't imagine rap could be so inspiring.\"\n\nFrom Dorina in Germany: \"I like this special new style of performing Baha'i themes. Do you know what important work you are doing?\"\n\nPart of the album's new style is the way sacred scripture is used.\n\n\"This album has introduced the world to a different way of treating the (Baha'i) writings,\" says Vahid Brooks, one the  featured artists. \"We are not being disrespectful or anything. All we are doing is using the writings in a language that makes sense to us and the people we live with.\"\n\nBenny Cassette says that although the album is inspired by the Baha'i Faith, \"we are trying to make music for the world. ... Ultimately we want to create a doorway for people to access the Faith.\"\n\nThe songs on \"Arise\" are not really scripture set to music, explains Jamie Lewis, manager of the Dawnbreaker Collective.\n\n\"It's more a vibe or a feeling,\" he says. \"The album was created by the artists praying and deepening together and then going off and writing the songs.\"\n\nLove for their religion is what led the artists to make the album, adds Benny.\n\n\"I can remember thinking to myself that I will not be happy having any song on this album that I couldn't see myself sitting down and listening to with 'Abdu'l-Baha,\" he says. 'Abdu'l-Baha was the son of the founder of the Baha'i Faith, and Baha'is look to him as the best example of how to live.\n\n\"The arts are extremely powerful,\" says Michael Mathenge, a member of the Dawnbreaker Collective who goes by the name Mathai. \"They can inspire, and they can motivate anyone if they are used in the right way. This is what we are trying to do.\"\n\nThe artists who created \"Arise\" - in addition to Benny Cassette, Tara Ellis, Vahid Brooks, and Mathai (\"Solomon Coal\") - include Andy Grammer, Robert \"Iodine\" Sinclair, Jamal \"J-Bird\" DeGruy, Ruth Foreman, Rey \"Rey Loo\" Luna, and Jason \"Matu\" Greene. Also contributing were Jamey Heath, Deep Red, Rance, Dorothy Dixon, Devon Gundry, Fondi Dixon, and John Barnes the Third. Oscar DeGruy makes a guest appearance, and Allison Anastasio designed the album cover.\n\nThe album can be purchased online at http://www.dawnbreakercollective.com/ and through iTunes, and it is increasingly available internationally at outlets where Baha'i books and materials are sold."}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477877-bwns8033-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Andy Grammer is one of 17 artists who performs on \"Arise\" by the Dawnbreaker Collective."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477877-bwns8032-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Rey Luna and Tara Ellis perform at the Los Angeles Baha'i Center."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477877-bwns8034-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Vahid Brooks, with Mathai in the background, performs \"Hush,\" a favorite piece from the album, according to an online survey."}],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":570,"evergreenUrl":"iranian-bahai-students-shut-out-vocational-education","title":"Iranian Baha'i students shut out of vocational education","description":"Iranian Baha'is seeking to enter Iran's technical and vocational institutes have been effectively barred from admission for the coming academic...","date":"2007-07-31","customDateline":null,"city":"NEW YORK","country":"UNITED STATES","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1687959778-bwns-default-missing-image-endslate-still-8-1-1.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Iranian Baha'is seeking to enter Iran's technical and vocational institutes have been effectively barred from admission for the coming academic year, since the application to sit for the entrance examinations leaves them with no option but to deny their faith, which Baha'is refuse to be coerced into doing.\n\nThe Baha'i International Community learned recently that the 2007 form for the entrance examination for undergraduate courses under the technical and vocational education system indicates that only one box may be marked for religion.\n\nThe applicant is given three choices - Zoroastrian, Jewish, or Christian - and if none of the boxes is marked, the form explains, the applicant will be considered Muslim. This is unacceptable to Baha'is.\n\n\"Under this system, Baha'is cannot fill out the application without a de facto denial of their faith, which is against their religious principles,\" said Bani Dugal, the Baha'i International Community's principal representative to the United Nations.\n\n\"Accordingly, Iranian Baha'is will not be able to take this entrance examination, and so they are effectively blocked this year from obtaining technical and vocational education in Iran.\n\n\"Such a denial of access to education violates the internationally established right to education, to which the government of Iran has agreed, and reflects yet another facet of Iran's continuing persecution of the Baha'i community of Iran,\" said Ms. Dugal.\n\nThe Baha'i International Community decries the government's actions not only against Baha'i students - who are deprived of higher education solely for their religious beliefs - but also against any other Iranian students who are being denied access to higher education on clearly insupportable grounds, such as for giving voice to beliefs or opinions that are not officially endorsed, Ms. Dugal said.\n\nLast autumn, after more than 25 years during which Iranian Baha'is were outright banned from attending public and private universities, several hundred Baha'i students were admitted to various educational institutions around the country. This came about after the government stated its position that the reference to religion on entrance examination papers to nonspecialized universities and colleges did not identify university applicants by their religion, but only gave the religious studies subject on which they had been examined. This clarification was accepted by the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Baha'i Faith.\n\nThe acceptance of Baha'i students at Iranian universities has, however, been short-lived, Ms. Dugal said.\n\nAccording to the latest figures from Iran, of the Baha'i students who took the national entrance examination last year, ultimately some 200 were admitted and enrolled. Over the course of the school year, however, over half that number - at most recent count, at least 128 - have been expelled as school officials discovered they were Baha'is. This has led observers to conclude that Iran's statements last year were nothing more than a ruse intended to quell international protest over the denial to Baha'i students of access to higher education.\n\n\"This latest news about the registration form for technical and vocational education only serves to further confirm that Iran continues to play games with Baha'i students in their country, and that its promises of access to higher education for them are hollow,\" said Ms. Dugal.\n\nTo read this news story in Persian, go to [http://www.bahai.org/persian/persecution/newsreleases/31-07-07](http://www.bahai.org/persian/persecution/newsreleases/31-07-07)"}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":569,"evergreenUrl":"tasmanian-bahai-center-gets-dome","title":"Tasmanian Baha'i Center gets dome","description":"A huge dome has been lifted into place atop the new Baha'i Center of Learning on the island of Tasmania, an Australian state that lies south...","date":"2007-07-23","customDateline":null,"city":"HOBART","country":"AUSTRALIA","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477853-bwns8030-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477853-bwns8030-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"The Baha'i Council of Tasmania will be responsible for managing the center and for its financial viability. The Hobart area has a population of around 200,000 people.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"A huge dome has been lifted into place atop the new Baha'i Center of Learning on the island of Tasmania, an Australian state that lies south of the mainland.\n\nSix years in the planning and three years in the building, the new center boasts a 300-seat auditorium and other facilities that will be used not only for core Baha'i activities but also by the wider community in Hobart, which is the state capital, and beyond.\n\n\"The circular nature of the dome will represent the never-ending cone of learning,\" Ann Stark of the Baha'i Council of Tasmania said in comments published in a local newspaper. \"The center's facilities will be made available to the people of Tasmania.\"\n\n"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_InlineImageRecord","slideshowImageNumber":2},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"The dome was lifted by crane as a small crowd of Baha'is and others watched.\n\nThe inspiration for the center came after the death in 2000 of Soheila Mirkazemi and her son Naveed in a car accident in Hobart. The Naveed Foundation was established and has been raising the funds for the center.\n\nWalter Jaros, another member of the Baha'i Council of Tasmania, said the goal is to open the new facility by the end of 2007. It includes a library; office space for the Baha'i regional council and for the board that will oversee the operation of the center; rooms for meetings and activities; and the large auditorium that will have stackable chairs for better flexibility in using the space, he said.\n\nThe Web site for the center says it will be used for activities exploring how to use the \"insights of religion, science and the arts for ... spiritual, intellectual and social development,\" with a goal toward building a peaceful and sustainable world community.\n\nIn keeping with this vision, the facility was designed with an eye to achieving the highest possible standards of energy efficiency and water conservation. The principal architect was Stuart McKenzie Hall of Hobart.\n\nTasmania has about 250 registered Baha'is, Mr. Jaros said. The population of the state is nearly 500,000."}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477853-bwns8029-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Construction of the new Baha'i facility in Hobart incorporates principles of energy efficiency, water conservation, and use of nontoxic and recyclable materials."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477852-bwns8028-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"The building is designed to create an appropriate setting for devotional meetings or spiritual reflection."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477853-bwns8027-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"The main part of the building is a 300-seat auditorium, which not only will be used for Baha'i activities but will be available to the greater community for other events."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477853-bwns8026-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"The dome of the new Baha'i Center of Learning in Tasmania is lowered into place. The design of the structure symbolizes unity and was created with environmental factors as a high priority. The dome was put in place on 9 July."}],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":568,"evergreenUrl":"anniversary-martyrdom-bab","title":"Anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Bab","description":"On July 9, Baha'is around the world commemorate the date in 1850 that the Bab - one of two main figures in the founding of their Faith - was...","date":"2007-07-08","customDateline":null,"city":"HAIFA","country":"ISRAEL","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477830-bwns8025-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477830-bwns8025-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Baha'i pilgrims visit the Shrine of the Bab on Mount Carmel.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"On July 9, Baha'is around the world commemorate the date in 1850 that the Bab - one of two main figures in the founding of their Faith - was executed by a firing squad in Iran, then called Persia.\n\nThe Bab, whose name means \"gate\" in Arabic, had declared in 1844 that He was a messenger of God sent to prepare the way for the long-awaited promised one of all religions who would come to establish an age of universal peace. In 1863 Baha'u'llah announced publicly that He was that promised one.\n\nThe Bab attracted tens of thousands of followers, and the unease and commotion created by His message led the authorities to put him to death on a charge of heresy. He and a disciple who begged to share His martyrdom were executed by a firing squad of 750 soldiers in a public square in Tabriz.\n\nThe remains of the Bab are now entombed in Haifa, Israel, in a beautiful shrine on Mount Carmel.\n\nHow the Bab was brought to Haifa to His final resting place is in itself a special chapter in Baha'i history. Indeed, 'Abdu'l-Baha, the son of Baha'u'llah who was the head of the Baha'i Faith from 1892 to 1921, considered providing a fitting burial for the Bab to be one of the key duties and accomplishments of his ministry.\n\n"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_InlineImageRecord","slideshowImageNumber":2},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"The remains of the Bab had been rescued by His followers from a ditch near the execution site and were carefully hidden in Iran for nearly half a century.\n\nIn 1899, at the behest of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the remains were transported - under great threat from civil and religious authorities and others - by  way of Isfahan, Kirmanshah, Baghdad and Damascus, to Beirut and then by sea to Acre north of Haifa where 'Abdu'l-Baha lived.\n\n'Abdu'l-Baha hid the remains for another decade before presiding over an emotional ceremony on Mount Carmel where he himself placed the sacred trust at a specially prepared site that had been designated by Baha'u'llah for the final resting place of the Bab.\n\nMuch later, an exquisite shrine with a golden dome was built over the tomb. This building has become one of the best known landmarks of northern Israel and is a place of pilgrimage for Baha'is from all over the world."}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477832-bwns8024-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Transferring the sacred remains of the Bab to Haifa and laying them in their permanent resting place was one of the chief accomplishments of 'Abdu'l-Baha, according to his own testimony."}],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":567,"evergreenUrl":"canadian-school-teaches-we-instead-me","title":"Canadian school teaches 'we' instead of 'me'","description":"It's only three words - a total of six letters. But the \"Me to We\" slogan helps students understand what service is all about, says the principal...","date":"2007-07-02","customDateline":null,"city":"SHAWNIGAN LAKE, BRITISH COLUMBIA","country":"CANADA","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477813-bwns8023-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477813-bwns8023-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"For 15 years, Maxwell students have had a key role in the Portland Island Marine Park Stewardship Program, helping control an invasive plant and documenting progress. These students participated this past year.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"It's only three words - a total of six letters. But the \"Me to We\" slogan helps students understand what service is all about, says the principal of the Maxwell International School, located in the woods of Vancouver Island.\n\n\"By adopting what Canadian youth activist Craig Kielberger calls the 'Me to We' philosophy, we help our students to be less 'me'-centered and more centered on the needs of others,\" said the principal, Dan Vaillancourt.\n\n\"Through service to others, students develop empathy and understanding while being exposed to many of the social issues that plague society,\" he said. \"Working with the elderly, the handicapped, the homeless, the sick, the less fortunate - both here and abroad - will reinforce in our children the belief that we are all responsible for creating a better world.\"\n\nSince its founding by the Baha'is of Canada nearly two decades ago, Maxwell International School - a college-preparatory institution, grades 7 to 12, with an enrollment of 150 students from some 25 countries - has placed heavy emphasis on service.\n\nMany schools around the world offer academic credit for service projects, but Maxwell does not. Involvement in the greater community is simply a part of who they are - and a key part of what comprises a Maxwell education.\n\n\"It is all part of the learning at Maxwell,\" Mr. Vaillancourt said.\n\nOverall, programs at the school reflect a spiritual view of humanity; use of practical, integrative and theme-based projects; the encouragement of creative and artistic expression in all aspects of school life; and the use of service as a tool for learning.\n\n\"Maxwell's aim is to encourage students to become servants to humanity, to see the world as an arena for community action, and to determine their active roles as transformers of society,\" the principal said.\n\nThe students come up with projects on their own, through organized programs, with the assistance of faculty or staff, or at the request of outside parties.\n\n"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_InlineImageRecord","slideshowImageNumber":2},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Some of the more prominent service projects are:\n\n* Emergency Response Team - Students are trained in first aid, search and rescue, response to fires and earthquakes, traffic control, and other procedures. They assist professional crews in the event of an emergency.\n\n* Dance and theater workshops -  Music, dance, and drama are used to convey social messages on contemporary issues such as racism, poverty, gender prejudice, substance abuse, peer pressure, justice, and gossip. Presentations are given at area elementary schools and community gatherings, and Maxwell students sometimes travel during their vacation periods for performances.\n\n* Portland Island Marine Park Stewardship Program - For 15 years, Maxwell students have been working through the Ministry of Parks and Recreation to help control an invasive plant on Portland Island. Data collected by the students provide the ministry with the only long-term record available about the management and removal of this plant. Maxwell has received government recognition for its participation.\n\n* Rotary International Interact Club - Students work with Rotary, a well-known service organization, on both local and international projects.\n\nOne recent service project, called Sprouts, was started by students and involves educating the entire Maxwell community on environmental issues, said Sharon Welsh, director of development at the school.\n\nShe said the school encourages students to tackle international projects.\n\n\"In 2006 two Maxwell students traveled to Japan to provide leadership for a summer Dance Workshop program,\" she said.\n\nAnd this year, four students are going to Tanzania for a summer arts program.\n\n\"These youth, three 14-year-olds and one 18-year-old, will join a Maxwell graduate who is on a year of service in Tanzania,\" Ms. Welsh said. \"The project was identified and planned by the youth, who worked evenings and weekends throughout year to raise funds and prepare. ...\"\n\nThe school has devised mechanisms to make service projects more effective and also to help students understand the nature of service, especially as a way of life. A key component is students being divided into groups of 12 or so, of different ages and backgrounds, and assigned a teacher as an adviser.\n\n\"The role of the adviser is to encourage, mentor, empower, and accompany the students on their journey of learning through service,\" said Mr. Vaillancourt. \"Each Adviser Group chooses a service project of some kind to work on throughout the year. These service projects may be local, regional, national, or international in scope.\"\n\nLaura Veary, a former faculty member who managed the school's community service programs, said some students are reluctant at first to take part in service projects but most do learn the benefits of spending time to help others.\n\n\"Students feel good about themselves as they see their accomplishments and the effect of their contributions,\" said Mrs. Veary. Most students, she said, become motivated to continue to be of service as adults.\n\nKatie Yurychuk, 17, graduates this month and was the student leader of the Maxwell Emergency Response Team.\n\n\"The sense of service that Maxwell gives us helped me see myself as part of a world community,\" she said. \"There is so much that we do here that helps us have a more holistic mindset instead of a self-centered mindset. I give 100 percent of that to Maxwell.\"\n\nGalen Humber, 16, is finishing 10th grade and has been the coordinator for his grade for the Portland Island Marine Park Stewardship program. He said being part of the international community at Maxwell is helping him and his classmates look beyond themselves.\n\nHe illustrated his point with this story: \"(One) day during home room we had a free period. Half of us decided to go and play dodge ball. When we came back we found the guys who didn't come writing letters to Baha'i communities around the world to encourage them to send their children to our school. We all thought this was a great idea.\""}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477814-bwns8022-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Maxwell students in grades 7 to 11 took part in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, sorting their \"catch\" for recycling."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477813-bwns8021-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Students at Maxwell International School make a \"virtue quilt\" to be auctioned for charity."}],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":553,"evergreenUrl":"in-brazil-positive-spin-spells-tv-success","title":"In Brazil, positive spin spells TV success","description":"The host of a long-running television talk show for women, Shideh Granfar, has a simple formula for success: \"Keep it positive.\" She recalls...","date":"2007-06-24","customDateline":false,"city":"BLUMENAU","country":"BRAZIL","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477803-bwns8013-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_VideoRecord","videoUrl":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/199818733","videoStyle":"large-right","videoDescription":"Video: Shideh Granfar interviews a guest on her weekly TV show in Blumenau, Brazil. On the air more than a decade, she believes her upbeat attitude - a reflection of her religious belief - is key to the show's success."}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"The host of a long-running television talk show for women, Shideh Granfar, has a simple formula for success: \"Keep it positive.\"\n\nShe recalls the time a cockroach crawled out of some food on camera, threatening the reputation of a restaurant being featured on the program.\n\nShe quickly turned things around by making a joke of the scene and then pointing the cameras at the not-so-tidy recesses of the studio, thus showing that the cockroach wasn't the restaurateur's fault.\n\n\"I explained to the viewers that the food had been here for a long time and that studios are not the cleanest places,\" she recounts, \"and I reassured them that the standards of cleanliness at the restaurant are really different. Then I took the cameraman on a tour of the studio, showing the viewers that even though the set looks beautiful, the studio is another story.\n\n\"The episode was a hit, and everyone was talking about it,\" she continues. \"The restaurant people were happy, too.\"\n\nShideh - all the viewers call her by her first name - has hosted more than 500 weekly installments of \"Mulheres\" (Portuguese for \"Women\") for TV Galega, and this year she was cited by the local office of the Brazilian National Commercial Training Service for outstanding service by a woman in the field of communication and the arts.\n\n\"Shideh is one of those people that we always want to have around us: for her laughter, for her sparkle, for her manner of assuming there is a solution to everything - that the hard way is simply the 'least easy' way,\" said Valther Ostermann, a prominent local newspaper columnist who spoke at the ceremony where she received the recent award.\n\n"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_InlineImageRecord","slideshowImageNumber":1},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Indeed, Shideh - who is creator, producer, director and host of her program - is known for her infectious laugh and her ability to put a positive twist on whatever life puts in front of her.\n\nHer outlook on life, she explains, comes from her practice of the Baha'i Faith.\n\n\"As Baha'is we believe in looking for the best in people. So when I have someone on the show I try to make them feel comfortable. I do not try and put them in a corner and make them look bad. We try to bring out the best of what people have to give. I think that the show serves as a model of positiveness, especially to women.\"\n\nShideh says the subjects she addresses on the show bear a direct relation to her religious belief.\n\n\"'Mulheres' relates to the Baha'i Faith through the various subjects we choose to address in the development and betterment of the quality of life for women,\" she says. \"The Baha'i writings say a lot about this issue. We also have an editorial opening where we use thoughts, prayers, and material from the writings of the Faith which address the theme of the day.\" (See video).\n\nShe sees the role of the show as providing an uplifting experience for viewers, given that she thinks people tend to be unhappy about many aspects of their lives.\n\n\"When you show them good and positive things, people just love it.,\" she says. \"They're so grateful and they tell me, 'You're always laughing!' But what they don't know is that giving them the opportunity to see good in life is what makes me happy.\"\n\nShe believes it was this upbeat attitude - plus her views on the equality of women and men - that led TV Galega owner Altair Carlos Pimpao to hire her 10 years ago for the show in Blumenau, a city of 300,000 people in southern Brazil.\n\nMr. Pimpao had watched her lead a Baha'i meeting and found her to be an articulate speaker and a natural host.\n\nBest of all, Mr. Pimpao realized, she and other Baha'is believe strongly in the advancement of women and equality of the sexes. He is not a Baha'i, but he understood their belief and thought this was just the kind of person he needed for the new show.\n\nOften the guests on the hourlong program are local experts in fields relating to education or health. Discussion centers on how the issues relate to women, although Shideh says surveys show that half her viewers are men.\n\n\"They (men) are interested and curious about women's subjects,\" she notes. \"Men try to understand the world of women, our dreams and goals in life so they can have better relationships with us. It is great to see how many men are interested. ... We get men calling us while we are on air and asking questions for their wives and friends. By doing this they contribute to the development of ideas and at the same time growth in their own lives and their relationships.\"\n\n\"Mulheres\" airs live on Tuesday evenings, and viewers may call in with questions and comments. A tape of each program is rebroadcast on Wednesdays and Sundays, and shows are available on the Internet at  Jump TV.\n\n\"It has been a rewarding experience,\" Shideh says of hosting the show. \"It's funny. I can be having the worst day of my life, and as soon as I get into the studio I am happy and laughing.\"\n\nShideh, who has been married for 26 years and has two children, travels frequently. She says that through her travels she has learned something that she tries to share on her show: \"Humanity is humanity, everywhere you go,\" she says. \"Everyone is looking for happiness.\""}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477803-bwns8013-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"'Everyone is looking for happiness,' says TV host Shideh Granfar."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477804-bwns8014-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Issues affecting women are the subject of Shideh Granfar's television show, but surveys show that her audience is almost evenly divided among men and women."}],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":552,"evergreenUrl":"attacks-iranian-bahais-from-elderly-young-schoolchildren-continue-unabated","title":"Attacks on Iranian Baha'is, from the elderly to young schoolchildren, continue unabated","description":"Reports and documents filtering out of Iran over the last six months indicate a widespread and calculated effort by the government to maintain...","date":"2007-06-07","customDateline":false,"city":"NEW YORK","country":"UNITED STATES","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477796-bwns8011-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477796-bwns8011-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Reports and documents filtering out of Iran over the last six months indicate a widespread and calculated effort by the government to maintain and gradually intensify the persecution of Iranian Baha'is.\n\nThe evidence tells of continued efforts by the government to identify and monitor Baha'is; further incidents of abuse and discrimination directed at Baha'i students and children; stepped-up efforts to deprive Baha'is of their livelihood; and ongoing attacks on the Baha'i Faith in the official news media.\n\n\"The cumulative trend is one of an exceedingly ominous nature, and something of grave concern to Baha'is around the world,\" said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.\n\n\"The considered view is that these recent incidents are being provoked and often methodically planned by the Information Ministry, in order to create fear, make the Baha'is physically vulnerable, and instill in them social and occupational insecurity,\" said Ms. Dugal.\n\n\"The clear intent is to separate Iranian Baha'is from their fellow citizens by generating suspicion, mistrust, and even hatred so that the social, economic, and cultural progress of this innocent religious minority continues to be blocked and its community life destabilized.'\n\nTo read more about recent attacks on Iranian Baha'is:\n\n[English](http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran/update)\n\n[Persian](http://www.bahai.org/persian/persecution/iran/update)\n\nTo read this news story in Persian, go to http://bahai.org/persian/persecution/newsreleases/07-06-07"}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":549,"evergreenUrl":"bahais-commemorate-anniversary-ascension-bahaullah","title":"Baha'is commemorate anniversary of the ascension of Baha'u'llah","description":"On May 29, Baha'is around the world will observe the 115th anniversary of the ascension of Baha'u'llah, the founder of their faith. Baha'is recognize...","date":"2007-05-27","customDateline":null,"city":"HAIFA","country":"ISRAEL","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477783-bwns8010-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477783-bwns8010-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"This corner room of a house on the property known as Bahji, near Acre in what today is northern Israel, is the burial site of Baha'u'llah. Baha'is consider it the most sacred spot on earth.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"On May 29, Baha'is around the world will observe the 115th anniversary of the ascension of Baha'u'llah, the founder of their faith.\n\nBaha'is recognize Baha'u'llah as the divine educator who, as the one promised in the scriptures of all the world's religions, has come to inaugurate a new age of peace and justice for the entire human race.\n\nEdward Granville Browne, a prominent scholar from Cambridge University, was granted an audience with Baha'u'llah near Acre, Palestine, in 1890, two years before Baha'u'llah's passing, and recounted the meeting this way:\n\n\"The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow.... No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain!\"\n\nBaha'u'llah passed away in the early morning of May 29, 1892, at the age of 74.\n\nBaha'i historian H.M. Balyuzi later wrote: \"Many there were who came to mourn Him. They did not bear allegiance to Him, they could not see in Him the Redeemer of Mankind, yet they knew that a great Being had gone from their midst.\n\n\"They were from diverse backgrounds and sects and faiths and nations - officials and leading figures and priests, learned men and poets and men of letters, rich and poor, Druses, Sunni and Shi'ih Muslims, Christians of diverse denominations, and Jews. From other cities renowned in the history of the world, such as Damascus and Aleppo and Cairo, they sent their eulogies and poems and panegyrics and tributes.\n\n\"And Baha'u'llah, at the time of His ascension, was still a prisoner of the Turkish government.\"\n\nBaha'u'llah was laid to rest in the northernmost room of a house adjacent to where He had been living outside of Acre. The shrine is the holiest place in the world for Baha'is - the point to which they turn in prayer and visit on pilgrimage."}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null},{"storyNumber":548,"evergreenUrl":"rainn-wilson-talks-about-hollywood-his-family-bahai-faith","title":"Rainn Wilson talks about Hollywood, his family and the Baha'i Faith","description":"Actor Rainn Wilson is used to talking to the media - he is part of the award-winning cast of the U.S. television series \"The Office,\" and his...","date":"2007-05-24","customDateline":null,"city":"LOS ANGELES","country":"UNITED STATES","thumbnail":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477764-bwns8009-0.jpg"},"featureAudio":null,"feature":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ImageRecord","image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477764-bwns8009-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Rainn Wilson with wife, Holiday Reinhorn, and their son, Walter.","imageStyle":"body-right","imageLink":""}],"storyContent":[{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"Actor Rainn Wilson is used to talking to the media - he is part of the award-winning cast of the U.S. television series \"The Office,\" and his recent role in the movie \"The Last Mimzy\" brought a flurry of new interviews. Time magazine, TV talk-show hosts and others came calling.\n\nA member of the Baha'i Faith, he seems just as comfortable discussing his spiritual beliefs as he does shooting the breeze about Dwight Schrute, the pompous assistant manager he plays on \"The Office,\" the American version of a popular British TV show of the same name.\n\nHis show, seen weekly by 8 million people in the U.S. alone, also airs in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, parts of continental Europe, Australia, Saudi Arabia, parts of Latin America, Singapore, and several other countries.\n\nHis other acting credits include the character of Arthur Martin in the series \"Six Feet Under\" and a one-episode stint in \"Entourage,\" both on the U.S. cable network HBO; guest hosting \"Saturday Night Live\" on U.S. television;  and movie roles in \"Almost Famous,\" \"America's Sweethearts,\" \"Galaxy Quest,\" \"House of 1000 Corpses,\" \"Sahara,\" and \"My Super Ex-Girlfriend.\"\n\nIn a recent interview with U.S. Baha'i News, he talked about Hollywood, his family, his life and his beliefs. Here is that interview, reprinted with permission:\n\n**Q: Rainn, what was it like to grow up in the Baha'i Faith?**\n\nA: When you grow up with a spiritual foundation that asks you to be conscious of the fact that all races are created equal, that men and women are equal and that all religions worship the same (God), it helps you see the world as one family and not get lost in the traps of political, social, and economic belief systems that can lead you astray. I always think of myself as a world citizen. It's a powerful thing.\n\n**Q: You stepped away from the Baha'i Faith in your 20s and returned to it 10 years later. What happened in that decade?**\n\nA: I was in New York City, going to acting school, and I was going through a rebellious phase. I didn't want anyone telling me what to do. I was disenchanted with things that were organized. It was a spiritual journey I was on. And this is reflected in and supported by one of the central tenets of the Baha'i Faith, which obliges every spiritual seeker to undertake an individual investigation of truth.\n\n"},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_InlineImageRecord","slideshowImageNumber":2},{"__typename":"DatoCMS_ParagraphRecord","paragraphText":"I started at ground zero. I decided I didn't know if there was even a God. I read religious books of the world. I asked myself, \"If there is a God, how do we know what He wants us to do and what He wants for us? Do we read books? Do we buy crystals? Do we follow certain gurus? Do we sit under a tree? Because surely this omniscient creator has some kind of plan in store for mankind.\"\n\n**Q: And that line of thinking led you back to the Baha'i Faith?**\n\nA: Yes, it brought me back to the Baha'i way of viewing things. I came to realize I did believe in God. I couldn't conceive of a universe without someone overseeing it in a compassionate way. It just made the most sense to me that God gradually is unfolding a plan for humankind. That there is progressive revelation -- the Baha'i belief that God sends Messengers for each day and age. I re-read books about the Baha'i Faith. And I came back to believing that Baha'u'llah was the Promised One and Messenger for this day and age. My quest took me from age 21 to 31. I'm 41 now.\n\n**Q: Your wife (author Holiday Reinhorn) recently became a Baha'i. How did that come about?**\n\nA: She wasn't a Baha'i when we got married in a Baha'i ceremony almost 12 years ago. I never pressured her to join the faith. But she started attending Ruhi (a curriculum based on the Baha'i Writings) classes in the L.A. area and became interested. And the birth of our son, Walter, now 2 1/2, was such a miracle that she found herself saying prayers and spiritually connecting to the faith. She became a Baha'i in 2004. We pray with Walter every night before he goes to bed.\n\n**Q: What is it like being a Baha'i in Hollywood?**\n\nA: There's a predisposition to link corruption and Hollywood. ... Shoghi Effendi (Guardian of the Baha'i Faith) wrote about this. The problem is that everything you hear in the news is about the superficiality, immorality, and degradation of Hollywood. But that is just not the case. Only a certain percent of the population is like that. It's probably the same percentage as for doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, any profession. Some of the most morally conscious, kindest, most compassionate people are in the entertainment industry, people who want to affect the world and make it a better place through telling human, heartfelt stories.\n\nMost people in Hollywood haven't heard of the Baha'i Faith, so they ask questions. I've had the opportunity to mention it in several articles and TV interviews, such as on \"The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.\"\n\nFor years Holly and I hosted a belief night -- a devotional gathering where we invited people of different religious beliefs to our home. We asked them to bring something to share about their spiritual path. Belief in God was not required. We had atheists, Christian Scientists, Buddhist monks. ...\n\nRecently I've been asked to speak a lot more about the Baha'i Faith. And I'll be working as a spokesperson with the Mona Foundation, a Baha'i-inspired not-for-profit organization that tries to provide quality education to all children, raise the status of women and girls, and build community.\n\n**Q: How does the Baha'i Faith figure in your life now?**\n\nA: My feeling about the faith is that it provides a practical guideline for living one's life. So much about religion has to do with rigid, sacrosanct preciousness. I don't live my life that way, and I don't feel that's what Baha'u'llah teaches. He wants us to live rich, full, loving lives in service to God's will and the human family.\n\nI like being a Baha'i who has an out-there sense of humor. God gives us talents and faculties, and making people laugh is one of mine. I don't have to be digging latrines in Honduras to serve humanity. 'Abdu'l-Baha and Baha'u'llah talk a lot about using the arts to uplift people. When 'Abdu'l-Baha was with the early believers, nine times out of 10 he would make a joke.\n\n**Q: Speaking of delicate sensibility: Have you had to turn down roles because they conflicted with what's taught in the Baha'i Faith?**\n\nA: I've turned down many roles because they're morally repugnant. I have chosen to play spiritually lost characters, but only because I feel doing so served the greater good. In \"My Super Ex-Girlfriend,\" my character was so preposterous and ludicrous in his sexism that it was clear the message was not about degrading women. In fact, the women characters are the most together, courageous and strong people in the movie.\n\n**Q: What is your favorite aspect of the Baha'i Faith?**\n\nA: I love how democratic the faith is, that it has no clergy, no people telling us how to interpret the word of God. In this day and age we see how corrupt clergy can lead mankind down so many bad roads.\n\nMy favorite quote from the Baha'i Faith is from 'Abdu'l-Baha: \"If religion be the cause of disunity, then irreligion is surely to be preferred.\" For the disenfranchised to know that 'Abdu'l-Baha is a proponent of having no religion if there's disunity. ... And for those who say they don't like \"organized religion,\" don't worry: The Baha'i Faith is one of the most disorganized religions on the planet - NOT!"}],"disableInlineCaptions":false,"slideshow":[{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477766-bwns8008-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Funnyman and Baha'i, Rainn Wilson."},{"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/6348/1543477765-bwns8007-0.jpg"},"imageDescription":"Actor Rainn Wilson with his son, Walter."}],"pushRelatedContentDown":null,"relatedContent":[],"updatedContent":false,"excludeFromHomepage":false,"category":[],"highlightClip":null}],"lang":"en","language":"en","location":"/archive/60/"}},"staticQueryHashes":["2762707590"]}