Archive for July, 2006

Well, this brings to a close the first version of Baha’i Views. I am going to take to heart some recommendations I’ve received regarding what constitutes best blog practices and incorporate them in Baha’i Views 2. Watch for its inaugeral post. -gw

Christine and Brian re-posted on their blog the following article that appeared yesterday in an Israeli newspaper. -gw

“The Bahá’ís understand that the world is going through a tough time. There will be tough problems or wars, until people realize the message of peace”, added Smith, “so we need to stay here, to continue as usual and to promote the idea of peace. From our standpoint, this message is more important then everything else. We are not naïve and we know this involves a lot of work, but in the end the Peace will come. Perhaps the near future is hard and scary, but the distant future is bright, and that is what the lights of the Shrine symbolize.”

For those readers who may have missed these two articles regarding the situation in Haifa for Baha’is, here are the links:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060720/lf_afp/mideastconflictisrael_060720151404

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153291961938&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Here is a listing of Haifa Baha’i bloggers, some mentioned in a previous post, that you can check in with for their personal updates on their current experiences:

http://royalinda.blogspot.com/
http://marthateresa.spaces.msn.com/blog/
http://ameliatyson.blogspot.com/
http://matthewacornelius.blogspot.com
/http://luciarosa.blogspot.com/
http://christineandbrian.blogspot.com/

Working in unity in a diverse world does have a certain charm to it, doesn’t it. -gw

Fathom please an office with a devout Baha’i, secular Muslim, and non-practicing Evangelical Protestant comprising the primary staff. Then imagine these men gaining a contract to design a Roman Catholic Church in what is likely an overwhelming native community. I’m afraid that I cannot recall which community it is, but when I check that tomorrow, I’ll add it as I suspect that’s going to add another level of charm. Community consultation about this design may actually be interesting.

Teilani, “Another amusing moment from the office,” LiveJournal

For the non-Baha’i, attending a Baha’i wedding can provide another marvelous introduction to the spirit of the Faith. - gw

My oldest friend got married about a week ago: Isn’t she beautiful? They both are… on the inside and out. I was one of her bridesmaids. She is Baha’i and in their religion the bride and groom marry each other– no middleman. Just when you thought you were safe, new media has infiltrated the wedding process… well, no, not really… the Baha’i faith is a couple hundred years old… but, I like to think of it that way. It was a very intense ceremony to watch, and certainly the most moving wedding that I’ve ever been to by far.

http://amandaunboomed.blogspot.com/2006/07/white-people-cant-dance.html

So many of the new blogs by Baha’is coming online with each passing day are simply amazing. Each blogger represents another facet of the Baha’i community. This one is about a Baha’i homesteader. Here are two posts, one about her becoming a Baha’i and the second about being a stepfamily. All pics are from her blog, Rooster in the Roaster. This is going to be a fun blog to check in with. -gw

Monday, July 24, 2006

Our Family is Baha’i. I coverted to Baha’i 12 yrs ago. I was raised going to Methodist and Prespitarian churches. Though we went to church pretty regularly throughout my junior high and high school yrs we didnt practice much at home. It was just something we did on Sunday. All the while however, I had this amazing friend, Lauretta. She was being raised Baha’i in a huge family. All of her friends were Baha’i. Through the many yrs of hanging out with Rett I got a healthy dose of the Faith. Even with these forces in play, when I was 19 ish I would confidently say that I didnt believe in God. It was after the birth of my first daughter and a seperation from her father that knocked me on my butt that caused me to question my beliefs. I began looking around for the ‘right’ answers. I started visiting churches on Sundays. I figured Christianity had to be the ‘right’ choice. After all there was a church literally on every corner in my town. I did this for about two yrs. I settled into an Apisciple church as they had provided ‘moms day out’ gatherings each month. So- it was one Sunday morning in the middle of services there that I stood up in worship along with the croud and was bopped on the head with the realisation that I was a Baha’i! Yep. Thats how it happened. I went home and called my dear friend, Rett, and asked “how do I become a Baha’i ?” She about fell out of her chair!

As a result of this coversion, I met my current husband. He was brought to the Faith through his first wife and had long been a Baha’i. He was also the only other Baha’i in my town. So we met and the rest is history.

After all these yrs I still love the Faith. I have had my ups and downs spiritually. The reason the Faith is so dear to me is because of its drive for Unity. Unity of all the world’s religions, unity of the human race, unity of the sexes. You dont have to hate anyone to be a Baha’i. Its ok to love. You dont have to be perfect either. As my husband says- to become a Baha’i doest mean you have reached a destination (perfection) but rather that you agree to get in the car and go for the ride.

posted by Carrie @ 9:28 PM, Monday, July 24, 2006, “The Baha’i Faith,” The Rooster in the Roaster
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Ohhhhh the joy of step families!
Well they are what they are. A mashing together of numberous different minds with their varied baggage. Jody calls us- Marbles in a can.

When I met Jody through the Faith I was still married to my two older girls’ father. Jody had been divorced a year. Jody and I were acquaintances for a yr or so and after my marriage split I looked him up. It was another year until our wedding day. You can tell how much I love Jody. He was a single dad of 4- that’s right four- full time kids. I was twenty six and had been a mom for all of 5 yrs. Combined we had kids aged 15, 13, 10, 6, 5 & 3. Two years later we added an “ours” to the ‘yours and mine’ senerio. We spent several years running kids to and from various visitations and juggling the needs of angry teens and cuddly school agers. We are 9 yrs into it and now have just 4 kids at home. Things are a lot calmer though we still experience big bumps.

Knowing what I know now…would I do it all over. No way! I would just kid nap Jody and run far away! Would I recommend doing the blended thing? Never! Its a hard road and I am not sure there is any winning in the end. All I can say is that I figure if 4 out of 7 of them come back for Thanksgiving when their grown- then we did alright. We’ll have to see how that all turns out. In the mean time, we keep doing our best.

posted by Carrie @ 8:02 PM, 8:02 PM , Saturday, July 01, 2006, “Step Families,” Rooster in the Roaster

Everything changes. Everything is in a state of evolution. Even religion. This is a basic Baha’i belief. Vafa expresses his love for observing the process of change in this remarkable blog reflection. - gw

This evening was an interesting one. My father was interviewed on the phone by a Canadian Baha’i Persian radio station. We kept very quiet for the duration of it. It went really well apparently. Later on in the evening, before I went to bed, I told my parents that it looked likely at this point that a tropical storm or hurricane would form in the Gulf of Mexico and hit us in the next 48 hours. He looked puzzled, and asked me a very good question, as always. Why was I so interested in the weather? And I made reply. It is not the weather that interests me, persay, but change which interests me. The weather is ever-changing, and one can see it most beautifully in the tropics and how it changes continuously, spinning up storms and hurricanes. One can watch the clouds spin in almost real time and see how lows form and winds increase and so on. It is this that is interesting to me, one can look at computer models of those changes and compare them to each other and see how they evolve too. The clouds and the rain do not interest, but how they change interests. It is by no means restricted to this, however. No matter what it is, whether it be stock prices, company plans, government changes, wars, viruses such as bird flu, watching how communities, countries, populations change, belief patterns change, Faiths grow, mature and interact, history itself—these are what interest me. As one watches such things continuously, one begins to get a feel for them, a feel for how they have changed and will change. It is exciting; to watch how one’s predictions compare to reality, adjust them, watch again, take in more information, adjust again. At the end of the day, one sees the majesty of creation, because that is what it is—it’s flux, always changing, always evolving, never the same, just like life on this planet and this planet itself, the oceans, the reefs, the continents, the ecosystems, Gaia, so to speak. It’s what makes music so beautiful, because it’s never the same, no note is quite the same because each time it is surrounded by an environment of new notes and new prior melodies. Each verse, each repetition of the melody adds something new and beautiful to the equation. Watching how people change–themselves, how they grow, how they look different in time, how they think differently, plan differently, feel differently, how their interactions and relationships change—that is fascinating. In fact, I think that’s why I’m doing a PhD in developmental biology—it’s the closest I could get to trying to figure out the mystery of life changes. He joked. Was I interested then in watching fishes swim in fish bowls then—because they’re changing all the time too. In fact, I said, yes, I do, I watch them all the time…

posted by Vafa Bayat at 12:28 AM 24 July 2006, “48 hours,” Vafa’s Blog: My Thoughts on Life

That the Baha’i Faith is the 2nd most widespread religion in the world is an oft-quoted statistic. The Faith is in places like Kyrgyzstan. -gw

This is most of the Baha’i national assembly in Kyrgyzstan. They invited us to go eat with them after their meeting, which was nice, and they’re a pretty diverse group of people.

posted by JamesG at 10:44 AM
Kazakhstan Trip
JamesG

Religion has always been the source of moral authority in the world, Baha’is assert. Leaders of government recognize this as fact as well. -gw

Guest speaker…Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie said at a time when Jamaicans are losing faith in politicians and the traditional church, the Baha’i message of spirituality and racial unity should be emulated.

“We have always depended on the traditional churches to create the foundation for moral respect and social tolerance. However, we are concerned that the traditional churches seem to have lost their voices lately when it comes to the issue of morality,” said the mayor. “And since the politicians are not considered to have the moral authority, it is the newer churches and religions like the Baha’i and their refreshingly new view of morality to which we must turn.”

Baha’i celebrate,” published: Wednesday July 26, 2006, Jamiaca Gleaner

Name:Arthur Ketcham
Location:Moscow, Russian Federation
I am a 22 year old student who enjoys outdoors, thinking about life, and dreaming about the future. I am a christian, and I seek to serve humanity with whatever gifts God has given me. This picture is from the 2004 ASWWC Costume Party.

Art is the son of a member of my Baha’i cluster, Ed, who is on a teaching team with me, among the many teaching teams here in Cluster 19. I had a truly small world feeling when I came across his blog some months ago and realized that this was Ed’s son. Here is Art’s post regarding the situation in the Haifa. -gw

20 July 2006, Baha’i Pilgrims Amid the Strife

Jen pointed out this article that was on the BBC recently.

“The Kuykendall family from Seattle in the US arrived on Sunday (to Haifa, where the Lebanese rockets continue to fall) as part of a 150-strong group of Baha’i pilgrims. They came to visit the majestic Baha’i temple, the focal point of their faith, which adorns the slopes of Haifa’s awe-inspiring Mount Carmel.

“The violence saddens more than worries me, but it makes this a uniquely different experience,” said Marsha Kuykendall, as she ate breakfast in the Dan Panorama Hotel with her husband and two teenage children.

“We waited seven years to do this pilgrimage, so even in the midst of all this, you look on it as a life-altering experience, hoping our prayers will in fact bring humankind together.”

My father is a Baha’i, and I grew up around Baha’i culture. They are extremely peacful people, and they espouse the ideas of unity and charity very deeply. These are things that humanity would be blessed by more of. Sure, the world isn’t perfect, and there are wars and rumors of wars here and there, but I personally am glad that some people can see what matters beyond strife and combat. I was remided again of the verse from James about “pure and faultless religion”: To look after the widowed and fatherless in their distress, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Perhaps one day my father can make this journey to the Baha’is main temple in Haifa Israel. I would like to go with him. The holy land holds a special place in my heart, as it does for so many.

posted by Excalibur at 22:11 1 comments

http://blog.arthurk.com/2006/07/bahai-pilgrimgs-amid-strife.html