Archives › 2011 › January
Unity in Diversity: Paradise Valley, AZ commemorates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Prior to 1999, Paradise Valley was one of the very few towns in Arizona that did not observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Recognizing that this holiday is a symbol to many of the need for racial harmony, a key principle of the Baha’i Faith, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Paradise Valley contacted [...]
Let’s Get Together in Olean, NY
“Let’s Get Together!”, a commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, was held at the First Presbyterian Church in Olean, New York on Sunday, January 16. This annual event, which has run for over twenty years, was co-sponsored by the First Presbyterian Church, the Baha’is of Olean and the Faculty Student Association of Jamestown Community [...]
Oregon State Baha’i Campus Association offers Interfaith Prayer Service
Oregon State University (OSU) kicked off Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a week early with the start of their annual ten day long observance on Monday, January 10. OSU’s celebration included an Interfaith Prayer Service at Memorial Union on Thursday, January 13, which was sponsored by the Baha’i Campus Association along with NCBI/Campus Coalition Builders [...]
Freedom Trail March in Jefferson County, WV
Even weather that was well below freezing couldn’t stop about sixty people from attending the NAACP’s annual “Freedom Trail March” on Sunday, January 9 in Jefferson County, WV. Of the sixty participants, more than twenty were Baha’is, most traveling from other communities as far as Baltimore, Maryland. [...]
Announcement of New Website: Baha’i Reflections
Announcement of New Website: Baha’i Reflections “We are a group of Baha’is around the world who have come together to reflect on modern day issues through the truths provided to us by the Writings. We blog about anything that gets us thinking about spiritual themes. We blog about our personal lives, events around the world, [...]
To Recognize and Obey
Weaner Pigs explores the process of recognizing Manifestations of God and applying their Teachings to our lives with a spirit of obedience.
A Baha’i pioneer to Fiji, Austin Bowden-Kerby, is one of 12 finalists selected out of 250 applicants for a prestigious international award through National Geographic’s Changemakers, for his innovative social and economic development project Coral Gardens – Living Reefs, a project that is helping transform tourism, increasing fish stocks, alleviating poverty, and conserving coral reefs. [...]
Walk with me — learning together with newly awakened
“I want meaning more than things in my life. I want my neighborhood to be a better place. And for the first time I can do something about them.” If an inhabitant of a neighborhood were to utter such words it would delight any Bahá’í engaged in the process of expansion and consolidation. Delight, yes. [...]
Know the code — defining ‘dynamic coherence’
dy·nam·ic – adjective – Constantly active or changing; characterized by action or forcefulness; not static; vital, energetic, vigorous, robust co·her·ence – noun – the state of cohering or sticking together; logical and orderly and consistent relation of parts; balance, harmony, symmetry, unity What does the Universal House of Justice mean when it says, in the Ridván [...]
A process of learning — workshops model best practices
A process of learning we can all emulate marked workshops offered at the Bahá’í Conference on Social and Economic Development. They covered such topics as community health; taking moral leadership to neighborhoods; educating school teachers about the oneness of humankind; service through the arts; providing legal assistance to the poor; spiritual parenting; and spreading prosperity. [...]
Arenas of service — talks light way to vital pursuits
Seeking an arena of service? Keynote talks at the Bahá’í Conference on Social and Economic Development would seem at first glance to spotlight action at the national level and beyond. But look closer and you could see inklings of how we at the grass roots can identify similar needs and pursue similar objectives. An exploration [...]
Arising to change — junior youths aim to transform selves, world
At an age when burgeoning intellectual, spiritual and physical powers become accessible to them, they are being given the tools needed to combat the forces that would rob them of their true identity as noble beings and to work for the common good. — Universal House of Justice, Ridván 2010 “[N]oble beings” working “for the [...]
A youth gives back — guiding in a way he once was guided
Amir Haghiri wanted to serve by starting a junior youth group. Turns out the group’s very existence has been a service to its Dallas, Texas, neighborhood. To the young people in it as well, including his brother. And to Haghiri. Now just turned 17, Haghiri was a junior youth himself when the seed was planted. [...]
Striving to keep up momentum for young people in Navajo Land
They persevered, endured disappointment and bad weather, and patiently built bonds of trust. And by the end of a four-day intensive junior youth session in December 2010 at the Native American Bahá’í Institute, several junior youths and three animators came away with hard-won insights into what service is all about. It’s part of an effort [...]
Emerald Coast teaching teams build on love and unity
Ron Frazer describes them as “like tiny Bahá’í communities.” They’re the nine teaching teams in the four westernmost counties of the Florida panhandle. And the Santa Rosa Beach Bahá’í reports they’ve had a dramatic impact both on participation levels and on effective sharing of the Faith. The Emerald Coast cluster is a mix of retirees [...]
Intersections — where SED, social action cross paths
Intersections. Of our social and economic development knowledge base built over the years and the emerging social action in neighborhoods. Of inner (personal) and outer (societal) transformation. They appeared at virtually every juncture of the recent Bahá’í Social and Economic Development Conference in Orlando, Florida. In adult, youth, junior youth and children’s programs devoted to [...]
Just add hope — watching junior youths thrive
A few raindrops of hope. That’s all it took, says Cynthia Davis, to water the tender plants in a junior youth group she animated last year. “They didn’t need a downpour,” says the Mountain View, California, Bahá’í. Through their time together and the example of adults a realization grew within these young people, she reflects. [...]
Connecting with humanity — thoughts from a returned pioneer
Carol Curtis served for more than 30 years as an international pioneer serving the Bahá’í Faith outside her homeland. Her experiences abroad plus insights gained at the recent Bahá’í Conference on Social and Economic Development prompted her to share these thoughts. 1. We are all pioneers in our own neighborhoods no matter where we live [...]
A true friend — helping junior youths combat the negative
Sina Sabet tallies the hours in a week junior youths are exposed to negative influences. At school. On TV, Internet and radio. In the streets. In some dysfunctional homes. It all adds up. Where’s the balance? That’s where Sabet comes in. As junior youth coordinator in Dallas, Texas, the 21-year-old urges animators of the cluster’s [...]
Daisy Powell’s warmth helped kindle Faith in Uruguay
Daisy L. Powell participated in the first election of the Universal House of Justice as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Uruguay, where she was a pioneer for the Bahá’í Faith alongside her husband for 13 years. An enthusiastic teacher of children, she took pride in building their capacities in [...]
A Woman’s Place – Respect Begins Early
In Baha’i Education, a personal reflection on the Baha’i Writings and general education, this blogger shares the contention that the advancement of the status of women begins at home. Is your home a place of respect for all? Is it a place that respects women? Is the power of consultation utilized or do traditions and [...]
Practising Compassion
In the blog Everybody Means Something, blogger Pete Hulme re-posts interviews from the Charter for Compassion website where individuals are sharing examples of ways they try and practice compassion.
Happiness
Shamim shares in his blog, Blessed is the Thought, Writings from ‘Abdu’l-Baha about the importance of allowing joy into our lives. And he asks the question, “Are you Happy?”.
3rd Annual World Religion Day Event in Sammamish, WA
The Baha’is of Sammamish hosted their third annual program in commemoration of World Religion Day on Sunday, January 16 at Sammamish City Hall. The event saw 60 attendees and included guests such as Wassim Fayed, acting imam with the Sammamish Muslim Association; Harry Terhanian, director of the Vedic Cultural Center; Bishop Kyle Johns, of the [...]
24-Hour Prayer Vigil in Louisville, KY
Ever since the seven Baha’i leaders in Iran (known as the “Yaran”, meaning friends) were taken against their will in May of 2008 and have since been imprisoned and sentenced to ten years on false charges, Baha’i communities around the world have held prayer gatherings on their behalf. Most recently the Baha’is of Louisville requested [...]
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