Monte Carmelo

Liberation: Les bahaïs d’Iran en danger

2008-08-30T07:22:00.001+01:00

FOAD SABERAN né à Téhéran, médecin psychiatre à Paris.
QUOTIDIEN : mardi 26 août 2008
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Cela dure depuis près de deux ans. A l’heure de la prière matinale, dans des cours d’école de la République islamique de l’Iran, des maîtres et des maîtresses injurient, humilient les enfants de famille bahaïe devant leurs camarades, pour les amener à renier la religion de leurs parents. Ces enseignants obéissent à une directive du ministère de l’Education et de l’Instruction, datée de l’automne 2006. Ces scènes d’un autre âge me rappellent des souvenirs.

Je me souviens d’avoir subi, en 1954, sous la monarchie triomphante, avec les gamins bahaïs de ma classe, des maltraitances similaires de la part de notre professeur d’instruction religieuse. Je me souviens de ce que racontait ma mère. A 20 ans, dans les années 1930, cette institutrice, grande jeune femme épanouie, a failli être vitriolée, pour s’être promenée sans voile dans le bazar de Téhéran. Les femmes votaient dans la communauté bahaïe dès avant la Première Guerre mondiale. Je me souviens qu’en 1981, le professeur Manoutchehr Hakim, célèbre médecin des pauvres et bahaï, a été assassiné. Les autorités se sont empressées de confisquer ses biens et ceux de son épouse française (1).

LA «SECTE DES ÉGARÉS»

Je me souviens qu’au milieu des années 1980, le cimetière bahaï de Téhéran, où reposaient de nombreux membres de ma famille, a été profané, puis passé au bulldozer. Depuis un siècle et demi, chaque fois que les dirigeants iraniens sont en difficulté, ils s’en prennent à leur bouc émissaire habituel, érigé en ennemi intérieur : la communauté bahaïe. Même si, sous le régime islamique comme au temps de la monarchie, les bahaïs «n’existent pas», n’apparaissent dans aucune statistique et que les autorités ne les mentionnent que par «secte des égarés». Ils sont otages et étrangers dans leur propre patrie.

Les bahaïs sont sept à dix millions à travers le monde, dont seulement cinq cent mille d’origine iranienne. Enraciné dans les cinq continents, le bahaïsme n’est plus, depuis longtemps, une affaire irano-iranienne. Mais qui sont les bahaïs et que leur reproche-t-on ? Pourquoi le clergé iranien persiste-t-il à persécuter les fidèles de cette religion non-violente saluée par Léon Tolstoï, Gandhi, Romain Rolland, Eléonore Roosevelt, Arnold Toynbee, Bertrand Russell ?

La foi bahaïe est une religion née après l’islam. Y croire est considéré par la majorité des théologiens musulmans comme inacceptable et, par le clergé chiite, comme un crime d’hérésie et d’apostasie. Nombre de principes bahaïs leur sont irrecevables : la recherche individuelle de la vérité et le refus de tout clergé, l’éloge de la non-violence, l’égalité des droits de la femme et de l’homme, la science comme pilier de la vie du croyant, la vision internationaliste des affaires publiques, la démocratie interne. La communauté bahaïe est le seul groupe de cette envergure en Iran organisé de façon démocratique, avec des élections annuelles, sans candidature, sans dirigeants permanents, sans chef, ni clergé. Il faudrait dire «était» organisé, car à deux reprises, ses dirigeants élus, parmi lesquels plusieurs femmes, ont été enlevés, puis exécutés clandestinement au début de la Révolution islamique. Depuis, toutes les organisations bahaïes, se sont autodissoutes. Au printemps, les sept administrateurs de la communauté, interlocuteurs habituels et très surveillés des autorités, dont la tâche essentielle était de réduire le poids de l’oppression, ont été arrêtés, sans qu’aucune charge ne soit retenue contre eux. Depuis, une campagne les accuse de trahison, d’espionnage et même d’avoir organisé l’attentat du 12 avril à Chiraz, avec l’appui des Etats-Unis, de la Grande-Bretagne et d’Israël.

Dans la Perse rétrograde du milieu du XIXe siècle, le babisme, précurseur du bahaïsme, proposait une réforme radicale des mœurs politiques, religieuses et sociales du Moyen-Orient. La fine fleur des lettrés et des théologiens iraniens de l’époque ont adhéré au babisme. Contre les babis, la réaction du clergé chiite et de son bras séculier, le pouvoir impérial, a été si sanglante que des diplomates occidentaux, pourtant habitués à la cruauté des Qadjars (1798-1925), avaient dû s’en mêler pour sauver des vies.

La figure la plus exceptionnelle du mouvement babi est la poétesse Tahéreh-Qorratol’Aïn (1817-1852). Théologienne, elle enseigne sans se voiler, écrit des poèmes d’amour, prend la défense des femmes, organise des cours d’alphabétisation pour nombre d’entre elles, quitte son mari, tient tête à sa famille, au clergé et au pouvoir impérial. Pour faire taire à jamais cette dangereuse hérétique devenue célèbre, Nasser-ed-Edine Chah la fait étrangler en août 1852, après une fatwa des théologiens de la cour (2). Ironie du sort, si elle est exécutée c’est qu’en tant que savante et théologienne, elle a rang d’homme, donc passible de la peine de mort pour apostasie. Une simple femme, mineure devant la loi aurait été remise à un homme de sa famille pour être rééduquée !

Baha’u’llah (1817-1892) prend à son compte une grande partie des enseignements du Bab et fonde une religion nouvelle à vocation mondiale, le bahaïsme. Il allie les réformes politiques et sociales à un renouveau de l’humanité dans la spiritualité. Emprisonné, torturé, il meurt en exil à Saint-Jean-d’Acre. Les bahaïs résument son message temporel par : «La Terre n’est qu’un seul pays et tous les humains en sont les citoyens.»

MONNAIE D’ÉCHANGE

Les persécutions contre les bahaïs continuent au XXe siècle. Ils n’ont jamais eu le droit de vote, leur mariage n’est pas enregistré si bien que tout enfant bahaï est considéré comme bâtard et à ce titre exclu de l’héritage. Les deux monarques de la dynastie Pahlavi (1925-1979) n’ont jamais mené de politique définie à l’égard des bahaïs. En fait cette communauté leur a servi de monnaie d’échange dans leur relation avec le clergé. En 1934, dans un pays sous-équipé en établissements scolaires, le gouvernement du chah Reza (1925-1941) fait fermer des dizaines d’écoles et lycées administrés par les bahaïs, laissant sans scolarité des milliers d’élèves de toutes origines religieuses et sociales. Au début des années 1950, sous le règne du chah Mohammed Reza (1941-1979) les services secrets impériaux organisent l’émergence d’un groupe extrémiste fanatique : le Hodjatieh, dit «Association pour l’éradication du bahaïsme». Ce groupe politico-religieux sera la pépinière de nombreux dirigeants de la République islamique, dont le président Ahmadinejad. Au printemps 1955, une campagne de haine à la radio d’Etat, dans les journaux et au Parlement donne le signal et encourage les violences contre les bahaïs : les fonctionnaires sont exclus des administrations, l’Etat confisque ou détruit des biens, des foules pillent, tuent et restent impunies. Cette campagne orchestrée en pleine Guerre froide, a pour but d’acheter le silence du clergé, au moment de la signature du pacte de Bagdad et des accords déshonorants avec les consortiums pétroliers internationaux. Dans l’Iran de l’époque, on accuse les bahaïs d’apostasie, de trahison et d’inféodation à la Russie communiste et athée (on feint d’oublier que Staline a anéanti la communauté bahaïe de l’URSS dans les années 1930). A un régime impérial casqué et botté, mégalomane et dictatorial succède un régime enturbanné, xénophobe, misogyne, totalitaire encore plus répressif.

Le pouvoir iranien islamiste persécute aujourd’hui, à des degrés divers, tout ce qui est différent de lui, paraît le contester, en particulier les jeunes femmes, les étudiants, les minorités ethniques et religieuses (les zoroastriens, les juifs et les chrétiens, dits «gens du Livre», citoyens de seconde zone) et même les musulmans sunnites et soufis. Avec la République islamique, le clergé chiite tente ce qu’il n’avait pu faire sous les dynasties impériales : le nettoyage religieux de l’Iran. Depuis trois décennies, le pouvoir politico-religieux en place a émis de nombreux édits de persécutions. Publiques ou secrètes, ces fatwas laissent le champ libre aux polices et à des femmes ou à des hommes de mains. Enlèvements, disparitions et exécutions des intellectuels et des responsables élus de la communauté, viols de prisonnières avant d’en exécuter certaines, autodafés de livres, spoliations massives des biens, expulsions des emplois publics, interdiction de les embaucher et de commercer avec eux, tel a été le lot des bahaïs. Nombre de leurs lieux historiques ou sacrés, datant des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, entretenus avec ferveur, héritages de tous les Iraniens, ont été détruits. Régulièrement les cimetières sont profanés ou passés au bulldozer, des maisons sont incendiées.

UNIVERSITÉ DE L’OMBRE

Depuis plus de deux décennies, l’accès à l’enseignement supérieur leur est, dans les faits, interdit. Avec le renouvellement des générations, il n’y a plus de bahaïs exerçant des professions libérales, telles avocat, médecin, pharmacien. On imagine l’ampleur du drame, dans une communauté qui valorise, au plus haut point, le savoir et la science. Alors, ces militants de la connaissance ont mis en place une université souterraine : l’Institut bahaï d’études supérieures. Grâce à des enseignants locaux, bahaïs ou non, et à un réseau mondial, avec l’aide d’universités de pays démocratiques qui valident les enseignements, quelques centaines de jeunes femmes et hommes arrivent, tous les ans, de haute lutte, à acquérir des diplômes. Les autorités harcèlent régulièrement cette université de l’ombre, arrêtent des enseignants et des étudiants ou confisquent le matériel éducatif. L’un des principaux animateurs de cette université, Bahman Samandari, a été exécuté au début des années 1990.

Depuis un siècle et demi, rares sont les lettrés qui, bravant le pouvoir clérical, ont pris la défense des bahaïs. Ils occultent les apports majeurs de cette minorité à la Révolution constitutionnelle de 1905, à l’amélioration du sort des femmes ou à l’éducation de la jeunesse : ils ont ouvert, au XIXe siècle, des écoles modernes à travers tout le pays, instruit des milliers de femmes et d’hommes, donné l’exemple de la démocratie. Parmi les politiques, le docteur Mossadegh, Premier ministre dans les années 1951-1953 - renversé par le coup d’Etat de la CIA - est un des rares qui ait refusé de persécuter les bahaïs pour s’attirer les bonnes grâces des fanatiques religieux. Heureusement, avec les militants défenseurs des droits humains, en particulier la courageuse Shirin Ebadi, prix Nobel de la paix, les choses changent. A présent des intellectuels iraniens s’intéressent publiquement au sort des bahaïs et prennent leur défense avec plus de vigueur. Il y a quelque mois, l’armée, la milice des Pasdarans, les services secrets, ont reçu l’ordre secret du Guide suprême de recenser tous les bahaïs, «sans oublier les enfants». La présidence française de l’Union européenne pourra-t-elle mettre fin à cette conspiration du silence et réveiller chez les gouvernants de la République islamique la tradition de tolérance du vieil empire multiethnique et multiculturel perse ?

(1) Christine Hakim, les Baha’is ou victoire sur la violence, éd. Pierre-Marcel Favre, Lausanne, 1982. (2) Bahiyyih Nakhjavani, la Femme qui lisait trop, éd. Actes Sud, 2007.
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Publicado no Liberation, em 26-Agosto-2006

Téhéran décapite la direction baha'ie

2008-05-20T23:04:00.001+01:00

Les persécutions ont repris contre cette minorité religieuse pacifique.

Beyrouth

L'ARRESTATION sans motif, mardi, de six dirigeants de la communauté baha'ie, vient de susciter un profond émoi parmi les membres de cette minorité religieuse régulièrement persécutée en Iran. « Depuis l'arrivée au pouvoir de Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (juin 2005), on assiste à un durcissement. Il y a deux ans, une cinquantaine de jeunes Baha'is avaient déjà été arrêtés. Mais là, c'est la première fois que ce sont des coordinateurs importants de la communauté qui sont touchés en bloc », indique au Figaro Diane Ala'i, représentante de la communauté baha'ie auprès des Nations unies, à Genève.

Depuis la révolution islamique de 1979, le culte baha'ie, né en Iran au XIXe siècle, est proscrit. À l'inverse des autres minorités religieuses (chrétiens, zoroastriens, juifs) du pays, la petite communauté ne dispose d'aucun représentant au Parlement iranien. Au début des années 1980, les neufs membres de l'assemblée spirituelle baha'ie disparurent sans laisser de trace. L'année suivante, huit des neufs nouveaux membres furent exécutés. À l'époque, la répression finit par pousser la communauté à s'organiser dans la plus grande discrétion, et à créer un groupe d'amis, chargé de gérer les affaires de la communauté de manière informelle. C'est de ce groupe que faisaient partie les six personnes arrêtées, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Saeid Rezaie, Fariba Kamalabadi, Vahid Tizfahm, Jamaloddin Khanjani et Afif Naeim. Le septième membre du groupe, Mme Mahvash Sabet, était déjà emprisonné depuis le 5 mars.

Incitation à la haine

« Ce qui vient d'arriver ne peut que nous alarmer et nous rappeler les années noires », confie Diane Ala'i. C'est après des perquisitions poussées pendant cinq heures à leur domicile, hors de toute procédure légale, que les six personnalités baha'ies ont été arrêtées et conduites à la prison d'Evin à Téhéran. Pour l'heure, aucun chef d'accusation ne leur a été notifié. On ne sait rien de leurs conditions de leur détention. Seule Mahvash Sabet a pu être montrée, de loin, à un membre de sa famille, qui s'inquiétait de sa survie.

« Cette détention sans accusation de l'intégralité du leadership baha'i est révélatrice d'une tendance à la persécution violente et illégale des Baha'is d'Iran », déplore, dans un communiqué, l'organisation de défense des droits de l'homme Human Rights Watch. Depuis août 2004, plus de 200 membres de la minorité ont été emprisonnés et détenus sur des périodes plus ou moins longues. L'atteinte à la sécurité de l'État fait partie des accusations les plus couramment avancées. « On assiste, par ailleurs, à un accroissement de l'incitation à la haine contre les Baha'is, professée par voix de presse officielle ou dans les mosquées », relève Diane Ala'i. Ainsi, dans les journaux conservateurs, les Baha'is sont souvent dépeints comme des « ennemis de l'islam » et des « mercenaires des États-Unis ». En dépit de mesures de clémence annoncées, il y a quelques années, par les instances universitaires, les procédures d'accès aux études supérieures restent limitées pour les étudiants baha'is qui se voient souvent dire que leur dossier d'examen est « incomplet ».

L'Iran confirme la détention d'Iraniens de religion bahaï

2008-05-20T22:51:00.002+01:00

TEHERAN, 20 mai 2008 (AFP) - Le gouvernement iranien a confirmé mardi la détention d'Iraniens de religion bahaï, interdite en Iran, en les accusant d'avoir agi "contre l'intérêt national".

"Il s'agit d'un groupe qui a agi contre les intérêts du pays et qui avait des liens avec des étrangers, particulièrement les sionistes", a dit le porte-parole du gouvernement, Gholam Hossein Elham, lors d'un point de presse.

Le Canada avait fait état vendredi de l'arrestation le 14 mai de six Iraniens "membres des Amis de l'Iran, un groupe qui coordonne les activités de la communauté bahaï".

"Nos services de renseignement ont agi sur des bases légales et poursuivent l'affaire en accord avec les règles du pays", a dit M. Elham.

Le chef de la diplomatie canadienne Maxime Bernier avait condamné une arrestation des six "au seul motif de leur religion".

Mais M. Elham a affirmé qu'elle "n'a rien à voir avec des questions idéologiques ou de croyances, que nous ne reconnaissons pas par ailleurs".

Le pouvoir judiciaire iranien avait annoncé en janvier avoir condamné, pour progagande contre le régime, trois bahaïs à quatre ans de prison ferme et 51 autres à un an de prison avec sursis.

La foi bahaï est née en 1863 en Iran. Les bahaïs considèrent Bahaullah, né en 1817, comme le dernier prophète envoyé par Dieu sur terre, alors que pour les musulmans le dernier prophète est Mahomet.

Les adeptes de la foi, qui n'est pas reconnue par la République islamique, avaient été aussi persécutés sous l'ancien régime.

Bahaullah fut banni et exilé pendant 40 ans. Il est mort en 1892 et enterré près d'Haïfa, dans l'actuel Israël.

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Publicado no jornal La Croix (França), 20-Maio-2008

Sis membres de la Baha'i detinguts a l'Iran

2008-05-20T22:49:00.001+01:00

LONDRES, 19 de maig (Reuters/EP) - Les autoritats iranianes han detingut cinc homes i una dona de la Baha'i, una religió independent fundada a l'Iran durant el segle XIX considerada com a herètica pel sistema xiïta que governa al país, segons ha informat el grup religiós en la seva pàgina web. Les sis persones van ser detingudes dimecres passat i portades a la presó d'Evin, a Teheran.

Un parent de Behrouz Tavakkoli, un dels detinguts, de 57 anys, va informar a Reuters que agents dels serveis d'intel·ligència iranians van anar a casa de Tavakkoli i es van endur tots els llibres, papers i documents relacionats amb Baha'i, així com ordinadors i CD.

Si bé encara no se saben els càrrecs dels quals són acusats els sis membres de Baha'i, grup religiós que diu que pateix discriminació i persecució a la República Islàmica. Un portaveu del Ministeri d'Exteriors del país ha declinat declarar-se sobre aquesta qüestió en una roda de premsa, dient que es tracta d'un assumpte judicial.

El grup religiós acusa les autoritats iranianes d'haver detingut i executat centenars dels seus membres des de 1979, tot i que el Govern nega haver detingut ni executat ningú per raons de fe.

La Baha'i es considera com la més jove de les religions independents del món. El fundador, Bahá'u'llah, és vist pels seus membres com l'últim missatger de Déu en la història, seguint els passos d'Abraham, Moisès, Buda, Zoroastre, Crist i Mahoma. D'aquí el rebuig a aquesta religió per part dels musulmans, els quals no reconeixen cap profeta després de Mahoma.

Publicado no Yahoo-España, 19-Maio-2008

Carte d'identité: un bahaï égyptien exempté de mention de religion

2008-01-29T23:04:00.000Z

LE CAIRE, 29 jan 2008 (AFP)

Un tribunal égyptien a permis mardi à un membre de la minorité religieuse bahaï de laisser vierge la mention de religion sur sa carte d'identité, considérée comme discriminatoire par des organisations de défense des droits de l'Homme, a-t-on appris de source judiciaire.

La Haute cour administrative d'Egypte a décidé que les cartes d'identité de Raouf Halim et de ses quatre enfants pouvaient ne pas mentionner leur religion, non reconnue par les autorités qui considèrent les bahaïs comme des apostats.

En 2006, un premier jugement avait refusé d'octroyer aux bahaïs le droit d'inscrire leur confession sur les documents officiels, ce qui avait mis les 2.000 membres de cette communauté dans une position incertaine.

Sur les nouvelles cartes d'identité numériques, seules sont mentionnées les trois religions monothéistes reconnues par l'islam: christianisme, judaïsme et islam. Si le demandeur refuse l'une de ces dénominations, il ne peut obtenir de papiers d'identité que toute personne âgée de 16 ans doit avoir en permanence sur soi.

Les Egyptiens sans carte d'identité ne peuvent postuler à des emplois, acquérir des propriétés, ouvrir des comptes bancaires ou inscrire leurs enfants dans des écoles.

En novembre 2007, l'organisation Human Rights Watch avait dénoncé la mention obligatoire de religion, estimant que celle-ci était à l'origine de discriminations. "Les responsables du ministère de l'Intérieur croient apparemment qu'ils ont le droit de choisir la religion des individus lorsque la religion de ces personnes ne leur plaît pas", avait commenté Joe Stork, directeur-adjoint du département du Proche-Orient et de l'Afrique du Nord auprès de HRW.

La foi bahaï est née en 1863 en Iran. Les bahaïs considèrent Bahaullah, né en 1817, comme le dernier prophète envoyé par Dieu sur terre, alors que pour les musulmans le dernier prophète est Mahomet.

Bahaullah fut banni et exilé pendant quarante ans. Il est mort en 1892 et enterré en Terre Sainte, près d'Haïfa.

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Publicado no La Croix, 29-Jan-2008

Egypt's Bahais score breakthrough in religious freedom case

2008-01-29T22:46:00.000Z

CAIRO (AFP) — A Cairo court on Tuesday ruled to allow Egyptian Bahais to leave their religion blank on official documents, in effect restoring their access to jobs, schools and medical and financial services.

The Court of Administrative Justice ruled in favour of two cases seeking to leave the religious affiliation field blank on official documents.

The first case involved a lawsuit by Rauf Hindi, who was seeking legal birth certificates for his 14-year-old twins, Imad and Nancy.

The second lawsuit was filed by Hussein Abdul Messih who was suspended by a university due to his inability to obtain a legal ID paper.

When the government announced five years ago that only Islam, Christianity and Judaism would be recognised as religions on the new compulsory electronic official papers, Bahais were left in legal limbo as they refused to choose between the three religions.

In Egypt, carrying identity papers at all times is required by law.

Without the official ID cards, Egyptians can not apply for jobs, buy property, open bank accounts or register their children in schools. They are also subject to arrest for not carrying valid identity papers.

The verdict is considered a compromise solution after an Egyptian court denied Bahais the right to state their religion on official documents in 2006.

Nonetheless it was welcomed as a victory for religious freedom.

"This is a welcome and significant decision and puts an end to the great injustice faced by citizens who have been victims of the government's arbitrary discrimination based solely on religious belief," said Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

"We call on the government to implement the decision without appeal or delay," he told AFP.

Bani Dugal, the Bahai community's representative at the United Nations, said the verdict should be cheered.

"Given the degree to which issues of religious freedom stand at the heart of human rights issues in the Middle East, the world should cheer at the decision in these two cases," she said in a statement.

"The compromise offered by the Bahais ... opens the door to a way to reconcile a government policy that was clearly incompatible with international law as well as common sense," she said.

"I can finally buy a car!" Ragi Labib, an Egyptian Bahai who has been without valid papers told AFP.

Bahais consider Bahaullah, born in 1817, the last prophet sent by God, while Muslims believe the last messenger of God was the Prophet Mohammed.

Bahaullah was banished and lived 40 years in exile. He died in 1892 and was buried in the Holy Land, close to what is now the northern Israeli port of Haifa.

Of the faith's 12 principles including the unity of mankind, the elimination of all forms of prejudice, gender equality and independent investigation of truth, it is obedience to government that is most highlighted in Egypt.

Egyptian Bahais do not join political parties, take part in demonstrations or hold elections for their spiritual assemblies.

In Iran on Tuesday, 54 Bahais, whose faith is banned in the Islamic republic, were convicted for anti-regime propaganda. Three of them were sentenced to four years in jail, while the rest received suspended terms.

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Publicado pela AFP, 29-Jan-2008

Egypt Baha'is win court fight over identity papers

2008-01-29T22:36:00.001Z

By Cynthia Johnston

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court granted Baha'is the right to obtain government identity papers on Tuesday, so long as they omit their faith, in an important ruling for members of unrecognised religions.

Judicial sources said the court had ruled that Egyptian Baha'i Raouf Hindy could obtain identity documents for his teenage twins by putting a dash in the religion line.

The government can still appeal against the judgment which gives members of Egypt's tiny Baha'i community access to official papers largely denied them since 2004. These are needed to enrol in school, marry, drive a car and open a bank account.

"This is the first good news that Baha'i Egyptians and their defenders and supporters received in a very long time," said Hossam Bahgat, whose Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights represented the Baha'is in court.

"It is an end of a very long and unnecessary ordeal for citizens whose only fault is their refusal to be falsely identified or to lie in official documents."

There are between 500 and 2,000 Baha'is in Egypt.

Egypt had previously refused to allow members of the minority faith to obtain documents listing them as Baha'is, nor would it allow them to omit their religion. Baha'is are regarded as heretics by many Muslims, and rights activists say they face systematic persecution in socially conservative Egypt.

Rights groups say Baha'is were often pressured to accept documents labelling them as members of faiths viewed as more palatable in Egypt.

"Today I feel happy ... I asked for something fair. I asked to say that I am not a Muslim, a Christian or a Jew, so put a dash for me. I don't want to lie on government papers. That's all," Hindy told Reuters by telephone after the ruling.

Interior ministry officials had no immediate comment on the ruling and did not say if the government would appeal.

WILL SEEK DOCUMENTS IMMEDIATELY

Bahgat said he would immediately seek to obtain identity papers for the children of the two Baha'i families who brought the case, including Hindy's twins and another Baha'i teenager.

"We also expect the interior ministry to immediately change its policy so that this new policy applies to all followers of the Baha'i faith or any faith that is not one of the three recognised religions," Bahgat said.

While the Egyptian constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice officials are reluctant to acknowledge religions other than Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

Baha'is have also sometimes been regarded in the Arab world as disloyal citizens because the faith has its world centre in what is now Israel.

Many analysts say a more likely reason for anti-Baha'i sentiment may be the theological differences with Islam. Baha'is see the faith's founder, Baha'u'llah, as the latest in a line of prophets including Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammad.

Many Muslims consider Baha'is heretical because they call their faith's 19th-century founder a prophet -- anathema to Muslims who believe Mohammad was God's final messenger.

In 1960, Egypt dissolved Baha'i institutions and seized community assets.

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Publicado pela Reuters, 29-Jan-20087

Baha'i community wants to be recognized and heard in Turkey

2007-12-08T18:08:00.000Z

The Baha’i community in Turkey wants official recognition from the state and desires the elimination of prejudices and inaccurate public descriptions of their faith. The Baha’i faith has around 10,000 members in Turkey

İZGİ GÜNGÖR
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

With around 10,000 members in Turkey the Baha'i community wants official recognition from the state and desires the elimination of prejudices and inaccurate public descriptions of their faith in Turkey.

“We may be small in number but we are an entity and ultimately have an identity. It is wrong to ignore us with such practices,” said Professor Cüneyt Can, director of the External Affairs Office of the Baha'i Community in Turkey. Many Baha'is charge that Turkey pursues a discriminatory policy against the Baha'i community in Turkey by not listing their faith on identity cards. Religious affiliation is listed on identity cards in Turkey but Baha'is are unable to state their religious affiliation on their identity cards because it is not included among the options. Rights once given to them between 1960 and 1990 were taken away when the Interior Ministry issued instructions introducing a new standardized code system that did not include the Baha'i faith. “Rights that were once granted to us were taken back. There is no improvement, but regression,” said Can.

EU, US criticize

Turkey Criticism in separate reports released by the European Union and the United States included asking Turkey to provide rights to the members of the Baha'i community. “Administrative documents such as identity cards include an entry on religion that may be filled in or left blank. This might lead to discriminatory practices. In addition, there are still concerns regarding religions which are not recognized,” said the EU's annual progress report while the U.S. State Department report criticized Turkey for not recognizing the Baha'i community, saying that Turkey continued to restrict applicants' choice of religion. “We await the amendment of the laws and code system to enable us to state our religion on identity cards,” said Suzan Merter, the Media and Public Relations coordinator of the Baha'i External Affairs Office. She is a third generation Baha'i who benefited from the former law enabling them to be registered. But she cannot renew her identity card and have her religion stated on it.

No hesitation to say I am a Baha'i Merter said she doesn't hesitate to say that she is a Baha'i. “I don't, because this is my identity. What you defend is right and good. We learned the Baha'i faith as a way of life. We learned to be hospitable, virtuous and welcoming of differences. We work for the peace and unity of humanity, which isn't a thing to be ashamed of. So why should I conceal my religious identity?” she said.

Not only I.D. problems Baha'is face many other problems in Turkey as well. They live with the problems and disadvantages that arise from being unknown as a religious minority in Turkey. Some feel free to reveal their religious identities while some refrain from doing so, fearing stigmatization and discrimination in society. The problems stem mostly from a lack of information about the faith and inaccurate public description of the religion, according to them. They want to be explored and understood correctly and don't want to be associated with other fundamentalist religious movements such as the religious orders – or tarikats.

We do nothing secret “Although limited, some of us are also exposed to harassment and investigations by some government institutions. They try to get statistics and collect intelligence about us in our neighborhood. They then get the wrong impression of our religion. We are doing nothing secret. Our doors are open to everyone. They can join our meetings and better learn about us firsthand,” Can said. Murat Bayer, 35, is a theater artist who converted from Islam to the Baha'i faith in 1993. He is the only Baha'i in his family. His first acquaintance with the Baha'i faith came about as a result of his friends during his university years. He first thought it was a religious order-like formation. Then he was impressed by the principles of the faith and the sincerity and hospitality of the Baha'is. He feels free to reveal his religious identity. The art world, he says, is more open to differences. During his university years he thus used to discuss the issue with his friends and teachers who responded positively and were even attracted to learning more about the religion.

Prejudice leads to discrimination “I felt myself most comfortable during the United Nation's Habitat II conference held in Istanbul in 1996. I was a new Baha'i at the time. The Baha'i community has consultative status with the U.N. so we are automatically invited to its meetings. It was the first time that I attended something so freely and smoothly,” he said. “Turkey insistently tries to ignore the existence of Baha'is but it is recognized by an important international body. Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i faith, once lived in this territory and said many special things about Turkey. And, it is really hard to understand why Turkey ignores such a reality,” Bayer said.

Baha'i World Center in Haifa Bayer met his wife, Denize Bayer, in Haifa, Israel where he was voluntarily working for the Baha'i World Center. Denize, a Brazilian who converted from Catholicism, is a pre-school teacher in an embassy in Ankara. She is very comfortable saying she is a Bahai among her friends. She hasn't faced any serious problem in her daily life here for being a Baha'i except for the suspicious outlook on her religion. “When I say I am a Baha'i, they first find it strange and become more curious about it. Because, it is something new and unknown to them. But as they get to know us further and our way of life, they are impressed. They even want to send their children to Baha'i classes here,” she said.

Baha'i after retirement! İhsan Karakelle, 86, is a sociologist and former bureaucrat who worked with the second president of Turkey, İsmet İnönü. His father was a Baha'i. He had to conceal his Baha'i identity until the 1980s. It was when he quit bureaucracy in 1980 that he revealed his religion openly. He remembers the political pressure put on the community in 1959 by the government in an effort to combat fundamentalist Islamic movements. “They wanted to eliminate those movements but they targeted us,” he said. His being a Baha'i is not indicated on his identity card but he relates this situation to his own neglect. Dilan Can studies at Ankara University. Her father was a Baha'i and she converted from Islam when she was 15. She thinks being a Baha'i in this society is interesting but sometimes disadvantageous. Prejudices play a significant role in people's discriminative approaches toward them and there is always a question mark in people's minds about them, according to her. There were even some who asked her whether she is a Satanist! Some of her Baha'i friends hesitate to reveal their religious identity and she thus started being more careful about it. “Unless we are asked, we generally don't say that we are Baha'i. It changes according to the environment,” she said.

Diversified religious education needed:

Another problem raised by the Baha'i community is the issue of religion courses. The national education curriculum is based on Islamic religion and different doctrines taught both at school and at home confuse children's minds, according to them. “Even if there is only one Baha'i child in one class, the Baha'i religion should be taught,” said Merter. Can meanwhile wants his children to have religious education at school but he doesn't want them to carry out Islamic practices, including prayers, at school. “They should learn about other religions as well. It is already compulsory in schools. But we have our own prayers and my children receive religious education on the Baha'i faith at home,” he said. The religious education given at school that is based on Islam and its teachings also confuses his children, he said. “We teach at home but they learn different things at school. They are seriously confounded,” he said. “The government may prefer to focus on Islamic religious education in schools because the majority of the population is Muslim; but they could at least include examples from other religions while teaching what is good or bad.”

Who are Baha'is?

Founded in Iran in the 19th century by Baha'u'llah, the Baha'i faith has around 10,000 members in Turkey. Based on very contemporary and democratic principles, the religion has around six million followers worldwide and seeks world unity and peace against the problems of the modern age. The northwestern Turkish city of Edirne is home to the House of Baha'u'llah, where the Baha'i leader lived from 1863 to 1868. The house was declared a protected site and has drawn renowned international political figures. Baha'is believe in God and prophets. They believe that religions are similar to the life cycle. Human beings and humanity are organic, and so are religions: They can complete their existence and new prophets can come as humanity evolves. Baha'is believe that humanity underwent a social evolution from family to nation-state. The next stage will be the global unification or integrated global society, according to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book). Baha'is hold regular meetings; they meet every 19 days among themselves. People are not allowed to become a Baha'i before the age of 15, which is considered to be the age of spiritual maturity. They are forbidden from involvement in politics, but they vote in elections in Turkey. Baha'is hold no superstitions and do not drink alcohol. There is no symbolic clothing particular to them and there are no religious rituals or special places of worship for groups. The Baha'i community has consultative status with the United Nations.

Baha'i faith seen as missionary activity:

The Religious Affairs Directorate in Turkey declined to make an official comment to the Turkish Daily News on how it categorizes the Baha'i community in Turkey but on its Web site it considers the Baha'i faith as a missionary activity. In one of its online periodicals titled “Diyanet Aylık” (Religious Affairs Monthly) featuring an article about “Missionary Activities,” the office includes the Baha'i faith among other missionary movements that intend to spread their belief among people adhering to other religions including Islam. Ahmet Hikmet Eroğlu, a religious scholar and religious historian in Ankara University, concurs with the approach of the Religious Affairs Directorate on the issue. The Baha'i faith isn't a religion but an eclectic movement based on older religions, according to him. “Baha'i faith isn't like other religions such as Christianity, Judaism or Islam which have deep roots in history,” he said. “It is a new and eclectic movement. The Religious Affairs Directorate may see it as a missionary activity as it isn't precisely defined and accepted as a religion in the world, and we know that they make efforts to promote their faith.” Cüneyt Can meanwhile denies allegations, saying that the faith has existed for 100 years and that they have no relation with missionary activities. “These kinds of allegations and associating us with missionary works is worrying,” he said. “We don't employ people who work to convert others to the Baha'I faith. We have no organized institution-like structure that works toward that purpose. We have no money, no power. We don't lobby or deal with politics. What makes us strong are the principles that we all long for. We believe, apply the principles to our own lives, share this with others and then spread them. This is how our religion spreads.”

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Publicado no Turkish Daily News, Dezembro de 2007

Follower of Baha'i escapes Iran to find religious freedom in U.S.

2007-11-26T22:26:00.000Z

Juneau man says believers persecuted in his home country

KIM MARQUIS

On a recent Saturday morning inside the modest Sadeghi home in the valley, four girls gather around a squat wooden-topped coffee table, listening as Kevin Araki leads a discussion about Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i faith.

Anies Sadeghi, 9, doodles with a pencil on a handout map of historic Persia, the cradle of the religion that started in 1817 in Tehran. It's a typical modern-day American setting, where children are subject to religious teachings during weekend "Sunday school" sessions.

But to Anies' father, Mansour Sadeghi, it's a blessing happening in his living room.

Sadeghi, 47, escaped in 1984 from Iran, where his fellow Baha'is are still persecuted for their faith under the Islamic regime.

As a young man in Iran, Sadeghi knew a 16-year-old teenager, a neighbor and work companion, who was hanged for her association with the faith. She had taught religious classes similar to the ones taking place every Saturday in his Juneau living room.

The Baha'is are the largest religious minority in Iran with about 300,000 members there. They believe that all religions are derived from one God and that humanity should unite as one entity.

Baha'is have suffered waves of discrimination in Iran, where the current government does not recognize their religion. They are prevented from attending universities, holding important jobs or openly practicing their religion, according to the Baha'i International Community, a nongovernmental group that consults on several United Nations bodies.

"One day everything is fine, and then they come and take everything, closing businesses and confiscating everything," Sadeghi said. His father, who still lives in Iran, paid smugglers to take his son, then 24, to Pakistan and hopefully a better life.

Sadeghi secretly left his home in Shiraz with his sister, Sima Hermann, her husband and their two daughters who were both younger than 2. They were led by smugglers to a small hotel and told to not leave the room.

The group expected to ride in cars or trucks to the Pakistan border, a trip that should have taken a few hours. But instead they were brought a herd of camels in the middle of the night and told to get on.

It turned out to be a harrowing trip that provided Sadeghi a life-long appreciation for freedom.

"For the first 10 minutes it was good but with the way camels walk, up and down, up and down, within a half-hour we couldn't move our backs," Sadeghi said.

Four days later, still they sat on the camels' backs and still they hadn't reached the border. They ran out of food and water, so they drank along with the camels from a dirty puddle.

That night, Sadeghi fell behind the group because of his stubborn camel. He thought he'd been left alone to perish in the vast desert. Dusk was settling, and fear crept into his bones as he listened to the sounds of far-away animals and thought about revolutionary guards that could be lurking in the night.

After a few moments of panic, Sadeghi asked God if this was his plan, to take his life when no one knew where he was. He says he looked at the desert sky filled with stars and then let go of his worries.

"I feel I touched the very core of fear and peace at the same time," he said.

He eventually rejoined the group and they arrived at the Pakistan border the next day. They were taken to a small house where one of their handlers contacted Sadeghi's father for more money.

Knowing his father shouldn't pay more, Sadeghi went with his sister and her family out in the street where they caught a taxi ride with a man who spoke a bit of English. They were dropped off at a tea company, where a Baha'i man helped them contact the United Nations.

After two years in Pakistan waiting for paperwork, a Juneau family sponsored Sadeghi and he left Pakistan for Alaska, arriving here in 1986.

He married his wife, Beheshteh, in London after she left Iran. The couple has two children, Anies, and a son, Raz, who is 14. He says Juneau is his first home now, but he still worries and prays for the Baha'i people in Iran.

Earlier this month, Sadeghi led a commemoration in Juneau for 10 Iranian women who had been hanged in 1983 for being Baha'is. The women included Muna Mahmudnizhad, Sadeghi's neighbor from his hometown of Shiraz.

"We wanted to celebrate and remember the people who gave their lives for the faith," he said. The group showed pictures, said prayers and talked about how the religion is handed down.

Sadeghi says he thinks Americans - his own children included - take their religious freedom for granted.

"It's the reason we left Iran," he said. "When you don't have the freedom to even pray the way you want to pray, it's the worst thing that can happen to anybody."

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Publicado pelo JUNEAU EMPIRE, 26-Nov-2007

Rights group slams Iran crackdown on activists

2007-11-26T22:25:00.000Z

TEHRAN (AFP) — The government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stepped up a crackdown on students, unionists and teachers in the past months, Nobel winner Shirin Ebadi's rights group said Monday.

"We are pained to say that the ninth government has further tightened the space for political, unionist, press and student activists despite its populist slogans," the group said in its latest report.

Ahmadinejad -- whose government is the ninth elected since the Islamic revolution in 1979 -- has made the implementation of "justice" one of his core policies.

But Ebadi's Centre for the Defenders of Human Rights said there had been a noticeable increase in pressure on student activists, unionists and teachers in the period between June and September.

"The student movement this summer experienced one of its hardest periods," it said.

Along with many arrests, prominent university professors have been sacked for "alternative thinking" and hundreds of students have been banned from studying for "political or ideological reasons".

Students have staged several protests at universities in Tehran over the jailing of three of their colleagues for the publication of images deemed offensive to Islam in student publications.

It said that 80 headteachers and their deputies in the cities of Tehran, Hamedan, Kermanshah and Eslamshahr had been sacked as their schools had been linked to teacher protests.

Hundreds of teachers in Iran had staged protests earlier this year over their working conditions, under which they receive a basic wage of between 200 and 300 dollars a month.

"The crackdown on political activists intensified in summer and the number of detainees increased," the report added.

The report comes after Ahmadinejad raised the tone against his political opponents, threatening to expose as "traitors" critics who were pressuring the government in the nuclear standoff with the West.

The group also expressed concern over the situation of members of the Bahai minority, saying they were banned from working in photography, taxi driving, hotel management, publishing and the food industry.

The Iranian state considers Bahais -- who advocate the unity of all religions -- to be apostate and the sect has none of the rights enjoyed by minority Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians in the Islamic republic.

"Although 1,100 young followers of ideological minorities took part in the university entrance exam, 800 did not receive their results and only 220 got the results," it added.

"Practically, most of them were deprived of higher education."

The Centre for the Defenders of Human Rights is a small group of rights lawyers led by Ebadi, who won the Nobel peace prize in 2003.

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Publicado pela AFP, 26-Nov-2007)

Egypt forcing converts from Islam, members of Bahai faith to conceal their religion, watchdogs say

2007-11-12T22:58:00.000Z

CAIRO, Egypt: Egypt must change its policy of not allowing converts from Islam and members of the Bahai faith to register their religion in official documents, two human rights groups said Monday.

In a report two years in the making, the New York-based Human Rights Watch and the local Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, or EIPR, described how Egyptians of religious persuasions authorities disapprove of are unable to get birth certificates and identification cards.

Joe Stork, the HRW Middle East deputy chief, said it was a systematic policy to deny documents to members of faiths other than Islam, Christianity and Judaism — the only three religions officially recognized by Egyptian authorities.

ID cards are mandatory here, but persons seeking to have "Bahai" listed as their faith on the card, for example, are denied the document, Stork told reporters in Cairo.

The report quoted some 40 people the watchdog groups interviewed as saying they were told in applying for papers that they must list themselves as either Muslim or Christian, or risk not being able to obtain the document.

"We're talking about a government policy that is compelling and pressuring people to lie," said Stork.

The report, titled "Prohibited Identities: State Interference with Religious Freedom," also noted cases where fathers have converted to Islam and left their children and families, with authorities automatically registering his children as having converted to Islam as well, often without informing them of this.

Since 2004, the issue has come before the court several times in the predominantly Muslim Egypt. Coptic Christians are about 10 percent of Egypt's 76 million population and generally live in peace with the Sunni Muslim majority.

Next Sunday, the Supreme Administrative Court will deliver a final ruling on whether seven Egyptians who reconverted to Christianity after already having converted to Islam will be recognized as Christians.

Next month, a ruling is also expected on whether the government must recognize minority Bahais. The religion, Bahaism, emerged from Islam and regards a 19th century Persian nobleman, Baha'u'llah, as its prophet — a challenge to the Muslim belief that Muhammad is the last prophet.

Unofficial figures put the Bahai community at about 2,000 in Egypt.

Bahai hotel manager Wafaa Hindy told reporters how she and her husband have no ID cards and now fear their son will be expelled from university since he also doesn't have the document.

"We don't need the government to agree I am Bahai ... but I need the government to give me an identity card because I am Egyptian — this is totally different from my religion," Hindy said.

EIPR director Hossam Bahgat said the government policy has no basis in neither Egyptian nor Islamic law, or Sharia, as officials often claim. While converting from Islam is defined as apostasy by Islamic law, there is no corresponding legal punishment.

____

Associated Press Writer Maamoun Youssef contributed to this report.

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POublçicado pelo International Herald Tribune, 12-Nov-2007

Egypt 'denies minority beliefs'

2007-11-12T22:56:00.000Z

Rights groups have criticised Egypt for forcing converts from Islam and members of some minority faiths to lie about their true beliefs in official papers.

Egyptians over 16 must carry ID cards showing religious affiliation. Muslim, Christian and Jew are the only choices.

Human Rights Watch says the requirement particularly hits members of the small Bahai community, and Coptic Christians who became Muslims but want to go back.

It says there are about 200 such people who converted for reasons like divorce.

The BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo says that without the all-important IDs, members of minorities face enormous problems in education and employment.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also highlights the plight of other Egyptians who complain that they have been designated as Muslims against their will.

These are mostly members of Christian families whose fathers converted to Islam and left them.

When the children get their ID cards they find they have been listed as Muslims whether they like it or not.

'Arbitrary refusal'

The report is jointly issued by HRW and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

"Ministry of interior officials apparently believe that they have the right to choose someone's religion when they don't happen to like the religion that person, him or herself, has chosen," said Human Rights Watch's Joe Stork.

"So we are asking the government today to end this arbitrary refusal to recognise someone's actual religious beliefs," he said.

Egypt is a predominantly Sunni Muslim state. Conversions from Islam are viewed as apostasy, although Muslim scholars differ on the what action should be taken.

Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court is shortly to rule on whether seven Christian-to-Muslim converts who converted back can be recognised as Christians.

A ruling is also expected on whether the government must recognise minority Bahais.

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Publicado pela BBC, 12-Nov-2007

Egypt ID cards sentence minorities to non-life

2007-11-12T22:55:00.000Z

by Charles Onians

CAIRO (AFP) - Christian converts and members of minority religions suffer daily discrimination in Egypt, which restricts their access to work, education, travel and healthcare, a rights report said on Monday.

State reluctance to allow citizens to put their religion of choice on national identity cards also forces many to obtain forged documents that can result in criminal prosecution, said the joint report by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

Every Egyptian over 16 years old must have an ID card which mentions religious belief, but the interior ministry systematically prevents converts from Islam and members of the minority Bahai faith from registering their belief or just putting nothing, it said.

Many of those interviewed for the report told how interior ministry officials tried to intimidate or bribe them into identifying themselves as Muslims because of a personal interpretation of Islamic sharia law that does not exist in Egyptian law.

"Interior ministry officials apparently believe they have the right to choose someone's religion when they don't like the religion that person chooses," said Joe Stork, deputy director of HRW's Middle East and North Africa division.

One case documented in the report is that of Salwa Iskandar Hanna, a Bahai who died in October 2005.

Her family was able to bury her, but to this day has not been granted a death certificate because the state requires her to posthumously convert to Islam -- or one of the only two other officially recognised religions.

"We tried, but were told we had to choose Muslim, Christian or Jew," said Salwa's sister Labib.

As in death, an ID card is required for the most basic needs in Egypt -- to open a bank account, get a driver's licence, obtain a pension cheque, enrol at school, get a job, and even for childhood immunisations.

While there are around 2,000 Bahais in Egypt, Muslims who convert to Christianity account for many more and their treatment is often harsher as they are considered to be apostates, which some Muslims see as punishable by death.

As a result, many seek forged documents that turn them into criminals.

"State security tried to persuade us both to be Muslims," said one convert couple. "We were exhausted, more than 24 hours with no food. When they failed to convince us to become Muslims, they referred us to criminal investigation.

"From five in the morning until five at night, the state security grilled us. They said that they would bring forgery charges against both of us."

Consigned to lead a life of severely diminished existence, others simply allow a religion that is not their own to be put on their ID cards.

"The interior ministry's policy essentially says: 'If you lie, we'll give you the documents you need but, if you tell the truth about your religion, we'll make your life miserable by withholding them'," Stork said.

"It is punishing people solely on the basis of their religious beliefs."

Egypt's top religious advisor, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, caused controversy in July after he said that while it would be a "grave sin" for Muslims to convert to another religion, worldly punishment should only be meted out if their actions endangered society.

The report calls for Egypt either to abandon the description of religion on ID cards or to allow people to choose exactly what they want to have written -- on papers and in centralised archives.

"Eliminating the religion line in IDs would send a positive signal of the state's neutrality regarding the religious affiliation, if any, of citizens," the EIPR's Hossam Baghat said.

Hundreds of Bahais and converts have tried to take their cases to court, but few positive rulings have been handed down.

Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court is set to decide on November 17 on the right of Christian converts to Islam to convert back to Christianity, in a ruling that rights groups hope will set a positive precedent.

However, the same court in December ruled that Bahais did not have the right to state their religion on identity papers because "those who belong to this religion are apostates of Islam, because the faith's principles contradict the Islamic religion and all other religions."

The Bahai faith is an independent, monotheistic religion founded in the 19th century in Shiite Muslim Persia.

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Publicado pela AFP, 12-Nov-2007

Egypt authorities forces converts from Islam and members of Bahai to conceal their religion

2007-11-12T22:53:00.000Z

Human rights groups wish Egyptian authorities to change their policy of not allowing converts from Islam and members of the Bahai faith to register their religion in official documents.

In a report two years in the making, the New York-based Human Rights Watch and the local Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, or EIPR, described how Egyptians of religious persuasions authorities disapprove of are unable to get birth certificates and identification cards.

Joe Stork, the HRW Middle East deputy chief, said it was a systematic policy to deny documents to members of faiths other than Islam, Christianity and Judaism - the only three religions officially recognized by Egyptian authorities.

ID cards are mandatory here, but persons seeking to have "Bahai" listed as their faith on the card, for example, are denied the document, Stork told reporters in Cairo.

The report quoted some 40 people the watchdog groups interviewed as saying they were told in applying for papers that they must list themselves as either Muslim or Christian, or risk not being able to obtain the document.

"We're talking about a government policy that is compelling and pressuring people to lie," said Stork.

The report, titled "Prohibited Identities: State Interference with Religious Freedom," also noted cases where fathers have converted to Islam and left their children and families, with authorities automatically registering his children as having converted to Islam as well, often without informing them of this.

Since 2004, the issue has come before the court several times in the predominantly Muslim Egypt. Coptic Christians are about 10 percent of Egypt's 76 million population and generally live in peace with the Sunni Muslim majority.

Next Sunday, the Supreme Administrative Court will deliver a final ruling on whether seven Egyptians who reconverted to Christianity after already having converted to Islam will be recognized as Christians.

Next month, a ruling is also expected on whether the government must recognize minority Bahais. The religion, Bahaism, emerged from Islam and regards a 19th century Persian nobleman, Baha'u'llah, as its prophet - a challenge to the Muslim belief that Muhammad is the last prophet.

Unofficial figures put the Bahai community at about 2,000 in Egypt.

Bahai hotel manager Wafaa Hindy told reporters how she and her husband have no ID cards and now fear their son will be expelled from university since he also doesn't have the document.

"We don't need the government to agree I am Bahai ... but I need the government to give me an identity card because I am Egyptian - this is totally different from my religion," Hindy said.

EIPR director Hossam Bahgat said the government policy has no basis in neither Egyptian nor Islamic law, or Sharia, as officials often claim. While converting from Islam is defined as apostasy by Islamic law, there is no corresponding legal punishment.

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Publicado pelo Pravda (AP), 12-Nov-2007

Egypt denies ID papers to Baha'is, converts

2007-11-12T22:52:00.000Z

By Cynthia Johnston

CAIRO, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Human rights groups said on Monday that Egypt routinely denies converts from Islam and members of unrecognised minority faiths such as Baha'is the right to list their true religious affiliation on key identity documents.

Regulations, rigidly enforced in Egypt, require that official documents show a religious affiliation chosen from three recognised faiths: Islam, Christianity or Judaism. Such documents are needed for all aspects of daily life in Egypt. The rights groups said Baha'is and converts from Islam to minority faiths either cannot get proper papers or are pressured to accept documents labelling them as members of faiths viewed as more palatable in socially conservative Egypt -- often Islam.

"Ministry of interior officials apparently believe that they have the right to choose someone's religion when they don't happen to like the religion that person, him or herself, has chosen," said Joe Stork of U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, a co-author of the report.

"So we are asking the government today to end this arbitrary refusal to recognise someone's actual religious beliefs," he said.

The report on religious identity in Egypt, jointly issued with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, came shortly before rulings were due in two lawsuits challenging Egypt's identity document policy for converts and Baha'is.

Many Egyptians interviewed for the report said officials had tried to bribe or intimidate them into identifying as Muslims, the report said. It said the rules enforced by the ministry did not reflect Egyptian law.

It also urged authorities to exonerate anyone convicted of obtaining forged documents solely because the government refused to list their true faith.

The report said that while Egyptians typically face little difficulty changing religion from Christianity to Islam, they are generally not allowed to register a change in faith from Islam to another religion, which is socially risky in Egypt and is considered apostasy.

Baha'is, on the other hand, have sometimes been seen in the Arab world as disloyal because the faith has its world centre in what is now Israel. Egypt's tiny Baha'i community is said to number between 500 and 2,000.

Many analysts say a more likely reason for anti-Baha'i sentiment may be theological differences with Islam. Baha'is regard the faith's founder as the latest in a line of prophets including Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammad. Muslims believe Mohammad was the final prophet.

A court is due to decide on Saturday whether Egyptians born as Christians who converted to Islam and then sought to revert to their original faith can have that choice reflected on their identity cards. A court should also rule soon on whether Baha'is can omit their religious identity from official papers.

The Interior Ministry has said that it was simply enforcing regulations and carrying out court rulings. (Reporting by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Caroline Drees)

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Publicado pela Reuters, 12-Nov-2007

Egypt recognizes only three religions

2007-11-12T22:51:00.000Z

CAIRO, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Human Rights Watch joined an Egyptian group in calling on Egypt's government to provide more than three religious choices on identity documents.

In a 98-page report released Monday, The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and Human Rights Watch said providing only three choices of religious identity discriminates against followers of the Bahai faith.

All Egyptians must obtain a national identification card when they reach the age of 16. The card limits choice of religion to Islam, Christianity or Judaism.

The report said providing only three choices for religion is based on Islamic law since there is no Egyptian law that requires a limit.

Even though Egypt's Civil Status Law permits citizens to change or correct information on their identification documents, Islamic law prohibits any "repudiation" of the faith.

Government officials have refused to recognize the religious conversion of any Muslim to another religion on identity documents.

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Publicado pela UPI, 12-Nov-2007

Egyptian Bahaiis: second class citizens in their own country

2007-11-01T12:45:00.000Z

By Alexandra Sandels
First Published: October 31, 2007

CAIRO: Shady Samir, a 33-year-old business owner, lost his father two years ago. Yet, he is still paying the yearly taxes on his father’s business as if he was alive. Why? Because his father is Bahai and official Egyptian documents such as the death certificate only recognize the Christian, Muslim, or Jewish faiths.

For Samir’s father to be “officially dead” to the national authorities, he would need to convert and become a Muslim, Christian, or a Jew upon his death.

Official documents such as identity cards and birth certificates are a survival necessity. Citizens cannot enroll in school, receive medical treatment, take bank loans, or buy a car without their national ID card. Young children cannot even receive vaccinations against diseases without a birth certificate.

Those Bahais who refuse to pose as Christians, Muslims, or Jews are left in limbo, living as stateless people in their own country.

“Egyptian Bahais exist in nature but in the eyes of the state they are non-existent,” said Hossam Baghat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Human Rights (EIPR).

Dr Basma Moussa, an assistant professor in oral surgery at Cairo University and of Bahai faith, argues that Al-Azhar issued a certificate claiming that she is an apostate, which delayed her tenure for several years.

Ragi Labib, a 27-year-old Bahai student at Cairo University with an easy smile, also struggles in life for refusing to officially adhere to one of the three religions deemed suitable for official documents by the government.

Labib is eager to travel the world and dreams of someday acquiring a passport — the only official Egyptian document that does not require a statement of religious affiliation. That however, can prove a difficult task as well, since the passport application process requires other official documents that state the person’s religious faith.

“While most people dream of having a family, a car, and a big house, I dream of having a passport. It’s ridiculous,” Labib told Daily News Egypt.

The court battle for the rights of Bahais to obtain official documents has been going on for years. In 2004, EIPR reportedly started receiving complaints from Bahais who claimed they were forced to write that they were Muslims, Christians, or Jews in order to obtain official documents.

“I can’t even prove that I am married because the national authorities do not recognize Bahai marriage certificates,” Samir argued.

The Supreme Administrative Court reversed a ruling in favor of the Bahais in December 2006 on the appeal of Egyptian authorities. The new ruling granted the state the right to deny Bahais identity documents recognizing their religious affiliation.

Shortly thereafter, EIPR’s lawyers modified their requests arguing that Bahai Egyptians should at least have the right to obtain documents without having to state religious affiliation at all.

The issue at stake is particularly pressing as Sept. 30, 2007 marked the last day the old handwritten ID cards could be used. Several Bahais still possess the now useless handwritten document where a dash marks the field for religious affiliation — a common procedure practiced up until 2003.

According to Samir, a 2003 internal memo in the Ministry of Interior reversed that privilege, making it impermissible to leave the box for religious affiliation unmarked on the computerized ID card.

On Tuesday, a Cairo Administrative Court postponed its decision in two legal cases concerning the rights of Bahais to be exempted from putting religious affiliation in their official documents.

The lawsuits concern 14-year-old twins Imad and Nancy Raouf Hindi who are still unable to obtain computerized birth certificates unless they claim they are either Muslim, Christian or Jewish. It also concerns 18-year-old Hosni Hussein Abdel-Massih who has been suspended from his university studies as a result of his inability to obtain an identity card.

“We can’t work, we can’t do anything. I don’t know how to live in my own country,” Hussein Hosni, the father of Abdel-Massih told Daily News Egypt.

The father of the twins, Dr Raouf Hind, has been fighting his daughters’ case in court since 2002. He obtained birth certificates for the twins upon their birth in the Sultanate of Oman in 1993 that recognized their true religious affiliation. Problems arose, however, when Hindi sought to exchange the documents for Egyptian birth certificates.

“The clerk told me that I had to select Christianity, Islam, or Judaism as my daughters’ religious affiliations. I told him we are third generation Bahai,” Hindi said in an interview with Daily News Egypt.

When Hindi refused to fill in the field for religious affiliation in his daughters’ birth certificates, he was allegedly told to “go to court.”

“All I am asking from the authorities is to let us leave the field for religious affiliation blank in my daughters’ official documents and not force us to be something we’re not,” Hindi added.

Unable to send his children to school in Egypt, Hindi said his twin daughters attend a British school in Libya where their mother works as a physician.

On one of the court benches sat Medhat Nos, a young Christian blogger and moderator of the Internet blog “7rakat” (Movements). He traveled all the way from Assiut to show solidarity with his fellow citizens.

“We need to defend the human rights of our people regardless of their religious affiliation,” said Nos.

The obstacles facing Bahais also sparked the interest of Egyptian human rights activists who demonstrated in support of the Bahais several times in downtown Cairo last year.

Video clips and pictures from the rallies show large crowds of activists holding up enlarged versions of ID cards belonging to Bahais where the box for religious affiliation is marked by a dash or has simply been left blank.

The issue also caught the interest of freelance moviemaker Ahmed Ezzat. His documentary “Identity Crisis” came out February this year.

A portrayal of the lives of Egyptian Bahais, the film depicts their struggle to become recognized citizens in their own country. So far, Ezzat’s film has been reportedly banned from several Egyptian film festivals, including the Alexandria Film Festival.

“Religion is a controversial topic here. My film was most likely banned to its sensitive content,” Ezzat told Daily News Egypt.

Ezzat maintains, however, that he recently was able to screen it before a group of members of the government-affiliated National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), marking a step forward in the process.

The film begins by depicting the December 2006 court decision denying Bahais the right to state their true religious affiliation on identity documents.

As the verdict is read before the crowded court room, a group of Islamist activists raised their hands towards the ceiling victoriously shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) while waving the Quran before, stunned Bahais, human rights activists, and reporters.

One of the Muslim activists, Mohamed Salem goes on to say that Bahais are apostates and that “infidels should be killed.”

“How can I be an apostate when I was never a Muslim? I was born Bahai. I am fourth generation,” Samir countered.

While Bahais have lived in Egypt for more than a hundred years, there is no official record of them since President Nasser decided to shut down their national assembly in the 1960s.

“Some put the number of Egyptian Bahai at hundreds of thousands. My guess though is that there are a couple of thousands of us,” Samir said.

The next hearing in the two Bahai legal cases is scheduled for Nov. 13.

Egypt is a signatory of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, making “protection of citizens from religious discrimination” and “education without distinction on any basis, including religion or belief” legally binding.

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Publicado no Daily News Egypt, 31-Outubro-2007.

31 people abandon Islam to become bahaists in Donggala

2007-10-29T22:35:00.000Z

Palu (ANTARA News) - At least 31 residents of Banpers village in Palolo sub-district, Donggala district, Central Sulawesi, have converted their belief in Islam into that in Bahai.

Head of the Religious Affairs Office in Palolo sub-district, Nuyyun Nur said here on Sunday that the Bahai faith led by Mulahi, a former marriage counsellor for the first time entered Banpers village in the 1990s, and had persuaded 31 local residents to convert into the new belief.

Those who have embraced the Bahai faith were former moslems, so that the community in Banpers Village, 50 km east of Palu City, became worried about the apostasy.

"The homes of the Bahai faith`s followers in Banpers are often pelted by protesters," he said.

According to Hayyun, Bahai adherents believed that their teachings are right and universal and propogated by a self-styled prophet Baha`ullah. They have collected holy Bah`ullah verses as their main guidance.

The propagators of the Bahai faith to Donggala was still unidentified, as the adherents of the new faith rejected to disclose their identity. The Baha`i followers normally perform their rituals in secrecy.

Together with Palolo subdistrict administration and local authority, Hayyun had facilitated a meeting between the community and Bahaists in September, 2007.

In the meeting, it was agreed that Bahai adherents were called on to review the teachings they believed in, and to return their previous belief recognized by the government.

In the near future, there will be a meeting to hear the stance of the Bahaists, he said. (*)

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Publicado pela Antara News (Indonesia) em 29-Outubro-2007

Iran's crackdown victimizes baha'is

2007-09-30T11:02:00.000+01:00

RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION | Rest of the world needs to speak out on minority's behalf

September 30, 2007
BY MARK KIRK

As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the stage this week to address students at Columbia University, his government was working at his direction to find and expel students from Iranian universities -- solely based on the religion they practice.

There is a little-told story from Iran -- a story we thought would forever stay buried in the darkness of 1930s Europe. This story is about a religion founded in Iran in the mid-1800s that has become Iran's largest religious minority with over 250,000 members.

As the representative in Congress for the Baha'i Temple of North America, I know the Baha'i faith well -- a faith of tolerance and diversity of thought. These are values we embrace on the North Shore. But in an oppressive Islamic dictatorship like Iran, Baha'is pose a clear and present danger to the regime.

In March 2006, just a few months into Ahmadinejad's presidency, the Command Headquarters of Iran's Armed Forces ordered the police, Revolutionary Guard and Ministry of Information to identify all Baha'is and collect information on their activities.

Two months later, the Iranian Association of Chambers of Commerce began compiling a list of Baha'is serving in every business sector.

In May of last year, 54 Baha'is were arrested in Shiraz and held for several days without trial -- the largest roundup of Baha'is since the 1980s. Then in August, Iran's feared Ministry of the Interior ordered provincial officials to "cautiously and carefully monitor and manage" all Baha'i social activities. The Central Security Office of Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology ordered 81 Iranian universities to expel any student discovered to be a Baha'i. A letter issued in November from one university stated that it is Iranian policy to prevent Baha'is from enrolling in universities and to expel Baha'is upon discovery.

This year, the safety of Iranian Baha'is continued to deteriorate, as 104 Baha'is were expelled from Iranian universities. In February, police in Tehran and surrounding towns entered Baha'i homes and businesses to collect details on family members. The First Branch of the Falard Public Court refused to hear a lawsuit "due to the plaintiffs' belonging to the Bahaist sect."

In April, the Iranian Public Intelligence and Security Force ordered 25 industries to deny business licenses to Baha'is. The Ministry of Information threatened to shut down one company unless it fired all Baha'i employees. Banks are closing Baha'i accounts and refusing loans to Baha'i applicants. Just last week, the Iranian government bulldozed a Baha'i cemetery, erasing the memory of thousands of Iranian citizens.

The U.S. State Department's 2007 Report on International Religious Freedom paints an even darker picture.

"Broad restrictions on Baha'is severely undermined their ability to function as a community. The Government repeatedly offers Baha'is relief from mistreatment in exchange for recanting their faith. . . .

"Baha'is may not teach or practice their faith or maintain links with co-religionists abroad. Baha'is are often officially charged with "espionage on behalf of Zionism. . . . "

"Since late 2005 Baha'is have faced an increasing number of public attacks. . . . Radio and television broadcasts have also increasingly condemned the Baha'is and their religion. . . .

"Public and private universities continued either to deny admittance to or expel Baha'i students."

We have seen this movie before -- the opening scenes of one of the most horrific episodes in human history. What happened to our solemn promise of "never again" made in 1945?

Never again would the international community stay silent about laws banning one group from attending school. Never again would we ignore orders to register with the government and report on your family's whereabouts. Never again would we welcome a leader who has ordered a religious minority to be subject to secret police monitors and nightly roundups.

On Tuesday, the Iranian president addressed the United Nations General Assembly. That will be a defining moment for our new century. The lessons of the 20th century gave us all the warning signs of what will come if we do not speak out.

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk represents the 10th Congressional District of Illinois. He is co-chairman of the House Iran Working Group and a member of the Human Rights Caucus.

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Publicado no Chicago Sun-Times, 30-Setembro-2007

Baha’i faith eases the tests that come with interracial marriage

2007-09-28T22:35:00.000+01:00

By AARON DOHOGNE

September 28, 2007 | 1:00 p.m. CST

COLUMBIA — At first Debra Byndom was reluctant to let her son marry a white woman. Tyree Byndom’s past relationships with white women made his mother believe this one wouldn’t work. Tyree is black, and Jesca, the woman he had been dating, is white.

Debra was going to make sure that if Tyree was going to marry Jesca she understood how important family was.

“She asked me if I was going to love him or the family,” Jesca Byndom said. “I was ready to love the family.”

United by a common faith in God, Baha’u’llah, prophet-founder of the Baha’i faith, and a belief that they can help create world peace as a married couple, Tyree and Jesca fell in love. And the idea of the oneness of humanity, the most important belief to the Baha’i faith, has guided the Byndoms through the tests of being interracially married and ultimately, to a greater faith.

“The principal elimination of prejudice of all kinds was very important to me,” Tyree said. “Once I expanded my mind, I forgot about my oppression. I always put my life in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’ before. But the Baha’i faith erased the ‘my’ people and ‘their’ people perception. It became ‘our’ people.”

The monotheistic Baha’i faith has roots in many religions. Through the oneness of humanity, Baha’is believe that many of the world’s religions and their prophets are manifestations of God and linked by his evolutionary path for humanity. Baha’is believe that humanity’s oneness will inevitably produce world peace as people come together.

By believing in the importance of world peace, Baha’is are strong believers in learning about different cultures and are usually positive about the prospects of interracial marriages connecting divided people.

“If me and Jesca can come together with our history and our color, I think this shows that people can show commonality and love for one another,” Tyree said. Tyree and Jesca agree that had it not been for the Baha’i teachings they wouldn’t have tried to love each other’s family as much as they did.

“I’ve grown to love (Tyree’s family) for God’s sake, not myself or themselves,” Jesca said.

Still there are family tests that are hard to get past. Jesca’s mom is more passive while Tyree’s mom is more aggressive, and the two have yet to connect. They’re polite with each other but aren’t friends, Tyree and Jesca agreed.

Tyree and Jesca’s wedding was another test. Although some racial tensions were revealed, other signs pointed toward the positive.

Many of Tyree’s aunts and uncles didn’t attend the wedding, and many of the uncles still don’t fully regard Jesca as a family member, Tyree said.

But Jesca’s dad was supportive of the marriage and was offended that Jesca thought he had a racial bias, she said.

By being interracially married, Tyree and Jesca know they have come to understand each other’s background better.

“By being Baha’i I’ve learned about black culture,” Jesca said. “I could have real friendships and not just surface relationships.”

For Katrina and Kurt Saxton, also members of Columbia’s Baha’i community, being interracially married has been reaffirming for them by helping them show unity in diversity.

“I think because the faith puts so much stress on being loving towards one another in marriage, but not to make a bond out of the love the faith has affected us,” Kurt Saxton said. “We became very accepting of each other’s differences. It’s something we incorporated into our vows — strings on an instrument might be different but they are tuned to the same melody.”

Coming into the faith

Jesca introduced Tyree to the Baha’i faith when they first met, and within two weeks he had joined the faith. Although Tyree was initially attracted to its beliefs in gender equality, he was also impressed with the faith’s emphasis on interracial marriage.

It was also his goal for his relationship with Jesca to be pure.

It was a difficult decision, Tyree said, because he was physically attracted to Jesca but they both wanted to base the relationship in a mutual love for God and Baha’u’llah. That meant no kissing or sexual relations, he said.

“I didn’t use any game with her,” Tyree said. “I stopped running game two or three years before because I knew it wasn’t holy. I wanted to be a true representative of God.” While Jesca was in Santa Cruz, Calif., teaching at a Baha’i school, she asked Tyree to marry her. Jesca returned to Columbia more than a year and half after they met, but Tyree and Jesca didn’t get married for another two years.

To marry, Baha’is must have their parents’ permission, which was something Debra wasn’t initially willing to give. Between each other they disagree about whether or not race was an issue for their parents, but the couple do agree that their parents wanted them to get to know each other better first.

Tyree and Jesca know the tests they went through in order to be together were worth it.

“We really are one soul,” Jesca said.

Like the Byndoms, Katrina Saxton introduced Kurt to the Baha’i faith before they got married. Both Katrina and Kurt had been bothered by the hypocrisy and discrimination of members of their former Christian churches.

After seeing a poster at her college for a Baha’i faith meeting on interracial dating, Katrina decided to read more about it. She found herself in agreement with much of the religion’s teachings.

“I was amazed,” she said. “I would read and think, ‘Oh, I believe that.’ I liked the idea that religion should be a cause of unity and should never separate people from one another.”

After talking to Katrina about the Baha’i faith, Kurt said he “instinctively felt it to be true.”

“I read how the religion encouraged people of different cultures to come together, so to better understand one another,” Kurt said.

Kurt was surprised when he came across interracial marriage support within the Baha’i faith. For both Kurt and Katrina’s families, being married interracially wasn’t an issue.

“Other religions might accept inter-ethnic marriage, but they don’t encourage it,” Kurt said.

While interracial marriage is considered as a way for different cultures to learn about one another, the Byndoms and the Saxtons agree that the Baha’i faith believes marriage should ultimately be based in a love for God.

“Just because we’re inter-ethnically married doesn’t mean we’re better than anyone else,” Kurt said. “Marriage is based on love, and when cultures come together and learn from one another, these people become richer in person.”

For Tyree and Jesca, getting married was about their love for each other, not skin color.

“The focus is on us as a human race,” Tyree said. “People don’t date because of a race but because of a soul.”

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Publicado no Columbia Missourian, 28-Setembro-2007

Ahmadinejad Meets Clerics, and Decibels Drop a Notch

2007-09-27T22:40:00.000+01:00

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: September 27, 2007

After two days of prickly confrontations with critics at Columbia University and the United Nations, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran held a friendly, even warm, exchange yesterday with Christian leaders from the United States and Canada convinced that dialogue is the only way to prevent war.

The session, held under tight security at a chapel across the street from the United Nations, was a reminder that Mr. Ahmadinejad is a religious president of a religious nation who relishes speaking on a religious plane. He spent his 20 allotted minutes at the start of the two-hour meeting recounting the chain of prophets central to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the commonality of their messages.

He took questions from a panel that included a Quaker, a Catholic, an Anglican, a Baptist and a representative of the interfaith World Council of Churches, some of whom separately said they had been criticized by other religious leaders for sitting down with the Iranian president. Given the furor over Mr. Ahmadinejad’s earlier appearances, there was no advance publicity.

The gathering, which included an audience of about 140 other religious leaders, was organized by the Mennonites and Quakers, churches known for their commitment to pacifism.

The organizers said that they had pressed hard to find a Jewish leader to join the panel of questioners, but that those invited declined because they could not win support from Jewish organizations.

“My heart was broken that there was so little support from other religions to be here,” said Mary Ellen McNish, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group that helped sponsor the event. “If we don’t walk down this path of dialogue, we’re going to end up in conflagration.”

Mr. Ahmadinejad’s smile at times turned to a grimace as the panelists prodded him, politely, about his record on the Holocaust, human rights abuses, Israel and nuclear weapons development. Also politely, he conceded nothing, and often deflected the inquiries by turning the spotlight on the policies of the United States and Israel.

“Who are the ones that are filling their arsenals with nuclear weapons?” he said. “In the United States they have tested the fifth generation of atomic bunker bombs, missiles that go as far as 12,000 kilometers. Who is the real danger here?”

Though Mr. Ahmadinejad’s answers differed little, the tone of the session was a marked contrast to the verbal pummeling he received at Columbia University on Monday, when the university’s president, Lee C. Bollinger, called the Iranian president either “brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated” for his stance on the Holocaust.

At the clerics’ meeting, Albert Lobe, executive director of the Mennonite Central Committee, said pointedly, “We mean to extend to you the hospitality which a head of state deserves.”

The session was part of a concerted push by these religious leaders to increase political support in the United States for talks with Iran. Some of these religious leaders also met with Mr. Ahmadinejad last year in New York and in February on a trip to Iran.

One critic said that these religious leaders were well intentioned, but naïve.

Malcolm I. Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said in a telephone interview: “They’re not going to convince him. Their very presence there gives him respectability.”

Ms. McNish, of the American Friends Service Committee, said the reverse was true: “The more we isolate him, the more support he gets at home.”

But even the Bahais, a minority religious group that has suffered persecution in Iran, said they supported these efforts at dialogue with the Iranian government. They had been invited to the prior meetings, but the Iranian side refused to come if Bahais were there, said Kit Bigelow, director of external affairs, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of the United States.

The panelists on Wednesday included the Rev. Drew Christiansen, a Roman Catholic who is editor in chief of America, a Jesuit weekly; Karen A. Hamilton, a Canadian Anglican who is general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches; the Rev. Chris Ferguson, also a Canadian, who represents the World Council of Churches at the United Nations; and Glen Stassen, a professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical institution.

Mr. Stassen, who has helped to prod American evangelicals to take on issues including global warming and torture, said he and other evangelicals would soon circulate a document intended to broaden support for dialogue with Iran, based on the model of dialogue with North Korea.

Mr. Stassen asked President Ahmadinejad, if the United States could guarantee no aggression against Iran, “could there be an Iranian guarantee of no violence against Israel?”

Mr. Ahmadinejad responded by asking for a three-minute break “for the interpreter.” After the break, he said that it was the United States and “the Zionist regime” that had nuclear weapons, while Iran was seeking to enrich uranium only for “fuel purposes.”

The impetus for these talks came not from the Americans, but from the Iranians, said Ed Martin, Iran consultant for the Mennonite Central Committee, a group that has done aid work in Iran.

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Publicado no NY Times, 27-Setembro-2007

Iran: Allow Baha’i Students Access to Higher Education

2007-09-20T22:26:00.000+01:00

Government Discriminates against 800 Students on Basis of Faith

(New York, September 20, 2007) – Iran should immediately end practices aimed at barring Baha’i students from attending universities, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should quickly resolve the situation of some 800 Baha’i students whom it prevents from obtaining their educational records and completing the university admission process.

International Baha’i organizations and Baha’i students in Iran reported to Human Rights Watch that authorities at the National Education Measurement and Evaluation Organization have denied 800 Baha’i students access to their National Entrance Examination scores. The test is a national matriculation exam required for admission to Iran’s universities.

“This week, as universities begin the new academic year, hundreds of Iranian students will be absent from campuses because of blatant religious discrimination,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

Students who have taken the National Entrance Examination can obtain their results and check the fields they are eligible to study on the website of the National Education Measurement and Evaluation Organization. In the past, the authorities published results in newspapers and made them accessible to the general public. The government shifted to an electronic format two years ago, making the test results available only to individual students checking their scores.

The 2007 National Entrance Examinations were administered on June 28-30, and the National Education Measurement and Evaluation Organization made the first results available on their site (www.sanjesh.org) on July 31.

This year, when some 800 students of the Baha’i faith logged on to the website, they received an error message informing them that their files were “incomplete.” Three of these students told Human Rights Watch that authorities at the National Education Measurement and Evaluation Organization did not respond to numerous phone calls and letters requesting clarification about why their test results were inaccessible.

Two other students who inquired in person to the National Education Measurement and Evaluation Organization office in Tehran told Human Rights Watch that officials said explicitly that they had been targeted because they were Baha’is. One student said that an official told him they had “received orders from above not to score the tests of Baha’i students.” Another student said that the official he spoke to suggested that he would be able to receive his test scores only if his family renounced their faith.

Iran is party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights which obligates it to make higher education equally accessible to all without discrimination. Iran is also a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 18 of which guarantees freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

With an estimated 300,000 members, the Baha’i community is Iran’s largest religious minority. The Iranian government considers Baha’is to be apostates from Islam and does not recognize their faith as legitimate, unlike Iran’s Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian communities. Baha’is in Iran cannot practice their faith in a public manner.

Until 2004, the Iranian government required a declaration of religious affiliation on the application for the National University Entrance exam. The application included slots only for Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian students, effectively disqualifying Baha’i students. After the requirement was dropped in 2004, Baha’i students were able to participate in the exams, but their applications were rejected at later points in the admissions process until 2006, when over 200 Baha’i students were allowed to enter national universities.

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Publicado na Human Rights News, 20-Setembro-2007

Sou um defensor do islão

2007-09-17T12:05:00.000+01:00

Publicado no Jornal Público - 17.09.2007, António Marujo

Líder tibetano participou em encontro inter-religioso e disse que é injusto condenar os muçulmanos em bloco

Foi preciso esperar uns segundos pela resposta do controlo do tráfego aéreo para soltar as dezenas de balões brancos. "Promovendo juntos a paz universal e a harmonia através do diálogo inter-religioso", diz a legenda. Os balões libertam-se e levam, lado a lado, como uma assinatura, os símbolos do cristianismo, do islão, do hinduísmo, do budismo, do judaísmo e dos bahá"ís.

Na Mesquita Central de Lisboa, ontem de manhã, viveram-se momentos inéditos: o Dalai Lama, líder espiritual do budismo tibetano, entrou na sala de oração e, por momentos, recolheu-se em meditação, voltado para o mihrab, que indica a direcção de Meca.

À volta, estavam com ele o xeque da mesquita, David Munir, padres católicos e ortodoxos, pastores protestantes, um rabi judaico, líderes hindus, bahá"ís e vários budistas. E também o presidente da Comissão da Liberdade Religiosa, o agnóstico Mário Soares, que momentos antes se confessara "laico" mas "com dúvidas" e respeitador de todas as religiões.

O islão e a paz

Nunca na mesquita se tinha reunido tal conjunto de pessoas e de credos. Também nunca antes o Dalai Lama participara num encontro inter-religioso num espaço muçulmano. "Já estive em igrejas e em outros lugares, mas esta é a primeira vez que estou numa mesquita para um encontro como este", afirmou.

Pouco antes, ao intervir no átrio da mesquita, onde decorreu o acto central da cerimónia, o Dalai Lama referiu-se aos que atacam o islão em bloco por causa do 11 de Setembro. Infelizmente, disse o líder budista, depois do 11 de Setembro de 2001, "algumas pessoas passaram a ideia de que o islão" é todo feito à imagem dos terroristas, porque estes se assumiam como muçulmanos.

Fazer tal acusação é "totalmente errado e profundamente injusto". E acrescentou: "Eu sou um defensor do islão. Há pessoas mal-intencionadas em todas as religiões", acrescentou. E fez um apelo a que quem assume uma religião deve ser sério e fazer o melhor possível para vivê-la em coerência. "Eu próprio tento o melhor para concretizar a mensagem budista. É bom que cada um faça o mesmo."

O xeque Munir gostou de escutar o que disse o Dalai Lama: "O islão é sinónimo de paz e, sendo ele um homem de paz, esteve no lugar certo, no mês sagrado do Ramadão", disse ao PÚBLICO após a cerimónia. O acto de ontem de manhã mostrou também que "o islão é uma religião aberta e a mesquita um local aberto a todos".

A cerimónia foi simples, contrastando com a roda-viva inicial em que andavam os anfitriões da comunidade islâmica, para que tudo corresse bem. O presidente da Comunidade Islâmica de Lisboa, Abdool Vakil, recebeu o líder budista à porta da mesquita. Muitas pessoas acolheram o Dalai Lama com as mãos postas e fazendo uma vénia, a tradicional saudação budista. Alguém lhe colocou um colar de flores ao pescoço.

Na mesa, estavam os representantes das diversas religiões e também Mário Soares. Perto de 300 pessoas - menos de metade seriam muçulmanos, muitos convidados - assistiam à cerimónia.

O Dalai Lama beijou-me

David Munir, túnica creme debruada a amarelo, começou por recitar alguns versículos do Alcorão alusivos à multiplicidade ali presente: "Dentre os seus sinais, está a criação dos céus e da terra e a diversidade das vossas línguas e cores. (...) Por certo nós vos criámos de um homem e de uma mulher e vos agrupámos em tribos e em povos para que vos conhecêsseis."

Uma gaiola levada até à mesa foi aberta pelo Dalai Lama para libertar as seis pombas que tinha dentro. Renitentes, estas aves símbolos da paz: saíram as três primeiras, as outras tiveram que ser puxadas para fora. Apesar da teimosia, Abdool Vakil inicia o seu pequeno discurso saudando: "Assalamo aleikum, shalom, pax, om, allahu abha, tashi delek". É como quem diz: paz, em várias línguas, incluindo o tibetano.

"Todas as religiões partilham um mandamento primário - o de desejar para os nossos semelhantes o que desejamos para nós mesmos", afirmou Abdool Vakil. Para lá das diferenças, acrescentou o padre católico Peter Stilwell, falando em nome das igrejas cristãs, as religiões "são hoje capazes de estender uns aos outros a mão da amizade, e expressar o nosso compromisso comum pela construção da paz entre os povos do mundo".

Stilwell referiu também a importância do encontro: "Cada uma das nossas tradições é uma parte única da nossa herança comum, trazendo consigo séculos de sabedoria e espiritualidade." Em resposta às diversas saudações, o Dalai Lama afirmou: "É necessário o esforço para promover a harmonia religiosa. Este encontro é parte desse esforço, especialmente significativo por ter lugar numa mesquita."

À semelhança do que se passou em 2001, quando foi a Fátima, a presença na mesquita fica como uma das imagens fortes desta segunda passagem do Dalai Lama por Portugal. À despedida, quando o líder budista tibetano se preparava para entrar no carro, uma criança anunciava, ao colo do pai: "Mãe, o Dalai Lama beijou-me." E, contente, abria um sorriso.

O xeque David Munir gostou de ter o Dalai Lama na mesquita: "Sendo ele um homem de paz, esteve no lugar certo "

Court postpones verdict in Baha’i case to Oct. 30

2007-09-10T09:09:00.000+01:00

By Yasmine Saleh
First Published: September 9, 2007

CAIRO: The Court of Administrative Justice in Cairo postponed until Oct. 30 its verdict on the two lawsuits filed by Baha'i Egyptians asking for their right to acquire identity documents as well as their to an education.

"The Baha'is are no longer asking to be recognized," Hossam Bahgat, chairman of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights organization (EIPR), told Daily News Egypt. “They are just asking for a verdict that would leave the religious affiliation [section in their national IDs] blank," Bahgat added.

The first lawsuit, number 12780/61, was filed by the EIPR last February on behalf of Hosni Hussein Abdel-Massih, born in 1989, who was suspended from the Suez Canal University's Higher Institute of Social Work due to his inability to obtain an identity card recognizing his Baha’i religious affiliation.

The second lawsuit number 18354/58 involves the 14-year-old twins Imad and Nancy Rauf Hindi, "who are unable to obtain the new computer-generated birth certificates ... unless they convert to either Islam or Christianity," according to an EIPR statement.

Their father had obtained birth certificates for the two children when they were born in 1993 recognizing their Baha’i religious affiliation; he is currently unable to get the new computerized birth certificates.

These certificates are now obligatory for enrollment in public schools and universities.

In December 2006, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the state has the right to deny Baha’i Egyptians identity documents that recognize their faith.

"Accordingly, last January the lawyers of the EIPR modified the requested remedies in the Hindi case,” said an EIPR statement. Now the administrative court is looking into whether Baha’is have the right to obtain documents without stating their faith so they don’t falsely identify themselves as Muslim or Christian.

Former Deputy Head of Al Azhar and Member of the Islamic Research Council, Mahmoud Ashour, backed the government standpoint in a previous interview with Daily News Egypt.

“Bahaism is not a religion,” he said, “What we recognize are Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Bahaism is a worldly belief, and not a heavenly religion, it is a man-made creation. We recognize only the heavenly religions.”

Ashour added that from an Islamic standpoint, “they are allowed to believe what they want, and to exercise their beliefs as they see fit, but the state will not recognize them.”

Labib Iskandar Hanna, an engineering professor at Cairo University and a follower of the Baha’i faith, told Daily News Egypt, “We don’t want to mix recognition of the Baha’i faith with required official paperwork. We want to be accurately portrayed. I don’t want to feel like I forged something, but this is what the government seems intent on forcing me to do.”

In its campaign in support of Baha’is, EIPR is stressing the parts of the constitution that protect against religious discrimination.

"The government is also obliged to protect the right to education without distinction on any basis, including religion or belief, under the African Charter, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child," the organization said in a statement.

-------------------------------------
Publicado no Daily News Egypt, 9 de Setembro 2007

Cuestión de fe

2007-09-01T00:50:00.000+01:00

Publicado no El Pais.
----------------------

QUINO PETIT 09/08/2007

Del judaísmo a la Iglesia evangélica. Del cristianismo al islam. Del islam a la fe bahaí. Viajes espirituales que históricamente han provocado intransigencias y todavía hoy suscitan conflictos sociales. Ésta es la historia de personas que un día decidieron cambiar de credo.

A los argelinos Mohamed y Djamila Belhani su fe les pudo costar la vida. El supuesto pecado: secundar en una nación mayoritariamente musulmana los postulados de la religión bahaí, perseguida incluso hasta la muerte en algunos países árabes. Cuando se enteraron en el trabajo, varios compañeros de Mohamed llegaron a amenazarle con secuestrar a su hijo de tres años para alejarle de la tutela de un "infiel". El miedo convirtió al exilio en la única esperanza. Mientras su país se desangraba en una guerra civil que acabó sepultando a más de 150.000 víctimas, la familia encontró asilo en España en 1994. Pero para entonces hacía ya muchos años que su viaje espiritual había comenzado.

Originarios de Orán, la pareja se conoció en un colegio universitario de Argel. Él compartía habitación en el campus con un seguidor de la religión bahaí poco acostumbrado a exteriorizar sus creencias. Hasta que una tarde manifestó ante Mohamed una especie de revelación: "Existe otro profeta, posterior a Mahoma". Y le habló del persa Bahaulá, fundador de la fe bahaí en 1844 como creencia basada en un único Dios que se revela a través de todos los mensajeros divinos. Sin renegar de ninguno, desde Jesucristo hasta Buda. "Yo me crié bajo un islam más de tradición que de confesión, como pasa en España con el catolicismo. Pero desde pequeño me machacaron con aquello de que Mahoma era el último; mi dimensión del mundo se reducía a este salón", recuerda hoy Mohamed, a los 43 años, en su casa de Cambrils (Tarragona). "Ante la sociedad argelina podías mostrarte rebelde, opinar sobre lo que no te gustaba. Pero decir que había otro profeta después de él... ¡Eso no podías ni planteártelo! Era algo así como pasarte al enemigo".

El primer reflejo de Mohamed fue afanarse en desmontar los argumentos de su amigo. La mejor manera que se le ocurrió para lograrlo fue regresar a la casa de su familia, tras licenciarse en ingeniería, y encerrarse todo un verano a estudiar el Corán, la Biblia y varios escritos bahaís. "La religión en los países árabes es muy importante; en cuanto alguien te plantea una cuestión relacionada con ella, intentas resolverla", explica Djamila. A remolque de su novio, ella también se interesó por aquellas lecturas sagradas. Y juntos empezaron a encontrar similitudes entre las distintas religiones, a cuestionarse si era posible quedarse con lo mejor de cada una. A sospechar que no era tan descabellada la idea de aglutinarlas a todas en una sola. Finalmente dieron el paso. "El conocimiento en profundidad del Corán nos ayudó a abrazar la fe bahaí, a evolucionar hacia una religión más completa".

Pronto se lo comunicaron a sus familiares. Atónitos, recibieron de propina la noticia de un enlace inminente de la joven pareja bajo los ritos musulmán y bahaí. "A mi padre le di el disgusto de su vida", admite Mohamed. Dejó de rezar cinco veces al día, abandonó la mezquita y sustituyó el Ramadán por un ayuno durante los 19 días anteriores a cada 21 de marzo, fecha del año nuevo bahaí. Djamila tampoco encontró comprensión entre los suyos: "Mi madre me respetaba, pero mis hermanos me dieron de lado". Después de contraer matrimonio encontraron trabajo en la Empresa Estatal de Hidrocarburos y optaron por no airear en público sus inquietudes espirituales. Hasta que Mohamed decidió que estaba cansado de ocultarse en la oficina para ayunar fuera del Ramadán o justificar su ausencia durante los rezos en horario laboral.

En pleno ayuno previo al 21 de marzo, un compañero le invitó a bajar al comedor de la empresa. Mohamed le explicó la razón de su falta de apetito y su vida dio un giro radical.

"¿Por qué tuviste que contarlo?". Djamila todavía se lamenta. El rumor se extendió por la empresa. Entre las amistades y el vecindario. Muchos amigos fallaron. Algunos les señalaron por la calle. La guerra civil argelina se recrudecía a principios de los noventa, y el matrimonio, con dos hijos pequeños, se sintió presa del miedo. Mohamed logró un visado de turista para un mes en España y la familia llegó a Madrid con lo puesto. En el centro bahaí de la capital encontraron ayuda económica. Tras mucho insistir, Mohamed logró la concesión del asilo territorial con permiso de trabajo. Y volvió a empezar de cero, montando cuadros de luz; Djamila entró en depresión a los tres años: "Ésta ha sido la tragedia de mi vida. Abandonar mi casa, a mi gente. Ya sólo regresamos a Argelia una semana cada año durante el verano. Aunque echo de menos a mi familia, nunca podría volver a vivir allí. Sólo guardo recuerdos de pánico. De intolerancia".

Desde hace seis años, su casa está en Cambrils. Se sienten a gusto y practican en familia los ritos de su creencia. Mohamed ostenta hoy doble nacionalidad, española y argelina. Mantiene a los suyos montando centrales eléctricas. Pero ya no habla de su religión prácticamente con nadie ajeno a la fe bahaí. Prácticamente.

"La persecución a los bahaís es coetánea a su fundación y se prolonga hasta nuestros días, sobre todo en países como Irán. Las ejecuciones durante la revolución islámica estuvieron a la orden del día. Y todavía constituyen allí una minoría oprimida". Esta misma denuncia de Kasra Mottahedeh, secretario general de la Comunidad Bahaí de España, ha sido constatada por numerosos organismos internacionales que siguen clamando al cielo por que estas personas vean reconocidos sus derechos.

En España, la Comunidad Bahaí se engloba dentro de las llamadas confesiones minoritarias y representa alrededor de tres mil seguidores. Si bien no reúnen un número elevado de nuevos adeptos cada año, mantienen un número constante de advenedizos ajenos a los problemas que afrontaron Mohamed y Djamila. Como José Luis Marqués, de 62 años, quien no puso en peligro su vida, pero armó un buen revuelo en casa de sus padres poco después de ordenarse sacerdote. Tenía 24 años cuando encontró sentido a su existencia en la fe bahaí. "A través del estudio comprendí que esta religión explicaba mejor que ninguna otra por qué existe una pluralidad de creencias".

Cambiar de credo. De rito. De postulados. Conversiones que tuvieron su periodo de auge en la Península durante los siglos XIV y XV, cuando los judíos y los musulmanes que permanecieron en territorio ibérico tras la expulsión se vieron obligados a aceptar la fe de los monarcas de Castilla y Aragón para sobrevivir. Para huir del estigma en un territorio unificado políticamente por los Reyes Católicos a través de la religión. Conversiones que evocan los trágicos episodios de represión inquisitorial a protestantes durante la Contrarreforma, algunos de ellos recopilados por Miguel Delibes en El hereje. "Sin olvidar la represión franquista contra todo lo no católico en general, y lo protestante en particular", apunta el incombustible teólogo Enrique Miret Magdalena. Para el autor de las memorias Luces y sombras de una larga vida, de 93 años, "tendríamos que remontarnos a épocas anteriores al Siglo de Oro para encontrar sorprendentes periodos de libertad de discusión sobre asuntos religiosos".

¿Y hoy? ¿Qué puede llevar a una persona a buscar calor espiritual en una parroquia diferente a la que ha venerado por tradición o por devoción? "Pulverizada tras la dictadura la identificación entre hispanidad y catolicidad, el flujo de unas religiones a otras se ha normalizado en España. En buena medida se produce desde la Iglesia católica hacia confesiones minoritarias, donde los fieles encuentran una atención más personalizada a sus inquietudes. Donde se insiste menos en el cumplimiento de determinadas normas y se fomenta el encuentro y el intercambio de experiencias. La libertad para hacerlo sin tener que apostatar, también juega como elemento a favor", argumenta Juan José Tamayo, director de la Cátedra de Teología y Ciencia de las Religiones de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

"¿Apostasía? No la he solicitado, pero yo apostato de la Iglesia católica. Nunca llegué a encontrar sentido a la existencia en el catolicismo. Me resultaba incompleto. El islam me ayudó a convertir la religión en una forma de vida". Es curioso caminar junto a Silvia Cerrada por el madrileño paseo de Recoletos. Sobre todo por las miradas de escrutinio que despierta entre los veraneantes de la urbe repantingados sobre los bancos. "Si me acompañas al cercanías, verás cómo mira un español a los musulmanes en un tren. Yo sospecho que a mí han dejado de darme algunos trabajos por llevar velo".

Silvia tiene 39 años, prepara unas oposiciones, cubre su cabeza con hiyab desde hace dos, reza cinco veces al día en el descansillo de la escalera de la casa de sus padres y lleva un pequeño ejemplar del Corán en el bolso traducido al inglés. Su viaje hasta aquí empezó en un cementerio cercano al barrio de Vallecas (Madrid) a los ocho años. Acompañaba a menudo a su abuela y una tarde se le ocurrió bajar al osario. La niña encontró un amasijo de huesos y pasó la tarde interrogando "a la yaya" sobre el destino de aquellos restos fúnebres. Ni ella ni las monjas de su colegio supieron darle la respuesta que esperaba.

"¿Por qué estamos aquí? Es gracioso, pero encontré en el teatro una primera pista a mis dudas sobre la existencia. Trabajando desde la tramoya, observando el mundo de sombras que da vida al otro mundo, el visible". Se trasladó a Londres a estudiar escenografía y conoció a un magrebí que le habló del islam y después se convirtió en su marido. "Me casé engañada. Tenía 31 años y quería tener hijos, fundar una familia conforme a la religión musulmana. Pero él no. En ese matrimonio, la única que estuvo casada fui yo".

Silvia se separó, volvió a Madrid y, en lugar de renegar de la religión de aquel hombre, reafirmó su fe en el islam. Hoy forma parte de los 1.080.478 musulmanes que desde la Unión de Comunidades Islámicas calculan en España. "De todos ellos, sólo un 5% somos conversos; una minoría dentro de otra como es el islam", estima Félix Herrero, presidente de la Federación Española de Entidades Religiosas islámicas. "Casi todas las conversiones nacen de las parejas o familias mixtas". Una realidad constatada en su despacho por Moneir Mahmoud, el imán del Centro Cultural Islámico o mezquita de la M-30 de Madrid. "La mayoría de los que vienen a preguntarme cosas sobre el islam lo hacen porque van a casarse o tienen una pareja musulmana. No se requieren trámites para abrazarlo, pero a los que lo solicitan, les doy este papelito donde pueden refrendar sus testimonios de fe".

Si en el islam ese trámite resulta sencillo, un adulto que aspire a convertirse en judío requiere aprobar un complejo examen ante un tribunal rabínico, previo al baño ritual en el mikve de la sinagoga. Como hizo la barcelonesa María Teresa Massons, de 64 años, hace dos décadas. Ella se crió en una familia católica. "Mi padre lo era, claro; la gente en España es católica. Fui una niña de misa diaria, ángelus a mediodía y rosario por la noche". Pero con 23 años viajó a Inglaterra a realizar prácticas de voluntariado y conoció a tres monjes baptistas que dejaron de serlo. "Dios no existe", argumentaron. "Aquello sí que era comprometerse con un ideal. Tenían hijos a los que mantener y acababan de quedarse sin trabajo". María Teresa volvió a España, se casó, tuvo dos hijas y empezó a ejercer como trabajadora social.

El impacto de una pregunta. ¿Dios existe? Con 43 años, divorciada, y dos hijas mayores de edad, el cuestionamiento divino de aquellos monjes baptistas volvió a golpearle. "Tengo la impresión de haberme comido mucha soledad en mi vida. Mucho discurso interno". Un amigo le dijo: "¿Sabes que Dios era judío?". Y empezó a investigar en las raíces del judaísmo. A través del estudio se convirtió en 1987. Y desde entonces reza con chal de oración, observa la alimentación kosher, celebra el Januká y respeta el sabbat. "Durante el sabbat no trabajas, pero estudias y lees. Es un momento de absoluta espiritualidad". María Teresa es hoy una de las más de 40.000 personas que profesan el judaísmo en España, según las cifras de la Federación de Comunidades Judías.

El dato sobre la diversidad de religiones en España publicado con mayor insistencia, citando en ocasiones al Registro de Entidades Religiosas del Ministerio de Justicia, sitúa en torno al 7% los españoles que profesan una fe distinta a la católica. Pero desde esta Iglesia niegan a considerar una fuga de fieles. El director de la Oficina de Estadística y Sociología de la Iglesia, Jesús Domínguez Rojas, prefiere, por el contrario, hablar de un aumento en el número de bautismos. "Las diócesis registraron 279.309 en 1996, mientras que en 2005, la cifra alcanzó los 313.262". En nueve años, el ascenso se torna cuanto menos tímido. Algo que Domínguez achaca al descenso paulatino de la natalidad. ¿Pero y el número de nuevos católicos por convicción? "De los 313.262 bautizos de 2005, más de 8.000 correspondieron a personas mayores de siete años, que englobarían sobre todo a nuevos católicos llegados tras un periodo de reflexión. Son los que podríamos considerar como conversos al catolicismo durante ese año".

Cifras todas que, al fin y al cabo, sólo manejan las propias confesiones, ante la inexistencia de un registro oficial en España. Algunos sociólogos, tradicionalmente opuestos a un archivo de estas características por su posible asociación con "listas negras", empiezan ahora a considerarlo interesante, ante la pluralidad de confesiones y el interés creciente por obtener un mapa medianamente fiable de la realidad espiritual de España.

De existir tal registro, podrían acreditarse valoraciones más allá de las encuestas del Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas -que siguen considerando católica a cerca del 80% de la población española- o los estudios y memorias de fundaciones como la de Pluralismo y Convivencia o la de Santa María. Pero como insisten desde la Dirección General de Asuntos Religiosos, la posibilidad de crear un registro de estas características ni se contempla, en arreglo al derecho constitucional de libertad religiosa. A la hora de inscribirse en el Registro de Entidades Religiosas, a las comunidades no se les requiere informar sobre su número de fieles. La única orientación posible consiste por tanto en atender los cálculos de las confesiones. Una pescadilla que se muerde la cola cuando esos mismos números son los que también ayudan al Estado a la hora de valorar la concesión de categorías de notorio arraigo a una religión o estimar la posibilidad de su inclusión en la casilla del impuesto de la renta sobre las personas físicas (IRPF).

En materia tributaria, la noticia saltó en el mes de mayo: el Estado había iniciado contactos con representantes de la Iglesia evangélica para su inclusión en la casilla del impreso del IRPF. Era el anuncio de un nuevo cisma en el seno del protestantismo, entre partidarios de la apertura a las relaciones económicas con el Estado y los que se decantan por la independencia. "A mí me entristecería aparecer reflejado en esa casilla", reconoce Pedro Tarquis, director de Protestante Digital y converso desde el catolicismo. Implicaría abandonar la separación de nuestra Iglesia con el Estado". Desde la Federación de Entidades Religiosas Evangélicas de España, su portavoz, Jorge Fernández, argumenta que el debate no ha impedido alcanzar un consenso para entablar relaciones futuras con las instituciones. "Si bien la inclusión en esa casilla quedaría excluida de la posibilidad de financiar la Iglesia con fondos públicos", matiza.

Sai Schemer, de origen judío, forma parte de los 1,2 millones de seguidores de la fe protestante en España. Prefiere mantenerse ajeno al debate de la financiación y jugar un papel activo en la Iglesia evangélica. Como maestro bíblico, su ministerio es "móvil". Pero suele frecuentar la madrileña iglesia Cuerpo de Cristo, levantada sobre un antiguo cine de la madrileña calle del General Ricardos. Su evolución partió del judaísmo mesiánico. Una corriente que le permite no renegar de sus costumbres judías. Las observa en privado y hoy se declara plenamente evangélico. "He llegado hasta aquí mediante un perfeccionamiento del judaísmo".

Sai nació en Argentina en 1959. Descendiente de judíos rusos y alemanes, se crió bajo la influencia de su abuelo, rabino de una sinagoga de Buenos Aires. Perdió a su padre cuando tenía 15 años. "La muerte me suscitó preguntas. Empecé a estudiar las raíces de la fe judía y viajé con frecuencia a Israel durante largas temporadas". Después regresó a Argentina, donde contrajo matrimonio con una protestante. "Le pedí que se acercara al judaísmo. Y ella lo hizo. Al poco tiempo, un hombre me habló de la fe evangélica y decidí estudiar el Nuevo Testamento. Encontré la fe. La paz". Pasaron los años y se bautizó, alcanzó el grado de maestro y comenzó a predicar. Primero en países latinoamericanos, y después, en España, donde vive con su esposa y sus tres hijos desde 2001. "La situación económica favorable había alejado a mucha gente de Dios en este país. Dios es aquí el ladrillo. Y sí, vivo del Evangelio; del Evangelio se puede vivir con mucho recato".

-¿Y aquellas preguntas sobre la vida y la muerte?

-Algunos encuentran explicación a la muerte mediante el psicoanálisis; yo lo hice a través de la religión.

Probablemente poco psicoanalíticas, pero sí muy filosóficas, son las enseñanzas de Buda. En España cuentan con más de 50.000 adeptos, y Amparo Ruiz, de 46 años, es una de ellas. El Centro Budista Tibetano de Madrid empieza a llenarse de asistentes a las prácticas impartidas por el monje Tsering Palden mientras Amparo recibe al periodista en un pequeño despacho. Aquí suele venir cuando le deja tiempo su otro despacho, el de abogada. Nació en León y se educó en las carmelitas. "Siempre estuve interesada por la religión. Era lógico, fui educada en un lugar donde se fomentaba. ¿Quién hace la lista de los pecados? ¿Es tan importante la virginidad de la Virgen? Me di cuenta de que mi relación con Dios no admitía intermediarios". Amparo se casó a los 17 años, tuvo una hija y abandonó la Iglesia católica por el agnosticismo. Con 32 años alguien le recomendó el Libro tibetano de los muertos y sus inquietudes espirituales salieron de nuevo a flote. "Encontré postulados sin fisuras. Enseñanzas sobre la muerte que respondían a la pregunta que todos nos hacemos: ¿Qué sentido tiene la vida?".

Interrogantes. Cuestiones de fe. Mientras tanto, en Barcelona, María Teresa Massons intenta escoger entre varios chales judíos de oración para el retrato del reportaje. En voz baja, hablando casi para ella, susurra: "Uno muere dudando; en eso consiste ser persona, por encima de la religión".

Concerns of the World's Aboriginal Peoples

2007-06-24T15:51:00.000+01:00

By The Baha'i Community
Special to The Independent

The following are excerpts from a statement by the Baha'i Community of Canada to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in November 1993.

"The suffering of human beings during the twentieth century has nowhere been more acutely felt than in the lives, families, and communities of the world's aboriginal or indigenous peoples. To right the wrongs experienced by aboriginal peoples is a daunting challenge. The experience of the Baha'i international community, however, provides a measure of hope that humanity can find solutions to the difficulties that have brought such intense suffering and can embark on a process of healing and social development.

Spiritual Principles
It is significant that when aboriginal cultures approach the discussion of social problems, leaders and members of the community refer frequently to the Creator and to the human spirit. Yet social, economic, and political theories and practices of the West during the past two to three hundred years have been driven by an excessive and socially corrosive materialism that has, in turn, driven approaches to governance and economic and social development.

Oneness of Humanity
What is striking in the Baha'i experience around the world is that aboriginal peoples have a keen desire to encounter and enter into just and equitable relationships with other peoples. In the Baha'i emphasis on unity in diversity, aboriginal peoples find an ideal that matches their own aspirations. Their drive towards self-determination and self-reliance reflects their desire to enter directly into relationships with other peoples without the filter of a dominant culture or government that makes their participation in the global village indirect and secondary.

Self-Determination
Perhaps the most powerful motivation behind the interest in self-determination is the desire of aboriginal peoples indeed of all peoples to have greater local control over their lives and communities. The kind of society Baha'is see emerging from contemporary social up-heaval is one in which local government will have a far greater role than it does today.

Economic Development
The effects of material deprivation are most acutely felt at the local level, and Baha'u'llah's admonition to eliminate existing extremes of wealth and poverty is most readily appreciated there. Tragically, many aboriginal communities are among those that most vividly illustrate the consequences of the lack of justice and moderation inherent in existing economic practices and patterns.

The Need for Healing
Aboriginal leaders and spokespersons repeat frequently the crucial importance of addressing the healing of families and communities with resources dedicated to this stage in the overall process of aboriginal development. Current social ills rob aboriginal communities of the opportunities their youth should have in order to grow and provide leadership, and dedication to a process of healing is essential.

The Family
The health of the family forms the basis of the health of a people, of a nation, and ultimately of the world itself, and to prosper it must have greater support from all social institutions. The family unit has been a cherished and prized element in the community and social life of aboriginal peoples around the world, and the more dominant cultures might wisely look to the reverence and regard aboriginal peoples give to it.

Affirmative Action
"If any discrimination is at all to be tolerated, it should be a discrimination not against, but rather in favor of the minority, be it racial or otherwise." This is a Baha'i principle that the community's administrative practice tries to uphold. Justice demands such a principle, often translated as "affirmative action." Without it, social change will be too slow and the privileges of members of dominant and majority peoples will continue to eclipse the rights of those from minority or oppressed sectors of society.

Education
Greater investment in education is needed, both in aboriginal communities and in the schools attended by children and young people from all other segments of society, with the principle of unity in diversity serving as a core concept in school curricula and educational programs, whether those programs focus on race unity, morality and religion, history, or literature. In this way, unity in diversity will become central in the consciousness of young people."

To see the full statement referred to above please go to: http://info.bahai.org/article-1-9-1-8.html, request a printed copy from: The Gallup Baha'i Community, Box 1822, Gallup, NM 87305, or call (505) 863-4377.

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Publicado no Independent, June 23, 2007

Lakota woman elected to head U.S. Baha'is' national assembly

2007-06-11T10:12:00.000+01:00

RAPID CITY, S.D. - Jacqueline Left Hand Bull-Delahunt has been chosen as the first American Indian woman to head the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States.

Left Hand Bull-Delahunt, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, was brought up by traditional Lakota grandparents and parents. She became a member of the Baha'is more than 20 years ago.

The change to the Baha'is was not a large leap for Left Hand Bull-Delahunt. The spirituality is very similar to that of her Lakota upbringing, she said.

''I knew about the beauty and power of our traditional ways and the Catholic Church could not accommodate them,'' she said. ''I was always a little bit confused. Then I heard about the Baha'i faith.''

Left Hand Bull-Delahunt was elected at the annual National Spiritual Assembly gathering in Wilmette, Ill. She had served as vice chairman of the organization, and also served on the National Spiritual Assembly. She traveled the globe meeting with indigenous peoples in South and Central America and in Canada; she also visited the former Soviet Union.

She is currently the administrative officer of the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen's Health Board in Rapid City.

Left Hand Bull-Delahunt worked for the Baha'is at the national center and was appointed to the committee on American Indian teaching, where she was a liaison to the many American Indians who had become Baha'is.

When she was introduced to the assembly, she was greeted with a rousing ovation that lasted about 10 minutes.

''Everybody was electrified and it sounded as if they were thrilled. ... I think the significance wasn't so much [for] me personally, but the symbolism of having an America Indian at the head of this assembly,'' she said.

Left Hand Bull-Delahunt will preside over at least 18 national meetings throughout the year, and will preside over the assembly as only the third woman to do so.

''I am thrilled to know that when we say we believe in the equality of all people, we promote the equality of women and try to undo all traces of racism,'' she said.

She said that throughout indigenous lands, people that are more traditional seem to connect with the Baha'i faith.

The similarities between the Baha'i faith and that of traditional cultural teachings is, first, the way women were honored, Left Hand Bull-Delahunt said.

''The writings in the sacred text, I can relate to the Sun Dance songs and the fact that people will say, in our culture, that women are sacred.

''Baha'i faith says that in crisis, women have more natural resources to face the crisis,'' she added.

''Another part of the teaching is that there will not be world peace until the equality of women and men are established, not just theoretical, but established.''

Another similarity between the Baha'i faith and American Indian culture is the regard for Mother Earth.

Left Hand Bull-Delahunt will present the point of view of the faith in public meetings.

''We have formal relations with the federal government, as well as the United Nations, and we have a person whose job is to do that. My job would be to talk to the federal government representatives or to the United Nations. I would be part of the group to determine what should be said,'' she said.

She will have to meet with the members of the National Spiritual Assembly, who she said are very intelligent and have very strong views, to consult and to come to a unified view. A meeting agenda is also put together by the chairman.

''We try to apply those principles from our text to world situations or situations in any of our communities. We spend a lot of time with our youth working in efforts to engage them,'' she said.

Left Hand Bull-Delahunt earned a bachelor's degree from Evergreen State College in Washington state with a major in community development. She authored a book for children, ''Lakota Hoop Dancer,'' and has written several short stories.

Left Hand Bull-Delahunt is also a Bordeaux, a Lakota name that is synonymous with education. Her uncle was Adam Bordeaux, a revered spiritual leader on the Rosebud Reservation.

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Publicado no IndianCountry.Com (11-Jun-2007)

20.000 conversos al año en España

2007-06-03T11:39:00.000+01:00

El catolicismo pierde miles de fieles anualmente a costa de religiones minoritarias - La evangélica, la budista y los testigos de Jehová son las confesiones que ganaron más creyentes en 2006

Juan Manuel López iba a misa en una parroquia católica cada domingo, sin embargo no se acababa de sentir a gusto. "Yo era un hombre con muchas inquietudes espirituales y mi Iglesia no me llenaba", explica este gaditano de 41 años. Ese vacío le llevó a estudiar a fondo La Biblia, pero a pesar de todo cada vez tenía más dudas. "Cuando estaba en el peor momento una amiga mormona de mi mujer nos llamó y nos habló de su fe. Envió a dos misioneros a nuestra casa y, así, comenzamos a leer El Libro del Mormón", recuerda. Tras cinco meses de investigar la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días (la mormona), Juan Manuel y su esposa decidieron convertirse. Fue hace 10 años.

Como él, miles de personas cambian cada año su fe católica, la mayoritaria en España -el 80% de la población está bautizada por este rito- por otra minoritaria que, poco a poco, ya no va siéndolo tanto. Sólo en 2006, más de 20.000 personas se convirtieron a religiones, sobre todo a la evangélica, la budista, la musulmana, la mormona o los testigos de Jehová. Confesiones que se van haciendo hueco en las conciencias españolas, y que han experimentado un aumento sobre todo en los últimos cuatro años, según las diversas iglesias. Por su parte, la Conferencia Episcopal Española rehusó manifestarse ayer sobre esta pérdida de fieles. Actualmente en España unos tres millones de personas profesan una fe distinta de la católica, el 7% de la población.

El sentimiento de pertenencia a una comunidad cercana, las actividades fuera de la iglesia y el apoyo social son factores que, según los portavoces de las distintas comunidades, atraen a los fieles. "Nuestras Iglesias son muy integradoras, nos preocupamos por mantener la idea de comunidad y de ayudar al prójimo", explica Jorge Fernández, portavoz de la Federación de Entidades Evangélicas de España (Ferede). La evangélica cuenta ya con más de 1.200.000 fieles en España. En 2006, según datos de Ferede, alrededor de 12.000 personas se convirtieron a esta confesión.

Cada religión tiene su receta. Mormones, Testigos de Jehová y Evangélicos hacen campañas de difusión. Campañas que en el caso de los dos primeros se realizan incluso casa por casa. Otras, como la budista, atraen a miles de simpatizantes mediante la filosofía y "la libertad de pensamiento", como explica Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, presidente de las Comunidades budistas de España. Esta confesión, que está en trámites de conseguir la calificación de "notorio arraigo"-algo que ya han recibido la evangélica, la musulmana, la judía, la mormona y los Testigos de Jehová- cuenta con uno 60.000 fieles en España. En 2006 más de 3.000 personas se convirtieron a la confesión budista, 1.800 se hicieron testigos de Jehová, 1.400 mormones y más de 1.000 se convirtieron al islam, según datos de las propias confesiones. El hinduismo o la fe bahai también ganan fieles.

El perfil del converso es diverso. Jóvenes de 18 años y mayores de 60. Hombres y mujeres. Con mayor o menor poder adquisitivo. Más o menos nivel cultural y educativo. Practicantes y no practicantes de la fe católica. Muchos españoles pero también extranjeros asentados en España y que llegaron con sus propias creencias y en España las han cambiado. "Uno está más abierto a escuchar el mensaje cuando no está en su país. Pero no sólo los inmigrantes se convierten, cada vez hay más pluralismo religioso en España", dice Fernández.

Bárbara tiene 19 años y hace uno que se convirtió a la Iglesia Evangélica Bautista. "Conocí la parroquia por mi novio. Empecé a frecuentar la iglesia, a participar en las actividades y me sentí muy bien", explica. Esta joven venezolana de padre español, que lleva cinco años viviendo en España, iba cada domingo a misa en una parroquia católica junto a su familia. "Cuando fui a un oficio evangélico sentí la diferencia. La forma de predicar del pastor es más cercana. También me gustó que allí la salvación se gana por gracia, sin dar nada a cambio, pidiéndolo de corazón", cuenta. Los ideales evangélicos "más abiertos" le gustaron y decidió convertirse, algo que, en un principio su familia no se tomó bien. "Estaban muy impactados. En casa se vivió como un drama, pero ahora ya me han comprendido", explica. Esa sorpresa entre familiares y amigos de los conversos suele ocurrir. "Hoy en día en España, donde la mayoría de la población es católica, aunque no todos practicantes, se ve más normal ser ateo que adoptar otra religión", sostiene. Abdennur Prado. Prado, de 39 años se hizo musulmán hace siete

. "Llegué al islam por medio de la lectura. Nunca había conocido a un musulmán", explica. Prado, que ha cambiado su nombre, aunque aún no ha acudido al registro civil para hacerlo oficial. "Tampoco he apostatado", explica. Las dificultades para renunciar a la fe católica hacen que la mayoría de la gente que se convierte a otras religiones, no inicie nunca los trámites.

Antonio Minguez, tiene 70 años, es budista desde hace 27 y nunca ha pensado en apostatar. "No me preocupa. No es representativo", explica. "Encontré algo que conocía ya y que llevaba buscando toda la vida", dice para explicar los motivos que le llevaron a convertirse. El budismo le ha resuelto sus "dudas vitales" y ahora, dice, tiene una vida más plena. Las 12.000 personas que se hicieron evangélicas en 2006 contrastan con la veintena que se convirtió al judaísmo, según datos la Federación de Comunidades Judías de España. "No hacemos proselitismo, hay que estudiar mucho y examinarse para hacerse judío", explica Jacobo Israel, presidente de la Federación.

"Creo en todos los profetas"

Una sola raza, la del ser humano y la idea de que todo se rige por la unidad y la diversidad. Estos principios fueron los que llevaron a Gemma Neff a "aceptar" la fe bahai hace tres años. "Durante mucho tiempo busqué la paz interior, un equilibro espiritual que diera sentido a mi vida. Ahora lo he logrado siendo bahai", cuenta Neff.Bahaulá, un noble persa iraní, proclamó la fe bahai en 1844. Desde entonces, esta religión cuenta con siete millones de fieles en todo el mundo. En España aún es una religión minoritaria, con unos 3.000 seguidores, sin embargo, el año pasado 77 personas se convirtieron en bahais.Esta confesión está perseguida en los países islámicos. "Los musulmanes no aceptan a Bahá'u'lláh, un profeta posterior a Mahoma. Sin embargo, nosotros creemos en todos los profetas: Jesucristo, Moisés, Mahoma, Buda...", explica Gema. "Esa aceptación me gustó, porque no abandonaba por completo mis antiguas creencias católicas", sostiene.En países como Irán los bahais no pueden ir a la Universidad, no tienen derecho a cobrar una pensión y se han destruido sus lugares sagrados. "Ahora incluso se está acosando a los niños bahai en los colegios", asegura Neff.Esta persecución ha llevado a muchos bahai a abandonar su país, algunos de ellos se han asentado en España. "Acudimos a cualquier sitio donde no haya bahais. Es una forma de ser pioneros. Estamos en todos los países", dice Neff.Esta religión, que no tiene jerarquías, escoge a sus órganos de trabajo mediante asambleas elegidas democráticamente. "Tampoco hacemos proselitismo. Está prohibido", dice Gema.

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Publicado no El País (01-Jun-2006)

A sign of appreciation

2007-06-02T12:38:00.000+01:00

By JEANNÉ MCCARTIN
features@seacoastonline.com
June 02, 2007 6:00 AM

Sandi Clark, executive director of Jukwaa Mazoa Theater Company, actress, producer and director, is the recipient of the 2007 Vision of Race Unity Award, presented by the Bahá'ís of the Greater Seacoast. Clark will be honored with the 17th annual award, June 9, Race Unity Day.

"Sandi has more than earned it and we're thrilled to give it to her. ...; She is the recipient because of what she's doing with theater, advancing the objective of ...; the awareness of racial issues," says Phyllis Ring, Bahá'ís of the Greater Seacoast spokeswoman. "But she's all about appreciation of everyone. She does it masterfully, in the choice of script, the performances, and the way they're presented.

Clark launched Jukwaa Mazoa (which means Staged Production in Swahili) in 2003. She'd been involved with Seacoast theater for 13 years, working largely with Seacoast Repertory Theatre, where she worked her way up from box office to subscription, group sales manager over her 12 years with the company.

Jukwaa was formed with a clear focus and purpose. "The mission is to build communication and community through performance," says Clark. "The purpose is to use theater as our tool to teach us to appreciate each other for who we are. To recognize what we have in common."

Ring says it's the actions behind those goals that made Clark the perfect choice. The Bahá'i created the award in an effort to acknowledge the group's commitment to advancing the understanding between races and embracing the oneness of humanity, and acknowledging those who work toward that goal, says Ring. "The major focus of the award is the need to really build understanding and relationship between white and black — all races — but in the United States particularly relationships between black and whites ...; to move across racial prejudice and the barriers that exist due to it. ...; The award validates, cheers on and acknowledges those doing the work. ...; Sandi is deserving."

Jukwaa Mazoa's first two plays were "Fences" — a story of family, disappointment and hope, within a black community — and "Driving Miss Daisy." Both plays were critical successes, and garnered the company two Spotlight Awards nominations. The company presented the plays in four venues, the Players' Ring, the old and new Town Hall in Newington, the Mill Pond Center for the Arts and The Firehouse in Newburyport, Mass.

In March, 2007, JM announced it would become the resident theater at the Mill Pond Center, Durham. The official move-in date is September. But the company presented its latest play, "Camp Logan" at the center in mid-May. This play explored the prejudice and mistreatment of black soldiers, both by civilians and the military before and during World War I, that led to a mutiny at the Houston base.

In its third year, Jukwaa has expanded into children's programming, offering theater for kids.

In the future, Clark plans to tour her shows to other communities, and present to school and youth organizations. "This information is so important and I think the youth need to know this part of history. It enhances what they're already learning.

Clark's efforts to foster greater understanding between the races started before the launch of her company. Nine years ago, while still with SRT, she began the annual "Set the House on Fire" gospel concert in honor of Martin Luther King Day. She moved the event to a Newington location in 2007, and is unclear where it will be set for 2008, but it will happen, "oh yes."

In a letter to Clark, informing her of the award, the Bahá'is wrote "Your efforts in emphasizing accord and understanding are rich, effective and varied. And the community resource that you have helped create in Jukwaa Mazoa is making a very special contribution indeed. Its thoughtful, high-quality repertoire and productions maximize the very best of what the arts have to offer us, providing vital nourishment and stimulus for both mind and heart. It's no wonder that audiences are responding, as we hope they will continue to do. The company has truly enriched the Seacoast's artistic and community life."

To say Clark was taken aback is an understatement. She still gets flustered when talking about the day she received the letter. "I'm still on this journey. I'm open for what's going to happen next. I want to live up to that letter that the Bahá'i wrote," Clark says laughing. "I read it a couple of times and thought 'Is it really about me?' ...; I hope the work I do stimulates the mind, heals and brings understand. But to have someone see that! It's like when you create ...; a special work in whatever art you do and you pay attention to all the details and someone notices it. It's incredible."

Among the 16 past recipients of The Vision of Race Unity Award are Richard Haynes, Valerie Cunningham and the Black Heritage Trail, and Juanita Bell, former state representative. Last year's recipient was the Seacoast African American Cultural Center.

"It's just an honor that they would think of me for an award such as this," says Clark.

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Publicado no SeacoastLine (2-Junho-2007)

La persecución religiosa en Irán

2007-05-31T19:28:00.000+01:00

Especial para INFOMEDIO

Por Rafael Cerrato (para INFOMEDIO)

Rafael Cerrato denuncia la persecución a la que son sometidos los miembros de la fe Bahai en Irán, una discriminación que ha sido constante a lo largo de la historia pero que se ha intensificado tras la proclamación de la Revolución Islámica en 1979. Desde entonces, más de doscientos miembros de esta religión han sido ejecutados o asesinados, además de sufrir una masiva confiscación de sus bienes y lugares sagrados, incluido sus cementerios. La actual administración iraní, cuyo presidente Ahmadineyad formara parte de una sociedad antibahai, está emprendiendo una gran campaña política y mediática con el fin de erradicar a esta minoría. Rafael Cerrato es escritor. Su último libro es "El imperio perdido de los jázaros" (Editorial Dédalo).

Aunque la fe Bahai desde su nacimiento siempre ha sido perseguida en Irán, es en los tiempos actuales, desde la proclamación de la Revolución Islámica, cuando esta persecución ha adquirido su máxima sofistificación, en un intento de erradicarla.

Así, tras el año 1979, más de doscientos miembros de esta comunidad religiosa han sido ejecutados o asesinados, siendo algunos de sus nombres los siguientes: Muna Mahmudnizhad de 17 años de edad, ejecutada el 18 de junio de 1983, acusada de impartir clases infantiles, a los niños bahais. Ruhu´llah Rawhani, acusado de haber convertido a una mujer musulmana a la fe bahai, ahorcado en julio de 1998 en Mashhad. Bahman Samandari, propietario de una agencia de viajes, citado a declarar el dia 17 de marzo, fue ahorcado al día siguiente sin ninguna explicación. Hashim Farnush, arrestado el 5 de noviembre de 1980 y ejecutado el 23 de junio de 1981.

Estos son solo algunos de los casos, difícil extenderse en un artículo, pero podríamos citar numerosos de una crueldad desmesurada.

UNA MINORÍA RELIGIOSA PERSEGUIDA

Además de estos asesinatos, sus propiedades son confiscadas y sus lugares sagrados y cementerios destruidos, entre ellos la casa del Báb en Shiraz, siendo saqueada por los Guardianes de la Revolución y demolida por el gobierno. Para explicar las medidas de aquellos años, he aquí las palabras del fiscal general del estado, Siyyid Moussavi-Tabrizzi: "El Corán solo reconoce como comunidades religiosas a las Gentes del Libro. Los demás son paganos y a los paganos hay que eliminarlos".

A pesar de las numerosas quejas de la comunidad internacional sobre estas violaciones, al día de hoy, los derechos de los bahais, siguen siendo vulnerados continuamente.

De acuerdo con la constitución Iraní, la únicas minorías religiosas "toleradas" en este país son los zoroastristas, judíos y cristianos. Minorías que no llegan entre las tres a los 300.000 miembros, aproximadamente, que suman los practicantes de esta fe.

EL PAPEL DE LOS LÍDERES ISLÁMICOS

Los lideres islámicos, piensan de ella que es una herejía o conspiración ya que tiene entre sus valores básicos la defensa de los derechos de la mujer y la educación, viendo en esta religión una amenaza para el Islam.

En diversas localidades, los bahais son arrestados, hostigados y discriminados. Se les confiscan sus hogares, se les deniegan pensiones, bloquean el acceso a puestos de trabajo en el sector público y les impiden que desarrollen negocios privados.

Intentan forzar a los estudiantes a declararse musulmanes, como requisito previo para su acceso a la universidad. Los dirigentes de las grandes compañías privadas son presionados para despedir a los bahais. A los propietarios de viviendas, se les recomiendan no les renueven los contratos de alquiler. A los que son directivos de grandes empresas, se les está amenazando de muerte o secuestro de sus familiares, si no abandonan sus cargos.

En 1993, salió a la luz, por parte de la ONU, un documento secreto, elaborado por el Consejo Supremo de la Revolución, marcando las directrices para impedir el progreso y desarrollo de esta comunidad. Dicha orden, llevaba la firma del Ayatolá Ali Jamenei y venia fechada en el año 1991.

En octubre del 2005, la ONU tuvo acceso a otra carta, enviada también por Jameini, a los mandos militares y guardianes de la Revolución islámica, instándoles a vigilar a los bahais y a emprender acciones intimidatorias contra esta minoría.

LA RESPONSABILIDAD DE AHMADINEYAD

El 19 de mayo de 2006, 54 jóvenes fueron arrestados en Shiraz si ninguna acusación, siendo finalmente puestos en libertad tras numerosas presiones internacionales y el pago de fuertes fianzas. En total durante este año se arrestaron a 125 personas en las localidades de Kermanshah, Fían y Teherán, según la denuncia presentada por la líder bahai Bani Dugal ante las Naciones Unidas. Todo ello forma parte de una estrategia para mantener a esta comunidad en continuo estado de terror.

En agosto de 2006, el Ministerio de Interior iraní, dio orden a las autoridades provinciales, de intensificar la vigilancia sobre sus miembros.

Además de estas medidas, el diario Khayan, periódico gubernamental con sede en Teherán, ha publicado desde octubre del año pasado, más de treinta artículos vejatorios, siendo al mismo tiempo apoyado por diversos programas de radio y televisión, así como con la creación de numerosas página web denigrantes.

Conviene recordar que campañas estratégicas como estas, desembocaron en asesinatos masivos en 1955 y a principios de los años ochenta.

Por último, cabe mencionar que el actual presidente de Irán, Mahmud Ahmadineyad, fue en su día miembro de la sociedad antibahai Hojjatieh, fundada en 1953. Sociedad que jugó un importante papel en las persecuciones y matanzas de 1955. Esta sociedad, prohibida en el año 1984, ha resurgido recientemente, como facción de influencia vinculada a la presente administración.

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Publicado em INFOMEDIO (31-Maio-2007)

What We Believe: The Bahai Faith

2007-05-25T22:23:00.000+01:00

By: RUTH MARVIN WEBSTER - Staff Writer

Escondido resident Russ Norman came to the Bahai faith in an unusual way. It all started in 1969, he said, when he was getting ready to go to the Woodstock Festival and visited his favorite bookstore in New York City's Greenwich Village. As he reached for a book on a very high shelf, he recalled, a booklet fell to the floor, facing down. When he turned it over, he saw "The Hidden Words," and the word "Bahai" written below it. He offered to buy it for 25 cents, but the bookstore owner gave it to him.

Off to Woodstock (about 150 miles north of the city) Norman went, getting there two days early (later being unable to locate his car for a week). "When I was awake, I would read this book," he said, "that is, when someone wasn't kicking me or throwing up on me ... but when it rained, everything was lost in the mud, including the book. It became hidden again."

It stayed hidden until 1996, until Norman went to his mailbox and found a postcard with "The Golden Rule" listed in different faiths. "I felt like I was hit by lightning," he said.

On the back of the postcard, the first six basic principles (see box) were printed, with the suggestion: "If you believe in these, you may be interested in learning more about the Bahai Faith."

"I ran inside and I called the phone number on the postcard and asked the people if I could come over ... We spent eight hours talking, and they validated the answers I already thought were true." The couple who had sent the postcard, which was one of 1,000, also admonished him not to simply accept their word for it. They steered him to the writings of a 19th-century Persian scholar called Baha'u'llah.

The religion Baha'u'llah founded, the Bahai Faith, is listed in the Britannica Book of the Year and Bahai literature as the second most widespread of independent world religions with 6 million followers, including roughly 150,000 in the United States.

Eileen Norman of Carlsbad, a former conference organizer at the national Bahai center in Willmette, Ill., said that North County has 11 communities with a total of about 500 members; San Diego has another 500 to 600 members.

Those of the Bahai faith come from more than 2,100 ethnic, racial and tribal groups in more than 200 countries, most in Asia (3.6 million) and Africa (1.8 million).

The Bahai religion is linked to the Babi Faith, which was founded in 1844 by a young merchant from the city of Shiraz who was named the Bab (meaning the Gate). Baha'u'llah, a nobleman from Tehran, Iran, declared he was the one prophesied by the Bab, much the way John the Baptist foretold the coming of Jesus Christ. Though imprisoned by Muslim clergy and the Persian government in the Black Pit, one of the Near East's most notorious dungeons, Baha'u'llah declared in 1852 that he was summoned by God to bring to humanity a new religious revelation.

Like Russ Norman, Eileen Norman (no relation) said she also came to this faith circuitously. She said that after having to carry a stillborn baby to term, she often asked God why he would do such a thing to her.

"I had a very close girlfriend who started taking me to Bahai Firesides (gatherings) in a house off Beverly Glen," she recalled. "I went to the same house every week for over a year, my heels dragging all the way. But finally, it was ridiculous to fight it anymore. I knew that this is just what I believed in, and it made infinite sense to me."

According to Bahai teachings, the history of mankind is an evolving educational process taught to mankind through God's messengers, also called Manifestations of God. Like Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna, Abraham and Zoroaster before him, Baha'u'llah is considered a messenger of God ---- a person through whom God has revealed himself to humanity.

"The thing that really caught me and made me a Bahai was the idea of progressive revelation," said Eileen Norman, who will mark her 50th year as a Bahai next year. "And that there wasn't just one representative from God, but one every 1,000 years or so. He said that Buddha, Moses and Zoroaster ... all of them are teachers who teach the same spiritual message, which is never changed, but each of them brings a new social order for the time in which they come because mankind progresses. It really caught me that God would be that caring and that he has always provided for us."

In his writings, Baha'u'llah called upon women and men to give up their prejudices and to recognize a brotherhood of all mankind and one, loving God, said Eileen Norman. He also revealed a plan for world civilization to be built on a foundation of love and justice, including the adoption of an auxiliary universal language to promote global unity.

"We love and respect all of the major religions of the world and we recognize them for the influences, but we need this updating," said Eileen Norman. "It's like trying to look at the stars through a microscope. You need the right instrument to look at the right things. He talked about the equality of men and women when you could get more for a cow than your wife. He talked about universal education and the need to read and write in their own language and the independent investigation of the truth and a universal tribunal."

Baha'u'llah set up an administrative order and established the elected Universal House of Justice, which today still handles the administration of the Bahai faith.

Though there are no clergy, local meetings include devotional services, study classes, discussions, social events and observance of holy days, such as the Declaration of the Bab, which is celebrated every year at sunset on May 22.

If there are nine or more adult Bahais in a community, the group must form a local spiritual assembly. Using secret ballot, with no nominations or electioneering, the local assembly is elected annually. Delegates from these local assemblies in turn make up national assemblies.

The Bahai Faith has 11,740 local assemblies and 182 national spiritual assemblies throughout the world. Full and frank discussion is encouraged in decision-making, and many local communities are involved in social and economic development activities.

"For me, it's a global religion for a global society," said Bahai follower Deidre Merrill of Poway. "We are proud to be an American, but there is larger loyalty to mankind."

Bahais are encouraged to pray every day. "I pray for those who have died," said Eileen Norman, "and at the end of every day, we call ourselves to account in our prayers."

Followers also believe in monogamous marriage between a man and woman. "Written permission is required by all (biological) parents," explained Eileen Norman. "Because if you can't unite the parents, how can you unite the world?"

Backbiting, gossip, gambling, and sexual relationships outside marriage are prohibited, as are drinking alcohol or taking drugs, unless prescribed.

Interracial marriage is encouraged, and if a marriage fails, divorce is permitted, although strongly discouraged. Education is given special emphasis, as is recognition of the harmonious and complementary nature of science and religion.

"The exciting part is that we have a blueprint to bring love and fellowship to mankind," said Merrill. "And this makes me hopeful, which is nice."

Though they believe the soul does not die and entry into the next life has the potential to bring great joy, in the final analysis Bahais do not believe in reincarnation, heaven as a state of nearness to God, or hell as a state of remoteness from him.

Only 150 years old, the Bahai Faith is said to be among the fastest-growing of the world's religions.

"It's a kind, sweet faith," said Eileen, who recently retired from the local assembly in Carlsbad at age 77. "And for me, it gets better every year."

Contact staff writer Ruth Marvin Webster at (760) 740-3527 or rwebster@nctimes.com.

Editor's note: This is one in an occasional series looking at the ways we worship.

Bahais believe in:

One God

The oneness of humankind

Independent investigation of truth

The essential harmony of science and religion

Equality of men and women

Elimination of prejudice of all kinds

Universal compulsory education

Spiritual solutions to economic problems

A universal auxiliary language

Universal peace upheld by a world federation

Source: www.bahai.net or www.bahai.org

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Publicado no NCTimes.Com (May 24, 2007)

Samoa's king, one of world's longest reigning monarchs, dies

2007-05-17T22:45:00.000+01:00

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP): King Malietoa Tanumafili II, one of the world's longest reigning monarchs, passed away at a hospital in Samoa, the prime minister's office said. He was 94.

Malietoa sat on the Samoan throne ever since the country, which lies west of the U.S. territory of American Samoa, gained independence from New Zealand in 1962.

That made him the world's third longest reining living monarch after Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has reigned since 1946 and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended to the throne in 1952.

The king died Friday night at Tupua Tamasese National Hospital in Apia where he had been staying for about a week. Details on the cause of death were not immediately available.

Vaasatia Poloma Komiti, chief executive officer of the prime minister's office, announced the king's passing Saturday on state-run television.

The king will lay in state in Apia, the capital, on Thursday. A church service, to be lead by the National Council of Churches, is planned for Friday morning, Komiti said.

In American Samoa, the governor said Malietoa's passing was a loss not only for Samoa but for the U.S. territory.

"His faith and love for his people helped light the flame of independence for Samoa and maintained a peaceful transition for Samoa from her difficult beginning,'' said Gov. Togiola T.A. Tulafono. "He was an icon of Samoan leadership, Samoan democracy, and Samoan compassion.''

Many American Samoans considered the king to be the father of the two Samoas and he was a frequent visitor to the territory's annual Flag Day Festivities.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark expressed her nation's sorrow at the death of Malietoa, noting he helped frame Samoa's constitution prior to independence.

"Through his long reign as Head of State, Malietoa represented Samoa with wisdom, humor and insight,'' she said in a statement. New Zealand was given responsibility for Samoa in 1917 by the then League of Nations, after the islands were seized from its colonial power, Germany, during WWI.

The king succeeded to the Malietoa title in 1940, when his father passed away. He was appointed an advisor to the New Zealand governor in Samoa the same year.

Malietoa was made the joint head of state with Tupua Tamasese Meaole when Samoa gained independence in 1962 and he became sole head of state a year later when Tupua Tamasese passed away.

He held the post for life. His successor, however, will be elected by the legislature to a five year term as stipulated in the Samoan constitution.

Malietoa was educated in Samoa at the government run Leififi School and attended St. Stephens College and Wesley College in New Zealand.

Malietoa visited China on a state visit in 1976, and traveled to West Germany, South Korea, Japan and the United Kingdom. He also traveled to Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, and Hawaii, and attended the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

He was among the foreign dignitaries that attended the funeral service of Japanese Emperor Hirohito.

In 1977, Queen Elizabeth II visited Samoa on the Royal Yacht Britannia for one day and presented Malietoa with the Collar Badge and Star of the G.C.M.G., the Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George.

Malietoa is survived by two sons and two daughters. His wife Lili Tunu passed away in 1986.

Samoa is a group of islands in the South Pacific about one-half of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand. Home to 200,000 people, its total land area is slightly smaller than Rhode Island.

It lies to the west of American Samoa, which became a U.S. territory in 1900.

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The Star (Malasya) Sunday May 13, 2007

Samoan king dies

2007-05-17T22:43:00.000+01:00

Samoa's king, the world's third-longest-reigning monarch, has died at the age of 94, Helen Clark, New Zealand's prime minister, has announced.

The statement came on Sunday, but media reports from the Polynesian country's capital of Apia, said King Malietoa Tanumafili II, who had been in hospital for a week, died on Friday night.

"Through his long reign as head of state, Malietoa represented Samoa with wisdom, humour and insight," Clark said in her statement.

"This is a day of great sadness for the nation of Samoa."

The cause of death was not immediately clear, but Tanumafili was said to have been being treated in hospital for pneumonia.

He had been king since the tiny nation, populated by about 180,000 over seven volcanic islands, gained independence from New Zealand in January 1962.

Although Tanumafili was made head of state for life when Samoa gained independence 45 years ago, under Samoa's constitution his successor will be appointed for only five-year terms and will be decided by a vote of the country's elected legislative assembly.

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Al Jazeera, SUNDAY, MAY 13, 2007

Tanumafili II, el veterano rey de Samoa

2007-05-17T22:42:00.000+01:00

EFE

SYDNEY.- El rey de Samoa, Malietoa Tanumafili II, uno de los monarcas más longevos del mundo, falleció el sábado 12 de mayo en un hospital, según ha informado la agencia de noticias oficial del país insular del Pacífico. Tenía 94 años.

Malietoa, jefe de Estado vitalicio de Samoa desde 1962, era hasta ahora el tercer monarca más veterano después de Bhumbibol Adulyadej, rey de Tailandia, y la reina británica, Isabel II, aunque los tres subieron al trono el mismo año.

El rey samoano no lideró en solitario a su nación desde el momento en que fue coronado, ya que tuvo que compartir el trono durante un año con Tupua Tamasese hasta que éste murió en 1963, según la edición digital del diario local 'Samoa News'.

Su muerte, que tuvo lugar el sábado por la noche en un centro médico de la capital, Apia, fue comunicada a la población en un mensaje retransmitido en la televisión estatal por el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores.

Pese a que durante 44 años fue jefe vitalicio del Estado samoano, su sucesor será ahora elegido por el Parlamento y su mandato estará limitado a cinco años.

Localizado en el centro del Pacífico Sur a casi 2.900 kilómetros de distancia de Nueva Zelanda, Samoa es un país formado por dos grandes islas, Savai y Upolu, y un archipiélago de 2.934 kilómetros cuadrados.

Con una población de 170.000 habitantes, es independizó en 1962 del Imperio Británico y pertenece desde entonces a la Commonwealth.

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ElMundo - Actualizado martes 15/05/2007 21:17

Le plus vieux dirigeant du monde est mort

2007-05-17T22:40:00.000+01:00

Malietoa Tanumafili II, l'ultime roi des Samoa, s’est éteint vendredi à l’âge de 94 ans.

Il était le plus vieux dirigeant du monde. Malietoa Tanumafili II, dernier roi des Samoa, est décédé samedi à l'âge de 94 ans, après un règne de 44 ans.

Sa majesté Malietoa Tanumafili II, était le chef d'Etat resté le plus longtemps en fonction après le roi de Thaïlande et la reine Elizabeth II d'Angleterre. En 1962, à l'indépendance des Samoa, il était devenu chef d'Etat à vie.

Malietoa est décédé samedi soir au Tupua Tamasese National Hospital à Apia, la capitale des îles Samoa. Sa mort a été rendue publique à la télévision locale par le secrétaire d'Etat samoan.

Il n’y aura plus de roi des Samoa. En effet, le successeur de Malietoa Tanumafili II à la tête de cet Etat de quelque 150.000 habitants, sera élu au suffrage universel pour un mandat de cinq ans. Les Samoa sont composés pour l'essentiel de deux îles, Savai'i, la plus grande, et Upolu, la plus petite, ainsi que d’un certain nombre d'îlots inhabités.

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Lefigaro.fr (Avec AFP). Publié le 13 mai 2007

Morre o rei de Samoa, há mais de quatro décadas no poder

2007-05-17T22:38:00.000+01:00

No poder desde 1962, Malietoa Tanumafili II faleceu neste sábado, aos 94 anos

EFE

SYDNEY - O rei de Samoa, Malietoa Tanumafili II, um dos monarcas mais longevos do mundo, morreu em um hospital aos 94 anos, informou neste domingo a agência de notícias oficial do país.

Malietoa, chefe de Estado vitalício de Samoa desde 1962, era o terceiro monarca mais antigo do mundo, após Bhumbibol Adulyadej, rei da Tailândia, e a rainha britânica, Elizabeth II, embora os três tenham assumido o trono no mesmo ano.

O rei samoano não governou sozinho sua nação desde o momento em que foi coroado, já que teve de compartilhar o trono durante um ano com Tupua Tamasese, até que este morreu, em 1963, segundo a edição digital do jornal "Samoa News".

A morte de Malietoa, que aconteceu no sábado à noite em um centro médico da capital, Apia, foi comunicada à população pelo ministro de Assuntos Exteriores em mensagem exibida na televisão estatal.

Apesar de ter governado por 44 anos como chefe vitalício do Estado samoano, seu sucessor será eleito pelo Parlamento e terá um mandato de apenas cinco anos. Localizado no centro do Pacífico Sul a quase 2.900 quilômetros da Nova Zelândia, Samoa é um país formado por duas grandes ilhas, Savai e Upolu, e um arquipélago de 2934 quilômetros quadrados.

Com uma população de 170 mil habitantes, tornou-se independente do Império Britânico, em 1962, e pertence desde então à Commonwealth.

----------------------------------------------------
Estadão, 13 de maio de 2007 - 02:42

Ilhas Samoa: Morreu o mais velho rei do mundo

2007-05-17T22:36:00.000+01:00

O mais velho dirigente do mundo, Malietoa Tanumafili II, 94 anos, último rei dos Samoa, morreu sábado após um reinado de 44 anos, anunciou hoje o site oficial deste pequeno Estado do Pacífico sul.

Malietoa Tanumafili II era o chefe de Estado em funções há mais tempo depois do rei da Tailândia e da rainha Isabel II de Inglaterra.

Em 1962, aquando da independência das ilhas Samoa, tornou-se chefe de Estado vitalício, partilhando o título de rei com Tupua Tamasese, que faleceu em 1963.

Malietoa morreu sábado à noite no Hospital Tupua Tamasese, em Apia, capital das ilhas Samoa.

A morte do rei foi tornada pública através de uma declaração feita na televisão nacional.

O sucessor de Malietoa Tanumafili II à frente daquele Estado com cerca de 150 mil habitantes será eleito por sufrágio universal para um mandato de cinco anos.

Os Samoa são constituídos por duas ilhas principais - Savai´i (a maior) e Upolu, assim como por inúmeros ilhéus desabitados.

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Diário Digital / Lusa 13-05-2007 11:08:35

Samoa's New Head of State in two weeks will serve only five years

2007-05-16T12:04:00.000+01:00

Auckland 6am: Samoa is yet to name it's new Head of State but officials have revealed that the new one will only serve for five years.

The late Malietoa Tanumafili Le lua's appointment was a lifetime one and he served for 45 years.

The CEO of the Prime Minister's office Auseugaefa Poloma Komiti says the new Head of State will be appointed by Parliament in the next two weeks and will only serve for a short time. (listen)

Memories of the type of leadership Malietoa provided have emerged today.

Journalist Michael Field says one of the things most poignant about Malietoa’s reign was that there was never an execution under him, even though Samoa has retained the death penalty for murder.

Field says people were always getting the death sentence if convicted for murder and yet Malietoa always reduced that to life imprisonment. (listen)

Attention is now turning to the Bahai faith in Samoa following Malietoa's death.

Malietoa became a believer of the faith over 30 years ago and since then played a pivotal role in developing the faith on the island.

Tepa Suaesi, from the Samoan Bahai movement, says thanks to Malietoa, five percent of the island's population are now Bahai's.

He says Malietoa was well known by the International Bahai movement who are also holding special services to mark his death.

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Publicado no Pacific Radio News em Date: 16 Maio 2007

Baha’i feast concludes

2007-05-02T22:37:00.000+01:00

By Aroosa Masroor
Karachi

The Baha’i community’s 12-day feast of Ridvan concluded on Monday at the Baha’i Hall. The beginning of the feast on April 21 also marked the new administrative year during which a nine-member governing body of the Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA) was elected, a ritual declared compulsory by Bahaullah.

“Since we do not have the concept of a religious cleric, it is this governing body that runs the affairs of religion,” explained a member of the LSA, adding that there is no system of candidates who contest for the election. “Any male or female Baha’i, 21 years or older, is eligible to be elected and cast a vote,” she said. The nine-member body consists of a president, secretary, treasurer and office-bearers.

The first day of the Ridvan, which began on the night of April 20 (as the Baha’i day begins at sunset), focused entirely on the electoral process followed by the ninth day and twelfth day feast during which excerpts from the Ridvan Tablet and the Tablet of Ahmad (the Healing Prayers) and religious verses were recited. “Through these prayers we enter into a much closer communion with God,” explained a Baha’i.

The congregation is then followed by the feast during which friends and acquaintances interact. Recalling the significance of the Eid-e-Ridvan during her speech, Kishwar Naeem explained that it is celebrated to commemorate the days of Bahaullah in the Garden of Ridvan (paradise) after his exile from Baghdad to Istanbul. Among the twelve-day feast the important days are the first day of Ridvan (April 20 to Apr 21) when Bahaullah arrived in the garden, the ninth day (April 28 to April 29) marks the arrival of his family and the twelfth day (May 1 to May 2) when he departed. It was during his stay in the Garden of Ridvan that he declared his mission of humanity and that he was the promised messenger of God.

According to the Baha’i faith, believers should refrain from working on these three holy days but the government or other employers refuse to grant them these days off. “The three days are closely linked so it is impossible to take an off on all days. We mostly prefer attending the first day of the feast during which the election is held, so I take an off then,” stated a member of the community. The Baha’i Holy book, Kitabe-e-Aqdas, also refers to Eid-e-Ridvan as the ‘king of festivals’ and is said to have marked the beginning of the Bahai Faith.

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Publicado no The News (Paquistão) em 02-Maio-2007

The politics of religious debate

2007-04-29T23:10:00.000+01:00

Written by Franny Rabkin
Thursday, 26 April 2007

RELIGIOUS "fanaticism" was often given a negative connotation in the global media – but being fanatical "should mean being very tolerant", according to a speaker at an inter-faith meeting on campus on Tuesday.

Rishaad Moosa made this point at the event, organised by the SRC on Tuesday. Moosa is a member of the Muslim Students’ Society and the South African Union of Jewish Students.

The devotional aimed to "learn about different religions and philosophies … and to look at a religious theme in a non-political [way]", according to Shamim Afshani, of the Baha’i Society. It looked at what different religions had in common rather than differences. The theme was religious tolerance.

Students from most of the faiths on campus were there: Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Baha’is read from different scriptures and discussed them.

Moosa and Irshaad Vawda, of the Muslim Students Society, took issue with the word "fanaticism", contained in some Baha’i scripture. Vawda said there was a difference between fanaticism and intolerance.

"Being fanatical can mean that you are really serious about your religion, without making you intolerant."

Moosa added: "Tolerance is the very crux of my religion."

Is tolerance enough? And is conversion – at the root of most religions - compatible with tolerance? These and other issues were explored. Baha’i scripture dominated, but quotes from the Qu’ran and the Bible were also discussed.

But can religion really be separated from politics? For Moosa a separation is "very hard. For me, they go hand in hand. But what I like is the idea of tolerance."

Afshani said there were two aspects to religion – spiritual, which dealt with how the individual related to God, and social, about how people related to each other.

But "these are questions that generations of people have looked at, and have not been able to answer".

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Publicado no VuvuzelaOnline (26-Abril-2006)

Baha'is celebrate 30 years in The Bahamas

2007-04-26T18:34:00.000+01:00

by the Baha'is, For The Guardian

The Baha'is of The Bahamas will be holding their 30th National Convention in New Providence April 28-29.

In conjunction with this, the Spiritual Assembly of New Providence invites the public to attend an evening of celebration, praise, song and dance on Saturday at 8pm at Workers House Ballroom. The event is free. The Baha'is faith, established in over 210 countries was founded 164 years ago in Persia in 1844.

It promotes the principles of the unity and the oneness of manking, while recognising humanity's diversity of thought and cultural expression. The Faith views humanity as one family, created by an All-Loving Creator, and that all the divine Meesengers and Prophets of God are part of the same spiritual process of the upliftment and salvation of all on earth Baha'ulan, the Prophet-founder of the Baha'i Faith said, "Let your vision be world embracing."

The principles of universal education and the establishment of world peace, the equality of men and women and the harmony of science and religion are some of the basic tenets of The Baha'i Faith.

The Baha'i International Community had had a consultative status at the United Nations since 1948 and has actively participated in several international UN summits.

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Publicado no The Nassau Guardian (26-Abril-2007)

Raising children of light

2007-04-24T23:08:00.000+01:00

By Bani Dugal

To a child, the world must seem like a confused and perilous place. One need only to sit and watch the grim scenes unfold on television: hundreds of thousands of Sudanese children and mothers huddled together in refugee camps - their worn faces and bodies a testament to the rape and pillage they have survived. Or footage of mothers and children foraging for food in famine-racked North Korea. Or images of children in Southeast Asia, many infected with AIDS, sold to traffickers and living in slave-like conditions.

For many children, these scenes loom just outside the door. As mothers, what do we say to our children? How do we explain the seemingly ceaseless, senseless abuse, violence and killing? How do we do so truthfully and, at the same time, impart hope for a better future?

First, we must prepare ourselves. As the first educators of the next generation, we must seek to make sense of the world in our own minds. Much is said about the importance of education, but mothers themselves must be educated. Without an understanding of the forces at play in the world, of the hijacking of minds and hearts for power and political ascendancy and, conversely, the human capacity to hope, to transcend and to act justly - we cannot begin to help our children make their way.

As we reflect on our understanding of the world, it is our responsibility as mothers to examine our thinking, knowing that consciously or unconsciously children will absorb our attitudes, our habits and our worldview. In a world so painfully divided by political agendas, violent conflict, extremes of wealth and poverty, gender stereotypes, racism, religious disputes and other permutations of "us" versus "them," we must strive not to pass on the attitudes that perpetuate the prevailing order. We need to scrutinize our own thinking. This is perhaps our greatest challenge.

Second, we must tell our children that we are all one people, that there is only one human race and we have just one planet to learn to live together on. This concept of oneness and interdependence is the bedrock upon which we should build our efforts to educate our children. For, in an increasingly interconnected world, the capacity of any one individual to do good or evil increases exponentially. As such, we must consider that every child is potentially the light of the world - or its darkness.

WHAT ACTIONS, then, can help our children become beacons of light? I would begin by helping them to understand the idea of connectedness - connectedness to their family, their community, their environment and the world. Over the past century, our lived experiences, coupled with scientific and social advances, have gradually broken down the barriers that once compartmentalized our world and its people.

We know that girls and women have the same rights as boys and men and that the oppression of girls and women contributes to the breakdown of communities. We know that, despite sinister notions of racial superiority, we are part of one human race. We know that our commercial activity has a direct and negative impact on our environment and our health.

In other words, there is no "us" and "them," there is only "us." This is what I want to teach my children.

The paradigm of interconnectedness also raises the question of justice and responsibility. How can we impart in our children the sense of responsibility for making their community and their world a better place? How can we teach them about justice when we see so little of it in the world?

We can begin at home by cultivating the child's capacity for compassion - an awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. We can encourage children to help at home or in the community. On a larger scale, we must also make them aware of the challenges in the world and help them to feel compassion even for those they may never meet. Even children as young as three years old are capable of sharing, refraining from hitting when angry and are beginning to develop a sense of right and wrong about how people should be treated.

In the midst of our chaotic and beleaguered world, we can also strive to impart hope to our children. Notwithstanding present-day human suffering, by many accounts the number of wars and conflicts is steadily decreasing. Awareness and intolerance of injustice and inequality are steadily building momentum. More and more children are in schools. The voice of women is increasingly heard in their communities, nations and the world. The degradation of our environment has finally captured the attention of the world.

We can tell them these things, then, and explain that despite what they often see in the media, many people are working hard to build a better world. History need not repeat itself.

As I consider these questions, I am drawn to the writings of the Baha'i faith. "God has given us eyes, that we may look about us at the world, and lay hold of whatsoever will further civilization and the arts of living," wrote Abdu'l-Baha, son of the founder of the Baha'i faith. "Senses and faculties have been bestowed upon us, to be devoted to the service of the general good; so that we, distinguished above all other forms of life for perceptiveness and reason, should labor at all times and along all lines... until all mankind are safely gathered into the impregnable stronghold of knowledge."

Let's give our children the vision and the tools to further our civilization and to perfect the art of living.

The writer, a native of India and a lawyer, is the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the UN and serves as a member-at-large on the UN's NGO Committee on Human Rights. She is the mother of two sons.

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Publicado como artigo de opinião no Jerusalem Post, 19-Abril-2007

Sense of unity in Baha'i faith drew activist

2007-04-22T11:13:00.000+01:00

Now, MSU professor draws on religion in urban planning

Kathleen Lavey
Lansing State Journal

As a teenager caught in the pressure cooker of school desegregation in South Carolina, June Thomas was desperate for some relief.

She found it in her local Baha'i community.

"I was very active in the civil rights movement and very disturbed by race relations," she said. "One of the tenets of the Baha'i faith is unity of the races."

Thomas, a minister's daughter, said her parents thought Baha'i might be a passing fad.

"Like a hairstyle," she said.

But the more Thomas studied the faith, founded in Persia (now Iran) in 1844, the more she knew it was the faith for her.

Thomas, now 56 and a professor of urban planning at Michigan State University, spent a year at Furman University in South Carolina, but it was tough being one of the first black women there.

Friends - including some Baha'i she knew - steered her toward MSU. She transferred in her sophomore year.

Baha'i stresses the unity not only of races, but of the world's major religions, considering them all part of a single process of divine revelation.

Prophets such as Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed and the Baha'i prophet Baha'u'llah all are considered prophets who revealed appropriate wisdom for their time.

In 1844, the Baha'i prophet known as the Bab foretold of an independent messenger of God. He was executed in 1850. In 1863, Baha'u'llah revealed himself as that messenger.

Baha'u'llah was persecuted in Persia and banished to Baghdad, Constantinople (now Istanbul) and a city in the northern part of Israel. Pilgrims now visit the homes there where he once lived.

About 6 million people practice the Baha'i faith around the world. A religious community, known as a spiritual assembly, must have a minimum of nine members. Mid-Michigan has three assemblies: in Meridian Township, East Lansing and Lansing. Members gather regularly for holy days and celebrations.

Thomas and her husband, Richard, have traveled extensively and visited Baha'i communities in Africa and Israel.

June Thomas has carried the Baha'i emphasis on unity over to her professional life. Her work in urban planning often deals with race relations.

"I'm trying to train students who can work in all contexts," she said.

"Train them so they are tolerant of all kinds of people and make cities attractive."

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Published April 22, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]

Identity crisis for Faithful

2007-03-31T11:21:00.000+01:00

Egyptian Baha'is cannot get government-issued ID because on official forms they must specify their religion and only Islam, Christianity and Judaism are recognized

Mar 31, 2007 04:30 AM

Stuart Laidlaw
Faith and Ethics Reporter

Samandary Hindawi's mother has never met her grandson. She lives far away in Egypt, but money is not an issue. She is getting old, but health is not an issue. Hindawi and she both lead busy lives, but time is not an issue.

The only issue is that she cannot get a passport, even though she was born and raised in Egypt, has lived there all her life and has never been a citizen of any other country.

The problem, Hindawi says, is that she is Baha'i, which in Egypt means she cannot get a government identification card or any other form of ID.

"I can't bring my mother here to visit her grandchild because she doesn't have a passport," Hindawi says.

When filling out a form for government identification, Egyptians are required to specify their religion. Hindawi said the Baha'is of Egypt have no problem with this, except that they are not allowed to state on the forms that they are Baha'i. Only Islam, Christianity and Judaism are recognized.

"The Baha'is here in Canada are watching the situation very closely," says Gerald Filson, a spokesman for the Baha'i Community of Canada.

He and other community leaders have met with the federal government department of foreign affairs, expressing their concerns and asking that they be passed on to the government of Egypt through diplomatic channels.

"We've be very pleased with the federal government's response," he says.

Baha'is in Iran also face discrimination, Filson says, where denial of government identification cards has kept people from opening bank accounts, going to school or even accessing health care. Hindawi says similar problems are developing in Egypt as old identity cards expire and Baha'is are not able to replace them.

As well, he says, media outlets in the country have been unsympathetic, and even hostile, to the plight of the Baha'is, so Hindawi has begun to use his computer skills to do what he can from Toronto.

He has set up a blog to counter the accusations made against Baha'i in the country, regularly picking apart stories that appear in newspapers, magazines and television, where Baha'is are regularly accused of everything from immorality to spying.

"If you really want to hurt somebody in the Middle East, this is what you do – you smear them with treason and immorality," he says as he attaches an Arabic language keyboard to his laptop computer.

As a Baha'i, he says, he can't engage is a similar mud-slinging campaign against his faith's critics, so instead offers counterpoints to the often skewed reporting in his native country. He keeps tabs on the reporting through a Baha'i friend in the U.S., who posts copies of stories own his own blog.

"I go specifically through the charges, one after another," Hindawi says, describing how he counters the allegations made against Baha'i followers in the Egyptian press. "I correct the facts, historically, factually, systematically."

He write the blog in Arabic, so it can be more widely read by its target audience, the Egyptian public.

"You still have to rely on educating the masses," he says.

One story on his friend's Egyptian blog accuses a Baha'i man of meeting with the Israeli ambassador – tantamount to treason in some Arab circles. Hindawi countered the accusation by simply stating that the man in question is 83, too old to have travelled to such a meeting, and has never left his home village.

Hindawi's hope is that by constantly picking apart the facts in any such stories, he can convince people that they have nothing to fear from Baha'is, who number only about 2,000 in Egypt.

"We are not a threat," Hindawi says.

The problem is that the Baha'i faith was founded in only the 1860s, some 1,200 years after Islam. As such, under a strict reading of Islamic law, Baha'i is not recognized as a religion. Judaism and Christianity are accepted because they predate Islam, and their prophets are accepted as Islamic prophets.

Egypt's highest court late last year held up this interpretation when it struck down a lower court ruling that Baha'is must be granted government identification.

The Supreme Administrative Court ruled in December that because Baha'i is not mentioned in the Qur'an, it is not a recognized religion in the Islamic country.

"The court made a religious decision, not a legal one," Hindawi says.

Whereas Islam teaches that its founder, Muhammad, was the final prophet, the Baha'i Faith teaches progressive revelation, that Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and Baha'i founder Baha'u'llah were all messengers from God and that more will come.

The court decision means that Baha'i followers cannot get government identification without denying that they are Baha'i. Not only is this distasteful to most Baha'is, who value their faith, but it is illegal since lying on a government form is considered perjury.

Hindawi says all of his friends and relatives in Egypt have been caught in this Catch-22. As their old government identification cards expire, they have not been able to get new ones. Previously, government ID cards allowed Baha'i to list their faith as "other" or to leave the space blank That is no longer allowed.

As a result, children can't get birth certificates, or enrol in school. Driver's licences cannot be renewed. Health care cannot be accessed. Bank accounts can't be opened. Even death certificates cannot be issued, making it impossible to settle the estates of the deceased, Hindawi says.

"These are business people, they are teachers, professors and artists," he says.

Hindawi, unable to even send his family money to help them through these tough times since they cannot even cash a cheque without ID, hopes that his blog will in some way help make things better in his homeland.

Hindawi's blog can be found at truthexaminer.spaces.live.com, while his friend's blog chronicling the Egyptian media's coverage of the country's Baha'is is at bahai-egypt.blogspot.com.

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Publicado no TorontoStar, em 31-Mar-2007

El IV Congreso de Religiones promueve el diálogo entre los distintos cultos

2007-03-27T22:06:00.000+01:00

"En un sistema laico, la diversidad religiosa es un elemento fundamental". Esta frase de José María Contreras, presidente de la Fundación Pluralismo y Convivencia, resume las conclusiones del IV Congreso de Religiones, celebrado este fin de semana en Madrid. Unas jornadas que reunieron a más de un centenar de personas para debatir sobre Inmigración y pluralismo religiosos.

Multiculturalidad, riqueza, diálogo. Los creyentes de las diferentes religiones que participaron en el congreso -católica, islámica, judía, budista, fe baha'i, brahma kumaris, evangélica- coincidieron en la necesidad de llegar a un modelo de integración intercultural que incluya la diversidad religiosa, una diversidad cada vez más numerosa en España. "Debemos promover el diálogo respetuoso entre las diferentes culturas y religiones para poder construir una sociedad interreligiosa, intercultural e interétnica", sostuvo Margarita Pintos, teóloga católica y presidenta de la Asociación para el Diálogo Interreligioso de la Comunidad de Madrid (Adim).

"Los inmigrantes llegan a España a reconstruir un proyecto de vida. Para ello primero buscan de qué comer y luego intentan recrear sus hábitos sociales, incluidas las creencias religiosas que llevan consigo e intentan seguir practicando allá donde van", aseguró Iván Forero, de la Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado (CEAR). Así, muchas veces la inmigración trae consigo un pluralismo religioso que aporta "diversidad y riqueza".

Identidad religiosa

Un pluralismo religioso que, según exigieron los participantes del congreso, se debe mantener. "Debemos luchar por un sistema que permita crear elementos que salvaguarden la identidad religiosa de cada persona. No sólo de la religión mayoritaria del país", declaró Contreras.

Un razonamiento que también sostuvo el teólogo Juan José Tamayo, de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. "Para muchos seres humanos, las creencias religiosas son fundamentales. Por eso han de poder tener el derecho de conservarlas y poderlas practicar cuando emigran", declaró. Para Tamayo, la inmigración está en el origen de las religiones. "Pensándolo ahora que las religiones están muy asentadas puede parecer raro, pero todas las religiones son colectivos nómadas", aseguró mientras recordaba que el patriarca Abraham, considerado como el padre de las tres religiones monoteístas -cristianismo, islam y judaísmo-, tuvo que emigrar con su familia para poder sobrevivir.

En los últimos años, coincidiendo con el aumento de la inmigración en España, han aumentado las distintas confesiones religiosas. Un pluralismo religioso que hay que analizar, según se acordó este fin de semana. Para ello, Contreras anunció la creación de un mapa que reflejará, por comunidades, los distintos cultos.

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Publicado no El País (Espanha), 26-Mar-2007

Krishna's Message Is That Of Universal Love

2007-03-27T22:04:00.000+01:00

A man from India said to 'Abdu'l-Baha: "My aim in life is to transmit as far as in me lies the message of Krishna to the world".

'Abdu'l-Baha said: "The message of Krishna is the message of love. All God's prophets have brought the message of love. None have ever thought that war and hate are good. Every one agrees in saying that love and kindness are best".

Love manifests its reality in deeds, not just in words. For love to manifest its power there must be an object, an instrument, a motive.

There are many ways of expressing the love principle; there is love for the family, for the country, for the race, there is political enthusiasm, there is also the love of commu-nity of interest in service.

These are all ways and means of showing the power of love. Otherwise love would be unseen, unheard, unfelt and would remain altoge-ther unexpressed, and unmani-fested. Love is unlimited, whereas material things are limited.

You cannot adequately express infinite love by limited means. Perfect love needs an unselfish instrument, absolutely free of fetters.

The love of family is limited. Often members of a family disagree; they might even hate each other. Patriotic love is finite; the love of one's country causing hatred of all others, is not perfect love.

Compatriots also are not free from quarrels amongst themselves. The love of race is limited; so is the love of country.

Love must be free from boundaries. To love your own race may mean hatred of all others, and even people of the same race often dislike each other.

Political love is bound with hatred of one party for another, so this love is limited and uncertain.

The great unselfish love is bound by none of these imperfect, semi-selfish bonds; this is one perfect love, accessible to all and can only be achieved by power of the Divine Spirit.

No worldly power can accomplish love that is universal in nature. Animal creation is captive to matter, but to man, God has given freedom.

Animals cannot escape the law of nature, whereas man may control it, for he, containing nature, can rise above it.

The power of the Divine Spirit, enlightening man's intelligence, has enabled him to discover means of bending natural laws to his will.

He flies through the air, floats on the sea, and even moves under water. Man's intellect has enabled him to overcome limitations of nature, and to discover her mysteries.

The Divine Spirit will give to man greater powers than these, if only he will strive after the spiritual and endeavour to attune his heart to Divine infinite love.

When you love family members or compatriots, let it be with a ray of Infinite Love. Let it be in God, and for God.

Wherever you find the attributes of God — love that person — whether he be of your family or of another, of your country, faith, colour, race or another.

The underlying goal of achieving universal love should motivate you to accept everyone as your own and love them unconditionally.

'Abdu'l-Baha, son of the Prophet Founder of the Baha'i faith, on the occasion of Naw Ruz, the Baha'i New Year.

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Publicado no Times of India, 21-Mar-2007

Move over Britannica, here's Encyclopedia Iranica

2007-03-26T17:28:00.000+01:00

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The Christian concepts of heaven and hell originate in Iran. The Jewish holy Talmud is littered with Iranian words and ideas. And some Iranians cherish the Israeli city of Haifa as a sacred place.

These are among the fascinating nuggets in the Encyclopedia Iranica, a sprawling project under way since 1973 that seeks to distill 5,000 years of Iranian history, geography and life into 45 blue-bound volumes proclaiming Iran's greatness.

"Today more than at any other time we need to keep our Iranian culture alive," Iranica's director Ehsan Yarshater told an audience of 350 Iranians at a fundraiser in Dubai last month. The glitzy dinner, concert and auction raised $100,000 for a project that will take a total of $20 million -- and another decade or so -- to finish.

The Iranian government bitterly opposes the encyclopedia, and the U.S. government backs it. More than half of the encyclopedia's budget comes from the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities, which has funded it as a project of major cultural significance since 1979 -- the same year Iranian students occupied the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

"Once completed it will be a magnificent gift to our children and the generations to come," said Yarshater, an Iran scholar at Columbia University in New York.

The encyclopedia is Yarshater's life work. Now a frail 86 years old, he suffers from Parkinson's disease. He started the encyclopedia 32 years ago, just after leaving Iran. The project threatens to outlast him. Another Columbia Iranologist, Ahmad Ashraf, will take over leadership of the project if Yarshater dies before completing it.

Only 13 volumes of the English-language encyclopedia have yet been published, up to the letter G. It's been so slow that managers have abandoned the one-letter-at-a-time approach and are soliciting all remaining articles at once.

Each volume costs $1 million to produce, said Mark Houshmand, who heads the Encyclopedia's Dubai support group. Dubai, with around 300,000 resident Iranians, has a large expatriate community supporting the project, as does Los Angeles, New York, Geneva, London, Toronto and Miami.

Individual volumes can be ordered from Iranica's Web site for $250-$350 each, or the first 12 for $3,450. When complete, it'll take more shelf space even than the 29-volume Encyclopedia Britannica.

Some 2,500 years ago, Persia's empire stretched from Libya to China and included Turkey and northern India. The Persian dominion revived again after the 11th century, spreading from Turkey to Bangladesh and dominating central Asia until the penetration of Western civilization into Asia in the mid-1800s.

Thus, encyclopedia entries cover Persian aspects of places far outside today's borders, including Central Asia, India, North Africa, Greece and Albania.

Most of the work is being done outside Iran too, because the Iranian government opposes the project. Scholars inside the country have faced harassment, the managers say. The project is headquartered at Columbia.

Problem: Yarshater is Bahai

Most of the Iranian opprobrium stems from Yarshater's belonging to the Bahai faith, Houshmand said.

"He's not welcome in Iran. They don't appreciate the work he's doing. They don't want him to get any credit," Houshmand said. "All this is because of his religion. It should be irrelevant. But unfortunately, with today's Iranian government, these things are very relevant."

Bahais have been vigorously persecuted by current and past Iranian regimes. In 1868, several Bahais were exiled to Palestine, now Israel, where they built shrines in Haifa, which they now consider a holy city, the encyclopedia says.

Entries like that, documenting the Islamic Republic's connections to Israel and its pre-Islamic past, are deemed contrary to Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution by its current government.

Concepts such as the survival of a person's soul after death, the Day of Judgment, heaven and hell, and holy angels all derive from Iran's surviving Zoroastrian faith, a 3,000-year-old religion that predates Islam and Christianity, the encyclopedia says. Iran's hard-liners also frown on the Zoroastrian beliefs.

In the fundraiser audience were U.S. and Swiss diplomats and some of Iran's biggest pre-revolutionary pop stars, including singers Mahasti and Aref, both of whom flew from homes in Los Angeles. Iran's most famous pianist, Los Angeles-based Anoushirvan Rohani, played his melancholy songs until the wee hours.

"I couldn't care less about what my regime's stance is toward the United States," said Sara Masinaei, 24, a Dubai resident who emigrated from Tehran with her family at the age of eight. "What's important to me is Iran's history, language and traditions. I want my kids and their kids to benefit from what we're supporting today."

Abbas Bolurfrushan said exiles worry about losing touch with Iran and its Farsi language. The books ought to tug them back into the fold until Iran's regime mellows enough to allow them to visit more often, he said.

But Bolurfrushan, who heads the Dubai-based Iranian Business Council, said he was chiefly concerned with practical issues such as U.N. sanctions, which hamper his own trade with Iran.

"I'm fed up with the glorious past," Bolurfrushan said. "What have we got today? The Iranians have to bring themselves out of the past and devote themselves to building up the present."

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Publicado na CNN, (26-Março-2006)

Naw-Rúz, c’est le nouvel an bahá’í

2007-03-24T16:52:00.000Z

Plusieurs centaines de Réunionnais fidèles de la foi bahá’í, comme les sept millions de leurs coreligionnaires répartis à travers le monde, fêtent aujourd’hui leur nouvel an. Le Naw-Rúz coïncide avec l’équinoxe, le début du printemps dans l’hémisphère nord. Pour eux, ce jour symbolise l’apparition d’une nouvelle manifestation de Dieu, en la personne de Bahá’u’lláh, fondateur de la plus récente des religions révélées, ayant vu le jour au XIXe siècle en Perse, l’actuelle Iran.

“Pour tous les fidèles de la foi Bahá’í, hier s’est achevé le mois de jeûne, qui, selon notre calendrier dure dix-neuf jours. Aujourd’hui, nous fêtons le Naw-Rúz, notre nouvel an”, indique Elijah Baïchoo, représentant au sein du groupe inter-religieux de La Réunion, les fidèles locaux de la plus récente des religions révélées. Actuellement, le département compte plusieurs centaines d’adeptes de cette confession fondée par Bahá’u’lláh au XIXe siècle, en Perse, devenue depuis l’Iran. Présente depuis 1955, la communauté réunionnaise qui a compté jusqu’à près de mille fidèles figure parmi les plus importantes de France et pèse près de 15 %

UNE FÊTE FAMILIALE

“Pendant ce jeûne, ajoute-t-il, nous nous abstenons de toute nourriture ou boisson du lever au coucher du soleil. Certaines personnes sont dispensées de jeûner tels que les enfants, les voyageurs, les malades, les personnes âgées, les travailleurs de force, les femmes enceintes et celles qui allaitent. La période de jeûne est aussi un moment de régénération spirituelle marqué par la prière et la méditation, ce qui signifie que chaque individu s’efforce en son âme et conscience de respecter au mieux cette loi car elle permet un développement de ses ressources spirituelles et une communion sincère avec Dieu. Le jeûne est pour ces croyants une période de remise en question, d’examen de conscience et d’élévation spirituelle. Le jeûne physique n’est pas une fin en soi. C’est le moment de se détacher des choses matérielles à travers des temps consacrés à la prière, la méditation et le service.” Comme chaque année, les Bahá’ís de La Réunion se retrouvent donc aujourd’hui avec leurs familles et amis pour célébrer le Naw-Rúz. À l’instar de toutes les fêtes de cette religion, il n’y a pas de rituel ou de rite spécifique. La célébration consiste en des prières et une réflexion sur la signification spirituelle de ce jour, suivi d’un repas et d’un spectacle présenté essentiellement par les enfants. Naw-Rúz tombe le jour de l’équinoxe, le début du printemps dans l’hémisphère nord. Il symbolise l’apparition d’une nouvelle manifestation de Dieu, en la personne de Bahá’u’lláh (1817-1892), le fondateur de la foi bahá’íe. Tout comme le printemps est le moment du renouvellement de la nature après la saison d’hiver où tout “meurt”, les Bahá’ís pensent que “les manifestations divines sont envoyées par Dieu pour renouveler le monde suivant un plan cyclique et progressif de révélation divine”. Les adeptes de cette religion décrivent l’état actuel du monde comme “une phase de transition où les forces destructrices ébranlent les structures et modes de pensées du passé, et où les forces constructrices préparent la voie à un monde où tous les hommes seront unis, et où régnera la paix”. Dans ses écrits qui font référence, Bahá’u’lláh dit que l’humanité a traversé des étapes successives d’unification pour arriver dans sa période de maturité collective et d’unification planétaire. Pour eux, “l’unité de l’humanité est inéluctable. La Terre n’est qu’un seul pays et tous les hommes ses citoyens”. Pourtant, en ce jour, les pensées des Bahá’ís de La Réunion et d’ailleurs vont aussi à leurs coreligionnaires d’Iran, qui depuis longtemps subissent des persécutions et des discriminations de toutes sortes. Depuis la révolution islamique de 1979, plus de 200 membres de la principale minorité religieuse de ce pays ont été tués, des centaines ont été emprisonnées, et des milliers ont vu leurs propriétés, leurs entreprises confisquées, ou ont perdu leur travail. Depuis novembre dernier, le gouvernement iranien a émis une circulaire officielle pour faire interdire l’accès aux étudiants bahá’ís dans les universités.

R.G.

-----------------------------------

RECONNUE PAR L’ONU La communauté bahá’íe française est installée et bien établie depuis plus de cent ans et à La Réunion, depuis presque 60. Elle est implantée dans plus de 500 localités françaises et compte quelque 5 000 croyants. En proposant des cercles d’études, des réunions de prières, des “oasis de paix” et des classes d’enfants, les Bahá’ís de France (mais aussi partout dans le monde) cherchent ainsi à approfondir les principes spirituels et moraux dont l’application les aidera à s’investir de manière appropriée dans le service de ceux qui les entourent. Comme toute religion, la foi bahá’íe comporte des écrits saints et des règles de vie. Les adeptes croient aussi bien en Abraham qu’à Krishna, Moïse, Jésus ou Mahomet. Ils ne sont pas guidés par un clergé, chaque croyant étant appelé à lire et comprendre par lui-même les écrits. La communauté est dirigée par des instances élues, au niveau local, national et international. Encore peu connue en France, la foi bahá’íe est la plus récente des religions révélées. Après 160 ans d’existence, elle compte 7 millions de croyants appartenant à plus de 2 100 groupes ethniques de par le monde, et répartis dans plus de 190 pays. La communauté internationale bahá’íe a depuis 1948 le statut d’ONG auprès de l’Organisation des Nations Unies. Depuis 1970, elle est dotée d’un statut consultatif auprès du Conseil économique et social (ECOSOC) et du Fonds des Nations-Unies pour l’enfance (UNICEF). Elle entretient également des relations de travail avec l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) et est associée au Programme des Nations-Unies pour l’environnement (PNUE).

* Association des Baha’is de la Réunion, BP 161, 12, rue de la Plage, 97454 St-Pierre cedex, tél/fax : 02.62.25.12.93.

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Publicado no Clicanoo, Le Journal de l'Ile de Reunion, 21-Mar-2007)

La Asociación para el Diálogo Interreligioso celebra hoy un encuentro sobre "inmigración y pluralismo religioso"

2007-03-24T16:43:00.000Z

MADRID, 24 (EUROPA PRESS)

La Asociación para el Diálogo Interreligioso de la Comunidad de Madrid (ADIM) celebrará hoy en la capital española el IV Encuentro de Religiones, que este año se centrará en "la inmigración y el pluralismo religioso".

Y es que, para esta asociación, presidida por la teóloga Margarita Pintos, "la palabra inmigración suele muchas veces estar cargada de significaciones y referencias negativas" por lo que es necesario "promover el diálogo respetuoso entre las
diferentes culturas y religiones para poder construir una sociedad interreligiosa, intercultural e interétnica".

El encuentro, que tendrá lugar en el Centro Cultural Nicolás Salmerón, arrancará con el saludo de bienvenida del director de la Fundación Pluralismo y Convivencia, José María Contreras. A continuación, la coordinadora del Observatorio de Inmigración del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Nuria Lores, y el director de la Cátedra de Teología y Ciencias de las Religiones de la Universidad Carlos III, Juan José Tamayo, intervendrán, entre otros, en una mesa redonda sobre 'Inmigración, Derechos Humanos y Confesiones Religiosas'.

Por la tarde, tres estudiantes de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid --Eva Guerrero Galianao, Said Kirhlani y Mariana Tello Weisse-- presentarán el informe 'Pluralismo religioso en la Comunidad de Madrid' financiado por la Fundación Pluralismo y Convivencia.

Posteriormente, las confesiones católica, protestante y budista darán a conocer sus proyectos para ayudar a los inmigrantes en la Comunidad de Madrid. El encuentro será clausurado con una celebración interreligiosa en la que participará el coro de la Comunidad Baha'i y el solista Adhieh Pakravan.

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Publicado no EUROPA PRESS (24-Março-2007)

Fasting helps followers of Bahai Faith become closer to God

2007-03-24T15:59:00.000Z

Obedience to the laws of the faith is incumbent upon all followers of the faith. That we should follow the laws God has sent down to us is hardly a question, but we all seem to have difficulty in following those laws. One of the laws binding all faiths together is the law of fasting.

For Bahais the world over, the period of fasting has just ended. Lasting 19 days, the Bahai month of Ala or Loftiness, the fast consists of abstaining from food or drink from sunrise to sunset. For all, it is a time of spiritual growth, personal reflection and a further relinquishment of one's will to that of God.

Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Bahai Faith, tells us God "hast endowed every hour of these days with a special virtue. . . . Thou hast, also, assigned unto every soul a portion of this virtue in accordance with the Tablet of thy decree and the Scriptures of thine irrevocable judgment."

If this is true, and we believe it is, the virtues are endowed upon all of mankind for each of the 456 hours of the month.

Fasting may be out of the norm, but it is not a real hardship, so how do we become closer to God by denying the needs of the flesh?

When we "observeth the fast wholly for thy (God's) sake and with absolute detachment from all things except thee (God)," denying the cravings of the body is less difficult, though never easy, and reliance upon God grows.

We even come to understand how certain physical conditions mirror spiritual truths. For instance, as we fast, most Bahais encounter a period in the midafternoon where our energy diminishes and it is difficult to stay focused.

Could this be an indication of how our soul reacts when we fail to pray, to commune with our Lord and to obey his commandments?

In the same manner, the spiritual strength gained by fasting allows the individual to better resist temptation to stray from the path he knows he should follow.

This strength comes day by day as the individual curbs his physical appetites and relies upon the directives given in the Kitab-i-Aqdas by Baha'u'llah.

The Kitab-i-Aqdas, or the Greatest Book, is Baha'u'llah's major book of laws. In the Kitab-i-Aqdas, Baha'u'llah covers all areas of law from personal, to criminal, to international -- all with the intent that mankind, as individuals and as an aggregate, move forward toward its maturity, its golden age.

To attain this maturity, man must follow the laws of its Creator, both on an individual basis and as a whole. Fasting is one of the principle means used to teach mankind that the laws are not arbitrary, but rather are designed to further the spiritual progress of all mankind.

By successfully completing the fast, the believer not only cleanses his soul, he learns to love the source of the law.

Completing the fast of Ala, Yom Kippur, Ekadasi, Ramadan or the Lenten sacrifice, the believer comes to "Observe my commandments, for the love of my beauty." Coming to this station makes obedience to other laws easier.

Consider the prohibition of drunkenness and intoxication. While some religions proscribe all usage of alcohol and others allow its use, all condemn the abuse of alcohol and other intoxicants.

How many headlines will we see this week where the abuse of alcohol and other intoxicants will lead stories of crimes, accounts of traffic fatalities and families torn apart as they cope with the problems introduced to our society as we fail to adhere to God's laws?

There can be no question that were this one law to be universally upheld, were our society to moderate its use of alcohol and eliminate other recreational intoxicants, our society would profit.

Baha'u'llah tells us, "Think not that we have revealed unto you a mere code of laws. Nay, rather, we have unsealed the choice wine with the fingers of might and power."

That spiritual wine can only be savored as we obey his laws.

Michael Dutton of New Fairfield is a member of the Bahai community.

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Publicado no NewsTimesLive.Com, 24-Mar-2007

The Baha’is of the Caucasus: An Independent Azerbaijan {3/3}

2007-03-20T13:40:00.000Z

By Bayram BALCI (Director of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies IFEAC, Tashkent) and Azer JAFAROV (Baku)
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As for other religions, the end of the Soviet era is for the Baha’is a synonym for a rediscovered religious liberty. However, the campaign against religion during the Soviet period was such that the number of Baha’is at the beginning of the decade was barely two thousand. Fifteen years later, their number is essentially the same. Like other religions, the Baha’i faith is seeing a rejuvenation that comes from a combination of internal and external influences.

In the interior of the country, residents more easily express their faith and their religious practices, all the more reason because the power and the authorities seem to encourage this phenomenon—the public expression of religious sentiment. As for the exterior influence, it has come essentially from Turkey. One could expect that it would come from Russia and Iran, where important, long-established Baha’i communities live but it is actually the Turkish influences what were the most rapid and the most efficient, doubtless because of the good relations between Ankara and Baku, united around the discourse on Turkishness and a re-found brotherhood.

The phenomenon of conversion occupies a considerable place in this revival. It is estimated that more than 80% of Baku’s Baha’is are converts, often Shiite Muslims in quest for spirituality at the moment of the break-up of the Soviet Union. The arrival of foreign missionaries, Turkish missionaries especially, facilitated the conversion of certain people, Muslim or Christian by culture, to the Baha’i faith. Ethnically, the majority of Baha’is from Azerbaijan are Azeri, but there are also Russians and Northern Caucasians, especially Lezgins {1}.

On the same model, in other Caucasian regions, where communities exist, notably in Batumi and in Dagestan, a certain revival has also taken place. As for the Baha’is in Armenia, most of them have left the country since the beginning of the confrontation with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

One of the traditions of the Baha’i faith is the assembly of the community of each city every year on 21 April to choose its nine leaders. An impossible practice during the Soviet period, it was revived starting in 1991. At that time, nine people were chosen democratically by the faithful hold the decision-making power for the community in Baku. The groups in Ganja, Sumqayit and Salyan each have their own nine representatives charged with administering the life of the community. In other cities, the reduced number of Baha’is does not allow the election of representatives that can always go to Baku for the important Baha’i holidays.

In contrast to other religions, the Baha’i faith doesn’t place a central importance on the place of worship. Most of the time, meetings and religious ceremonies take place in family houses. Nevertheless, in Baku there is a seat of the association that serves as the conference center, the school and the meeting room. Religious education there is assured by the leaders of the community. Religious literature is often imported from Russia, where paper is less expensive. Every 19 days, the community meets in a plenary session for collective prayers, often readings of sacred texts, especially the works of Baha’ullah and of Abdu’l-Baha.

The community of Baku is accepted world-wide by Muslims and perfectly integrated into the country and society. In accordance with the law, its two religious associations are registered with the State Committee for Religious Affairs. It also has two members who are part of a forum created by the state, the Union of Religious Organizations for Peace.

This official recognition of its status permits the community to freely practice its religion and to peacefully live its religious live. On the other hand, in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic where, in principle, the laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan should apply, the small Baha’i minority is constantly harassed by the authorities, who don’t give it any freedom of association.

However, the Baha’is aren’t the only ones to be bothered for the religious beliefs. Followers of Christian denominations, especially Adventists, Pentecostals, and Baptists, are also constantly bothered by the authorities of the Autonomous Republic.

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Publicado no Caucaz (20-Mar-2007)

The Baha’is of the Caucasus: From Russian Tolerance to Soviet Repression {2/3}

2007-03-20T13:39:00.000Z

By Bayram BALCI (Director of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies IFEAC, Tashkent) and Azer JAFAROV (Baku)

Translated by Kathryn GAYLORD-MILES
----------------------------

Russia, at the moment of the Baha’i faith’s advent was already politically and militarily very present in Iran and along its frontiers. Guided by an imperial policy that put it into competition with the English Crown, Russia was very interested in what was happening in Iran, where it was one of the rare European powers to maintain permanent diplomatic representation .{1} Because of this, Russia was concerned and well-informed about what happened there, including in the domain of politico-religious ideas.

The theological questions of the Persian Empire interested Russia even more because historically, it was often the Shiite clergy that pushed the Shah to war against Russia. This was the case in 1813 and 1828 at least. {2} This strong interest explains the rapidity with which the Writings of Baha’ullah were translated into Russian by Orientalists in the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and Moscow. {3} On the part of certain Russian intellectuals, these translations contributed to a veritable fancy for the Baha’i faith.

Repression, to which the first converts were subject, obligated them to exile themselves in several directions and notably, to Russian territory, in the Turkmen steppes and in the region of Nakhichevan. Therefore, Ashgabat, capital of present-day Turkmenistan, the main city of the Turkmen desert at the time and an important Russian garrison in the region, became the centre of Baha’i exiles. Largely studied by specialists of the Baha’i faith {4}, this community is considered a model of a Baha’i society, founded and governed by the Writings of Baha’ullah. Because of its order, discipline and social organization, as well as its interdependent collective life, based on mutual aid and conviviality, it elicited the admiration of the Russian political authorities of the period.

It possessed, exceptionally for the time, its own hospitals, schools, workshops, newspapers, and centres of leisure. Early egalitarians, girls were educated, conforming to the prescriptions of Baha’ullah that insist on the instruction of girls. The temple of the community, Mashriq-ul-Adhkar, was the point of assembly and crystallization of the group. Certain European intellectuals did not hesitate to compare it to the first Christian societies. {5}

Parallel to its diffusion in the Russian provinces, this new faith attracted the curiosity and sympathy of intellectual circles in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 1903 the writer Isabelle Grinevskaya composed a play in five acts that she called The Bab. In the play, she praises Baha’ism, which she had just embraced. But it is Leo Tolstoy who most publicized this new religion to Russian readers of the period. An admirer of Baha’ullah, he was notably seduced by his progressivism, the rationality of his thinking and above all by the positive role that he gives to women in society. Arguments vary and contradict each other as to whether or not he converted to Baha’ism. {6}

The first contact between Babism (and therefore Baha’ism) and the Caucasus occurred in present-day Nakhichevan. As of the announcement of the next coming of Baha’ullah, a group of disciples formed under the leadership of Sadiq, from the town of Senend, close to Ordubad. The movement spread to all of Nakhichevan and to the region of Zangezur. Worried in face of this movement that it did not understand from the start, the Russian army, under the command of General Behbudov, attacked the new community, which is thought to have included more than ten thousand people. In spite of repression, the new faith continued to grow. From 1850 onwards, small communities established themselves in Baku, Balakhani, Ganja, Barda, and Sheki.

Small groups also installed themselves in Tbilisi, Batumi, in Armenia and in Karabakh. But it is the community of Baku that counted the largest number of believers, to such a point that in 1860, it obtained official recognition from the authorities. It was supported in its legalization efforts by Mirza Abdulkadir Ismayilzade, father of the great national poet Mikayil Mushfik.

Records from the Russian period and from the NKVD show that in 1887 the building situated at 216 Mirza Agha Aliev Street (formerly Jadirov Street), was the spiritual centre of the Baha’i faith community. Currently, attempts are underway for this property to be returned to the Baha’i faith community, but the current legislation does not provide for such recourse.

Political Opening

The success of the Baha’is in Azerbaijan stems from the importance that they accorded from the beginning to modern mixed education, to tolerance and to dialogue with other religions. These progressive views that went against the dominant religious ideas of the age cost them. The famous akhund (Shiite cleric) Ibrahimkhelil, learning that his son had not only converted to Baha’ism but also that he was contributing to its diffusion, published a fatwa condemning him to death. In 1901, he was thrown into an open oil well and stoned to death by the crowd. Barred from Muslim burial, the authorities gave him a space in the Merdekan cemetery.

Despite this climate of hostility, major Azerbaijani intellectual figures often read, admired and even embraced Baha’ism. Among them were the great poet Seyid Azim Shirvani (1835-1888), the founder of the national opera Uzeyir Hajibeyov (1885-1948), and Elekber Sabir (1862-1911) who lived for a long time among the Baha’is and to whom we owe the most scientific and reliable studies on the community. Finally, the major millionaire and oil magnate, patron of the arts and philanthropist Musa Naghiyev (1849-1919), was part of the Baha’i faith community. A member of the Spiritual Council of Baku, he helped the community confront external attacks.

Built on the ruins of the Russian Empire, the Soviet government’s ideologues defended with firm conviction from the 1920s onward the idea that all religions are the source of obscurantism and backwardness. With this idea, as soon as it established its control over the whole country, the Bolshevik regime declared war on major religions like Islam and Protestantism. Baha’ism was initially spared because it was a small community scattered in several towns in the Caucasus and in Central Asia.

From 1922, the new government’s caciques launched their campaign against the Baha’is through the official organs of the Party. Concrete measures ensued immediately, such as the deportation of certain Baha’is to Iran and the exile of others to Siberia. Baha’i faith publications and schools were banned, as well as collective meetings, which were considered to be a threat to socialism. From the 1930s onwards, repression intensified, as was the case for all other religions. Certain intellectuals were shot by the Stalinist police.

As in other religions, Baha’i faith and practices took refuge in the family circle and private life, as all religious expression was banned in public spaces. The end of Stalinism relaxed the antireligious policies but a renewal did not occur until much later during perestroika, which, blowing a wind of liberty over all of the Soviet Union, permitted the establishment of connections with Baha’is abroad. This political opening, along with the independence of the republics where the Baha’is were implanted, announced a reconstitution of the community.

{1}On the Anglo-Russian rivalry in Iran, see George CURZON, Persia and the Persian Question, vol. 1, Longmans, 1892, London, reprinted in Frank Cass, London, 1966. For a Russian version of these narratives, see Andrew D. KALMYKO, Memoirs of a Russian Diplomat (Ed. Kalmykow, Alexandra), Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1971.

{2} Tadeusz SWIETOCHOWSKI, Historical Dictionary of Azerbaijan, New York, Secarcrow, 1999.

{3} The first real Russian translation of Baha’i texts was the work of Aleksandr KAZEM-BEG, a Russian scholar of Iranian origin, a professor of Persian Studies at Saint Petersburg University between 1849 and 1860. See Graham HASSALL, “Notes on the Babi and Baha'i Religions in Russia and its territories”, Journal of Baha’ Studies, vol. 5, n° 3, 1993, pp. 41-80.

{4} On the Ashgabat Baha’i community, see Moojan MOMEN, “The Baha’i Community of Ashkkhabad : it’s Social Basis and Importance in Baha’i History”, in Shirin AKINER (Ed.), Cultural Change and Continuity in Central Asia, London, Kegan Paul International, 1991, pp. 278-305.

{5} Moojan MOMEN, « The Baha’i Community of Ashkhabad: its Social Basis and Importance in Baha’i History », op.cit.

{6} On the relationship between Leo Tolstoy and Baha’ism, see William P. COLLINS, and Jasion T. JAN, “Lev Tolstoy and the Báb’ and Bahá'’ Religions: A Bibliography”, The Journal of Bahá'’ Studies, vol. 3, n° 3, 1991, pp.1-10.

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Publicado no Caucaz (21-Fev-2007)

Who are the Baha’is of the Caucasus? {Part 1 of 3}

2007-03-20T13:38:00.000Z

By Bayram BALCI, Director of the French Institute of Central Asian Studies (IFEAC) – Tashkent, and Azer JAFAROV – Baku

Translated by Christian Nils LARSON
-------------------------------------------------

Of the cultural and religious components in the Caucasus, the Baha’i faith is without a doubt the smallest and least known. Regardless, it continues to expand even today, particularly in Azerbaijan and somewhat in Georgia. Born in the mid-19th century in Persia, on the margins of the Russian and Ottoman empires, the religion quickly sought refuge in the Caucasus in order to flee repression in its country of origin. Although it has been present in the region for more than 150 years, the Baha’i faith remains poorly understood by the local populations and is the object of numerous phantasms.

Although the Baha’i community experiences a certain revival which was facilitated by the establishment of foreign links, there has been an increasingly strong confusion between national and religious identity in Azerbaijan. This confusion has tended to dilute the Baha’i faith in national and official Islam, in the form in which it is promoted by institutions of religious control put in place by the post-Soviet government. The following is an exposé in three parts.

The Baha’i faith is a new religion founded by Mirza Husayn ‘Ali (1817-1892), better known by the title of Baha’ullah (“the Glory of God”) in mid-19th century Persia. The word Baha’i comes from baha (glory, splendor) and qualifies the disciples of Baha’ullah. The religion developed from another syncretism, Babism, which was founded in 1844 by Mirza ‘Ali Muhammed of Shiraz, known by the name Bab, who proclaimed the imminent arrival of a new prophet, messenger of God, “The one that God will reveal.”{1} The Bab’s message spread quickly throughout all of Persia, provoking strong opposition from the Shiite clergy and repression from the Persian government. The Bab was arrested and after several years of imprisonment, was condemned to death. His followers faced a wave of repression in which 20,000 of them lost their lives.

Following a failed assassination attempt against Shah Nasiri-d-Din, carried out in August 1852 by two of Bab’s followers seeking to avenge their master, Baha’ullah, one of the Bab’s first disciples, was arrested. Although he proclaimed innocence, he was thrown in the ‘black hole’, a famous Tehran prison. According to sacred Baha’i texts, it was there that he became conscious of his mission as a divine messenger. Released in January 1853 and exiled to Baghdad, he headed up the Babi community there and undertook to renew the community’s faith. Worried, the Persian government encouraged the Ottoman authorities to distance Baha’ullah and the growing number of his disciples from the Persian border. Before leaving for Constantinople, Baha’ullah spent twelve days in a garden near Baghdad and it was there that he declared to a small number of Babis that he was the messenger of God whose arrival had been prophesized by the Bab. {2} That was in April 1863.

From Constantinople, where he spent four months, Baha’ullah was transferred to Andrianople (current day Edirne) from which he rendered his mission public through letters called Tablets, addressed to the leaders of Persia, Turkey, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Great Britain and France, as well as to the Pope and the Christian and Muslim clergy.

A great majority of Babis recognized Baha’ullah and became know as Baha’is. Bothered by their success and the rapid growth of their community, the Iranian consul in Edirne asked the Ottoman authorities to evict Baha’ullah. On order of the Ottoman sultan, this was done in 1868. Baha’ullah was exiled to Saint Jean d’Acre, another Ottoman town, where he died in 1892.

Before passing away, Baha’ullah designated his oldest son, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Server of the Glory (1844-1921), as leader of the Baha’i community and authorized interpreter of his teachings. ‘Abdu’l-Baha not only administered the movement’s affairs from Palestine, he also actively engaged to spread the faith, traveling in Africa, Europe and America from 1910 to 1913. In turn he designated his oldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (1896-1957) as his successor and authorized interpreter of Baha’ullah’s teachings. {3}

During ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s ministry, Baha’i groups were established in North Africa, the Far East, Australia and the United States. Since then, the movement has spread nearly everywhere on the planet with particularly important communities in Africa, Iran, India, the United States and certain regions of South East Asia. The religion’s expansion in the Caucasus began as soon as its revelation but before analyzing in detail its progression in the Russian empire of the time, we will briefly present the religion’s theological principles.

Sacred literature and religious practice

The Baha’is believe that God revealed himself to men through different prophets throughout the centuries. They consider that the revelations of Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Christ or Mohammed complete one another, each one surpassing the previous one. {4} From this postulate derives the belief that Baha’ullah’s and ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s revelations surpass previous revelations from the Old and New Testaments, as well as from the Qur’an, without contradicting them. {5}This new revelation, which according to the Baha’i faith is superior to the others, has become necessary for a more mature and responsible humanity than that of ancient times. {6}They are additionally convinced that mankind is on the brink of a new era in which they will form one single nation and have one single religion. This evolutionist conception of humanity is a central point of the Baha’i social and religious vision which considers that “God is unique and all of his prophets are united. Humanity is singular and whole.” The Baha’is believe therefore in a unique God, creator of the world, and based upon these points, they follow the Abrahamic religions. They also share the same conception of humanity, placed by God at the summit of creation.

The Baha’is greatly insist upon humanity’s unity. They consider the current divisions between nations, races and religions as faults destined to disappear with the accession of their doctrine. That is why they are fervent supporters of United Nations institutions, in which they see the precursor signs of the global government they wish to see. {7} The Baha’is’ doctrine can be summarized in the words of Shoghi Effendi, Baha’ullah’s last successor: “The goal of a Baha’i’s life is to promote the unity of mankind. Our lives are directly linked to those of all human beings and we do not want a personal greeting, but a universal greeting. Our goal is to usher in a global civilization.” {8}

The Baha’is observe a strict code of conduct based upon their holy book, Kitab I Aqdas. The religion’s principal obligations are daily prayer and a one month fast in March, before the beginning of the New Year. They encourage personal spiritual life, supported by meditation upon the texts of Baha’ullah and Abdul Baha. Each day they also recite their three obligatory prayers while facing the directions of Saint-Jean d’Acre and Haifa, where their World Centre and Universal House of Justice are located. All drugs are strictly forbidden, particularly alcohol, and the use of tobacco is strongly discouraged. Marriage is extremely important and pre-marital sexual relations as well as adultery are also strictly forbidden. {9} The Baha’is follow a calendar of 19 months and 19 days, totaling 361 days. The four “remaining days” are dedicated to festivities. The first day of each month is marked by a celebration consisting of three parts. The first part is reserved for prayer and meditation upon the sacred texts. Following that, participants deal democratically with administrative questions concerning their group. Finally, the meeting ends with a meal and entertainment.

{1} For a historical and scientific view of the Baha’i faith, see Momen Mojan, The Babi and Baha’i Religions 1844-1944 : Some Contemporary Western Accounts, George Ronald, Oxford, 1981. See also the following book which continues to remain relevant, Hippolyte Dreyfus, Essai sur le baha'isme : son histoire, sa portée sociale, Paris puf 1962, 152 p. Finally, it is worth consulting the serious study by J-D. Martin, The Baha’i Faith : the Emerging Global Religion, San Francisco, 1984.

{2} Hippolyte DREYFUS, op.cit.

{3} Hippolyte DREYFUS, op.cit.

{4} Encyclopedia Britannica, op.cit.

{5} See the Encyclopedia of Religions and Humanity: http://www.bahai-biblio.org/centre-doc/dico/encyclopedie-religions.htm , 25 March 2006.

{6} Encyclopedia Britannica, op.cit.

{7} This belief in a universal government explains the Baha’is’ passion for the United Nations where they have permanent representation in several organizations in Geneva, Nairobi and New York.

{8} All of Shoghi Effendi’s works translated into French can be found at: http://www.religare.org/unity-mba.htm, as of 4 April 2006.

{9} See the Encyclopedia of Religions and Humanity: http://www.bahai-biblio.org/centre-doc/dico/encyclopedie-religions.htm , 25 March 2006.

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Caucaz (Article published in 20/02/2007 Issue)

Baha’i group accuses Iran of discrimination

2007-03-02T22:18:00.000Z

UNITED NATIONS: Iranian universities expelled almost 70 students after discovering they were of the Baha’i faith and the country’s government is “turning a blind eye,” the Baha’i International Community said on Wednesday.

Iran denied the accusation as “baseless information.” The Baha’i faith, an offshoot of Islam, originated in Iran 150 years ago. It claims 5 million members worldwide, including an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 in Iran, where it is considered heresy by the country’s religious leaders.

The community said Baha’i had been banned from universities in Iran for the past 25 years but that some 178 Baha’i students were admitted to various campuses last year after Tehran removed religious identification from entrance exam papers. Yet as universities became aware of the students’ faith, they were being expelled, Diane Ala’i, the Baha’i International Community’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva said in a statement.

A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the charges were wrong. “No one in Iran because of their religion has been expelled from studying,” said the spokesman, who asked his name not be used.

Baha’is say hundreds of their faith have been jailed and executed since the Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979. The government denies it has detained or executed people for their faith. reuters

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Daily Times (Pakistan, 02-Feb-2007)

Elimination of prejudice is part of 'multiracial mutual respect'

2007-02-26T23:07:00.000Z

By Kim Ness
The Hamilton Spectator
(Feb 26, 2007)

From the comfortable vantage point of urban southern Ontario, racial strife and civil rights movements may seem geographically and historically distant. Can we draw lessons for today from the post-Civil War American South? Surprisingly, yes.

Canada may justifiably be a multicultural model of peaceful coexistence, but scratch beneath the surface and incidents of racial, religious, cultural and social discrimination emerge. Indeed, national and temporal boundaries lose significance in light of the challenge posed by the elimination of prejudice.

Black History Month, or African Heritage Month as it is increasingly and more accurately called, invites celebration of accomplishments and consideration of the logic of multi-racial mutual respect.

It allows a reclamation of invisible at best little recognized contributors to our present: for example, the 19th century landowning Griffin family in Ancaster; the escaped slaves who came to the Niagara region via the Underground Railroad; the original settlements along the mountain brow by black farmers; the rich legacy of Stewart Memorial Church; present-day leaders such as Lincoln Alexander, Gary Warner and Michaelle Jean.

It also reminds us of what is common to all -- the relevance of the past to the present.

So it is with Louis George Gregory, a relatively unknown South Carolina-born son of a freed slave. A principal figure in African North American civil rights history, he worked tirelessly to encourage interracial understanding and the oneness of humanity. An inspiration in his time to Canadians, Americans and Europeans, he remains exemplary for building multiracial understanding to this day.

Gregory was born in 1874 in Charleston, the primary entry point for African slaves into America, at a time of short-lived optimism and relative freedom. His life spanned pivotal milestones for African Americans: the cessation of slavery to the mid-20th century introduction of new civil rights for blacks.

His grandmother was "slave wife" to a white plantation owner who witnessed the mob lynching of her own husband by the Ku Klux Klan. Yet she communicated an outlook of racial tolerance and understanding to her grandson, who was educated at Fisk University in Nashville and in law at prestigious Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Gregory established a legal practice in Washington, opened a real estate firm there and from 1906 worked at the U.S. Treasury Department. Immediately, Gregory joined the ranks of influential African-American professionals and intellectuals who contributed to education, improved race relations and awareness of African-American history, arts and culture.

As a young man, Gregory did not share the outlook that religion offered a solution to inequity and oppression. His stance was sympathetic to a more forceful radical advocacy that called for immediate societal reform -- the Niagara Movement founded in Ontario in 1905 and the precursor to the NAACP.

In 1907, he was introduced to the Baha'i Faith and in 1909 he embraced its world-encompassing vision of multiracial harmony, the oneness of God, the oneness of religion and the oneness of humanity. His lifelong social concern was then framed within a spiritual context.

In Palestine, he also met with Abdu'l-Baha, the son of the founder of the Baha'i Faith, who encouraged him to be a source of harmony to African and white Americans.

Kim Ness lives in Hamilton. From 1984 to 2002, she was director and curator of the McMaster Museum of Art.

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Hamilton Spectator (26-Feb-2007)

Chiites, Bahaïstes, Évangélistes : Les pratiques religieuses occultes au Maroc

2007-02-23T19:31:00.000Z

Le code pénal marocain est sévère à l’égard de « quiconque qui emploie des moyens de séduction dans le but d’ébranler la foi d’un musulman ou de le convertir à une autre religion » (NDLR : autre que l’Islam qui est religion d’Etat au Maroc selon la Constitution). Concrètement, la prédication pour la propagation d’autres religions est sanctionnée d’une peine pouvant atteindre jusqu’à trois ans de prison.

Les adeptes d’autres courants religieux, même quand ceux-ci relèvent de l’Islam, peuvent tomber sous le coup de la loi. Pourtant, le code pénal ne précise pas explicitement les restrictions. DANS la pratique, la société marocaine, en majorité malékite, ne tolère pas le chiisme, le bahaïsme... Pourtant, il y a bien des Marocains qui pratiquent les prescriptions religieuses de ces courants. Leur nombre ne pourra pas, voire jamais, être connu avec précision. La peur de la loi et de la société les poussent à la clandestinité religieuse. Que dire alors de ceux parmi les musulmans Marocains qui ont choisi de « renier leur foi » et de se convertir au christianisme ? Autant ces néo-chrétiens sont accueillis à bras ouvert par des évangélistes qui s’activent, en catimini, au Maroc ; autant ils deviennent (quand ils révèlent leur nouvelle croyance) des parias aux yeux de leurs ex-coreligionnaires. Ce dossier met la lumière sur les Marocains qui se convertissent au chiisme ou carrément à d’autres religions. Il sort de l’ombre des ex-musulmans devenus des bahaïstes ou des néo-évangélistes. Il analyse les méthodes des évangélistes venus d’ailleurs...

Les chiites marocains se cachent pour prier

Les chiites ont leurs fidèles au Maroc. Les chiites marocains s’activent, créent des associations, célèbrent l’Achoura, Al Mawlid... Ils pratiquent leurs rites dans une absolue discrétion.

Des chiites, il y en a un bon nombre au Maroc. Certes, ils sont considérés comme des musulmans. Mais, leurs rites et pratiques diffèrent de ceux des sunnites. C’est ce qui les pousse à pratiquer leurs rites loin des regards. Leur souci est d’éviter tout problème. Ils puvent être poursuivis sinon. « Takia » est l’un de leurs principes fondateurs. Il leur impose la discrétion.

Ce principe de la « Takia » signifie la crainte de Dieu, mais aussi des ennemis. Les chiites préfèrent exercer clandestinement leur foi pour échapper aux persécutions. C’est donc une règle de comportement chez les chiites marocains. Il ne s’agit pas, selon eux, de renier l’islam mais bien de cacher aux autres musulmans leurs propres convictions.

Parfois, il arrive que certains parmi eux affichent ouvertement leur appartenance chiite. C’est le cas par exemple de leur leader au Maroc, Driss Hani. Ce dernier a suivi sa formation académique dans de grandes écoles chiites syriennes.

Lors des évènements célébrés, habituellement, par les chiites iraniens, irakiens, syriens... les Marocains chiites ne ratent pas de tels occasion pour effectuer les mêmes célébrations. Ils le font en catimini, dans un cadre strictement réduit.

Ainsi, ils organisent, à l’instar des chiites d’ailleurs, Al Aâzaa Houssaini (obsèques Houssaini), célèbrent à la manière chiite Achoura, Aïd Mawlid...

En plus, en quête de nouvelles recrues, leurs prêcheurs organisent parfois des séances spirituelles pour tenter d’attirer des personnes de confiance.

Le témoignage d’un internaute marocain (chiite.over-blog.com), qui s’est consacré à dévoiler « l’égarement des chiites » en dit long sur les méthodes de recrutement.

« J’ai connu un Imam Marocain Chiite diplômé en science politique, qui m’a donné des cours traitant de l’Islam pendant plusieurs années. Dans son garage transformé en bibliothèque, il égara les gens pour les emmener petit à petit vers la croyance peu connu des chiites. Mais pour cela, il utilisa la Takia. A chaque fois qu’on lui posait une question sur la religion, il mettait du temps avant de répondre en touchant son bouc afin de réfléchir sur la formule de Takia qu’il allait utiliser. Cet Imam ne propageait pas trop son idéologie dans la mosquée, ni dans les cours qu’il donnait les soirs ou pendant les khoutba. Il diffusait méthodiquement sa croyance chez lui, en privé, dans son garage en effectuant des soirées spirituelles et en privilégiant les nouveaux convertis ou tous ceux qui avaient une tendance vers le soufisme », explique ce blogger devenu anti-chiite.

En incluant dans leur credo des séances de Dhikr et de lectures de Coran, les chiites mettent en doute la foi des compagnons du prophète au point de les insulter, directement ou indirectement. Ils mettent en doute la foi de l’épouse du prophète, Aïcha, critiquent Aboubakr Assaddiq, Omar Ibnou Alkhattab et Othman Ibnou Affan... D’où la contradiction avec l’Islam sunnite.

Une organisation chiite marocaine en gestation

Parce que leur nombre augmente, les Marocains convertis au chiisme seraient en train de se préparer pour fonder une « organisation des chiites marocains ». Mais, nombreux sont les observateurs qui s’attaquent au bien-fondé de cette hypothétique organisation. Parmi eux, le chercheur et spécialiste dans le chiisme, Saâd Bouachrine (voir entretien).

Certaines associations sont taxées d’être un cadre d’action pour les chiites, sans plus. C’est le cas de l’association Attawassoul à Al Hoceima, Al Inbiaat à Tanger et Al Ghadir à Meknès (une autre association en France porte le même nom. Celle-ci affiche publiquement ses orientations chiites).

Dans son rapport, publié annuellement sur la liberté de religion, le département d’Etat américain, souligne qu’en 2006 l’association marocaine Al Ghadir a demandé à être régularisée. Le document précise que cette organisation chiite « n’avait toujours pas reçu de réponse à sa demande de statut officiel. » Le rapport note que c’est la première fois au Maroc qu’une association chiite demande à être reconnue officiellement ».

Saàd Bouachrine, chercheur en stratégie : « Les chiites marocains ne présentent pas de danger »

Saàd Bouachrine, chercheur en stratégie, membre du parti Al Badil Al Hadari, est connu par son expérience dans l’analyse des mouvements chiites. Il est également membre fondateur de plusieurs associations, actuellement directeur de la Fédération Nationale des Inventeurs et Innovateurs Marocains. Dans cet entretien, S. Bouachrine fait le point sur le chiisme au Maroc, les voies par lesquelles est parvenue cette « idéologie » au Royaume, ses rites...

Quelle est, en général, la différence entre sunnites et chiites ?

Le phénomène chiite est arrivé au stade connu dans la sociologie par le « fait social ». Les chercheurs qui s’intéressent aux chiites et au chiisme doivent marquer un arrêt sur les spécificités générales de ce phénomène. Pour cela, ils doivent avoir à l’esprit le facteur historique pour traiter la question.

C’est dans ce contexte que je rappelle que, historiquement, le chiisme prône l’école dite de « la quête de la justice ». C’est-à-dire que ses fondements religieux mettent en avant la justice et l’Imamat en tant que fondements immuables. Les chiites croient en la théorie de la désignation divine du califat après le prophète. C’est de là que vient l’importance du concept de la justice qu’ils mettent en avant. Ils estiment que le droit de Ali, le calife légal, selon les chiites, a été altéré.

Les autres fondements de l’unification de Dieu, du prophète, de l’au-delà,... restent des fondements communs entre sunnites et chiites. Les sunnites considèrent l’Imamat comme étant une petite section de la religion et non pas un important fondement. Car ils mettent en avant la Choura (concertation) pour la désignation du calife ou de l’Imam.

Y a-t-il une différence entre le chiisme marocain et le chiisme ailleurs : en Iran, en Irak... ?

On ne peut pas parler d’une forme de chiisme marocain en dehors de l’allégeance spirituelle qu’ont des marocains aux descendants du prophète. Cette allégeance de nature chiite n’a pas la signification d’une véritable appartenance comme cela se passe dans le monde chiite. Car il n’y a pas de « Haouzate » (des sortes d’écoles chiites) au Maroc. Il n’y a pas de Houssainiyate (locaux consacrés à la célébration des « tragédies » des descendants du prophète).

On n’organise pas de cérémonies pour célébrer la naissance ou la décès d’Imams chiites... On ne peut pas donc parler de chiisme marocain parallèlement à un chiisme oriental. Mais il n’en demeure pas moins qu’il y a des cas de quelques convertis pouvant atteindre le degré de l’appartenance doctrinale ou la croyance religieuse chiite.

Par quels canaux est entrée le chiisme au Maroc ?

En analysant les comportements de certains chiites marocains, nous pouvons dire que le chiisme oriental est entré au Maroc par différents canaux. Ainsi, malgré le peu de chiites qu’il y a dans le Royaume, nous pouvons relever, dans la pratique, l’existence de différentes formes de chiisme. Parce qu’il y a des chiites marocains qui le sont dans le sens culturel, d’autres par entière conviction, certains dans le sens politique... Ceci dépend des liens qu’ils tissent avec les chiites d’ailleurs. Par exemple le chiisme dans le sens culturel est exprimé par l’attachement aux revues chiites : « Affaires contemporaines », « Al Kalima », « Al Wai Al Moaâssir » (conscience contemporaine)... Quant au chiisme lié aux « Haouzate », il est le résultat des relations tissées avec les « Haouzate » iraniennes, irakiennes ou syriennes. Le chiisme par attachement politique a, lui, fait son entrée grâce aux chaînes paraboliques chiites comme Al Manar, Al Alam. Il y a également un chiisme ethnique encouragé par les publications des maisons d’éditions spécialisées qui exposent leurs produits chaque deux ans lors du salon du livre qui se tient à Casablanca. Sans parler des nombreux sites chiites sur internet... Comme je l’ai exprimé, nous sommes en face d’un fait social qui mérite d’être analysé.

Peut-on alors parler d’organisations chiites marocaines ?

Je crois qu’il est difficile de parler aujourd’hui au Maroc de mouvement chiites marocains. Comme on ne peut pas, non plus, dire qu’ils ont une vision politique claire. D’abord parce que les chiites marocains n’ont pas développé des systèmes organisationnels bien déterminés. Et aussi du fait qu’ils ne sont pas encore arrivés à avoir une vision politique claire. Ils puisent seulement leurs idées de différentes sources.

Qu’en est-il de l’association Al Ghadir qui est taxée d’être un cadre d’action des chiites marocains ?

L’association Al Ghadir est une association culturelle et non pas un cadre politique, malgré la signification politique que porte son nom. Car son appellation signifie dans la littérature chiite le lieu ou le prophète a nommé, officiellement, Ali comme successeur. Je peux assurer, vu ma connaissance des milieux meknassi où se trouve l’association, que l’initiative de sa création est une action spontanée de la part de certains sympathisants de l’idéologie chiite.

Mais ils l’ont vite quittée en raison des pressions qu’ils ont subies. Ils se sont également rendus compte de la signification du nom Al Ghadir dans le système chiite. Par ailleurs, le parti Annahda Wal Fadila (Renaissance et Vertu) de Mohamed Khalidi, avait été accusé de comprendre parmi ses membres des chiites. Ce parti qui avait été créé sur l’initiative de Mohamed Khalidi et d’autres acteurs islamistes, s’en est défendu.

Et comment expliquez-vous alors l’appartenance de la figure chiite, Driss Hani à ce parti ? N’est-ce pas lui-même qui a annoncé la création du parti Annahda (Renaissance et Vertu) ?

Driss Hani avait rejoint la commission préparatoire du parti Renaissance et Vertu et il ne faisait pas parti du mouvement Annahda Wal Yakada (NDLR : association qui était constituée au sein du mouvement de la Justice et du Développement avant qu’elle ne se transforme en parti politique). En suivant les déclarations de Driss Hani dans la presse, on se rend compte que celui-ci n’a plus de relations avec Renaissance et Vertu. Or, je ne pense pas que ses différends avec Mohamed Khalidi portent sur des questions idéologiques... J’ai pu comprendre que leur différend était relatif à la date de l’annonce de la création du parti. De toute les façons, en dehors de l’Association Al Ghadir et du parti Annahda Wal Yakada. Il n’y a pas d’indices qui poussent à croire qu’il y a un mouvement politique chiite. On ne peut pas donc parler de choses qui n’existent pas.

Vous qui suivez cette question, pouvez-vous citer les différentes connexions qu’il y a entre chiites marocains et organisations chiites orientales ?

Personne ne pourrait répondre à cette question. Parce qu’il faut avoir des cas concrets, des organisations et des mouvements politiques clairs. On ne peut donc parler que d’une forme d’attachement aux bureaux de certains « Marajie » chiites (le pluriel de Marja, aussi appelé Marja Attaqlid, signifiant littéralement « source d’imitation » ou « source de tradition » la seconde plus haute autorité dans le chiisme duodécimain. Il se situe après le prophète et les Imams chiites).

Nous avons relevé, par exemple, le cas de chiites marocains qui ont écrit au bureau de Mohamad Hussein Fadlallah lui demandant une fatwa sur les événements de Casablanca du 16 mai. Comme il y a une affluence des Marocains sur les sites chiites d’où ils écrivent aux « Marajie » demandant des fatwas et des explications sur certains points doctrinaux.

Y a-t-il, par exemple, des Marocains chiites formés en orient, qui rentrent au Maroc pour prêcher le chiisme ?

Si nous parlons de la formation au sein des Haouzate, je ne pense pas que les Marocains optent pour ce genre de formations. Les personnes qui se sont trouvées au sein de ces écoles durant les années 80 et 90 sont restées à l’étranger. L’on s’en rend compte en découvrant les noms de Marocains sur des sites libanais, iraniens,... que ces derniers sont devenus de purs chiites.

En ce qui concerne les Marocains résidant en Europe, nous avons simplement constaté leur sympathie pour les chiites irakiens ou libanais. De retour au Maroc, ils sont étonnés de voir l’esprit critique des Marocains vis-à-vis de tout appel religieux étranger. C’est pour cela que nous pouvons dire que, jusqu’à aujourd’hui, le Maroc est à l’abri de tous les mouvements de prédication qui tentent de s’organiser et de prendre la forme d’un courant politique.

Les chiites ont-ils des rites particuliers ? Fréquentent-ils les mosquées ou exercent-ils leurs rites loin de la société ?

Toutes les formes connues des rites chiites peuvent être pratiquées au Maroc. Mais cela reste très minime en raison de leur éparpillement et parce qu’ils sont peu nombreux.

Et quelles sont les formes de ces rites ?

Les chiites sont connus par leurs implorations. On peut citer l’exemple du rite de la lecture de « douaa Al Komail » (imploration d’Al Komail) la veille de chaque vendredi. Le rite de la célébration des anniversaires de naissance et de décès des Imams chiites... On entend aussi parler du rite des obsèques Hussaini...

En ce qui concerne les pratiques religieuses, il y a une chose qui est très connue chez les chiites, relative à la prière. C’est le fait de joindre les deux prières d’Addohr et d’Al Asr et aussi celles d’Al Maghrib et d’Al Icha. S’il n’y a pas de différence en ce qui concerne le nombre des rakaât (prosternations) chez les sunnites, les chiites font quelques ajouts tels que l’imploration du Konout, la prière d’Achokr (louange à Dieu)...

Selon vous, est-ce que le chiisme est pris en compte dans la réforme du champ religieux entreprise par les responsables marocains ?

La réforme du champ religieux au Maroc à deux objectifs. D’abord veiller à assurer la stabilité religieuse, notamment l’unité du rite. Puis elle veille à assurer la sécurité spirituelle qui, je pense, est liée à la personnalité d’Amir Al Mouminine plus qu’autre chose. C’est pourquoi, je pense que le Maroc ne risque pas d’avoir de divergences idéologiques. Il n’a donc pas besoin de prendre des mesures préventives à ce niveau.

Les bahaïstes sont parmi nous

Peu de Marocains sont au courant de l’existence d’une communauté bahaïste au Maroc. Pourtant, les adeptes de cette religion qui bénéficient de la protection des autorités américaines, via son rapport annuel sur la liberté de culte dans le monde, sont recensés. Il serait plus de 400 pratiquants établis dans les différentes régions du Royaume.

Selon l’édition 2006 du rapport annuel américain sur la liberté de culte, environ 400 bahaïstes font partie des communautés religieuses recensées au Maroc. C’est le 8ème rapport annuel sur la liberté de culte émis par le secrétariat d’Etat américain aux Affaires étrangères qui donne donc cette précision. Le document couvre la période allant de juillet 2005 à juillet 2006. Il précise que ces bahaïstes évitent d’énoncer leurs croyances considérées comme de l’athéisme dans la société musulmane marocaine ou du reniement de la foi.

Autant le code pénal que la tradition islamique nationale appellent à une peine sévère pour réprimer la conversion d’un musulman à une autre religion. Et toute tentative de conversion d’un musulman est illégale.

Ces interdictions n’empêchent pas les bahaïstes à accéder à d’importantes fonctions publiques, précise le même document, dont les rédacteurs indiquent qu’ils n’ont pas été empêchés d’aller à la rencontre de ces personnes et d’autres individus pour effectuer leur enquête de terrain.

La religion bahaï, plus connue sous le nom de bahaïsme, a été fondée en 1863. Son nom provient de son fondateur : Baha Allah. Les adeptes de cette foi, s’organisent autour de plus de 100.000 centres répartis dans le monde entier. Les écrits sont publiés dans plus de 800 langues différentes. Le nombre de ces adeptes, répandus dans 193 pays, est estimé aujourd’hui à près de 7 millions.

La foi Bahaie est résumée par le concept des trois unités : unité de Dieu, unité de la religion, unité de l’humanité. Les écrits Bahaïstes mettent l’accent sur l’égalité essentielle des êtres humains, et sur l’abolition des injustices. L’humanité est vue comme unique, bien que très variée : « la diversité des races et des cultures sont dignes d’appréciation et de tolérance ». Le racisme, le nationalisme, les castes et les classes sociales sont considérées comme « des barrières à l’unité de l’humanité ». Leurs enseignements préconisent « l’unification de l’humanité ».

Les croyances Bahaïstes sont décrites comme des combinaisons des croyances antérieures. Cependant, les adeptes cette religion suivent une tradition distincte, qui dispose de ses propres écritures, enseignements, lois et histoire.

Cette religion a fait parlée d’elle pour la première fois au Maroc en 1962 lors d’un procès où ont été poursuivis 14 bahaïstes. Ils avaient étaient condamnés en appel par la cour pénale de Nador à la peine de mort, peine qui a été cassée par la cour suprême. Depuis, les adeptes bahaïstes marocains agissent en catimini.

Evangélisme au Maroc : Des Marocains christianisés

D’après des chiffres non officielle, il y aurait 40.000 convertis au christianisme au Maroc. D’autres sources contestent ce chiffre. Quoi qu’il en soit, les missionnaires ont leurs adeptes dans le Royaume.

Des députés du parti de l’Istiqlal et du PJD ont interpellé dernièrement le ministre des Habous et des affaires islamiques lors de l’une des séances réservées aux questions orales. Ils se disaient inquiets au vu du nombre croissant de missionnaires étrangers qui sillonnent le Maroc.

"Aucun étranger n’a déclaré à l’Administration marocaine qu’il était venu pratiquer l’évangélisation", a répondu le ministre interpellé.

Les évangélistes savent bien que leurs activités sont strictement interdites sur le sol marocain. Rien qu’en décembre dernier à Agadir, un missionnaire allemand a été emprisonné (voir encadré). C’est cette affaire et la découverte, peu de temps auparavant, d’un réseau évangéliste américain à Marrakech qui ont remis le phénomène de l’évangélisation au devant de la scène.

L’évangélisme n’était pas toléré depuis bien longtemps au Maroc. Déjà en 1916, un certain père Charles de Foucauld qui s’était infiltré au Maroc dans les habits d’un Rabin, a été assassiné par des touaregs. Avant son assassinat, ce missionnaire français parcourait clandestinement le Maroc.

Durant toute la période coloniale, les missionnaires déambulaient discrètement à travers la totalité des villes marocaines et même dans les régions rurales les plus éloignées. Certains condisciples veulent actuellement emboîter le pas à leurs prédécesseurs. Ils prétextent d’ouvrer dans le domaine humanitaire ou de développement pour tenter d’attirer de nouveaux fidèles vers leur religion.

Les évangélistes redoublent d’ingéniosité pour attirer les Marocains. La jeunesse est leur cible privilégiée. Ils transmettent leur credo à travers des livrets bien illustrés, des bandes dessinées relatant la vie du Christ, des bibles traduites dans le langage courant. Dès qu’ils ont l’ascendant sur leur interlocuteur, ils donnent des adresses de “maisonnettes” transformées en églises et indiquent même certaines chapelles secrètes.

Les moins téméraires parmi les missionnaires agissent à distance. Les nouvelles technologies de l’information leur facilitent, de plus en plus, la tâche. Dans ce cadre, des sites Internet comme www.lovemorocco.net ou www.movemegod.com proposent la bible en darija et en tamazight. Des contacts avec des marocains convertis sont même proposés aux internautes intéressés par la découverte de la foi qui, leur promet-on, « sauve l’âme ».

Les nouveaux convertis détaillent à travers le Net, comment ils ont trouvé « leur chemin de Damas ». Ils racontent en darija comment ils ont découvert le christianisme.

« Depuis que j’ai découvert Jésus, j’ai découvert la vie, la paix et ma vie a complètement changé. » « Jésus me guide et m’oriente. » « Jésus s’est sacrifié pour moi et grâce à son sacrifice, j’irai au Paradis. » Clament les jeunes convertis. L’un d’eux révèle comment un ami lui a fait découvrir « la voie de Jésus ». « Depuis, je vis dans le bonheur total grâce à mon seigneur Jésus », conclut-il. A travers le web, les Marocains convertis au Christianisme confirment qu’ils deviennent pour les évangélistes, « les meilleurs messagers du Christ ». Une chapelle est indiqué à Aïn Leuh et un numéro de téléphone est donné pour joindre un marocain converti.

Les chaînes satellitaires chrétiennes diffusées en arabe, emploient des marocains christianisés. Ces chaînes, captées au Maroc, sont dans la lignée de Radio Monté Carlo qui émettait des émissions en darija. Leurs émissions allient évangélisation et fiction. Quoi qu’il en soit, l’effet des efforts fournis pour ramener les Marocains à la foi chrétienne ne sont pas (encore) visibles. Selon un pasteur résidant au Maroc, les marocains évangélisés ne fréquentent pas les églises de peur d’être démasqués. A quelques exceptions près, devait nuancer le pasteur. Chaque dimanche matin, des couples mixte et des Marocains en solo ne se cachent plus en sortant des églises de la capitale.

Ces néo-protestants évangéliques marocains sont, en majorité, convertis au cours de leur séjour en Europe ou aux Etats-Unis. La plupart disent avoir comme référence : le père Jean Mohamed Benabdjlil. Ce marocain promu clergé du Vatican. Il est leur icône vivante. Il s’était converti au christianisme pendant le protectorat et fréquenté plusieurs séminaires avant d’intégrer le lieu saint des Chrétiens. Lui aussi représente une singulière exception.

Société secrète

La question des évangélistes a été évoquée au parlement en 2005. Il s’en est suivi un matraquage médiatique opéré par la presse du PJD et de l’istiqlal. Une enquête officielle a été alors diligentée. Elle a mis à contribution le ministre de l’Intérieur et celui des Affaires islamiques, les services de Renseignements de la DGSN et des éléments de la nouvelle cellule de Cyber police. L’enquête visait à dénicher les réseaux de christianisation et d’identifier ses membres les plus actifs au Maroc.

Selon les résultats de cette enquête, le nombre des évangélistes étrangers ayant eu des activités au Maroc serait de près de 800 missionnaires. Parmi eux, certains se sont activés à Casablanca, précisément au quartier Maârif. Là, ils ont distribué des tracts et des ouvrages sur le christianisme. Imprimés aux Etats-Unis et édités en langue française, ces documents sont destinés aux jeunes. Il y est promis aux jeunes « une vie meilleure » et « un univers parfait ». Les évangélistes sont organisés au sein de “La Société biblique Unie”. Cette organisation a une antenne au quartier Oasis à Casablanca qui est placée sous le contrôle d’un évangéliste américain, J.R. Installé à Casablanca depuis 1992, ce dernier dirige une autre ONG : « Global Education ». Il préside aussi le Conseil de l’Eglise anglicane au Maroc. À Rabat, son compatriote, J.W, officie chaque dimanche à l’église anglicane. Il est au Maroc depuis 1999. Originaire du New Jersey, il dirige une association protestante : RPF International Church.

J.W semble avoir beaucoup de succès auprès de ressortissants venus des pays subsahariens. Ces derniers constituent la majorité des fidèles qui emplissent, chaque dimanche, l’église anglicane de Rabat. Les évangélistes disposent de moyens qui leur permettent de distribuer gratuitement des vivres et des médicaments à des ressortissants subsahariens.

L’église anglicane bâtie sur un terrain d’un alem

L’église anglicane de Rabat a été construite dans les années trente. Le terrain où elle a été construite appartenait à Mohamed Hajoui, éminent alem de la quarawiyine et ministre de l’éducation dans les années trente. La résidence générale avait sommé ce propriétaire à donner une partie de son terrain pour la construction de l’église. En contrepartie, il allait être autorisé à construire une villa. Le alem a accepté le deal. « Dans cette affaire, M. Hajoui a cédé sous la contrainte », révèle l’un de ses anciens élèves à la Quarawiyine.

Modus operandi

Les missionnaires qui veulent rallier les jeunes marocains commence par apprendre le dialecte, l’arabe classique et même les différentes langues amazighes. Ils n’hésitent pas à s’installer dans un quartier populaire, voire à loger chez une famille marocaine en échange d’une somme d’argent mensuelle. Leur but mieux s’intégrer dans la société pour mieux en convaincre.

Certains missionnaires se réfèrent à des éléments tirés de la constitution marocaine pour avancer que les lois marocaines reconnaissent la liberté de culte à tout citoyen marocain. Les juristes les contredisent en affirmant que l’islam est religion d’Etat au Maroc. Ils vont plus loin : « La liberté de culte ne concerne que les citoyens marocains de confession juive ou naissant chrétien. »

Par ailleurs, le délit de prosélytisme est puni par le code pénal marocain. C’est sur la base de ce texte juridique qu’un évangéliste copte égyptien a déjà été jugé à Agadir.

Quand un copte égyptien évangélise à Agadir

Le tribunal de première instance d’Agadir a condamné, le 28 novembre 2006, Sadek Noshi Yassa à six mois de prison ferme et à une amende de 500 DH. Ce touriste copte égyptien portant la nationalité allemande a été sanctionné pour avoir tenté « d’ébranler la foi d’un musulman ». Ce crime est puni par le Code pénal marocain. S.N Yassa, 64 ans, a été interpellé dans l’une des avenues de la ville en train de distribuer à des jeunes des livres de missionnaires chrétiens après avoir réussi à entamer avec eux une discussion à ce sujet. Le mis en cause est un ingénieur retraité qui réside en Allemagne depuis longtemps. Il était venu à Agadir dans le cadre d’un voyage touristique le 24 novembre. Des livres et des CD-ROM incitant les gens à se convertir au christianisme ont été saisis chez lui.

La contre l’évangélisation

Est puni d’un emprisonnement de six mois à trois ans et d’une amende de 100 à 500 dirhams, quiconque emploie des moyens d’attirance dans le but d’ébranler la foi d’un musulman ou de le convertir à une autre religion, soit en exploitant sa faiblesse ou ses besoins, soit en utilisant à ces fins des établissements d’enseignement, de santé, des asiles ou des orphelinats. En cas de condamnation, la fermeture de l’établissement qui a servi à commettre le délit peut être ordonnée, soit définitivement, soit pour une durée qui ne peut excéder trois ans.

Le Reporter - B. Mokhliss & M. El Hamraoui

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Fonte: BLADI.NET (20-Feb-2007)

Baha'is in Egypt fight for recognition as people

2007-02-21T13:59:00.000Z

By Cynthia Johnston
Reuters
Tuesday, February 20, 2007; 10:08 PM

CAIRO (Reuters) - If Egyptian dentist Raouf Hindy would only deny his Baha'i faith, he could get his children the identity documents they need to enrol in Egyptian schools and later to marry, drive a car or open a bank account.

But Hindy has insisted on telling the truth.

His decision has thrust him to the forefront of a legal battle over Egypt's identity politics by Baha'is, who are seen as heretics by many Muslims and whose faith is not recognized by the state.

Hindy is suing the government for the right to omit religion from his children's official documents -- a bold act in this deeply religious, majority-Muslim country where the tiny Baha'i community is said to number between 500 and 2,000.

If he wins, lawyers say the case may set a precedent that would help other Baha'is get identity papers largely denied them since 2004. Discrimination against Baha'is is entrenched in Egyptian bureaucracy, they say.

"I don't like any person to force me to write a religion I don't believe in. You know why? Religion is between your heart and God," Hindy told Reuters.

The Egyptian constitution guarantees religious freedom but in practice officials are reluctant to recognize religions other than Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

Rights activists say Baha'is face systematic persecution in Egypt. Rules, rigidly enforced since Egypt computerized its identity card system, require that people's official documents show a religious affiliation, and it must be chosen from among the three recognized faiths.

So Hindy's 14-year-old twins Emad and Nancy, without proper documents, have fallen into an underclass of unrecognized people whose identity Egypt finds troubling.

"If this policy continues, Baha'is will be in a way fifth-class citizens, or even non-citizens, in their own country," said Diane Ala'i, the Geneva-based Baha'i representative to the United Nations.

Hindy has depleted his savings so his Egyptian-citizen children, born in Oman while he was working in the Gulf, can study abroad. Egyptian schools, even private ones, refuse to admit them. Egypt has been unwilling to recognize their birth certificates because they list the twins as Baha'is.

BAHA'I UNDERCLASS

As a result of the new rules, life for Baha'is has become increasingly difficult in recent years.

The Baha'i faith, which originated in Iran, arrived in Egypt in the 1860s when Baha'i merchants settled in Alexandria and Cairo, according to the official Baha'i Web site, http://www.bahai.org.

A century later, the Baha'i community had swollen to about 5,000, the largest in the Arab world. Egyptian Baha'is had their own libraries and cemeteries. Baha'i governing assemblies were operating in seven cities, the community says.

In 1960, Egypt dissolved Baha'i institutions and seized community assets. Land on the banks of the Nile bought to build a house of worship on was sold at public auction.

Baha'is have sometimes been seen in the Arab world as disloyal citizens because the faith has its world center in what is now Israel. After the 1967 Middle East war, the community says, some Egyptian Baha'is were held in detention camps for six months. Sporadic arrests have followed.

Many analysts say a more likely reason for anti-Baha'i sentiment in Egypt may be theological differences with Islam. Baha'is regard the faith's founder, Baha'u'llah, as the latest in a line of prophets including Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammad.

Hala Mustafa, editor of al-Ahram Quarterly Democracy Review, said the new restrictions were imposed as Egypt was becoming more religiously conservative, and said she saw no signs that the government would change its view of Baha'is soon.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said: "Rulings were issued in this matter that there are to be no identity cards issued for this Baha'i religion. I mean that's forbidden. It's a court ruling, not us. We are just implementing it."

Orthodox Muslims consider Baha'is heretical because they call their faith's 19th-century founder a prophet -- anathema to Muslims who believe Mohammad was God's final messenger.

NO IDENTITY

Baha'is say many of their number avoid going out at night or to places where there might be police checks, for fear of being asked for identity papers they increasingly cannot produce.

Egyptians over the age of 16 are required to carry identity cards at all times. Some Baha'is carry now-invalid cards issued before 2004. Others have passports or other documents that have not yet expired and use them.

"I never even tried to get one (an ID card) because I knew I couldn't...Why go through the hassle?" said Basem Wagdy, a Baha'i in Cairo. "I carry my driving license. Even before that I thought if they stop me I will just give them my college ID."

Wagdy, a maths and science teacher, said he was fired from a job at the German University in Cairo after he was unable to provide bank account details -- leading the school to discover he did not have an identity card and terminate his employment. He has since obtained work at an American-style high school.

An official at the German University declined to comment.

For a few months last year, Baha'is were hopeful: after a two-year fight, a court ruled in April that members of a Baha'i family whose documents had been seized by the state could identify themselves as Baha'is in official papers.

But a higher court overturned the ruling in December in a decision that cannot be appealed.

As a result, the Baha'is have shifted tactics. Now they are no longer seeking to be identified as Baha'is on documents, they simply want ID cards without any mention of their religion.

"It is a step backward for the Baha'i community," said Hossam Bahgat, a lawyer for the Baha'is who was hopeful about the outcome of Hindy's case. "But it will be a solution that will enable them to conduct the most basic everyday functions."

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Publicado no WashingtonPost.com (20-Feb-2006)

Promote peace and unity

2007-02-20T10:56:00.000Z

Speakers at a festival of faiths to mark this year's World Religion Day last Sunday called for unity among the various religious groups in the country in order to promote peace and harmony.

Brother Ishmael Tetteh, Founder and Leader of the Etherean Mission in Ghana said all the religious faiths in the country believe in the oneness of God and as such should serve as a catalyst to bring all the people together irrespective of their race, creed and culture for development.

He was speaking at a festival of faiths organized by the Ghana @ 50 Secretariat to unite the country through the diverse religious faiths by promoting good behaviour and eschewing evil.

The festival, which was attended by all the major religious groups in the country, was on the theme: "Unity of faiths: A precondition for sustained peace and unity in Ghana".

Mr. Tetteh said the church seeks to rekindle the spiritual enlightenment of the people to avail themselves to their Godly potentials and their mystical traditions of Africa. He said Africans have been brainwashed to look down on themselves and that accounts for the self-destruction and present woes of the continent.

"A people without spiritual, historical and cultural heritage are dead," he said. Mr. Tetteh also said the mission, since its inceptions; practiced holistic healing that employs African traditional methods in the treatment, prevention and cure of many diseases, most of which have defied orthodox medicine.

Professor Emmanuel O. Asare, Representative of the Bahai Faith commended the organizers and the various religious groups for taking part in the programme but warned Ghanaians not be complacent.

"We should use occasions like this one to call attention to the need for religious unity," he said.

He said in the past religious prejudice has been the cause of sectarian conflicts between different sects of Christians, Muslims and between Christians and Muslims as well as occasional skirmishes between Christians and traditionalists

He said the Bahai's in Ghana over the years had celebrated the day as their contribution to the promotion of religious unity and peace in the country.

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Accra Daily Mail (Ghana) - (20-Feb-2006)

Carmelite Monastery to follow Bahai Temple

2007-02-19T22:04:00.000Z

Garden will span an area of three hectares and will feature numerous statues, religious artifacts and a large amphitheatre overlooking a spectacular view

Ofer Petersburg

The order of the Carmelite Monastery in Haifa, Israel, a 19th-century monastery located on the slopes of Mount Carmel, became envious of the beautiful Bahai Temple gardens in Haifa and decided to follow suit by creating its own.

The Carmelite gardens will be built on the mountainside of the Stella Maris neighborhood, where a military army based was located until recently. The garden will span an area of three hectares and will feature numerous statues, religious artifacts and a large amphitheatre overlooking a spectacular view.

As in the Bahai gardens, the Carmelite garden will also have a visitors' center that will be open to the public. An American landscape architect was hired to design the garden.

The cost for building the garden is estimated $200 million, while the initial investment totals $50 million.

This week, an official from the Carmelite Monastery submitted a building plan to the district planning committee for a complex in the Stella Maris neighborhood comprising 350 housing units, an elderly citizen's home, a small commercial center and a hotel comprising 100 rooms.

The apartments will not only be sold to Carmelite community members, but to the general public. Revenues incurred from the sales of the apartments will be used for funding the Carmelite garden.

The Carmelite Order is an enclosed Catholic order founded in the 12th century by a group of Europeans led by a man commonly called Saint Bertold on Mount Carmel, Israel, where the order received its name.

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YnetTravel (19-Feb-2007)

Author pushes little-known take on second coming

2007-02-19T21:55:00.000Z

By MICHELLE JONES
Published February 17, 2007
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HOLIDAY - A professor and author will talk about the belief that the second coming of Jesus Christ occurred in 1844 when Hushidar Motlagh visits the Baha'i Center, at 1136 U.S. 19 N, on Sunday morning.

"The evidence is like a jigsaw puzzle; you look at one piece at a time," he said in a telephone interview. "There are 16 time prophecies of Christ coming in 1844, and this evidence comes from the Bible."

The Baha'i faith's founder is Baha'u'llah, a nobleman from Tehran, Iran, who left a life of security in the mid 19th century and faced persecution and deprivation to bring a message of peace and unity to the world. The faith teaches that his life, work and influence parallel that of many divine messengers who came before him: Abraham, Muhammad, Moses, Krishna and Christ.

Motlagh is a professor emeritus at Central Michigan University, where he taught for 30 years. He has written 20 books relating to psychology, education, creativity, scientific evidence of the existence of God, understanding of the Bible and the fulfillment of biblical prophecies.

Married for 40 years, the 72-year-old earned a doctorate in educational psychology and counseling at the University of Kentucky. He and his wife, Pary, have two children, a son who lives in Haifa, Israel, and works at the Baha'i World Centre, and a daughter who lives in Louisville, Ky.

Motlagh came from a Jewish background and converted to the Baha'i faith in 1957.

"I have spent 40 years proving that Baha'u'llah (1817-92) is the second coming of Christ," he said. Three of his books, I Shall Come Again, Lord of Lords and King of Kings, present evidence that Baha'u'llah is the Christ, he says.

The Baha'i faith calls for renewed commitments to family life and moral values, and social and economic justice in a world that is becoming a global neighborhood. Unlike other religions, it has resisted the impulse to divide into sects or denominations. The Baha'i faith is established in 235 countries, and its 5-million members come from 2,100 ethnic, racial and tribal groups.

Baha'u'llah, whose name means Glory of God, advocated elimination of all forms of prejudice, full equality between the sexes, recognition of the oneness of the world's great religions, and elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth. He emphasized universal education, harmony of science and religion, and a balance between nature and technology.

Visitors welcome

Hushidar Motlagh will speak at 11 a.m. Sunday. A free copy of his most recent book, God's 19 Great Little Tranquilizers, will be given to each visitor. The Baha'i of Pasco County meets for forums once a month to discuss current social and spiritual issues. Members meet in the plaza behind Buddy Freddy's restaurant at 1136 U.S. 19 N. In addition they hold study circles that encourage discussion about spiritual and practical topics, including the soul, life after death, prayer and the education of children. Devotions are held from 10 to 11 a.m. every Sunday. Call (727) 847-6940 or (813) 929-4470.

St. Petersburg Times (17-FEb-2007)

Tributes to doctor who strived for peace

2007-02-17T22:00:00.000Z

Tributes have flooded in for a popular Preston doctor who dedicated his life to promoting world peace and unity.

Dr Fu'ad Sabour, who was born in Iraq, was a member of the Baha'i faith, which believes that people of all religions should respect each other and pray and work together for peace.

Dr Sabour lived in Dunbar Road, Ingol, with his wife Joy. He died earlier this month from cancer.

Those who knew the doctor described him as "one of life's true gentlemen" and Joy and their three daughters, Narcisse, Rosemary and Marguerite, have been inundated with cards and messages of condolence.

One wellwisher said: "I feel very privileged to have known and worked with him for such a long time. The world will be a much sadder place without him."

Dr Sabour was raised in Iraq, to Baha'i parents, but left the country at the age of 17 to study medicine in England. He worked at Whittingham Hospital but later moved into paediatrics as a community medical officer.

He retired from medicine in June 2006, but continued to work towards peace, as a member of the Lancashire Forum of Faiths and Preston Faith Forum.

Joy said: "We have held meetings all over Lancashire at different centres of worship, inviting speakers from all different organisations, to try to enable the faiths to co-operate in harmony together and enable the public sector to engage with the faiths."

Preston Today Lancashire News (16-Feb-2007)

The Baha'i Fast: Days of Ha

2007-02-16T21:57:00.000Z

by Source staff

Feb. 15, 2007 - The Bahá'ís of the Virgin Islands will join five million Bahá'ís worldwide in celebration of Ayyám-i-Há or Intercalary Days from Feb. 26 through March 1.
The Ayyám-i-Há, or "Days of Ha," are devoted to spiritual preparation for the fast, celebrating, hospitality, charity and gift giving. They are celebrated for four days (five in leap year) before the last month of the Bahá'í year.

Then on Friday, March 2, the Bahá'ís all over the world join in an annual period of fasting. For 19 days each year, March 2-20, Bahá'ís abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. Before dawn, families awaken to pray together and have their morning meal. The obligation of fasting begins at age 15 and continues until the age of 70.

Like Lent in Christianity and Ramadan in Islam, the Bahá'í Fast is essentially a period of meditation and prayer when the individual reflects on his or her own spiritual life. It symbolizes the importance of detachment and self-restraint and is used as spiritual preparation for the Bahá'í New Year, which begins March 21.

For more information about the Baha'i Faith and meeting times, call:
on St. Criox: 772-3827; St. Thomas: 776-7024; St. John: 776-6254 or 776-6316; and Tortola: 284-494-4901
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St Thomas Source (15-feb-2007)

Cinco confesiones religiosas se unen en oración en la iglesia de San Sebastián

2007-01-29T22:09:00.000Z

Católicos, ortodoxos, evangélicos, musulmanes y miembros de la comunidad Bahaí participaron en el acto ecuménico

EL NORTE/SEGOVIA

El lema, tomado del Evangelio de san Marcos, era 'Hacer oír a los sordos y hablar a los mudos" y el motivo era celebrar la Semana por la Unidad de los Cristianos, pero a la celebración ecuménica que tuvo lugar ayer por la tarde en la iglesia de San sebastián acudieron no solo de esta religión sino también miembros de otras dos confesiones, la muslmana y la bahaí.

El templo, normalmente cerrado al culto, acogió a las seis de la tarde a miembros de las comunidades católica y ortodoxa, de la Iglesia Evangélica (de habla búlgara), y de las comunidades musulmana y Bahaí con el propósito de celebrar todos juntos la oración ecuménica e interconfesional organizada por el Obispado de Segovia. La novedosa liturgia incluyó la lectura de textos de las cinco confesiones religiosas y tuvo una buena acogida, pues la iglesia de San Sebastián estuvo prácticamente llena.

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NoteCastilla.es (29-Jan-2007)

City faiths cross Mersey in unity

2005-09-26T09:46:00.000+01:00

People of all religions in Liverpool retraced the first ferry across the Mersey on Sunday with the region's third annual Walk Of Faith.
Representatives of seven faiths - Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh - set off from the Al-Raham Mosque in Toxteth.

They took a ferry over the Mersey to Birkenhead Priory, which began as a Benedictine Monastery in 1150.

It was the monks who made the first ferry journey across the Mersey.

This river journey was in keeping with the third year of the build up to the Capital of Culture 2008, which takes Sea Liverpool as its theme.

Canon Bob Wilkes, chairman of Merseyside Council of Faiths, said: "We thought it would be good to follow the first ferry across the Mersey especially as it is the year of the sea."

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Artigo publicado na BBC, em 25 de Setembro de 2005
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Shi'ite supremacists emerge from Iran's shadows

2005-09-12T10:59:00.000+01:00

From a Special Correspondent

TEHRAN - When mild-mannered former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami lashed out in a post-election sermon at the "powerful organization" behind the "shallow-thinking traditionalists with their Stone-Age backwardness" currently running the country, it became clear that Iran's political establishment is worried by the ideology propelling the government of new hardline President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

Khatami's attack coincides with mounting evidence that a radically anti-Bahai [1] and anti-Sunni semi-clandestine society, called the Hojjatieh, is reemerging in the corridors of power in Tehran. The group flourished during the 1979 revolution that ousted the Shah and installed an Islamic government in his place, and was banned in 1983 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the revolution.

Khomeini objected to the Hojjatieh's rejection of his doctrine of velayat-e faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist) and its conviction that chaos must be created to hasten the coming of the Mahdi, the 12th Shi'ite imam. Only then, they argue, can a genuine Islamic republic be established.

"Those who regarded the revolution, during Imam Khomeini's time, as a deviation, are now [wielding] the tools of terror and oppression," Khatami was reported as saying at a speech in the conservative northeastern town of Mashhad, the same location chosen by Ahmadinejad to convene the first meeting of his cabinet.

"The shallow-thinking traditionalists with their Stone-Age backwardness now have a powerful organization behind them," he said, in what was interpreted as an indirect reference to the Hojjatieh society.

Khatami's sharp comments followed an outburst by Ahmad Tavassoli, a former chief of staff of Khomeini. Tavassoli claimed that the executive branch of the Iranian government as well as the crack troops of the Revolutionary Guards had been hijacked by the Hojjatieh, which, he implied, now also controls Ahmadinejad.

Amid talk that the recent election was a silent coup carried out by elements of the hardline Revolutionary Guard after eight years of reformist rule, Western embassies have been scrambling to understand what the Hojjatieh stands for and to what extent the influence of its teachings will be felt in the new government's domestic and foreign policies.

Asia Times Online spoke last week with European and North American diplomats in Tehran who are trying to identify which of the new government's ministers have sympathies with the Hojjatieh or a part in the organization.

After its banning in the 1980s, the Hojjatieh's members faded into the ranks of the bazaar-based Islamic Coalition Society (Mo'talife). Reports in the past few years that the society is reviving have stressed that the neo-Hojjatieh are not so much anti-Bahai as "fanning the flames of discord between Shi'ites and Sunnis", according to the August 28, 2002 edition of the Hamshahri daily.

Ahmadinejad himself is said to have sympathies with the Hojjatieh, if he was not a member outright at some point in his career. The Islamic society he belonged to at Alm-u Sanat University where he attended was an extreme traditional and fundamentalist group that contained a large number of students from the provinces and maintained grass-roots links with the Hojjatieh. The society's anti-leftism also chimes with reports that Ahmadinejad was pushing for a takeover of the Soviet Embassy alongside or instead of the US compound in Tehran during the 1979 revolution.

Of the 21 new ministers in Ahmadinejad's cabinet, three are said to have Hojjatieh backgrounds, including Intelligence chief Hojatoleslam Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehyi, a graduate of the Hojjatieh-founded Haqqani theological school with a long background in the intelligence services. Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, a hardline Shi'ite cleric who is said to have issued a fatwa urging all 2 million members of the bassij Islamic militia [2] to vote for Ahmadinejad in the recent presidential elections, is also associated with that university.

The hardline minister of the interior, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, is another Haqqani alumnus with suspected Hojjatieh sympathies. His appointment was greeted with outrage by some Iranian politicians. Tehran member of parliament Emad Afruq was reported by Islamic Republic News Agency on August 24 to have challenged Pourmohammadi's appointment on the basis of his questionable human rights record while at the Ministry of Intelligence: "You must recognize that when someone comes from such a ministry, with this past and the absence of supervisory mechanisms, our reaction is that we shudder with fear in the public arena. And have we not shuddered? Have we not felt insecure in the past?"

A few days after the new cabinet was revealed, a dinner party in North Tehran's exclusive Elahiyeh neighborhood was buzzing with talk of Hojjatieh involvement in the new government. One Iranian working as a political analyst for a Western embassy fingered the controversial Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi as the main reason behind the transformation of an initially anarchist movement that rejected any form of government, especially an Islamic one, into a key actor influencing the policies of the Ahmadinejad administration.

The powerful cleric is said to be Ahmadinejad's marja-e taqlid (object of emulation) and the ultimate proponent of an elite theory of government best summed up in his once saying: "It doesn't matter what the people think. The people are ignorant sheep."

"There is no doubt that Mesbah and the new crew, whether formally Hojjatieh or not, are more attached to core Shi'ite identity and values," said Vali Nast, a professor of Middle East politics at the Department of National Security Affairs. "But an equally important faction, especially in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Council, is simply anti-Ba'athist. These are people who fought in the Iran-Iraq war and that may also be important in deciding attitudes towards Saudi Arabia and Iraq."

At a time of rising Sunni-Shi'ite tensions in the region, and as Iraq increasingly turns into a proxy battleground for its neighbors, it is not surprising that a Shi'ite supremacist government in Tehran, whether related to the Hojjatieh or not, should reemerge.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are battling it out in Iraq as both seek to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis, the majority of whom are Shi'ites. While Iran is believed to have a better intelligence presence in the country and a more organized military capability, Saudis account for a large percentage of the suicide bombers active there.

In an August Newsweek article, former Central Intelligence Agency agent Robert Baer quoted a high-level Syrian official telling him that of 1,200 suspected suicide bombers arrested by the Syrians since Iraq was invaded in 2003, 85% have been Saudis. Baer went on to quote Iran's Grand Ayatollah Saanei reacting to the news by describing Wahhabi suicide bombers as "wolves without pity" and saying that "sooner rather than later, Iran will have to put them down".

Saudi Arabia is also reported to be active in Iran, especially in the ethnically Arab, oil-rich south of the country, where it is whispered that Riyadh is offering financial incentives for locals to convert from Shi'ite to Sunni Islam. News of this strategy has reached Qom, the clerical heartland of Iran.

In an April 2004 article, Persian-language Baztab news website that is written by well-connected insiders and read by Iran's political elite, published a piece alleging that the Hojjatieh had adopted a strategy of trying to sharpen domestic tensions between Sunnis and Shi'ites through launching a propaganda campaign against the minority religious group inside Iran (Sunnis). The report alleged that some Hojjatieh-aligned publishers have been issuing books in Arabic that are critical of Sunnis. The books have been distributed in Qom, but are fictitiously marked "Published in Beirut" to give them further credibility and mask the fact they are Shi'ite propaganda.

This is a potentially dangerous move with grave foreign policy implications for Iran. Iran's Sunni minorities live in some of the least-developed provinces and are under-represented in parliament, the army and the civil service. Iran's Kurds, who are Sunni, have been rioting in the north, while the ethnic Arab south is another location that has suffered riots and a bombing campaign in the past six months.

But whether the Hojjatieh is being resurrected by its former adherents or is being used as a battering ram by those Iranian politicians opposed to the current government, its reappearance coincides with a Shi'ite resurgence across the region and a new era of conservative factional infighting in Tehran.

"This particular form of mud-slinging that had disappeared a quarter of a century ago - when the secular left accused the religious establishment of having clandestine Hojjatieh affiliations - is gaining currency again in the new battle of Titans: the traditional right-wing versus the revolutionary right-wing clerical establishment - over ideological hegemony in Iran," concluded Mahmoud Sadri, a US-based Iranian academic.

Note
[1] A religion founded in 1863 in Persia and emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind.

[2] Islamic vigilantes loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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Artigo publicado no Asia Times (Hong Kong), em 09 de Setembro de 2005
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Katrina’s aftermath: Santa Cruz officials want to give extra funds from '89 quake to relief effort

2005-09-12T10:54:00.000+01:00

By SHANNA McCORD
Sentinel staff writer

SANTA CRUZ — City officials are considering a gift of money and people power to help Hurricane Katrina victims piece their lives back together — a way for Santa Cruz to say, "We’ve been there."

"We received donations from all over the world when we had the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989," Mayor Mike Rotkin said. "So, we aren’t going to be short when responding to someone else’s crisis."

Part of the city’s prospective contribution includes $210,000 generated from public donations made to the area through the American Red Cross after the earthquake leveled much of downtown, destroying a number of low-income housing units.

The city loaned the Red Cross donations to property owners for rebuilding after the earthquake, agency Director Ceil Cirillo said.

The St. George Hotel and a group of apartments above the Acapulco Restaurant on Pacific Avenue were rebuilt partially with loans from the agency, Cirillo said.

During the past 16 years, as donated money has been paid back to the agency with 3 percent interest, about $210,000 has accumulated in an interest-bearing account that the city is able to use for affordable housing projects or any other "appropriate use," Cirillo said.

"It seems that this is an appropriate use to return the money to the American Red Cross for their efforts with hurricane victims," she said. "The whole city of New Orleans was devastated, the whole city needs to be rebuilt."

City leaders plan to talk with Red Cross representatives before making their donation.

Also on the Hurricane Katrina front, city officials are considering a request by the Services Employees International Union Local 415 to send five city workers to the Gulf Coast region for nine days without getting docked vacation time or having to take unpaid leave.

SEIU representative Leslie Scanagatta sent a letter Tuesday to the city Human Resources Department with the proposal after Dava Pflueger, a Parks and Recreation maintenance worker, approached her with his desire to help — and not miss a paycheck.

"If we have people who want to help, we don’t want them to be disadvantaged in their effort to help other Americans," Scanagatta said. "Why should they lose pay or use up all their vacation time to go help hurricane victims?"

City employees who volunteer for the relief effort would be responsible for travel and other related costs, she said.

"Instead of paying them to clean up parks here, they’ll be paying to clean up New Orleans. We’re not asking for anything extra," Scanagatta said.

Rotkin said it’s likely the city will agree to SEIU’s request; however, it must be decided which positions would be OK with a nine-day vacancy.

Also, Rotkin said he would like to waive fees at the Civic Auditorium for a benefit concert that would raise money for victims.

Rotkin said that idea would only work if the city could find a show that could draw a large crowd.

"We can’t fill the Civic with a garage band and we don’t waive the fees for just anything," he said. "We have to have a show that people actually are willing to pay a significant amount of money for tickets."

Waiving fees requires council approval.

Rotkin said a resident has suggested the city house some hurricane victims temporarily at the Civic Auditorium.

That’s unlikely, he said.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Association of Santa Cruz County, Bahai’s of Santa Cruz and the NAACP Santa Cruz chapter have co-written a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency offering to sponsor three families with children from New Orleans to relocate to this area.

"We hope that they would have to option to return to their home if they wish or remain if they are able to make a good life in our community," Patricia Arnold of the United Nations Association wrote to FEMA.

Contact Shanna McCord at smccord@santacruzsentinel.com.

How to help

Those interested in contributing to the American Red Cross effort to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina may contact Diane Bianconi McNiel, 462-2881, Ext. 14, by e-mail at dmcniel@sccredcross.org, or Barry Anderson at 462-2881, Ext. 17, by e-mail at banderson@sccredcross.org or visit www.sccredcross.org.

# Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz and San Benito counties has joined the relief efforts surrounding Hurricane Katrina. People willing to make a financial contribution should call (800) 344-8070.

# To donate to the Salvation Army, call (800) SAL-ARMY, or go to the group’s Web site at www.salvationarmyusa.org. The mailing address is P.O. Box 4857, Jackson, MS 39296-4857.

# The United Way of Santa Cruz County is accepting donations for hurricane relief at www.unitedwaysc.org. Checks should be made out to United Way and write ‘Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund’ in the memo line.

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Artigo publicado no Santa Cruz Sentinel (EUA), em 08 de Setembro de 2005
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Faith Communities To Discuss Environmental Responsibility

2005-09-09T09:35:00.000+01:00

By FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR, Courant Staff Writer

Leaders from a range of denominations and faiths will gather for the first time Friday at Hartford Seminary to discuss the responsibility of faith communities to care for the environment.

Religious communities have become more inclined to embrace environmental stewardship as a matter of faith. But Friday's summit comes at a time when Hurricane Katrina, beyond its scale as a humanitarian disaster, is fueling debate over whether global warming has contributed to the rapid succession of fierce hurricanes in the Atlantic.

Sister Mary Ellen Murphy, an organic geochemist who has worked for NASA, will talk about climate change.

"Temperatures have risen significantly in the last 100 years, which has given us wilder weather, an increase in [ocean] depth which has coincided with the increased amounts of greenhouse gases that have been pumped into the air since the industrial revolution," said Murphy, who teaches at St. Joseph College in West Hartford.

"From a faith standpoint, we have some obligation to preserve the earth for future generations."

Clean energy will also be discussed. The Interreligious Eco-Justice Network, a sponsor of the event, offers energy conservation workshops to places of worship, and has organized nearly 20 churches and synagogues to make use of clean energy.

Even before Katrina, "a perfect storm was brewing" that was beginning to focus Americans on the issue of energy and environment, said Bob Wall, New England regional director of SmartPower, an organization that promotes clean energy use.

"With the war in Iraq and gas prices rising, awareness was building," said Wall, who will also address religious leaders. "It's on everybody's radar screen now."

SmartPower also has been working with faith communities to show houses of worship ways to support clean energy initiatives. One sign of change is that some churches in the evangelical movement have broken ranks with the Bush administration over issues of global warming, he said.

"I do believe the faith community is ahead of the curve on this," Wall said.

Summit participants will represent a range of faiths and area religious groups, including Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Baha'i and Jain.

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Artigo publicado no Courant.com (EUA), em 08 de Setembro de 2005
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Myriad faiths rise to Katrina's challenge

2005-09-09T09:32:00.000+01:00

Area churches are pitching in to give aid and comfort to victims of the hurricane. "There are no distinctions," one rabbi says. "Everyone shares the same fate."

By SHERYL KAY
Published September 9, 2005

Her voice cracked and tears well up in her eyes as Khadijah Rasheed, like so many, recounted the unknown fate of her relatives from New Orleans.

"I've lost half of my family," she said. "We haven't spoken to any of them since the day before it happened. No phone calls, no e-mail, nothing."

And so, Rasheed, as administrative assistant at the Islamic Center of Tampa, turned to her faith, for strength, and for ways to help.

In the week following Hurricane Katrina, Rasheed said, the center at 7326 E Sligh Ave. raised $50,000 which, along with all future donations, is going to the Red Cross relief effort. The center also assembled a team of local nurses and doctors who volunteered to go wherever they might be needed.

"There's a large Muslim community in New Orleans, and there are just a lot of people down there who need our help," Rasheed said.

As different as religious institutions can be, their local response to the disaster is undeniably similar.

"There are these occasions when everyone is equalized," said Rabbi Joel Wasser of Congregation Kol Ami in Carrollwood. "There are no distinctions. Everyone shares the same fate, the same destiny, regardless of their religion, their faith, or their culture."

Members of Kol Ami, at 3919 Moran Road, received an e-mail just a few days after Katrina hit, asking them to donate online to the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (www.uscj.org) the association of conservative Jewish congregations in North America, which has set up a separate hurricane relief fund.

For Jews, Wasser explained, pikuah nefesh (saving a life) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) are two of the most important commandments to follow.

"We don't often have the opportunity to fulfill these in a practical way, but this gives us a way to do that," he said.

At the Baha'i Faith Worship and Community Center of Greater Tampa, members are being encouraged to contribute to established relief organizations and to volunteer whatever services people can offer, explained Leah Roberts, a member of the center's Spiritual Assembly.

"We have a lot of Baha'i friends out there and we're working on that network now, not only to find out how people are doing in the affected areas, but also to find out what their needs are and what we can do to help," Roberts said.

"We've already found people in Indiana who offered their home, and we found a displaced family who is now going there."

Parishioners at Messiah Lutheran Church will start a special collection Sunday, with all money going to the Lutheran World Relief fund (www.lwr.org) In addition, the congregation will speed up work on a special disaster relief trailer that was started last year in response to the four hurricanes that hit Florida. "It's a clearing trailer, equipped with chain saws, helmets, gloves, any tools that are necessary for clearing up the mess after these disasters," Pastor Scott Burmeister said.

Messiah Lutheran, at 14920 Hutchison Ave., also will have a special collection made for Pastor Eric Hollar, his family, and his church in Biloxi, Miss. Hollar, a former classmate of Burmeister, lost his home, and his church sustained major damage, all known to Burmeister through second- and third-hand accounts.

Burmeister said people's overall responses have not surprised him at all. "It really speaks to the human condition," he said.

"One reaction really brings out the worst in people, and unfortunately we saw a little bit of that in New Orleans with random looting and that kind of thing. But the other response brings out the absolute best in people, and thankfully we are seeing a lot of that."

Although members of his church have been repeatedly called upon for disaster relief donations in the past 12 months, Burmeister has no fears of a negative impact on donations now.

"We understand that money in the form that we have it is a stored service, and it's no good till it's redeemed," he said. "When the call comes out for this kind of need, it's a wonderful opportunity for us to take this stored service and put it into action.

"It may mean making a sacrifice and taking money away from other things, but people will put those off for the more meaningful and beneficial service to all of us."

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Artigo publicado no St. Petersburg Times Online (Florida - EUA), em 09 de Setembro de 2005
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PGMA calls for peace and understanding for unity and progress

2005-09-09T09:22:00.000+01:00

Lapu-LAPU City (8 September) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo thanked last night the leaders of various religious groups and organizations in the country who have made a clear call in promoting a culture of peace and fostering of understanding not only in the Philippines but in the whole world.

The President sounded her expression of gratitude when she addressed Wednesday night the closing of the National Summit of Religious Leaders Towards a Culture of Peace attended by some 180 leaders of various religious and ethnic denominations at the Crown Regency Suites here.

"I am grateful to you, our religious leaders, and to the many well-meaning Filipinos who have made a clear call of prudence, sobriety, dialogue, understanding, and peace in these trying times. Because you have called for and conducted dialogue, you have tempered the onslaught of hate and manned the perimeters of prudence, understanding, sobriety and the rule of law, the President said.

The two-day summit which envisions to unite and galvanize peoples of diverse religions and beliefs towards addressing peace and order issues was spearheaded by the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA) -- Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in celebration of the National Peace Consciousness Month 2005.

The summit participants came from various religious groups/organizations such as Islam, Roman Catholic, Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches 9PCEC), National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), Greek Orthodox, Brahma Kumaris, Hindu, Bahai, Sikhs, Buddhist, Seventh Day Adventist, and the indigenous peoples.

The President said what the country needs now is "less talk but more dialogue and more action on jobs, high prices especially coming from the world oil upsurge, hunger, law and order, and corruption, which, she noted, is "the very sentiment mentioned in the summaries and statement presented to her by the summit participants.

"Yesterday Congress spoke with the mighty voice of the people they represent and I thank all of them. Their voice is clear -- let us work for peace not conflict. Let us get back to work not in the streets but in our offices and industrial centers, in our farms and communities. Let's bury the conflict of the past and gather around a brighter, peaceful tomorrow, the President said.

The President said she has instructed her entire Cabinet to "get down to brass tacks and let the people feel in their bones, and in their hearts, in their spirit the power of honest and efficient service. "These are things that you our religious leaders can fully help internalize in your public servants, the President added.

According to the President, her personal pain or political triumph is of no moment to the task of building this nation and putting the economy in order. "I offer the olive branch of peace to all my critics and detractors for a principled partnership for the people, driven by responsible governance and responsible fiscalization, she said

The President asked for the guidance and support of the summit participants to help save the Philippines from the "rapidly degenerating political system that breeds not only the compartmentalization of ideas and the misunderstanding among religions, ethnicity and culture, but also compartmentalization of work, "a system that foments division not only across the institutions of our national government, but also along the axis of national and local governance and also across different religions and ethnic cultures.

"Now is the time to begin to change the system. You in this dialogue, in this promotion of peace is part of the changing of the system and I thank you for that, she said.

Extending the hand of peace to her detractors, the President invited the citizenry, including her critics and supporters, to an earnest and sincere debate to amend the Constitution, "which many of you want, to bring power back to the people and to cast the demons that have haunted our politics.

The President said the National Summit of Religious Leaders Towards a Culture of Peace "transcends all politics and partisan concerns, and I thank you for your statement and I look forward to the follow up that we will be making.

The President also tasked Ma. Isabel Tobias, Secretary General of the Presidential Council for Values Formation, to study the possibility of integrating the summit's recommendation to create an Interfaith Commission, together with the recommendation of evangelical bishops to organize a Council on Moral Values.

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Artigo publicado no PIA Information Service (Filipinas), em 08 de Setembro de 2005
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America: land of spiritual hunger

2005-08-30T09:24:00.000+01:00

Many in the US yearn for a 'religion of the spirit.'

By Jane Lampman

From flourishing megachurches to potent voices in the political arena, the growth of conservative Christianity is fully on display. Many attribute this growth to Americans' desire for an anchor in a swiftly changing world, a set of rules to live by.

Yet the surge in spiritual seeking beyond the bonds of organized religion continues apace as well. Less than half of Americans attend church in any given week, though only 2 percent say they don't believe in a higher power.

In recent polls, 84 percent say spirituality is important in their lives, and 62 percent consider themselves "deeply spiritual."

How did America become a land of spiritual questing?

Leigh Schmidt, religion professor at Princeton University, takes issue with what he sees as a facile analysis of the "new spirituality" that has tied it simply to watershed events of the 1960's and New Age philosophies. Nor is it always, he says, an outgrowth of the occultism in early American life, as some have asserted.

In Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality, Dr. Schmidt explores the cultural roots of this broader search for meaning. He finds its origins in the intellectual circles of early 19th- century America and its evolution in "the rise and flourishing of religious liberalism in all its variety and occasional eccentricity." Criticizing the orthodoxies of their day, liberals exchanged piety for spirituality.

What could be called the "Spiritual Left" goes "deep in the grain of American culture," he says. "It is here for the long haul."

In its commitment to individual searching, reconciliation among faiths, and social progress, this spiritual left is "not a rootless baby-boomer quest," he insists, "but a more deeply grounded and complex exploration of a cosmopolitan spirituality."

While it includes romantic, even naive elements, he notes, it is also rooted in the yearning for a more direct relationship with God or the divine that feeds the deepest hungers of the heart.

Beginning with Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendental Club in 1838, Schmidt presents his story largely through the inner lives of prominent figures - individuals who today might be termed "thought leaders." (Among them, Thoreau, Walt Whitman, William James, Swami Vivekenanda, Rufus Jones, Sarah Farmer, Howard Thurman, Oprah).

It is also a tale of spiritual communities - Greenacre, Pendle Hill, Trabuco - where kindred souls shared the fruits of their searches and experimented with spiritual practices.

From Transcendentalists through Reform Jews and progressive Quakers, New Thought leaders, and proponents of Eastern religions, they imagined themselves to be charting a path "away from the old 'religions of authority' into a new 'religion of the spirit.' "

For some, it became a search for a universal spirituality that would seek common ground among faiths of East and West, and break down barriers and religious hostilities.

"Restless Souls" provides a vivid picture of the spiritual ferment of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and introduces many whose writings or speeches crystallized developing thought.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, for example - minister, abolitionist, and advocate of women's rights - penned an influential essay in 1871, "The Sympathy of Religions," which pointed the way for the first World Parliament of Religions in 1893.

In the early 20th century, Quaker professor Rufus Jones of Haverford College wrote on mysticism; spurred development of the retreat center, Pendle Hill, outside Philadelphia; and popularized the idea of the spiritual seeker. (He also led the relief work of the American Friends Service Committee, which won the 1947 Nobel Peace Prize.)

In the wake of the World Parliament of Religions, Sarah Farmer created the summer community of Greenacre in Eliot, Maine, as a center of learning on global spirituality.

For more than two decades, "under pines and in tents, mental healers communed happily with Hindu swamis, Buddhist practitioners, university professors, accomplished artists, and Concord sages," Schmidt says. It became "a holiness camp for religious liberals."

But the colorful Greenacre story highlights a major question still posed by those engaged in the spiritual quest: Are seekers to keep on seeking as a means of self-expansion or should they pursue an end to their search?

After much exploration, Farmer found her answer in commitment to the Bahai faith. Yet her decision sparked tensions at Greenacre and led to the community's decline.

For some seekers, the whole point is freedom and self-reliance - what some have criticized as narcissism or "religion as self-expression." Emerson called himself "an endless seeker."

For others, the aim is to find that deep connection to the divine which often involves self-abnegation and renunciation of ego. "The struggle at the heart of Farmer's spiritual journey ... - the tension between autonomy and self- surrender - has hardly disappeared from America's contemporary seeker culture," Schmidt says.

Like other historians, the author shies from analyzing the contemporary spiritual landscape, though he criticizes the penchant for describing it in economic parlance as shallow consumerism. Schmidt is alert to the weaknesses of the spiritual left, but also sympathetic to its serious purposes.

"Restless Souls" is an accessible though scholarly survey of a vibrant part of American spiritual heritage; it brings to the fore the substantive struggles in which "the primacy of individual experience is joined to a whole web of spiritual practice and social commitments."

He sees the spiritual left's history and global vision as a continuous if quieter counterweight to the religious right in "the outworking of American democracy."

Perhaps a striking illustration of its cultural influence came last week in a Newsweek/Beliefnet survey, which revealed that 79 percent of Americans - and a remarkable 68 percent of evangelicals - said they believe good people of other faiths can gain salvation, a position contrary to Christian orthodoxy.

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Artigo publicado no Christian Science Monitor (EUA), em 30 de Agosto de 2005
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Green Acre Baha’i School celebrates role in the Treaty of Portsmouth

2005-08-30T09:22:00.000+01:00

By Beth LaMontagne

As the Russian and Japanese delegates sailed up the Piscataqua River in 1905, a large, white flag flew over Eliot, Maine, urging the men to put an end to their bloody war.

One hundred years later, a smaller version of that flag, emblazoned with the word "peace," flies above the Green Acre Baha’i School in Eliot. The flag is there not just as a reminder of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, but to urge people to work toward peace for future generations.

"Our (celebration) is both looking back and looking forward," said Anne Perry, historian and author of "Green Acre on the Piscataqua."

Throughout this week, the school will host a number of events and forums, discussing cultural issues, the arts and the general effort toward creating world peace.

Perry said Green Acre has become so involved with celebrating the Portsmouth Peace Treaty because promoting peace is one of the major doctrines of the Baha’i faith. Followers of the Baha’i religion believe humanity is leaving a period of adolescence and transforming into adulthood. As mankind matures, bloody conflicts and war will eventually cease to exist, Perry said.

"We believe world peace is inevitable," Perry said.

The Green Acre School was founded in 1894 as a place for the study of world religions. On the day the center opened, one of the founders, Sarah Farmer, flew the first peace flag above Green Acre. Peace was selected by Farmer as the theme of the religious retreat center because she believed it represented the teachings of every religion.

At the turn of the century, Farmer’s involvement in the Baha’i faith grew as did her interest in promoting peace. When it was announced Portsmouth would be host the negotiation of a globally significant treaty, Farmer and the other Green Acre members knew they had to become involved.

To promote their pacifist message, Green Acre leaders invited Russian, American and Japanese treaty delegates to the school. Although the Russians and Americans declined to visit, the Japanese did come to Eliot to visit with religious leaders and peace activists from all over the world, including India and Persia.

Besides hosting the Japanese delegates, Green Acre was also represented at the signing by Farmer, the only woman to witness the historic event. Although she was not officially invited, she obtained a shipyard visitor’s pass and walked to the signing, reportedly driven by a higher power to witness the event. Because she was a woman, a friend placed her in a location where she was hidden from delegates but could still see what was going on, Perry said.

Farmer did not keep a diary, but Perry said there is evidence the treaty changed Farmer’s life.

"I think there was an intense hope and prayer that peace would happen," Perry said. "From (Farmer’s) activities, we know that she felt it was an astonishing event."

Farmer is now considered a symbol of pacifism by local members of the Baha’i faith. This year on Sept. 21, Green Acre will award the first Sarah Farmer Peace Award to coincide with the United Nations Day of Peace. The award recognizes people or organizations that strive to promote peace and understanding between people and nations.

The award will be given this year to the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Anniversary Committee for encouraging local residents to reflect on the importance of peace, not just in 1905, but today.

A series of photographs, letters and Japanese art documenting events surrounding the treaty signing are now on display at Green Acre. There are pictures of the delegates lounging on the grass along the Piscataqua, programs from theatrical productions performed in the area, and letters from the delegates and even the White House.

One photograph shows the giant peace flag as it was hoisted 85 feet into the air on a pole made from two ship masts. According to Perry, the 30-foot flag could be seen in Kittery, Portsmouth, N.H., and at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

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Artigo publicado no Seacostline.com, em 28 de Agosto de 2005
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Relationship with God is ultimate

2005-07-18T15:34:00.000+01:00

By Nancy Wheaton

"All those who seek truth in the Heavenly Kingdom shine like the stars; they are like seas full of precious pearls."
- "Paris Talks" Abdu’l-Bahá Kingdom shine like the stars; they are like seas full of precious pearls."

Our lives are built around relationships. We are as faceted as raw crystals each day - friend, parent or child, sister, brother or cousin, worker, exerciser, cleaner, relaxer and lover. These various sides catch the sun and welcome the shadow during the day.

Crystals found in nature manifest the beauty in surrender. Storms, changes in temperatures, steadfastness and then sudden unexpected events have contributed to their formations. Unaware of their surrender, they exhibit unpredictable and tranquil glory.

As conscious beings, we hold within us the essence of the crystal: we are individual works of beauty. How do we differ? Resistance. We have the capacity to know of and worship God. Yet we question. We sit on the fence. Doesn’t life wind us through many emotions, those ever-truthful guides to our soul? If those feelings are too painful or hard to face, we use our minds to coach us into escape-mode. This is our discerning intellect. We are able to compare, to judge, to experience and then analyze what we do. Our daily interactions with others represent our vision of heaven. Are we kind to others? Do we speak out when we witness prejudice? Do we bring ourselves to account each day? Do we apologize? Do we praise others truthfully?

Surrender. We are the pinnacle of God’s creation. Because of our conscious ability to choose our lifestyle, our spiritual mission must become a healing discipline. Dialogue with God every day expands our light. Then, we must cross-train by helping others. Bahá’u’lláh, the prophet founder of the Baha’í faith, says "O my Provider! In the spirit of Thy love keep me steadfast, O my Succourer, and in the path of Thy good-pleasure set firm my steps, O my Maker!" ience and then analyze what we do. Our daily interactions with others represent our vision of heaven. Are we kind to others? Do we speak out when we witness prejudice? Do we bring ourselves to account each day? Do we apologize? Do we praise others truthfully?

Our relationship to God infuses us with clarity: We remember that we were told we would never be left alone, ever. We are certain that all paths to God, with manifestations such as Muhammad, Buddha, Krishna and Abraham are religions born to the One True God, the All-Glorious, the Most Powerful. Religion is the ultimate present from God. Our fleeting moments of clarity bring understanding to the crucial need for harmony of science and religion.

Think of it - a respectful discussion about stem-cell research and the limitations and possibilities. How about honest consultation? Consultation, as Baha’ís practice, that allows for those consulting to express opinions without fear of judgment and at the same time invites all participants to detach from their opinions once they have been uttered. Imagine a group of interfaith, highly trained, highly educated and deeply spiritual negotiators speaking with representatives from Israel and Palestine. . Our daily interactions with others represent our vision of heaven. Are we kind to others? Do we speak out when we witness prejudice? Do we bring ourselves to account each day? Do we apologize? Do we praise others truthfully?

Most importantly, this healing discipline, walking this every-day conscious path towards God, perpetually invites us to trust in God when we are joyful, when we are worried, when we are afraid and when we just don’t know the outcome of all our work and effort.

Nancy Wheaton lives in Portsmouth with her three children. She has been a Baha’í since 1986. She is a teacher and writer. The opinions expressed in the In Good Faith columns do not necessarily reflect those of Seacoast Media Group.all our work and effort.

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Artigo publicado no Seacostline.com, em 16 de Julho de 2005
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A piligrimage for their purpose

2005-07-18T15:29:00.000+01:00

By Elizabeth Kenny

Their voices rose up through the church rafters, out the open windows. It started out as a hum, quiet and peaceful. But soon the congregation, from toddlers to men with long gray beards, were on their feet, clapping and singing loudly, soulfully.

"I know I can change, Bahau-llah has changed my name."

Saturday’s event marked the end of the 19th annual Black Men’s Gathering, the last eight of which have been held at the Bahá’í School in Eliot, Maine.

Over the past week, 123 men of African descent who are of Bahá’í faith were in Maine, studying and praying, "developing an understanding of the purpose of the coming year," according to participant Andalib Khelghati.

As the town stuck to its typical summer weekend rituals of yard sales and bike rides, hundreds of men and women traveled to the town - from across the country and the world - on a "pilgrimage" to celebrate Race Unity Day.

According to the Bahá’í Web site, the Bahá’í Faith is an independent monotheistic religion with a worldwide population of some 5 million people. They come from more than 2,000 different tribal, racial and ethnic groups and live in 235 countries and dependent territories.

The religion originated in Iran in 1844 and has its own sacred scriptures, laws, calendar and holy days.

Almost everyone involved in the Bahá’í faith, no matter where they live in the world, has heard of the town of Eliot, Maine, participants said.

For many, traveling to the town is a religious pilgrimage because one of the most famous Bahá’í leaders, Louis Gregory, lived his final years at the school.

Eliot is "sacred land," according to participant Dr. Richard Thomas.

Gregory was an African American who married a Caucasian woman during a time when segregation was at its peak. He was a "champion of racial unity," Khelghati said.

The Bahá’í school in Eliot is also where one of the first inter-racial gatherings was held, Thomas said.

Men traveled to Eliot from across America and from seven other countries. They ranged from 18 to 80 years old.

Participant Frederick Lindry said he recognized some may feel having an event only for black men is "closed- or narrow-minded."

That’s not its intent, he said.

Rather, he likened the faith to a symphony, which has woodwinds, strings and other sets of instruments.

"Those groups divide off to practice on their own," Lindry said. "One wouldn’t look at that as narrow. We are here, working to contribute to the entire symphony."

During the week, men talked about their purpose in the coming year: traveling to parts of Africa to visit other Bahá’í followers, and traveling within America.

"It was a spiritual rejuvenation; a tune-up for the year," Khelghati said.

Saturday’s ceremony was a culmination of the entire week, where many of the men gathered with their families and other local followers.

During the procession, participant Merle Heath began to sob.

"These are tears of love," he said.

Heath, a third-generation Bahá’í, said his African American father died 25 years ago. Before Saturday, Heath said he never grieved for him.

Their voices rose again: "I believe I can hear the Lord singing."

Photographer Andrew Moore contributed to this story.

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Artigo publicado no Seacostline.com, em 17 de Julho de 2005
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Former Iran Hostage Dies At Los Angeles Medical Center

2005-07-18T15:24:00.000+01:00

LOS ANGELES -- Mohi Sobhani, one of more than 60 American hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Iran in 25 years ago, has died of heart failure in Los Angeles, at the age of 70.

Sobhani, an Iranian-American engineer working for Hughes Aircraft when he was seized in Iran in September 1980, died at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center on Wednesday, Farah Ramchandani said.

After his six months of captivity in Iran, "he was always in poor health," Ramchandani said, adding that her brother also suffered from kidney failure.
Sobhani was one of only a handful of hostages who were not diplomats. He was seized after most of the other hostages -- who were captured in November 1979 -- and released in February 1981, weeks after the January 1981 release of most of his fellow prisoners.

The Muslim militants who seized Sobhani, a member of the Bahai Faith, also took his wife, a Muslim who was let go a short time later.

Sobhani, who was divorced, is survived by a son, Scott, a San Fernando Valley resident.

Funeral services are set for Saturday morning at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood.

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Artigo publicado no NBC4, em 14 de Julho de 2005
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Bahai Center Construction Becomes A Reality

2005-07-18T15:21:00.000+01:00

Regional Meeting Space To Serve 18 Communities

By Rosalind S. Helderman

Work has begun on Northern Virginia's first regional center for followers of the Bahai faith.

The three-story cylindrical structure will be located along Route 7 in Sterling and was designed by a Canadian architect who has drawn plans for religious structures around the world. The 18,000-square-foot building will have a 500-seat auditorium, classrooms, a library and an information center.

It is intended to serve 18 Bahai communities in Northern Virginia and about 2,500 members of the religion who have been meeting in rented space, private homes and a smaller center in Alexandria.

The Sterling center is one of numerous houses of worship on the outer edges of the Washington region that are being constructed or expanded as thousands of residents with a new diversity of religions have moved to the area.

The project is a testament to the growth and increasing stability of the group in the region, said Simon Zebarjadi, a spokesman for the Baha'is of Loudoun.

"So far, we have not had a place to call our own," he said. "This gives us a sense of belonging. We can serve our friends and guests with more dignity."

Bahaism, founded in the mid-1800s by a Persian man, Baha'u'llah, holds that God's will has been revealed successively by messengers of each of the world's major religions, most recently Baha'u'llah. Its members believe that world peace will be achieved when people recognize that humanity is one race that worships a single God.

The group, which has no clergy, does not hold weekly religious services. Instead, it holds a service and feast every 19 days. Zebarjadi said the function will be the primary regular celebration at the center. Bahais also observe a period of daylong fasting in March and a period that is concluded with a New Year's celebration.

Bahais do not believe in taking donations from nonmembers, so the Loudoun group is raising funds in the community and beyond to acquire the $5 million that the center will cost.

The Baha'i Spiritual Assembly of Loudoun, a nine-person body elected by the county group and responsible for administering the faith's affairs locally, will own and operate the center, but it will hold events and services for members of the faith across the region.

The group has owned the 2 1/2 acres of land since 1989, when it bought the parcel for $128,000 from a local Unitarian group.

Only recently, however, has the community grown large enough to merit building on the land, said Michael Izadi, secretary for the center.

The group held a groundbreaking in 2002 to indicate to its members that the building would arrive soon, Izadi said. Since then, it has been working to get permits in order and had a ribbon-cutting in May to mark the start of construction.

Construction began in the past two weeks and will take about 18 to 24 months, Izadi said.
"It's a place to worship, but also a place where everyone can come together in the spirit of service and service to humanity at large," he said.

Loudoun has experienced an explosion of new houses of worship. Buddhists are planning to build a temple in Sterling, and the county's first synagogue opened last year. A mosque and Muslim cultural center opened along the border with Fairfax County. Christian churches open frequently, many of which start by meeting in private homes or in schools and then move into permanent buildings.

Neighbors of the new Bahai center, however, have expressed concern about the traffic it will bring to the already congested Route 7 corridor.

The center is being built at the entrance to a small subdivision, and worshipers will be using the same road to enter the building that residents use to drive into the development. That, too, has neighbors concerned, said W. Brad Frank, president of a homeowners association that represents 119 homes near the center.

He said that the Bahais will find tremendous traffic entering and exiting the building and that they may find a different site more appropriate to their needs.

"All I know is, the land is too small, they have a parking issue and it's a real burden on Route 7 for this community and anyone who uses the route," he said.

But Zebarjadi said the neighborhood will find the new center to be a useful meeting place and landmark.

"I'm confident their feelings will change," he said. "We will be very good neighbors. We'll bring love and unity."

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Artigo publicado no Washington Post, em 17 de Julho de 2005
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Years after fleeing persecution in Iran, Bahais still know fear

2005-07-12T09:58:00.000+01:00

Refugees recall retaliation, worry about relatives.

By Eileen E. Flynn

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, July 08, 2005

Face down on the ground outside a police station in southeastern Iran, blindfolded and with ankles bound, Farzad Kasiri raised his voice in an absurdly sincere attempt to reason with his tormentors.

"Why?" he bellowed. "Why are you doing this?"

The men, he says, stuffed a dirty rag in his mouth and continued to flog his bare feet. The answer is as clear to Kasiri now as it was 22 years ago in that police station parking lot. The Islamic revolutionaries who came to power in the late 1970s after deposing the Iranian monarch targeted thousands of people, he says, because they followed the Bahai faith, a religion that emerged in the 19th century with the belief that the world's major faiths are progressive revelations from God.

"They had a plan to kill us all," says Kasiri, 54, who is now an Austin shoe salesman.

A national spokeswoman for Bahais in the United States says the persecution has continued since the revolution.

"It is the policy of the Iranian government to do whatever it has to do . . . to eliminate the Bahai community," said Kit Bigelow, director of external relations for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States.

Now, as the U.S. government keeps a close eye on Iran's newly elected president, religious conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian Bahai refugees are praying that conditions will not worsen for family members they left behind.

They have reason to worry, Bigelow said. In recent months, the situation has deteriorated for the country's estimated 350,000 Bahais, Iran's largest non-Muslim minority, with the destruction of holy sites and cemeteries and an increase in arrests of Bahais.

Since the 1978 overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the establishment of a Shiite Muslim theocracy under Ayatollah Khomeini, Bigelow said, the government has executed more than 200 Bahais and forbidden Bahais from openly practicing their faith, attending college and receiving equal legal treatment.

The U.S. State Department's Web site chronicles the Iranian government's mistreatment of its Bahais, and American leaders, starting with President Reagan, and the United Nations have called on Iran to restore their rights.

Although the Iranian constitution recognizes Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity, all of which predate Islam, the government regards the Bahai Faith as heresy and does not officially acknowledge the religion, said Reza Afshari, professor of history and human rights at Pace University in New York.

"No one has suffered as much as the Bahais in the last 25 years," he said.

In the Northwest Austin apartment that he shares with his wife, Kasiri recounts the details of his interrogation, torture and three-month imprisonment. His strong features darken. He is silent for a few minutes, eyes watery and mouth slightly agape as he struggles to control the building anguish.

Kasiri says his captors beat him, threatened to execute him and at one point sent in a Muslim cleric in an effort to convert him. He was finally able to return home, he says, thanks to a sympathetic guard who told him, " 'I have a lot of Bahai friends. I love Bahais.' "

But even after his release, the situation was untenable. The government, he says, seized his family's 100-acre farm in Babolsar, near the Caspian Sea. He fled to Pakistan in 1984, obtained religious refugee status and moved to Austin a year later.

"What they have done to me is not acceptable," he says of the government, but he stops short of making what could be perceived as a political statement.

For many Bahais, even a quarter of a century after fleeing, even after finding safety and comfort in the U.S., fear of retribution persists. Two Austin Bahais asked not to be named for this article because they are afraid that the Iranian government would retaliate against their family members.

"The political situation is very unstable," said one man who recently traveled to Iran to visit relatives. "Nobody knows exactly what's going to happen six months to a year down the road in Iran."

Another Austin Bahai, a woman who said that her mother was imprisoned and father was executed within a year of the revolution, said she worries about what will happen to relatives in Iran. The damage done to her immediate family, she said, is immeasurable.

She was 13 in 1979 when she boarded the "last flight out of Tehran." The shah had just fled, and Khomeini was on his way back.

"You could feel it. It was like a storm that was coming," she said.

Months later, living in the United States, the woman received a call from her father, who urged her to look after her brother and pursue her education, she said. She "knew that something horrible was about to happen."

A short time later, she dreamed of her father's execution. But she could not confirm he was dead until three years later.

"While this was going on, the world just went on," she said. "That was the oddest thing. Why was the world not stopping and taking notice and helping?"

About the Bahai Faith

•It was founded in the mid-1800s in what was then Persia, now Iran, by Baha'u'llah, (1817-1892), who claimed that he was a divine messenger in the tradition of Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed.

•Bahai principles include the oneness of humanity, sexual equality, education for all and universal peace.

•Bahais claim about 6 million believers worldwide; their main temple is in Haifa, Israel.

•Bahais are represented at the United Nations as a nongovernmental organization.

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Artigo publicado no Austin-American Statesman, em 08 de Julho de 2005
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Passion for motivational speaking

2005-06-24T09:40:00.000+01:00

RYDER GABATHUSE
Staff Writer

FRANCISTOWN: Masoko Masoko, the Fairground Holdings human resource manager has passion for motivational speaking.

"I feel satisfied when I see employees that I have motivated tackling their challenges at the workplace, showing that they are in charge. They really make my day," says the Maun-born human resources manager. He describes motivated people as those that are open, transparent, assertive, and articulate in their approach to work. "They make me happy," he stresses. He occasionally does motivational speaking for free. He says this helps him to grow professionally as rewards are not always calculated in monetary terms.

Masoko is the eldest son in a family of six and is named after his grandfather who was a subsistence farmer. The grandfather ordered that Masoko be named after him, a month before he passed away.

Masoko joined Fairground Holdings last October, but he asserts that he already fits like he has always been part of the organisation. His boss, Fairground Holdings CEO, Joyce Thema, motivates him to enjoy the job even further. “She tells me everyday that she is lucky to have me around in the organisation. This has continuously made me feel very important, hence my love for the job. I also get feedback from other people.”

He calls on people to remain assertive even when a mountain of troubles confronts them. He says worrying is like a rocking chair, it keeps one busy but takes him/her nowhere. “If you start worrying, you will never summon your cognition powers. You will remain with something solid in front of you. With a positive mind, when problems arise, you will turn them into opportunities.” He says in every problem, there is a seed of opportunity. A problem is an opportunity turned inside out.

He describes self-trust as the traditional believe that one can positively and effectively control what happens to him/her in the world of uncertainty.

He says the advocacy role of HR emphasises the rights of employees and tries to strike a balance with the obligation and rights of management or employer. "As an HR practitioner, you have to strike a balance and understand both sides. By the way, HR managers are not conveyor belts, but they always fall somewhere between the two at the workplace."

Masoko points out that as a way of closing existing gaps, HR practitioners have come up with Human Capital Management (HCM). The difference, he says is that there is emphasis on the world-class practices. "In HR like other professions, we should not do our things in isolation. What we are saying is that the transformation from a traditional HR to HCM is motivated by the fact that the traditional HR was simply a paper putting department, which does not add any value to the bottom line." He says what they are doing now, is looking at ways and means that will help employees to make an impact on the bottom line.

Masoko indicates employees must be empowered in the workplace because there is a need for them to be a product of the organisation they work for. He says it is the attitudes of the employees that can make their products shine or otherwise.

"Even if we have good products, there is a need to empower the employees as they can either make or break the good products. If employees are not motivated, salaries alone cannot improve performance. Empower the employees to acquire ASK - Attitude, Skills and Knowledge. People need the necessary freedom to perform to the required standard. An employee should not feel removed from an organisation."

Masoko believes that a progressive organisation cannot just take managers and lump them in one place. This is because managers understand things differently. The motivational speaker stresses a need to look at individual managers on their jobs and identify their strengths. “Their strengths gaps really differ and it is important to then come up with customised manager development programmes. These programmes can help managers to discover themselves. There is no eye that can critic you on the mirror than your own eye. We got to be ruthless with ourselves.”

He says motivational speaking arouses peoples’ desires and creates a burning platform for them to discover themselves. It does not teach people something that they do not know. It helps them to discover their internal resource of strength and commitment. It also encourages people to discover the fact that success is an attitude and that happiness and success are choices.

"We help people to deal with intuition, choice and others. To nurture it to help people to be imaginative and creative. We also teach people to believe that whatever they do can change the world."

Masoko is a member of the Institute of Human Resource Management in Botswana. They aim to brand the institute to have international recognition. "I call upon other professionals from other disciplines to come and join as people cannot divorce themselves from HR."

Masoko, a member of the Bahai faith is inspired by several renowned motivational speakers. He is influenced by William Shakespeare, Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King.

Masoko graduated from the University of Botswana in 1994 with a degree in Public Administration and Political Science. He has moved through a number of jobs before he landed at Fairground Holdings. He has worked at the Office of the President under the political affairs section. He also worked for the BCL mine, Debswana mine in Orapa and the National Food Technology Resource Centre.

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Artigo publicado no IPP Media (Botswana), em 23 de Junho de 2005
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Bahai guru jets into Dar

2005-06-24T09:38:00.000+01:00

By Christopher Elkington

A leading member of the Indian Bahai community. Professor Anil Sarwal, arrived at Dar es Salaam International airport Monday night, to a rapturous welcome from his Tanzanian counterparts.

Professor Sarwal is currently working at Dav College, affiliated with the University of the Punjab, where he teaches English Language, Linguistics, and Literature to both undergraduate, and post graduate students.

He converted from his ancestral Hinduism to the Bahai faith more than 30 years ago, and at present serves as the Vice Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Indian Bahais.

He is also a trustee of the Bahai House of Worship in New Delhi.

This remarkable nine-sided building, opened in 1986, was designed by Iranian architect Faribrz Sahba, and can hold several thousands people.

It is now said to be regarded as one of the architectural marvels of the sub-continent, no mean feat in a country famous for its ancient, and modern architecture.

The Bahai House of Worship is now said to attract more visitors than the world famous Taj Mahal temple, erected by one of the Mogul Emperors in memory of his wife.

Professor Sarwal has published many books, and hundreds of articles for professional journals and newspapers.

He has a deep interest in the development of English as a global language, and has created a new approach for teaching the language as a global means of communication which he calls ``Developmental Language Learning.``

Apart from his teaching duties, he also currently serves as President of the Teachers` Association of his college in Chandigarth in northern India, and works with NGOs assisting women, environmental protection, and health.

While in Dar es Salaam, he will spend most of his time with Tanzanian members of his faith, but is also expected to pay courtesy calls on members of the government, the University of Dar es Salaam, and the Indian High Commission.

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Artigo publicado no IPP Media (Tanzania), em 22 de Junho de 2005
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El coro Voices Of Bahá se presentará en el Centro de Bellas Artes

2005-06-23T09:40:00.000+01:00

SAN JUAN (EFE).- El coro Voices Of Bahá celebrará un concierto el próximo 14 de julio en el Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferré en el que se celebrará "la unidad en la diversidad".

Voices Of Bahá es un coro itinerante internacional de 200 voces que interpretan una variedad de estilos musicales de distintas raíces folclóricas y que provienen de más de 20 países del mundo.

Su repertorio, en el que se refleja la diversidad multicultural, incluye composiciones de Ravi Shankar, cantos clásicos, gospel, espirituales, jazz, músicas folklóricas y pop, entre otros.

Una selección de sesenta voces, entre las que se destacan Adrienne Swing Roush, Rachael Price, Emily Price, Kiskadee y Tommy Kavelin, este último residente en Puerto Rico, conformarán la agrupación para su presentación en la isla, que será dirigida por el creador y fundador de Voices Of Bahá, Tom Price.

En esta ocasión y por vez primera, Voices Of Bahá contará con la participación estelar de KC Porter, cantautor y productor ganador de cinco premios Grammy, quien interpretará un "medley" de las canciones que compuso y produjo para Ricky Martin en los álbumes "A Medio Vivir" y "Vuelve", además de otros temas de su colaboración con el guitarrista Carlos Santana.

Nydia Caro, conocida por el público puertorriqueño, unirá su voz a la de Voices Of Bahá para interpretar algunos temas del cancionero popular puertorriqueño.

Esta será la primera vez en su historia que el coro, integrado por creyentes de la fe Bahá'í, realice una gira de conciertos que los llevará a la República Dominicana, Venezuela, Trinidad, Jamaica y Florida.

El coro tiene como encomienda ofrecer su arte y talento con el fin de recaudar fondos para proyectos humanitarios alrededor del mundo.

La recaudación del concierto en Puerto Rico serán donados a la Fundación Oneness y la Fundación Ricky Martin.

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Artigo publicado no Primera Hora (Porto Rico), em 22 de Junho de 2005
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Baha'is host international gathering in Navajoland

2005-06-20T11:23:00.000+01:00

Editor's Note: This article by Jeff Kiely of the Gallup Baha'i Community will replace today's Spiritual Perspectives column.

By Jeff Kiely
Special to The Independent

On its campus in the pinon-juniper hills at Burntwater Junction in the Houck Navajo community 45 miles west of Gallup, the Native American Baha'i Institute hosted a remarkable international gathering on Saturday, June 11th.

The Baha'i "Council Fire" was organized to celebrate the completion of new kitchen, meeting and landscaping facilities on the 40-acre NABI campus. The Council Fire welcomed over 200 guests, including North American Indians from 25 different tribes across the United States and Canada, many of them Navajo members of the Baha'i Faith.

The Council Fire featured a special visit by all nine members of the faith's national governing body, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States. The Assembly accorded special acknowledgment to one of its former members, prominent Navajo muralist Chester Kahn of Houck. Kahn painted the now-famous "Circle of Light" murals that wrap around the walls of Ellis Tanner Trading Company in Gallup; the murals feature an extensive series of portraits of past and present Navajo leaders. Kahn was also recently selected as one of eight artists soon to illuminate public wall-space throughout downtown Gallup with beautiful murals depicting the history and diverse cultures of the Gallup area.

The Gallup Baha'is were represented by local educator Dr. Carolyn Staples, Gallup Baha'i Assembly Chairman Jeff Kiely and his wife, Navajo educator Helen Kiely. The Kielys were founding council members of NABI in the late 1970s and served as the institute's administrators in the mid-1980s.

Saturday's program featured prayers in many languages, Native American flute music by NABI Board member Alvin Bitsilly of Mexican Springs, musical and cultural performances by children, and a number of dances by the Zuni Butterfly Dancers.

Houck Chapter President Anderson Morgan and Navajo Nation Council Delegate Ernest Hubbell welcomed the Baha'is to the Houck Navajo community. Morgan, a neighbor of NABI for a quarter-century, thanked the Baha'is for their active participation in the local community over the years. Councilman Hubbell echoed his gratitude and respect for the Baha'i community and warmly endorsed the Baha'i teachings of unity and world peace.

Dr. Bob Henderson, Secretary-General of the American Baha'i community, recalled the 1962 gathering held in Pine Springs, some seven miles north of NABI, which he attended as a young boy and which attracted hundreds of Baha'is from all over the world.

Beyond this weekend's celebration of the new NABI facilities, Dr. Henderson said that the gathering was about "the keeping of sacred promises," adding that the Baha'i teachings reflect the fulfillment of the "spiritual promises of the ages."

"Now is the time for all tribes and nations to be gathered together as one family," he proclaimed. "It is the destiny of the Indian peoples to be champions of justice, love and unity, and to build a new prosperity woven together by the unity of our hearts."

Dr. Henderson acknowledged the distinguished services of current NABI administrators Jerry and Alice Bathke of Ft. Defiance, who returned to the Navajo Reservation in 1998 from California to assume this work. The Bathkes were employees of the Navajo Tribe in the 1960s and 1970s.

National Baha'i Assembly member Jacqueline Left Hand Bull, a Sichangu Lakota woman from the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, spoke of her many years of involvement in the establishment and growth of NABI. She noted the spirit of unity in the Council Fire gathering, saying that this unity was a hallmark of the spiritual life and beliefs of Native peoples worldwide. Left Hand Bull then called out the Indian nations to come forward and "be counted": first, the tribes from east of the Navajo Nation, then those from the south, the west and the north. About 75 guests arose to this call, representing 25 Indian tribes from throughout North America, including such nations as Navajo, Mohawk, Cherokee, Choctaw, Tarahumara (Mexico), Aztec, Zuni, Tohono O'odham, Yakima, Nez Perce, Lakota, S'Klallam and Tlingit (Alaska).

NABI was established in the early 1980s, largely on the initiative of the late Benjamin Kahn of Pine Springs and his wife Lorraine (now of Mariano Lake), the institute's first administrators. As noted by Judge James Nelson of Los Angeles, NABI now serves as America's "premier" Baha'is training institute, where students from Navajo communities and from other backgrounds gather to study the teachings of Baha'u'llah, Prophet-Founder of the Baha'i Faith. In this setting, students of all ages are trained to acquire spiritual knowledge, community development skills and human virtues with which to engage in "paths of service" to humankind.

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Artigo publicado no Independent(New Mexico) (EUA), em 18 de Junho de 2005
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Biography is a testament to Dizzy Gillespie's greatness

2005-05-27T11:09:00.000+01:00

By Jay Harvey
jay.harvey@indystar.com

Dizzy Gillespie sat on the edge of an auditorium stage in the music building of a Michigan junior college in the late 1970s. He'd been asked to talk about whatever came to mind several hours before his featured appearance with the college's jazz band.

"You know, back in the '40s, I knew we were involved in making something different in music, playing it a special way," he drawled in the accents of his native South Carolina. "But I never thought then that I'd ever become . . . a . . . living legend!"

With the words "living legend," the pioneering bebop trumpeter, then around 60, let himself fall back on the stage, then yelled "living legend!" again on his back, all the while chuckling heartily. For a few minutes, only the living legend's legs, bent at the knee, were visible. It was as if he were overcome at the thought of his eminence and had to pause a few minutes before resuming his talk.

No wonder so much of Donald L. Maggin's portrait in this favorable, but not worshipful, biography rings true. Several of his sources mention Gillespie's ease and naturalness with fans. They also testify to his humility, though his ego could be roused by perceived slights, and a habitual generosity with his time and musical acumen.

Another memory from that junior- college appearance: "You know, they've said I discovered new notes and harmonies, but I never did that," he said, waving a hand at the Steinway grand behind him. "They're all up there on the piano."

But Gillespie deserves credit for finding the combinations that were already there, schooling himself in theory, opening new rhythmic vistas and boldly carrying out on the bandstand what he heard in his head and had worked out at the keyboard.

And Maggin is exemplary in sketching in the history of the late Swing Era and the combination of awe and disdain that greeted the young trumpeter's innovations. This is where "Dizzy" is strongest -- describing the scene in which his subject's initial triumphs occurred and fleshing out what went into such epochal innovations as Afro-Cuban jazz.

Sometimes the reader of a biography can only guess how much the author's emphases were shaped by his own predilections and temperament and how much by the material available to him. To start with, there's been a lot written about the development of bebop out of big-band swing, and Maggin draws on quite a bit of the critical and historical literature.

As for the man himself: The trumpeter's appetites were huge, but his out-of-control moments were few, unlike the gargantuan, self-destructive episodes that bedeviled Charlie Parker, his comrade-in-arms. What anchored Gillespie was not only a superior feeling for his musical destiny and the need to focus, but also his enduring marriage.

Here's where Maggin runs into trouble. As the biography moves onto the high plateau of success, Lorraine Gillespie becomes a more enigmatic figure. The stability of the marriage becomes defined by negatives: The more he was away from home, the better. There are indications that while Lorraine hated the limelight, the marriage remained close, despite the pain of a long-drawn-out paternity suit (the plaintiff withdrew her final appeal only this January).

It's evident the musician's widow, who died last year, had little to do with Maggin's project. We get some insights into the latter-day Gillespie from Mike Longo, his pianist and music director, but the larger-than-life dynamo appears to fade into a monument as the book goes on. The woman who was responsible for Gillespie's conversion to the Baha'i faith in 1968 didn't want to be identified, for instance.

No doubt psycho-biographical approaches have been overdone. But one yearns for a responsible probing into Gillespie's demons and signs of a sensitive scholar's ability to weigh mixed evidence and come to hard-earned conclusions about his subject.

What we are left with mainly is the living legend that so amused the man himself one day long ago on a junior- college stage. That -- and the music -- seems almost enough.

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Artigo publicado no IndyStar.com (EUA), em 22 de Maio de 2005
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Heading for Haifa

2005-05-20T14:20:00.000+01:00

Change goes on around us all the time. If we witness change as it is happening, we quickly get used to it, even to the extent that we sometimes forget what was there before. But when we have not - even in the most passive sense - been part of the process of change, we are always surprised. It's like coming across some new discovery.

That's what happened to me recently when I went to visit a friend who was vacationing in Haifa and invited me to come up for the day.

I had already been made aware during a previous visit a few months earlier that the location of the central bus terminal had changed and that the main Haifa train station is now Bat Galim, but on that earlier occasion time had intruded on the opportunity to explore either.

This second visit was much more leisurely.

Trains are my favorite form of travel because they allow for much greater panoramic perspectives than cars or buses, so I went by rail from Tel Aviv to Haifa. Moreover, the curious traveler with time on his hands can alight along the way, explore the area that takes his fancy, and resume the train ride at his leisure. This is not possible in every station because you cancel your ticket as you go through the turnstile.

However in some stations, there are bridges and you can get a free ticket from the pushbutton machine near the platform that will enable you to get across the bridge and onto the street outside without having to sacrifice your train ticket.

There are three significant reasons for going to Haifa.

One is the bay. A second reason is coexistence. No other place in the country has as good a record of coexistence as Haifa, where Jews and Arabs and other nationalities mingle and interact not only at work and in places of community services, but on a social level as well.

The third reason is the Baha'i gardens, commonly referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Since the extended terraces and gardens of the Baha'i world center were opened to the public in June 2001, there have been close to 2.8 million visitors, says Murray Smith, deputy secretary-general of the Baha'i International Community. Of these visitors, some 80 to 90 percent were Israeli, and the remainder foreign tourists.

They come not only to see the gardens but to visit the shrine.

Many don't get to the shrine because the visiting hours end at noon. The gardens are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in winter and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in summer.

Aside from their breathtaking beauty, the gardens attract group visits by families, schoolchildren, members of the Israel Defense Forces, etc., because people are curious about Baha'i history - and because there is no entry fee. For a large family seeking an activity of mutual interest, this is a real boon.

"The Baha'i faith does not accept money from outside the faith," says Smith. "We can't even sell postcards."

Although many of the Baha'i's expatriate community, including Smith, have lived in Israel for upwards of a decade, there is no such thing as a Baha'i local community. Under the agreement that Baha'i has with the government of Israel, it does not engage in proselyting activities. That agreement has been scrupulously honored.

There has been a Baha'i presence in Haifa since long before the establishment of the state. In fact, it extends back for well over 120 years, though it was only in the 20th century that Baha'i started buying up land and developing the gardens.

According to Smith, there are approximately 700 Baha'i expatriates from 85 countries living in Israel. All of them volunteer at the world center and in the gardens, in addition to which some 60 Israeli gardeners - Jews, Christians and Muslims - are employed on a regular basis.

There are two tours of the terraced gardens. One goes from Yefe Nof to Rehov Ha'atzmaut, and the other from Ha'Atzmaut to Rehov Ben-Gurion. Smith advises against taking both on the same day "because walking down 700 steps is enough for anyone."

Those for whom walking is difficult can still get a panoramic view of the gardens if they do the much easier walk along the promenade behind the Dan Carmel Hotel. The walk, overlooking both the bay and the gardens, is very pleasant. And on a clear day, one can also see the trains on the horizon.

There are nine Baha'i holy days in which the garden is closed. It is also closed on Yom Kippur out of respect for the Jewish community, but it remains open on other Jewish holidays and on Shabbat.

The gardens have certainly helped to boost domestic tourism to Haifa, and even though the Baha'i don't take money, there are plenty of other places to spend it, such as the various malls and the many coffee shops and restaurants.

Not so long ago, it was almost impossible to find a kosher restaurant in Haifa outside of those run by the hotels. This problem is being addressed, and today there are kosher restaurants and coffee shops in several other parts of the city.

However, if you want to get an enchanting view of the bay at night, you must treat yourself to a meal at the Rondo restaurant in the Dan Carmel Hotel.

Get a seat by the window, and you'll come close to touching magic.

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Artigo publicado no Jerusalem Post (Israel), em 17 de Maio de 2005
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