The following entry was originally written in response to someone who is learning about the Baha’i Faith. The information was appreciated, so I decided to post it here. Maybe someone else will find it helpful.

I've been a Baha'i (in Kansas) for over 39 years now. I would have joined at my first meeting if anyone had even breathed that joining was possible. As I walked up to the home where the meeting was, I knew whoever those people were, they had something special and I wanted it. It took me six months to finally tell them: I want to be a Baha'i (whether you want me or not). It wasn't that they didn't want me to join, or wouldn't let me, in those days there weren't that many people who wanted the Faith and they were rather surprised.

I have never found real contradictions in the Faith. I have found that if I study a little more and dig a little deeper, I will learn more and put the "contradiction" into perspective: and there is no contradiction.

I trust 'Abdu'l-Baha when He says that there is a reason for men only on the House of Justice now and that reason will, in time, be as clear as the noon-day sun. That means to me that the reason will be evident and obvious when that time comes. It seems obvious to me that we can't understand now (so that is ok), we understand so little of any of it. The Faith and community are still so new and so vast, we can't hope to understand it all completely.

Just one little example: Do we yet, in this time, feel revulsion at the mere idea of doing something wrong (like break a minor traffic law)? Or, do we say, “the speed limit is 45, I can go at least 48 without getting a ticket,” then drive 50?

Or: gossip and backbiting which are forbidden. Have we eliminated even the desire to talk about someone else? Is that gossip, or is that simply sharing news? I don't know that we even have a clear understanding of the difference.

My point is, we do the best we can. All that Baha'u'llah asks is that we make the effort. We are not responsible for the results - that's God's business. The Bab said that if we make our best effort, God will compensate for our inadequacies.

I KNOW that I am inadequate (and my children are sure of it), but I have seen many, many times that my effort, however inadequate it may be, has resulted in unimaginable results.

One example: A major goal of the Baha'is is to let other people know the Faith exists and give them the opportunity to learn about it. And we are to "consort with the followers of all religions." So, I pray with the local Quakers, and at the local Mosque (and sometimes the synagogue ), sometimes I have gone to a Catholic retreat center which has individual hermitages (cabins) in the woods, and I have been very involved with local inter-faith endeavors. At a dinner at the mosque to break the fast of Ramadan one year, a young lady (who grew up a Muslim here) came to speak with me. Her father had apparently mentioned that I was a Baha'i who often came to the mosque. We briefly visited and I thought nothing more about it.

A few days later my supervisor at work came to me and said that I was in the Christian Science Monitor. I doubted it, but my work has been published in surprising places, so I was not sure.

Then my supervisor said, "not you, but it was you. I know it. You're the only Baha'i I know who goes to the mosque." That, I had to admit, was mostly true.

The young Muslim had returned to her college on the east coast. The Monitor had interviewed several young Muslims about their experience of growing up in the US. One of the experiences of Muslims in America is that they've had to learn new ways to be Muslim (I've seen a lot of this at the mosque). The jumah (congregation) consists of many immigrants from different countries, as well as native born Americans. The immigrants have found they cannot practice Islam in the same way as in their native home, because that differs from country to country, so they have to find new ways to be Muslim together. One of the new kind of Muslim events are inter-faith fast-breaking community dinners during Ramadan. The article mentioned that in Topeka these dinners are also held and are attended by Christians, Jews and Baha'is.

So by fulfilling the injection to "consort" with others, the existence of the Faith was mentioned nation-wide in a way that it never would otherwise have been.

I could not have gone to Boston and asked the editors of the Monitor to mention the Baha’i Faith. That would be stupid and get no result. But by simply living my life, it happened.

That's the kind of thing that happens all the time.

I am continually amazed.

"O Lord, increase my astonishment in Thee," is a recurring praying of mine.

The key is to make the effort (and be forgiving of other’s efforts); that is all that God asks.

I haven't posted anything for a long time, there is too much else to do.
I find it strange that some people criticize Baha'is for things they don't understand, or know little about. Why the rush to judgment or condemnation? Are they so unhappy with their life that they have to attack someone else, anyone else? There are some who attack the decision to build the House of Worship in Santiago, Chile that is in process now.
Are they ignorant of the hundreds and hundreds of educational, medical and agricultural projects that Baha'is are engaged in all over the world to help people improve their daily lives? There are hundreds of thousands of churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship around the world. Do they attack those also?
Why can they not appreciate the fact that every Baha'i House of Worship, no matter where it may be, is open to all people? They are a gift to every other human on the planet. How many other places can the same be said of?
Frankly I'm excited about the possibility of seeing another House of Worship. We have so few. I long for the day when every city has one, if there are Baha'is there and they want one.
A Baha'i House of Worship is unique in that all people can enter as equals. No one is distinguished by the rituals or ornamentation, because there are none. Everyone can find peace when they are inside one.
Just, physically, the Baha'i Houses of Worship provide a new kind of structure to look at. What else looks like them? If nothing else, they can be seen as decorations for the planet.
Their very existence expands people's consciousness to accept something new. Such an expansion of consciousness is essential if we, the human race, are to think in new ways to solve the problems we face. Old solutions certainly aren't working.
Maybe those people simply enjoy complaining. I don't know. I don't see that their complaining adds much to the world.Sincerely,dlh...

Bahai in Russia

I found a blog with mention of new religions in Russia and the opposition of the Orthodox Church. I can understand why the Baha’i Faith would be included, but it is not quite so new as it would seem. The Baha’i Faith itself is new (it is a young religion - every religion was young at one time), but its connection to Russia goes back to the earliest days of the faith. When the Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith was exiled from Tehran in 1852, the Russian Minister to Persia offered Him sanctuary in Russia. Two decades later Baha’is were living in territory that was absorbed into Russia, and have continued to live there since then.

In Ashgobat, in present-day Turkmenistan, Baha’is elected a council in 1895. Baha’is have councils to fulfill the administrative function of priests in other religions. In 1904 a representative of the Czar attended the ceremony to mark the building of the first Baha’i House of Worship in Russia. Over the next decades councils were elected by Baha’is in other Russian cities, including Moscow and Leningrad.

At first the revolution had no impact on the Baha’i community until it was noticed that Baha’i activities were more popular than Young Pioneers, then repression began. Many Baha’is were exiled (the men to Siberia, women and children to Persia) and the House of Worship was confiscated. But isolated Baha’is continued to live in various cities.

During Perestroika the Baha’is felt free to contact each other and receive Baha’i visitors from other countries. In 1989 the Baha’i council of Ashgobat was elected again and gradually others across the Soviet Union. At the end of 1990 a national Baha’i convention was held in Moscow to elect a national Baha’i council for the USSR. Two years later different republics began to elect theirs.

For over a century and a half many Russians have found the Baha’i Faith helpful in their lives. The Baha’i Faith teaches that each person has an eternal soul and the purpose of this life is to prepare the soul for death and eternal life. Without developing our spiritual qualities our life after death will be very limited. The Baha’i Faith teaches that we are created in the spiritual image of God and we are the highest form of creation. The family is the basis of society and we should treat others with more honor that we expect for ourselves. We are to be servants of humanity.

Leaders of other religions object to the Baha’i Faith because so many people find its teachings to be deeply satisfying and meaningful. There is no ritual because it is the condition of a persons heart that is more important. Millions of people around the world from at least 2112 different nations, tribes, religions and ethnic groups are now Baha’is working peacefully together to transform their lives, their families and the world.