What We Believe: The Bahai Faith

By: RUTH MARVIN WEBSTER - Staff Writer | Thursday, May 24, 2007 7:11 PM PDT ∞

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

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.