Archive for April, 2006

Baha’i Faith is hip with the kids.

Friday, April 28th, 2006

I wasn’t sure whether or not I really wanted to put this up, but, you know, since doing so allows me to put a picture of Tom Cruise up on the blog I figured it was worth it. So to everyone that just googled “Tom Cruise + “Baha’i” + “Blog”, thanks for stopping by.
So […]

Iranian Diaspora on the BBC

Wednesday, April 26th, 2006

As part of a new series looking at life in Iran, the BBC interviewed eight members of the Iranian diaspora (Iranians living outside of Iran). One of them, 24 year-old Soroosh Khavari, comes from a Baha’i family:
My family fled Iran during the revolution because they follow the Bahai religion, whose followers suffer much persecution in […]

New Episode of Next Level Radio

Wednesday, April 26th, 2006

A couple of months ago, Will Morrison dropped the first Next Level Radio podcast onto the interweb and promptly blew my mind (and sent me running off to itunes music store to download the latest from Common Market).
Well, Will is back with an eagerly anticipated episode 2, with more from Zahiya, tracks from Laura Harley […]

More attention on the situation of the Bahai’s in Iran

Friday, April 21st, 2006

While you’re getting ready to celebrate Ridvan in your community, take a moment to remember the Baha’is in Iran. Since the release of a UN report expressing fears for the Iranian Baha’is last month, Baha’is and others from around the world have been calling for action. There’s a letter in The Independent in the UK, […]

Joyous Ridvan

Thursday, April 20th, 2006

Happy Ridvan everyone. I’ll keep it short because I know everyone is busy celebrating (or if you’re in Richardson, Texas, you’re rehearsing for the pageant). I’ll just point you to these few Ridvan links and remind you that when you’re heading out to your Ridvan celebrations watch out for that Ridvan holiday traffic. It’s a […]

How to list ‘Baha’i’ as your religion on myspace

Sunday, April 16th, 2006

A while back I put up a post about a myspace group dedicated to those who wanted to be able to list ‘Baha’i’ as their religion (myspace offers 14 religion options, but Baha’i isn’t one of them). Well, it seems that someone has figured out a little hack. Special thanks to myspace hacker pedur for […]

Quilt spreads message about the ‘Power of Unity’

Tuesday, April 11th, 2006

The story has been up at the US Baha’i News site for a little over a month now, but a friend whose mother had a hand in creating this beautiful quilt brought it to my attention just last week.
The quilt, called “Power of Unity”, incorporates symbols from the world’s religions as well as quotes from […]

Further updates of coverage of Bahá’ís in Iran

Tuesday, April 11th, 2006

Here are just a couple more updates about the coverage the situation of the Iranian Bahá’ís is getting. First, the ongoing persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran was tackled at the University of Minnesota’s annual Model UN, where the theme was religious persecution and the right to religion:
[Iranian-born Roya Akhavan-Majid, chairwoman of the mass communications […]

Devotional meetings are everywhere

Tuesday, April 11th, 2006

Aside from the strange opening about the difficulty of spelling ‘Baha’i’ (don’t worry, we know exactly what you’re talking about) there’s a great story up in the Huntsville Times about an interfaith devotional meeting held by the Hiebert family of Huntsville, Alabama in the US:
And some people have trouble understanding that when the Hieberts invite […]

Special relativity and the Bahá’í Faith

Saturday, April 8th, 2006

This long article, “Where is the Special Relativity Train Taking its Scientific and Religious Believers?” examines some challenges to Einstein’s theory of special relativity, taking into particular account the perspective of various religions and how Einstein’s ideas square with the brand of cosmology offered in the scriptures of their faith.

The section on religion is introduced […]

Egypt update: Court ruling recognizes Bahá’í rights

Friday, April 7th, 2006

Just in case you were beginning to think that it was ALL bad news for Bahá’ís in the middle east these days, the Egyptian Administrative Court has just ruled that Bahá’ís in that country may now actually identify themselves as Bahá’ís on official government documents:

The decision, announced on 4 April, “sent a strong message that […]

update (this time from India): U.N. concern over treatment of Bahá’ís in Iran

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006

Another addition to the growing press on the UN report on the Iranian government’s actions against the Bahá’ís in Iran, this time from India’s national newspaper, The Hindu:
“She [Ms. Jahangir] calls on the Government of Iran to refrain from categorising individuals according to their religion and to ensure that members of all religious minorities […]

Anti-Defamation League speaks out in defence of the Bahá’ís in Iran

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006

The Anti-Defamation League has issued a press release regarding the current situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran, saying that it “sets a dangerous precedent” and “is reminiscent of the laws imposed on European Jews in the 1930s”. From the release:
“These actions by the Iranian government are reminiscent of the steps taken against Jews in Europe […]

Antop Hill cemetery

Monday, April 3rd, 2006

Spurred by the popularity of a new Bollywood thriller, 88 Antop Hill, Indian news site Mid Day has just published an article about an unusual cemetery in the Antop Hill area of Mumbai (Bombay).

The mortal remains of many a Chinese, Bahai, Muslim, Hindu, Armenian and British inhabitants of Mumbai have found their final resting […]

A Question of Fasting

Saturday, April 1st, 2006

Well, the month of fasting for Bahá’ís has been over for a couple of weeks now, but Lent still has a couple of weeks left, so it’s timely for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to publish this article titled “A Question of Fasting” that surveys faiths and their fasts, included are three statements on fasting — one […]