Bahá’ís gather to affirm faith

By Marcia Veach and Beverlee Patton
FROM HEART TO HEART for The Register-Guard
April 4, 2003

The inevitability of world peace and the oneness of humanity, beliefs by which members of the Bahá’í Faith live their lives, will be dramatically demonstrated this month by Bahá’ís all over the world.

This year, adherents from 182 countries will gather as delegates to their international convention, held once every five years at the Bahá’í world spiritual and administrative center in Haifa, Israel.

Representatives of national Bahá’í administrative councils from every class, clime and ethnicity, many wearing their colorful national costumes, will cast secret ballots to elect their highest council, the Universal House of Justice. There are no nominations, electioneering or speeches. In a reverent and prayerful atmosphere, the delegates will write the names of nine members of their faith they believe have the attributes needed to best serve the worldwide Bahá’í community.

At the same time, Beverlee Patton of Eugene will join other delegates from around the United States at the national headquarters in Wilmette, Ill., for the annual election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Similar elections will occur nationally and locally all over the world during the Bahá’í holy day period of Ridvan. Fulfilling their sacred duty by participating in this electoral process is one of the ways Bahá’ís commemorate the anniversary of the birth of their faith.

The word "ridvan" means paradise. For 12 days in the spring of 1863, Bahá’u’lláh, the prophet-founder of the Bahá’í Faith, resided in a garden of Baghdad that he dubbed "The Garden of Ridvan." There, he publicly proclaimed his mission as God's messenger for this age. Bahá’u’lláh was an exile in Baghdad, banished from his native Persia because of his teachings.

Eugene-Springfield area Bahá’í members and their friends will join others worldwide on April 20 to celebrate the first day of this festival.

The Bahá’í Faith teaches the oneness of God, the oneness of religion and the oneness of humankind. Followers believe that in every age God sends a divine educator to renew the eternal truths of religion and to address the specific needs of the time in which he appears and that Bahá’u’lláh is the divine educator for this period in mankind's evolution.

The efforts of all the previous messengers of God, such as Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad, will blossom and bear fruit in this "spiritual springtime," as it is called in the Bahá’í writings. Thus, the occurrence of the Festival of Ridvan at the height of the spring season bears a special significance for members of the Bahá’í Faith.

In his writings, Bahá’u’lláh promulgates the equality of men and women, the essential harmony of science and religion, the independent investigation of truth, economic justice based upon spiritual principles, the urgent need for the elimination of all forms of prejudice, universal compulsory education, an international auxiliary language and a world government for the maintenance of a lasting peace.

For more information about the Bahá’í Faith, call 344-3173 or (800) 228-6483, or visit the Web at www.bahai.org.

"From Heart to Heart" is coordinated by the Two Rivers Interfaith Ministries, a network of faith communities in the Eugene-Springfield area. For more information, call 344-5693.