Category: Arlington Baha’is
Arlington Bahá’ís Take Part in Historic Conferences
Many Arlington Bahá’ís are excited about taking part in a series of forty-one conferences taking place all across the globe . The conferences were called by the Universal House of Justice, the supreme administrative body for the Bahá’ís of the world, to discuss community activities. Six of the forty-one conferences are being held at various locations in the United States, two of which have been or will be attended by Arlington Bahá’ís including one this past weekend (December 6-7) in Atlanta, Georgia and one this coming weekend (December 13-14) in Stamford, Connecticut.
The Bahá’í World News has created a website to capture a summary of each of these meetings and provide a space for participants to share their comments. Mehrdad who attended the conference in New Delhi, India stated “The highlight here is the coming together of diverse peoples, sitting under one roof, and thinking the same—the unity of thought of people. I am seeing this for the first time in my life. It’s the realization of what Bahá’u’lláh described: the garden with different flowers.”
A New Baha’i Visits Haifa
I had the honor of being invited to Haifa, Israel, in March 2008, for meetings at the Baha’i World Center. I had become a Baha’i just a year before.
My wife, who accompanied me, and I had an opportunity to tour the Baha’i Holy Places at Bahji – the Shrine of Baha’u'llah – and the Shrine of the Bab on Mount Carmel in Haifa.
From among hundreds of photos that we took, I would like to share this two-minute animated slide show of a new Baha’i's first visit to the Holy Lands.
~ David Henderson, an Arlington Baha’i
Unity of Religion
The principle of the unity of religion is at the center of Bahá’í teachings. Bahá’ís believe that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony and that their aims and purposes are one and the same. Often Bahá’ís refer to this continuous process as “Progressive Revelation.” To find out more about Progressive Revelation we invite you to join us tonight, Friday November 14 at 7:30pm for a discussion and light refreshments. For more information or directions, please contact the Bahá’ís of Arlington
“Consider the sun. Were it to say now, “I am the sun of yesterday,” it would speak the truth. And should it, bearing the sequence of time in mind, claim to be other than that sun, it still would speak the truth. In like manner, if it be said that all the days are but one and the same, it is correct and true. And if it be said, with respect to their particular names and designations, that they differ, that again is true. For though they are the same, yet one doth recognize in each a separate designation, a specific attribute, a particular character. Conceive accordingly the distinction, variation, and unity characteristic of the various Manifestations of holiness, that thou mayest comprehend the allusions made by the creator of all names and attributes to the mysteries of distinction and unity, and discover the answer to thy question as to why that everlasting Beauty should have, at sundry times, called Himself by different names and titles.”
~ Baha’u'llah
Commemorating ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to Howard University
‘Abdu’l-Bahá came to Washington, D.C., in 1912 and spoke these words to an interracial group gathered at Howard University on April 23rd of that year:
“I am very happy to see you and thank God that this meeting is composed of people of both races and that both are gathered in perfect love and harmony. I hope this becomes the example of universal harmony and love until no title remains except that of humanity. Such a title demonstrates the perfection of the human world and is the cause of eternal glory and human happiness. I pray that you be with one another in utmost harmony and love and strive to enable each other to live in comfort.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Eldest Son of Bahá’u’lláh) in 1911 and 1912 traveled to Europe and the United States to share his father’s message of a word embracing faith dedicated to the unification of all mankind. It was during this time that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá came to Howard University. He spoke about the equality of women and men, the oneness of religion and the need to reject every form of prejudice. An important message that is no less timely now 96 years later.
